GIBBS’ GEAR

Gibbs’ route to studio stardom started when he played in garage and metal bands in Las Vegas. He moved to LA at the age of 21, went to a famous recording school “which I don’t endorse,” and became an intern at Conway Studios where, he says, he really cut his teeth. He met Dr Luke at Conway, and started to work for him in 2010, initially assisting engineer Emily Wright.

Dr Luke mostly works in his own studio, located in the Hollywood Hills. “The studio is really simple,” explains Gibbs. “We have huge PMC QB1 XPD‑A speakers, they are as tall as I am; PMC actually designed them for that room! The studio also has nearfield PMC twotwo8 speakers with PMC twotwo sub2s, and Genelec 8020s. The studio has all the essentials for recording, like Sony C800G and Chandler REDD mics, Chandler TG2 mic preamps, and UA 1176 compressors. There are tons of synths and guitars, which we record through DIs and API 3214 mic pres. We do the rest in-the-box in Pro Tools.”

Tired of the extremely long hours (Dr Luke often works until 4am), Gibbs set up a makeshift home studio a few years ago that he calls three3one7. Since covid hit he has worked there all the time. “The PMC twotwo6 are my main monitors, with the twotwo sub2,” explains Gibbs, “Genelec 8020s are my smaller nearfields, and I have a Beats Pill for reference. I work on the twotwo8s sometimes at Dr Luke’s studio, but there’s something about the punch I get from the twotwo6s that works for me. I use the 8020s for vocal level and harshness, and I also use Sennheiser HD650 open-back headphones.”

“The rest of my gear consists of a Grace m905 monitor controller, a PreSonus FaderPort for vocal rides, a Universal Audio Apollo 8p interface, and Apple’s Mighty Mouse. I have some GIK acoustic panels, and I’m waiting for an opportunity for workers to come in and create a proper studio while my family and I stay somewhere else. I mixed Laroi’s album on my MacBook Pro, but a few months ago I moved to a Mac Mini and I love it; I don’t get Pro Tools CPU errors all the time anymore. A session with 15 instances of Antares’ AutoTune is going to struggle on a laptop, and there are other plugins these days that demand a lot of CPU. The Mac Mini can just handle a lot more.”

MIX PREPPING

Gibbs started mixing ‘F*ck Love’ on May 23rd, 2020, and completed it by the end of June. Because the numerous sessions arrived in differing states of organisation and readiness, he brought in one of the engineers from Prescription Songs, Kalani Thompson, to prepare each song for mixing. “There was no way I could do that myself and mix all the songs on time for the deadline. Kalani did a lot of the leg work in terms of chasing down all the files for each session, making sure they line up, finding missing plugins, cleaning up and organising every session, bringing in template tracks and so on to ensure each song’s session was ready for me to mix.”

According to Gibbs there are two major issues in prepping mixes today. The first is the fact that rap vocals are often recorded to a stereo rough mix of the beat, and it can be hard to get the multi-track or stems of the individual parts of the beat. “I’m a real stickler for demanding all the stems of the beat,” explains Gibbs. “Between Khaled, A&R Chelsea Blythe, and Donn Robb – who produced some of the songs on the album and I think recorded many of Laroi’s vocals – we spent quite a bit of time tracking down stems. Sometimes we had to hit up several people, and sometimes the stems arrived at the last minute. Waiting for files was one reason the project took longer to mix than originally planned.”

In addition, there are compatibility issues with Antares Auto-Tune Pro. “There are currently three different versions of Auto-Tune Pro, and if someone sends you a session with a different version to the one you have, the plugin can be in the wrong key, or transposed down a whole step, or other settings are weird. It’s an issue Antares knows about. It’s annoying because you need to get the settings right to get the effect the rapper intended. You can’t just put it in tune. I tasked Kalani with getting screen shots of the original Auto-Tune settings so I could get it close in my session. Sometimes people simply printed the vocals with Auto-Tune, which also worked great. I prefer that because, as a mixer, I don’t want to get involved in tuning vocals.”

MIX F*CK LOVE

Once all the session files, template tracks, Auto-Tune and other plugin settings were in place, Gibbs could get on with mixing. “The first thing I do when I get a prepped session is listen closely to the rough, because that’s the starting point. If the session differs from the rough, I start by trying to get it as close to the rough as possible and then I work from there. As a mixer I take what the producer has done and try to elevate it; I don’t aim to reinvent the wheel with regards to the production or the song.”

Dr Luke is, for the most part, a pop producer, and Gibbs’ background is in metal, so the question arises whether there were any particular challenges for him in mixing an urban album like ‘F*ck Love’. “Not really,” replies Gibbs. “I’ve always been a fan of rap, and I’ve mixed a lot of it. It’s probably one of my favourite genres to mix. And beyond Dr Luke’s pop resume, he’s also a very good hip-hop producer! I mixed plenty of his tracks with 808s and trap drums.”

