We were able recently to get a taste of flavor from our yet-to-be-installed equipment (and it whetted my appetite for sure). Tesco Productions received a call from an out-of-state producer, Helton De Jesus who was looking for a studio to record a local artist’s Spanish vocals. As I’ve mentioned in previous articles here, I’m in the process of designing and preparing to install several new hardware and software offerings. Among those planned additions are a variety of higher end 500 Series microphone preamps. So I explained to Helton that I could temporarily set up some of the new equipment (new and new to me), and we could run the session if he didn’t mind additional visible wires connecting the gear (until the permanent installation). He said the sound was more important than what it looked like (I agree, but I try to accomplish both whenever possible), and we booked a short afternoon session. A dual microphone setup was utilized with each mic feeding two preamps each, so Helton was able to provide himself and his client with four sound pallettes to choose from. He operated our current Pro Tools system and I provided technical assistance and setup. Zoey performed with Helton’s guidance and they were both happy with the results. Helton asked me to provide a runoff of the songs the next day so Zoey could have the two songs for listening and to share the preliminary product with her family and friends. Thank you for coming in. Wish you the best!

It’s been many months in the planning, building and implementation, but Tesco Productions is officially transitioning to a new recording system. It’s a big change – and challenges of learning and implementation will not be few.

Among those changes is the big step of our main production computer leaving the world of (dare I say it) Mac OS and moving to Windows. We have been solidly running in the Mac world since our first DAW (Digidesign Session 8) in 1994. Watching the myriad of changes both in the Apple OS and hardware infrastructure has been dizzying in the past few years. Even software and hardware developers in the audio/visual world have been frustrated to varying degrees trying to keep up with the pace. A close friend whose DAW is on a much newer Mac OS than I’ve ever run has had more than one complaint along the lines of “my system isn’t working again because of another update or change”. The other factor for me is that I’ve been building a repertoire of audio plugins and software for years that are all Windows based and it only makes sense to be able to utilize those. This transition is not really a big one for me since I’ve been operating a secondary production system on Windows for a number of years.

The other major switch is (again dare I say it) the abandonment of Pro Tools as our main DAW. In looking at all the viable options available now, the cost/feature factors, and Pro Tools compatibility with various hardware/plugin options (or lack thereof) caused me to make this decision. I’m moving to Cockos Reaper, and so far have been quite impressed with its flexibility as well as it being quite a powerful DAW. In contrast to some other more mainline DAWs, Reaper is constantly implementing customer input upgrades and making improvements to an already agile software. The fact that it can be years before they actually charge you for a major upgrade is also appealing.

And now so as to not panic or create major concern for a rather large company of clients that have created projects on Pro Tools, let me state that the existing system is remaining in place. The newer technologies require much less space and so I’m able to leave the existing items in their locations. I won’t miss the heat that system generates (nice in the winter sometimes) or the multiple fans running that attempt to keep that system cooler, however. I will not likely start any new projects (certainly not large ones) on the old system, but older projects can be exported into Reaper if extensive rework or additions are being made. And for those who really need and prefer to work in the Pro Tools environment, I’ve been looking into adding a newer version of Pro Tools with an adequate interface for basic sessions.

There’s still a lot of work to do with rewiring (with the removal of many wires no longer needed), installing new hardware (which includes a 500 series rack loaded with preamps), and the integration of a blend of our prior headphone monitoring system with the new Behringer P16-M units. It’s going to take a while yet, but I think we’ll all benefit greatly when it’s completed.

As is sometimes stated, you can take the boy out of the farm – but you can’t take the farm out of the boy. The last weekend in July I attended the annual Mid-States Antique Tractor & Engine Show to see the familiar representation of farming from yesteryear. I was additionally at the event this time to provide an improved PA amp used to announce various events on the show grounds such as the kiddie and “grown-up” tractor pulls as well as the parade of old-time farm equipment.

One of the events I participated in I remembering observing at least twice on the farm as a child. It was threshing grain, which usually occurred early to mid summer. I was too young to help back then (actually I’m sure I can be glad of that), but this year I thought it would be fun to pitch some oat bundles into the machine. For those who don’t know what a threshing machine is, it’s the forerunner of the combine. The purpose was the same – separate the grain from the plant and chaff, the difference being that you hauled the grain to the stationary threshing machine in contrast to a combine going through the field and cutting/separating the grain simultaneously. This brought to mind that when I built my studio 35 years ago I incorporated two sieves (the item that does the final separating of the grain) out of a threshing machine into the wall sound panels. The larger of the pictured panels below is from a threshing machine, and the smaller ones from an early combine. They serve somewhat as a sound diffuser with their rounded rows of tin fingers, and behind them is fiberglass insulation which absorbs sound. The gap adjusters for those rows on the smaller panels still operate, so I also can determine whether those panels are more reflective or absorptive depending on where I position the lever. So the past is incorporated into the present every day that room is used for recording.

By the way, there’ll be a final separating of our chaff from the grain. What will the bin of our lives produce?