I Love to put vocals in the Center, to keep it in a stabil position, but not only! I always put a decorrelated Version also in L and R, I noticed in hearing many many Tracks in my Playlist that many engineers do that.....To make the Vocals bigger it helps to upmix it with a Plugin and spread it a little...but don't use the Size or just an Aux. The Signals have to be uncorrelated, that's very important to avoid Phasing Issues....

You have to be careful using the LFE send on the panner because depending on how your session is configured, you could end up sending a full-range signal to the LFE instead of a filtered one. Most Atmos mixers use a separate Aux to feed the LFE to ensure they are filtering the content properly. By the way, I think Bob Clearmountain and some other engineers would debate you on center channel use. ;) Plus, the IP issue is kind of moot these days because there are plenty of pieces of software that can strip a vocal--or nearly anything--out of a mix.

Thank You for your review and honesty - I'm hoping someone will do an honest review comparison of Spark Live vs Spark Edge, especially concerning volume and venue use. The DB rating of the units is nearly the same.

Dolby Atmos complete waste of time .

What out was the sub?

First time on your site, and your review was a refreshing, honest take. 😊

‘There are no rules in pro-audio.’ The most envigorating and encouraging quote for enthusiasts by, well James of course!

Great stuff! Thanks so much for sharing. -chaz

Honestly, the way you engineered those drums, you could have put any mic anywhere and it probably would have sounded amazing. You did an incredible job on those tones and mixing!

Not a mic question but what are those things on the cymbal stands (just under the cymbals)? Are they some kind of isolation mount?

Great video mate, sounds pretty decent. 👍🏻

Nice vid, James. Was that the opening of Easy Lover at the start? You make a great point about not needing to follow the rules, the Icon sounds amazing with your snare, no doubt helped by how well you’ve set up the kit and mic placement. During my stint at the BBC back in the mid-80s there were plenty of operating procedures on how to do just about every aspect of recording, setting up and maintaining equipment and so on, which was all about repeatability of results and meeting broadcasting technical standards. For me, this is all about always challenging the status quo to push our audio craft forwards, opening up possibilities to those that follow in our footsteps to make better and different music.

The ‘91A has a flat, or notched response switch on its underside, looks like there is an usefully positioned, aperture cut-out to allow access when mounted on the plate. I’d use my Evans head L-pillow or dampened head like EV3 or equivalent to allow it to breathe! The big advantage of the floating mic is no additional metal, apart from the mic itself, and non-static producing Velcro’s or synthetics to charge up due to a lot of moving air. Additionally bungees are generally way too strong for the task.

This is not dry / wet

EC! Love it..Go James!

🎉

Doesn't Moises do this?

Thanks; really insightful. Would have liked to have seen how the Spark Live holds up against ... itself!! In other words, hook a mic and guitar up AND pump a backing track though it and tell me if it holds up or sounds like a jumbled mess. Maybe a future video?

I got my younger son something like this for his last birthday (the 4, not the 10). I find it way cooler than he does. Is there a pitch correction function on there to get the two tracks in tune with each other?

The soundonsound review say the old design is more useful. Oh my. The new design strategy isn’t focused enough on finding the issues in the midrange. Whoops. So while I am glad the son of the founder is keeping the brand alive they have not reproduced the original CTS driver correctly. It’s too broad and forgiving. CTS was a car speaker company. I know I bought them for my speaker company back in the 80s. Also used in the first Bose 901 series.

wow! well said. i value your opinion!

Classic track 🔥🎸 Great video 👍🏻

I couldn’t find any info on whether this works with Soundtoys plugins; has anyone tried this?

You’re more of a drum and bass kind of guy. Good stuff.

Hey Mr DJ…😉🤣

I have that boss line selector. Would that work for W/D/W setup? Would I get any phase or ground issues? How do you recommend hooking it up for best results.

great video.. Thanks..

Thanks for the video , could you please share the ref to the ceiling speaker mount that works with the truss mount, it will help me a lot🙏🙂

Hi Jivey, I have twin x and I bought the multichannel version of soundid. but when I tried to test it I found that my MONLR can sound normally, LFE can't, and LINE's 3/4 can't actively sound. It's not like it can sound at the same time like it usually does with LFE management. How do I fix this please, I noticed you were smooth when testing the interface.

cool, but peoole dont use amps anymore, do this works with modelers too?

Looks cool. I am waiting to hear a mix. Will you post something online to hear?

Couldn't you use the antelope Galaxy 32?

Nice. Getting excited to hear the results of your endeavours now!

Just use a Sonitus Acoustics The Kicker 2.0 22"x16" Pillow; With a suitable groove for boundary microphones such as Shure Beta 91 A… easy, quick, stable

Just use a Sonitus Acoustics The Kicker 2.0 22"x16" Pillow; With a suitable groove for boundary microphones such as Shure Beta 91 A… easy, quick, stable

Unfortunately that's what you're paying for not customer support, you're paying for all the marketing.. it's a good product but it's overpriced for what it does