“Today it’s also pretty standard for both pop and hip-hop tracks to need a really strong, low-end foundation. The drums have to knock, and the bass has to be big – it needs to knock you out of your seat! After the vocals, that’s the number one priority when it comes to mixing. So when mixing I tend to start with the drums, which also dictates my gain stage. My drums dictate how loud the mix is going to get. I bring in the vocals next, because I want them to shine, and then I bring the other parts in.”

GO MIX

Gibbs illustrates his mixing approach with details of the mixtape’s first major single, ‘Go’. “We got a folder with the beat stems, and then I received a Pro Tools session with Laroi’s vocals and another Pro Tools session with Juice’s vocals. Kalani created a new Pro Tools session, loaded the beat stems, and then brought in Laroi’s and Juice’s vocals, making sure everything was exactly in time. There are notes in the ‘Comments’ box in Pro Tools in my mix session indicating where the tracks came from.”

The Pro Tools mix session for ‘Go’ has a master section at the top, with a ‘meter’ track at the top, with the Brainworx bx_meter, a mix print track, and All, *Master*, and *Subs* tracks. Below are 10 VCA tracks, with self-explanatory names, *drums*, *cym*, *perc*, *808*, *synthb*, *guitars*, *keys*, *orch*, *efx* and *vocals.* Below that are 13 aux group tracks with pretty much the same names, the three extra tracks being D-Crush, Vocal Rear and Kick Para. Further down the session continues with drums and percussion, 808, synth bass, guitars, strings, Laroi lead and backing vocals, Juice WRLD lead and backing vocals, all interspersed with the occasional aux effects track. At the bottom of the session are 14 aux effects tracks, with reverb, delays and a Phaser track.

“The VCA tracks affect the group tracks below them,” elaborates Gibbs. “They’re part of my template, and I’ll use them for the initial gain structure of the stems. Everything probably came in super hot, so I used the VCAs to bring it down. The groups tracks below are probably the same as I’d used in the mix I did before. I wanted to have consistency between all the tracks on the album, and also because of the strings that connected all the tracks.”

DRUMS

“The drums sounded for the most part pretty good, and my main focus was on processing the kick to get it where I wanted it to be. The Kick track has the FabFilter Pro-Q2 doing a hi-pass and a dip around 400Hz, compression from the Waves RCompressor, and then the Waves SSL E-Channel. The latter is a standard plugin for me on the kick, and I used it to add low end, take out some clicky attack at 2kHz, and add some 8kHz so it could be heard better on small speakers. There’s also an RBass, because I wanted more low end to embellish the sustain of the kick.”

“In addition there’s the Kick parallel aux with the Waves DBX160, the Vitalizer MK2-T and UAD’s SPL Transient designer, to add some punch. I also put an Avid Air StereoWidth on the snare to widen it a bit.”

“The plugins on the group tracks are part of my template, whereas I tend to add the plugins on the audio tracks as needed while mixing. The processing on the Drums group track processing is not that crucial; it has the FabFilter Pro-Q3 and Cytomic The Glue, and some saturation from the Black Box HG-2 and the Massey L2007 limiter, and some clipping with the Stillwell Event Horizon. It’s all very minimal.”

“The main processing comes from the Drum-Crush parallel, which does a lot of compression with The Glue. The cymbals had some saturation from the JST Clip, as did the percussion. I tend to send the cymbals to a separate group track because I want my drum bus processing to focus on the kick and the snare. I can add the cymbals in wherever they need to be.”

GUITARS

“The Main Melody track is the main guitar in the track, which has the SoundToys Little Radiator to add some low-mid saturation. It thickens it up a little bit. I backed off the Heat knob because it was a little much on the default setting. I also always turn the noise off, because it is a noisy plug-in. I wanted some more saturation so I added the FabFilter Saturn, and then some Pro-Q2 EQ, rolling off below 135Hz and dipping around 400Hz, to make it fit better in the mix. The other guitars tracks are not that important in the mix.”

“The Guitars group track has the Waves API Channel strip. I typically will add 240Hz and 5kHz here, to add top end to the guitar. I will turn up the input gain to drive it a little harder. There’s also an iZotope Ozone Exciter for some more harmonics to make the guitar poke through in a somewhat dense mix. The Waves F6 is side-chained to the lead vocals, so it dips out a little pocket when the vocals are present. There’s also the Brainworx bx_shredspread, which I think is a great widening plug-in. Incidentally, I hear more and more guitars these days, I think it’s the new trend!”

VOCALS

“On the audio tracks of Laroi and Juice I pretty much used the plugins that were sent to me. I would AB them on and off, and may have tweaked what they had, but overall I assume that it’s the sound they’re going for. I replaced the Auto-Tune with Auto-Tune Pro, and I would have added some plugins here and there; for example, on Juice I used the Waves Vintage Aphex Exciter and the Oeksound Soothe.”

“The MVP tracks contain a particular AutoTune effect used on Laroi’s verse vocals. Laroi’s audio tracks marked RXD had iZotope’s RX because I needed to get rid of some mouth clicks and pops.”

“I added three aux effect tracks for the vocals from my template, Reverb.1, which has the Waves HDelay, Pro-Q3, Valhalla Vintage Verb, the HDelay 1/8 delay, and the Back Spread track, with the Pro-Q3 and SoundToys MicroShift. The other aux effect tracks at the bottom of the mix session came with the vocal sessions I received. The plugins on the Laroi Verse bus also came with the Laroi tracking session, most likely from Donn Robb, but the plugins on the Laroi Hook bus are all mine, and pretty typical for my vocal plugin chain. There’s the Waves RVox, Waves C6, FabFilter Pro-DS, McDSP AE600, and Soothe 2.”

MASTER

“All subs go to the All Master track, on which I have the Ozone 9, with EQ and the Maximizer, to make it loud for the artist. For the mastering engineer I will turn it down 1dB. The Maximizer sets the threshold that determines my kick/bass relationship, and I don’t know for sure if mastering will achieve the same result, so I prefer to send to mastering what everyone has approved, and give them 1dB of headroom for any EQ fixes that are needed or if they want to do some extra saturation, or whatever other magic they want to do.”

“I actually ended up sequencing the entire mixtape in Pro Tools, with the skits. Each song has a string outro into the next song; you could call it a string interlude. Khaled Rohaim did all those strings, and he gave me a rough idea of how the transitions should be. So I bounced the whole sequence and dealt with feedback until everyone was happy. The skits were just a matter of getting the level right, and then I relied on mastering engineer Eric Lagg to do the rest. He did a great job, and got everything super-loud!”

CONTROL CENTRE

The control panel on top of the Power Stand is where the fun starts. As control panels go, it’s a big one, with generous space between the connections and controls. And there’s no confusing little screen — I could operate it without glasses. Inputs include two combi-XLR sockets with a button that toggles between Mic, Inst and Off (line in) plus a third aux input with 6.5mm and 3.5mm sockets or Bluetooth if enabled by the nearby Bluetooth button. A small button toggles between overall system presets including the usual suspects — Live, Music or Speech — with an Off setting for a flatter response. Phantom power is switchable on the XLR inputs. An XLR line out connects other devices and a USB C socket is for system updates. An Ethernet socket provides a connection for Bose T4S or T8S ToneMatch digital mixers.

The ‘surprise and delight’ feature is the multi-function knobs that control the three input channels. Each knob is surrounded by illuminated markings displaying the chosen level. They’re above an integrated green/red signal light that gives you a rough idea of the input level. They function as a volume control by default: pressing them toggles their function through Treble, Bass and Reverb levels for that channel. The knobs’ action is quite light and mistakes can be made but they’re great for fast changes during a show if the band is mixing themselves from stage.

MIX APP

Or the band can use the Bose L1 Mix app and control the sound from a phone screen. It mimics all the controls on the Power Stand so you can walk around the room and tweak the settings, including the broad environmental presets, during soundcheck. Or the boss of the band can have L1 Mix on his phone and control things without having to lean down to the Power Stand.

The L1 Mix app also provides access to the ToneMatch library of EQ presets. These are EQ shapes that match specific microphones to the L1 system. There’s a fair range of common mics in the library, mainly Shure, Sennheiser and Audix. Auditioning them with an SM58 gives you all sorts of different tone options from subtle to drastic and the presets do follow the mics characteristics… the Audix D6 sounds scooped, the Beta52a has some woof added. Reassuringly, the Shure SM58 sounded best on the SM58 setting. ToneMatch is available on each of the two vocal inputs so you can use different mics, if they’re on the list. If not, then you could scroll through the presets and choose one you like. 

A small panel on the front edge of the Power Stand houses the IEC socket and my favourite connection on the L1 Pro32, the SubMatch cable. Used to connect the L1 to one of two sub speakers, it’s a chunky cable that conveniently carries both the signal and 240V. It uses new proprietary SubMatch connectors that have a particularly pleasing action with a positive locking click and a simple release mechanism. The Submatch cable is only a metre long and that could be too short in some settings but it’s easy to handle and fits in the bag with the Power Stand and the IEC lead.

SUB1 OR SUB2

Speaking of subs the new range offers the Dr Seuss choice of Sub1 or Sub2. The big news is they are now active. So they can be used as stand-alone subs that can be combined with the loudspeakers of your choice. The crossover is fixed at 200Hz. Both are loaded with an oval-shaped, deep-sided, exotically-named RaceTrack driver that allows the cabinet to be slim, nicely balanced and easy to carry with one hand.