98 DB at what distance? It's rated was 118 DB RMS, 121 peak at 1 meter

It's a 450 watt peak power. 150 RMS

Here's a surprising thing about both of these amps. First off I'm a line 6 HELIX user and none of these amplifiers are as good quality wise, sound wise, modeling wise versatility-wise then the line 6 Helix that is 10 years old still giving updates all the time without paying. It's just amazing. That's for going out professional use. But spark is trying. And unfortunately trying not to give you everything to keep buying stuff lol!! I also own the mini.. I ordered and I'll be trying the spark. My reasoning I like affordability busking. The mini is great but still not loud enough to keep up with my natural voice without a microphone which is the real reason why I bought it to replace my acoustic guitar around the campfire. You could make an electric sound just like an acoustic. But 10 watts is just barely loud enough. The main difference is. You would think the loudness right? Actually if you look at the specifications the edge with only 65 Watts RMS ( is 116 DB RMS output, with 120 DB max ) The live is ( ONLY TWO MORE DB RMS LOUDER AT 118, And the max output is only one DB louder at 121 ) these two are very close when it comes to loudness. Obviously the live has the ability to do stereo out of that cabinet You don't need to send the outputs to two separate speakers. You put it on its side it's stereo which is cool. As an audio engineer what I'm thinking. The difference in the loudness means that THEY SACRIFICED FREQUENCY RESPONSE FOR THE EDGE TO GET IT LOUDER!! What this means is the wider the frequency range.. ( The less efficient the speaker is ) so for instance the spark company is very intelligent about giving you certain information. If you look at Mackie and other companies. They will tell you the output SPL in the base region negative DB. For instance if you look at the Showbox. They give you all this information but they also tell you. At somewhere around 55 hz You're going to get ( -3 dB ) which means the loudness will be a little bit lower at 55 Hertz -3db is considered very good low end for a loud speaker like that. Then it will tell you at 50 DB it's -10 which is a big difference at that range. That's why I would PA speakers you need a subwoofer!! Ask for spark specifications they are very GENERAL AND DON'T GIVE YOU THAT INFORMATION INTERESTING!! For instance both the spark and the edge just give you a frequency range. 45 to 20. They don't tell you what the negative DB is at 45. PROBABLY FOR A REASON. My guess is that at 45 Hertz for the live. It's probably negative 12 to 15 dB!! And I would say for the edge. It's probably like negative 18 dB. I would say comparing it to the Showbox at about 55 Hertz. With the live it would probably be about a -5db or 6.. and the edge will probably be like a -10 I know this because as an engineer. SPEAKER TECHNOLOGY HAS NOT CHANGED!! It really hasn't just you get different materials and maybe class d amplifiers that don't produce as much heat but they don't sound as good as class A or A b.. Bottom line is the more DB output you have In a single speaker the narrower the low end frequency range will be. This is also why they use horns.. because horns are up to 10 times more efficient than a standard speaker. Just cup your mouth. And y'all really loud watch how much an amplifies the sound. Then take your hands away. That's what horns do but they also color the sound a lot. That's why you do not see horns in a studio when you're mixing. You don't need the power in the loudness. The other thing is the looper.. HOW THE HECK CAN YOU NOT HAVE THE LOOPER IN THE LIVE I WOULD HAVE BOUGHT THAT ONE!! And it's a little bit louder, a little bit better low end. Again the company is cool. But they're just never giving you everything because they've turned into A PHONE COMPANY IF YOU WILL!! Trying to make you upgrade every year to take your money ( unlike professional companies like line 6 that do not do that to you ) They just leave something off, wattage, size, power, looper, eventually stuff like effects loops, to make you want to keep coming back. Money grubbing. In the customer support is really not that good. You can talk to a line six representative, Mackie representative talk shop anytime. It seems like spark is more about marketing and then charging you the money for it that's why everything they make is so expensive. Just to get the edge to do everything I want affordability wise. Having to buy A battery, the tone x only because I want the expression pedal I love my XSONIC pedal but doesn't have an input for the expression for the Wawa, then you got to buy the Jimi Hendrix experience Wawa petal that should come with it for $20, MONEY GRUBBING THIS ALL ADDS UP TO OVER $700 IT'S CRAZY!! they should always give you at least one Wawa pedal for free and then if you want different ones you could buy them again money grubbing. Here's my take because of what they've been doing. AS SOON AS EVERYONE GETS THEIR EDGE NEXT YEAR OR WITHIN 7 MONTHS YOU'LL HEAR A PROMOTION ABOUT THE SPARK LIVE WITH THE LOOPER LOL. Making everyone give them more money again. Think about the spark live is a new amp still what is it over a year old the most people been talking about the looper forever they could have put it in there and give you everything you need in that small package NOPE THEY WANT YOUR MONEY!! So I've talked enough. Sorry about that Peace out God bless.

Too long of a cable is annoying like the DT 770 pro

You’ve got a sq2 kick drum with a huge boomerang pillow in it,why not try a Evan’s eq pillow

No way, king of England

So it's an amp?

100% correct James. I'm a happy VooDoo Labs user, have been for a long time & these days have an artist deal (which is great). I refuse to build any rack or pedalboard without what I consider to be appropriate power management. Of course reliability & the logistics of the build are significantly affected & the sonic benefits are very noticeable. Those that can't understand/hear the difference are welcome to do their thing at a far lower level of expectation. 😉

you can practice your software skills. the software is a nightmare and full of bugs…. worst on the market. sounds great. but so so bad sw

Nice. I went for a Kali 7.1.4 system. Except I would have recommended using the IN-5s for heights as well. That way you can mount horizontal rather than the LP series needing to be vertical. Just more room to walk under, my room is only 2.4m high so it definitely helped. I did my setup about a year ago now, had to make some compromises, like my side surrounds are at 90 degrees, cause of a stupid door. But, it’s fine. Measurement software sorts that quite well. It’s definitely a steep learning curve, but Dolby has some PDFs that are useful.. good luck!

Yeah I want that

Hello everyone, I’m receiving my new Apollo Twin X Quad GEN 2 this Tuesday, and I have a relevant question: Can the calibration be done using a microphone I already have in my studio (Neumann U87ai), or does it need to be done with the official Sonarworks microphone? If so, is it included with the Universal Audio sound card? 😵‍💫

Why did you make a video with the UAD Apollo Gen 2 and then switch to the Oria? Don’t you think you should tell your fans what’s going on?

what audio interface are you using? im planing on geting an 18i20 4th gen to make my yamaha msp atmos setup