Sub2 is fitted with a 10- x 18-inch driver (ie. it’s not circular) in a 24kg ported cabinet and provides thunderous delivery down to 37Hz (-3dB) with a built-in 1000W amp and processing to control the response and driver protection. I found a single Sub2 to be more than enough bass for a single Pro32 tower, particularly close to the speaker or in a smallish room. The subs don’t have the controlled dispersion and longer throw of the array tower and the bass drops off more quickly than the tower with distance. Two subs are suggested for big bass music and using two gives the worthwhile option of cardioid projection.

DJ HEAVEN

The L1 Pro32 would a great system for mobile DJs. Even with one Sub2 the system is loud (128dB) if you turn it up and the sound quality seems made for modern urban electronic music. The big deep bass, the subdued mids and exaggerated high frequencies suit Dr Dre and genre. The L1 Pro32 is a mono system. It accepts stereo inputs so you don’t lose one side of the music using a single array but stereo reproduction requires a second system. Bose suggest a stereo L1 Pro32 system with subs would be good for up to a 350-punter audience.

The first time I took the L1 Pro32 out was to Castlemaine’s Love Shack Brewery. They like their streamed music and run it at medium level in the outdoor courtyard space. The L1 Pro32 was an instant hit with several advantages over their usual distributed system. The first impression was the width of the throw, the 32 little speakers are mounted at 45 degrees to the tower with half pointing each way and the sound coverage is a genuine 180 degrees, you can be completely off to the side of the tower and still enjoy complete clarity. Customers were noticing and commenting on the looks and the sound quality.

MAKES SENSE

The following week I took the L1 Pro32 back to the Love Shack when a band was playing and set it up directly beside a comparable-sized point-source system for the soundcheck. The array was okay at low to medium levels but at high levels the point-source systems mid-range definition and dynamic range made it easier to lift the vocal above the band. A whole band could use the L1 Pro32 but they’d need to keep it controlled on stage, especially if they’re using the stick for monitoring as well. The L1 has good resistance to feedback but turns suddenly if you try to push it up to rock level.

This is where the smaller array systems divide opinion but it’s not a case of one being better than the other. A PA like the L1 isn’t intended to replace point source speakers, it has a different approach: it throws wide and deep with good bass and a sizzling top end. It sounds great for music playback and bands or performers that don’t need balls-out rock ’n’ roll sound pressure levels. From a practicality point of view, the L1 sets the standard for convenience: one system for monitoring and for front of house, and potentially one trip from the car.  The mix can be controlled from stage with a respectable-sounding reverb built in. So there’s no contest when it comes to travel and set up. 

I recently heard an original L1 system being used in a park on a Sunday afternoon by a local trio playing popular tunes before the mayor and various dignitaries arrived for an award presentation — a perfect situation for a portable line array. The new Bose L1 Pro32 updates the concept with improved performance including enough power and throw to fill larger venues and the convenience of Bluetooth, the L1Mix app and the ToneMatch presets. The journey continues.

GO TIME

The Zen Go looks like the perfect miniature offspring of my Zen Tour – more petite but equally sturdy and similar aesthetics. Its design is largely borrowed from the chunkier sibling, including the screen on the left, Gain/Headphone/Antelope buttons in the middle, and large stepped multi-function knob on the right. One key difference, apart from fewer inputs and outputs, is the Zen Go’s screen doesn’t respond to touch.

A nifty trick up Zen Go’s sleeve is you can plug a phone charger or power bank into it and it’ll pass audio without a computer. Another cool feature is a loopback circuit which lets you route the output of a monitoring mix (live inputs and all) back into the computer for applications like live streaming.

CORE VALUES

Inside Zen Go’s palm-sized chassis lie two chips – one DSP and one FPGA. This combination forms the basis of ‘Synergy Core’, Antelope’s onboard processing platform. Synergy Core combines the strengths of both types of processing (hence ‘Synergy’) to power a growing suite of Antelope’s analogue-modelled effects at nearly zero latency. The two chips onboard Zen Go can reportedly process up to 32 simultaneous instances of effects.

In my view, this is the most appealing feature of the Zen Go. Most interfaces I review these days offer the opportunity to track through hardware-accelerated effects thanks to built-in processing power of some sort. Typically, this primo feature doesn’t come cheap. Zen Go bucks the trend – you don’t need to spend thousands to reap the benefits of hardware DSP, neither do you need a big rack unit or over-the-top I/O if your requirements don’t call for it.

FX: MODELLING JOB 

Ever since I got my Zen Tour I have been a big fan of Antelope’s effects. Every processor adds something special to a recording. Familiarise yourself with the sonic flavour of each EQ and compressor and soon it’ll feel like you have your own rack of outboard to make perfectly-curated signal chains for every recording session. 

What’s exciting about Synergy Core is the potential for growth, not least through collaboration with third-party plug-ins. Already Antares has teamed up with Antelope Audio to create Auto-Tune Synergy, and Inertia Sound Systems has developed the creative Instinct Synergy modulation effect. Then there’s Overloud which helped create authentic emulations for guitarists. New emulations of desirable processors from the past fill Antelope’s software store at a steadily increasing rate. As the library of Synergy Core-powered effects expands, Antelope’s DSP-capable interfaces like the Zen Go represent more and more value. 

START UP

Initiating the Zen Go was painless. Plug the Zen Go into your computer using the supplied USB-C cable, then activate it in your Antelope account to reveal the Launcher software download. Instantly, the Antelope Launcher recognises the Zen Go and places it on the software’s home screen. I chose to update Zen Go’s firmware from the Launcher which mercifully occurred without a hitch. Then it was simply a matter of opening the Control Panel software to control the zero latency mixers and DSP, and the Zen Go was ready for action. To Antelope’s credit, the company has done an excellent job rectifying the software setup issues which bedevilled earlier interfaces to deliver what’s now a smooth and effortless experience.

IN CONTROL

The modern and intuitive Control Panel GUI is reasonably easy to navigate. Both analogue preamps are controlled from the top left hand corner section. The mixer can display eight or 16 channel strips with each channel freely assignable from a dropdown menu.

You get four channels of Synergy Core effects which appear as the first four mixer tracks. After picking the inputs, apply any of the 37 included DSP effects by clicking the empty box above the channel fader to open a separate AFX window. Here you can create a custom signal chain, with options ranging from several EQs and compressors including recognisable emulations, Antelope’s own parametric EQ/compressor/gate/expander, and a few modulation plugs. Guitarists aren’t left out – Antelope’s partnership with Overloud led to a selection of better-than-average simulations of amps and cabs with a fair amount of tonal flexibility. The library contains emulations of amplifier heads and cabinets from Vox, Fender, Marshall and Orange, to name a few. Emulations of the Gyratec IX and RCA BA-31 preamps are in the bundle as well – great for adding a bit of grit to a track.

Antelope’s tracking reverb AuraVerb lies unassumingly in the right hand corner and is available for all 16 mixer channels. It opens in a separate window from which you can adjust send levels and reverb parameters. The main Monitor mix is mirrored on the HP1 headphones output. Artist mixes can be created through the second mixer which feeds the HP2 output on the interface. Access this mixer by clicking the Headphones 2 tab on the lower left side of the GUI window. Mixer and I/O configurations can be saved and recalled.

LITTLE BOX, BIG SOUND

After a few days putting the Zen Go to work, the little interface’s sound quality didn’t fail to impress. Firstly, of course, is the DA conversion with 127dB dynamic range, which presents music with immense detail and breathes new life into your monitors. Many small interfaces skimp on conversion to cut costs but Antelope isn’t guilty of this and I’m grateful for it. The generous 65dB of gain from the preamps is nice and quiet should you need to push it on a dynamic or ribbon mic. Tonally the preamps are clean, at the expense of character, but that’s quite okay because of the next plus: the Synergy Core effects. Want to dirty things up? Run it through a boutique preamp emulation (the aforementioned BA-31 is a favourite of mine). Or should you choose to craft a more complicated signal chain, each effect adds a sonic brushstroke of its own which plays nicely with the transparent pres to give you a mouldable front end and an expensive sounding recording. With all the sonic possibilities available, make sure you give yourself a few extra minutes before hitting record to play with the effects and find the right sound for a track.

As for driving the interface, control is limited on the Zen Go unit itself. The lack of touchscreen means preamp functions like phase inversion, phantom power and stereo link must be switched in the software, although I doubt this will be a major inconvenience for anyone given how accustomed we are to software control. 

UP & GO

There’s no shortage of reasons to consider buying the Zen Go. I’d be happy if its only role is a neat little D/A converter on my office desk! But for the producer, musician or enthusiast who’s keen to incorporate real-time effects into their recording workflow, the Zen Go strikes me as a very tempting entry point into the world of DSP acceleration. If two analogue inputs suffice, the Zen Go does away with bulky rack units and power cables. I can see it as the perfect overdubbing interface for itinerant recordists who still appreciate running mics through analogue-modelled DSP effects even when tracking last minute takes in the band’s garage or tour bus in the middle of nowhere. It’s a first-rate podcasting interface too. Being bus-powered it’s no issue if you’re away from a power socket. Run your laptop off the battery; plug in two mics; compress, filter and gate on the way in; then hit Export. 

Accessibility and portability are Zen Go’s selling points for me — the first because of its pricepoint, and the second because it’ll slip straight into a shoulder bag. Antelope Audio must have known the world needed a pocket-sized DSP-loaded interface. I think Zen Go proves they were right.

A RETURN TO COMPTOWN

I was a latecomer to the Ableton party, holding on desperately to a solely linear workflow for music production, and never dreaming of using playback live. After finally getting my hands on a copy of Ableton Live 9, and then my head around how a scene-based workflow could jumpstart my creative juices, I was hooked, and now it’s a staple in my live sets, too.

Coming from Logic and Pro Tools, I could handle the lack of editing tools, but Ableton has stubbornly held on to its electronic musician’s toy chest perception. Dispensing with ‘serious’ tools in favour of fun. The idea of labouring over a section of music seems at odds with Ableton’s manifesto. When it comes to getting ideas down into coloured blocks, thou shalt not delay, except as an effect, in which case, go wild. 

Still, one omission seemed to sit on the fence, swaying between the backyards of ‘fast and loose’ and OCD. Namely, comping. 

When comping was stripped away from me back during ‘the move’, I still managed. Mind you, I did try all the workarounds in a desperate attempt to imitate the feature but eventually gave up trying. In many ways, it was a net benefit to go back to tape-style tracking. Having to delete a section in order to redo it really made me pay fresh attention to each recording’s pitch, timing and rhythm. It also forced me to pay better attention to how each part fit as I was laying it down. I couldn’t go back and select another take if my arrangement started to go awry.

On the other hand it was time to take the kid gloves off. I felt I’d been around the DAW block enough times to be entrusted with a tool that had become a staple of every other mainstream DAW. Besides, it doesn’t have to be used to craft the perfect take, it’s just as likely to be used for improvisation.

FOLLOW TEMPO

On the complete opposite side of the coin is the live tempo follow feature. It’s a feature largely aimed at a particular use-case, or should I say, type of live ensemble where you have playback with a live drummer. It ‘can’ do other things, but this is where the feature excels, or rather, is reliably successful. 

To set it up, you toggle it on in the Link/Temp/MIDI section of your preferences. Set the external audio input source from your interface and you’re ready to go. It can be from a dedicated ‘tempo mic’ but can also be an audio input that’s feeding your session. 

In my tests it also seemed to respond better to louder sources, so make sure your preamp is gained up, and also likes a bit of low or mid range. Counter intuitively, it doesn’t do anything when you give it the ol’ drumstick click ‘1, 2, 3, 4’. Best practise would be to have a tap tempo device handy to dial in the range of your tempo prior to, or at the beginning of, your performance.

It also only likes to change incrementally. While I could double the tempo of a song from 80bpm to 160bpm, I had to slowly ramp it up over a minute. Sudden jumps won’t register at all and if your source/drummer isn’t always within a 5bpm range (max), you run the risk of skipping a beat altogether.

It has its applications, but it would require fastidious preparation to incorporate it into a live set. It will follow along  with more complex inputs, like guitar, but it doesn’t reliably track yet to hold over the duration of a take. In the future, I could see this being a great tool for recording because you can use it to record song tempo automation while tracking. It means you could theoretically record a singer-songwriter without a click, track the tempo of their guitar, then lay an arrangement down to the tempo they were most comfortable with. That’s theoretical though, it would often take a little while to find its feet and wouldn’t reliably lock in each take.

BIG KID’S MIDI, MPE ARRIVES

Besides vocal comping, another feature Ableton users have been baying for is MIDI Polyphonic Expression (MPE). Well, it’s finally arrived. It’s not ubiquitously applied to all of Ableton’s built-in synths, and in the current beta state, not all MPE plug-ins automatically work. However, it is fully enabled in all versions of Live and come launch time, I’d expect most incompatibilities to be largely sorted. 

Overall, MPE has been well-implemented by Ableton, managing to fit its innate complexities into the interface without it feeling too squeezed. There’s also a handy MPE Control MIDI plug-in, which allows you to adjust the plug-in’s response to an MPE input so you can perform functions like inverting a parameter’s response to make pitch go up when you swipe down, or adjust curves to make a parameter ramp up exponentially in response to constant pressure.

Of Ableton’s own synths, only Wavetable, Simpler and Sampler have been updated to handle MPE. Sampler allows you to assign two parameters to each of the MPE axes, whereas you can use Wavetable’s modulation matrix to add multiple parameters to each MPE axes. Simpler is fairly limited, with no control over or visual of what parameters are being modulated. It seems most are limited to per-note pitch controls.

If you don’t own a fully-capable MPE device, both of Ableton’s pad controllers, Push and Push 2, can now employ polyphonic aftertouch to activate the Pressure axes of MPE, which makes them much more expressive devices.

POWER USER MOVES

There are a lot of subtle, but powerful changes to the Live interface. Most of which reside in the Clip View of MIDI tracks where you edit your piano roll.

Loop, time signature and groove settings are all combined under the main header now, with the launch/follow action panel expandable when in Session View. All other functions have been separated into tabbed panels. There are Notes/Sample and Envelope tabs for Audio and MIDI clips, with an additional Expression tab for MIDI clips. You can shortcut between each tab with Option+1, 2 or 3. Let’s take a look through some of the updates to the MIDI clip view.

Randomize – Once you’ve programmed or played your sequence, you can randomise velocities and the chance that each note triggers. Set your range — 0-127 for velocity and 0-100% for chance – then select one or more notes and hit ‘Randomize’. Ableton will then move those values around their starting place within the range you set.

To really unleash the randomness, you can also set a range of possible velocities for each note by grabbing the pin head and Command [Mac] or Control [Windows] dragging it up or down. A dot appears in the pin head once you’ve set a velocity range, with a highlighted zone to denote your range. Also, if you select a chance value other than 100%, a grey triangle appears in the top right hand corner of that note.

Scale Features – There are now three levels of scale representation in the Piano Roll. Firstly, you can toggle the scale view on or off under the main header. This highlights which notes in the piano roll are in your scale. Secondly, you can press ‘K’ and that will highlight each note lane in your scale as well as make the root notes more prominent. Lastly, next to the Fold toggle is a Scale toggle, which folds to only the notes in your preselected scale. That way, any note you draw in the piano roll will be in key. If you already have notes outside your preselected scale, they will still display when folded but their lanes won’t be highlighted.

MPE Editing — Lastly, more automation lanes appear under the expression tab. Alongside Velocity, there’s Slide, Pressure and Release Velocity, allowing you fine editing control over your MPE parameters. MPE data is naturally complex to display, and Ableton has managed to keep these windows from being overly crowded despite the information they are carrying. While it’s fine to incorporate MPE, it’s not always easy to play accurately. So it’s great that Ableton has devised an effective way of viewing and editing your parameters. 

FOLLOW ACTIONS

If you’ve ever tried putting together a live set in Session view, you would probably wonder why it’s taken until Version 11 to implement these changes to Follow Actions. There are two main changes. Firstly, you can now toggle on ‘Link’ to trigger the follow action at the end of the clip without having to specify the exact bar:beat value. Secondly, you can now apply follow actions to entire scenes! It can’t be linked, as it’s over an entire scene which would likely hold different clip lengths, so you still have to input a bar:beat value. Each scene also now has a distinct number, so when you rename your scenes, you don’t lose which number it is.

Both of these inclusions are massive time savers when setting up basic, user-controllable playback systems.

The third inclusion is another randomised chance feature. You can now set up two different follow action possibilities and then adjust a slider which alters the chance of Ableton choosing one or the other.

MACROS IN MANY VARIATIONS

Macros are indispensable when it comes to creating dynamic electronic live performances. In Live 11, you have 16 of them — up from eight — and can add or subtract them at will. If you just want one big knob, you can do that, or you can get ultra-granular.

There’s also now a Macro Variations section where you can save snapshots of your macro settings to quickly jump from one sound to the next. And because Ableton has decided to randomise everything in Live 11, you can randomise macros, too. It’s a simple way to get tons of sounds out of the one instrument rack; just keep hitting the randomise button to see what comes down the pipe. You can also exclude particular macros — like volume — from randomisation, or from including them in your Variations. 

WRAPPING UP

It’s always a difficult task going through all the updates to a DAW. There are still some high-voted requests that didn’t make the cut, like ‘Bounce in Place’ or freezing groups down to one audio track. Another that would be a nice companion to comping is ARA 2 support for seamless integration with vocal tuning programs like Melodyne. However, Ableton is typically slow to move on external standards. After all, MPE was a long time coming.

Thankfully, Ableton has largely paid attention to users’ feature requests and picked some winners. Better still, the integration of MPE is solid and will hopefully make it a standard across MIDI plug-ins and devices going forward. For Suite users, there’s plenty more in the way of new packs and effects when you upgrade, so make sure to peruse the rest of this review to get a sense of the added value you’d be getting.

Pricing will depend on when you purchase. If you are new to Ableton, you can purchase Live 10 versions now for 20% off and receive a free upgrade to Live 11. You can also save 20% on upgrades from Live 10 to 11 if you purchase before the release date. Considering Live 11 will be released on Live 10’s three-year anniversary, the upgrade to Suite works out at roughly A$100/year. While it’s a bit to shell out at first — especially for Suite — the pricing works out a lot cheaper than any subscription-based DAW. The upgrade itself is almost a no-brainer if this is your DAW of choice.

THE MD435

The MD435 is easy to use with a strong professional sound. It’s bright rather than shiny, with a frequency response that is essentially flat from 150Hz up to 2kHz, before rising rapidly to be adding nearly 10dB at 5kHz before dropping back to about 5dB extra between 8kHz – 12kHz, then rolling off quite sharply. This boost delivers a big part of the crisp, clear Sennheiser sound that has made the e935/945 and MD421 popular. This brightness is well balanced by a thick low end with a controlled proximity effect in close to the mic.

Pop resistance is good, although it doesn’t like wind or heavy breathing much. The high frequencies are pleasingly smooth and sibilance is not accentuated. The emphasised top and big bottom up-close leaves the mic sounding somewhat scooped in direct comparison to other popular vocal mics but in use it sounds rich and produced.

The polar pattern is a narrowish cardioid shape that’s sharply maintained across the mid frequencies, contributing to the high resistance to feedback on stage, but it’s still forgiving if the singer moves around while performing. The MD435 is a natural live vocal mic suitable for any stage, interview or broadcasting duties.

THE MD445

The 445 is different. It <looks> normal enough but when you speak or sing into it you will hear the difference. The mic produces a surprising output level for a given input. It startled me the first time I spoke into it in front of speakers, the low handling noise combined with the high output delivered more volume than I was expecting — like a car with a powerful engine and a sensitive throttle. Part of this high output is physical: the head of the mic is almost flat and the diaphragm is right underneath the grille with only enough room for a thin layer of pop-busting foam, so if you’re right up on the mic you’re only a couple of millimetres from the diaphragm, and it sounds close and present.

The other contributor is the remarkably tight hyper-cardioid polar pattern with its extreme rejection of sound arriving from the sides and rear. If you’re not in the sweet spot with this mic, not much happens at all but up close and in front of the mic, it puts you in your own world of sound. Moving around the mic to the side, the rejection happens suddenly and dramatically, it sounds like some phase trickery going on to me, and it’s very effective.

CAN COMPETE

The MD445’s frequency response is more aggressive than the MD435, rising steadily from around 200Hz to 2kHz before an even larger boost centred around 5kHz. In the lower frequency range there’s slightly less level in the low mids and not as much proximity effect. The combination of the brightened response and the high rejection to off-axis sound make the MD445 ideal in situations where the vocal is hard to hear due to low input or high ambient levels. The tight pattern and enhanced rejection allows for almost physics-denying levels in the stage monitors. It’s interesting to hot-swap it with other mics. It’s no more likely to feed back but it’s much louder. Depending on the voice it could be too bitey in the high-mids if you don’t need so much cut-through. The only time I haven’t liked the e935/945 so much is on strident female vocals, where they can get hard sounding if the voice has a lot of 3kHz – 5kHz in it. The flatter response of the MD441 or e965 can be better on those voices.

YOU AM EYE FOR DETAIL

You Am I guitarist Davey Lane was a willing test pilot when he performed at the Theatre Royal Castlemaine. Accustomed to playing on loud stages he was performing solo on this occasion but still wanted plenty in the wedges. I had my preferred Neumann KSM8 set up but it didn’t take long before he was requesting more level in the wedges. I installed the MD445 and that solved the volume problem straight away. It was a lot more focussed and easier for him to hear. With a clear PA in an ideal outdoor setting I didn’t really need the cut the mic delivered, the MD445 would do its best work in difficult acoustic situations, but it sounded good — when he was right in front of the mic, the slightest turn of the head to look at the neck of his guitar and poof, like magic he was gone. 

I was thinking about that when Davey started to feel the 445 was somewhat bass shy. The subdued proximity effect perhaps not giving him that close-up boominess many singers use as part of their sound. I was happy to swap to the MD435 rather than tell him he couldn’t turn his head for the performance and, like Little Bear’s porridge, it proved to be ‘just right’. Smooth with strong presence in the FOH, our artist found it more to his liking up close and I could still hear him when he strayed slightly from the mic. As an indication of the output of the MD445 I raised the channel fader nearly 10dB when I swapped to the MD435.

STATE OF THE UNION 

Immigrant Union were on the following week, great band, and one of their singers, Peter Lubulwa was happy to try the MD435. The other two singers had their own Shure Beta 57s so it was a good comparison. The MD435 is twice the price and you could hear the difference, the high frequencies were smoother with good detail, less boxiness in the low-mids and less bark with good intelligibility in the high mids… it sounded more expensive.

Both mics are available as screw-on wireless capsules with standard threads for use with wireless systems. Accessories are up to standard. The padded case offers good protection and is big enough to hold the mic with clip attached. The mic slips in and out of the clip in a satisfying way and it holds the weight securely.

The MD label is used for premium Sennheiser microphones. The MD435/445 microphones sell at a new price point, below the MD421 and MD441 but still ‘up there’ for handheld dynamic mics. I expect to see more of the MD435 around the traps, due to its general purpose nature and friendly character. The MD445 is hardcore with a more limited appeal but could be greatly appreciated by bands with the problem of a low-output singer(s) with a loud band.