ART PRO VLA II – Stereo Valve Compressor – Hidden gem or Chinese rubbish?

It took me quite some time to come the conclusion that the ART PRO VLA II would be a decent compressor to add to my audio arsenal. ART have in the past and for good reason been considered by most to be one of the worst brand names (Next to Behringer) on the planet. A reputation for cheap Chinese made processors that on a regular day should be avoided like the plague. I seem to remember owning an ART “Tube” preamp that was one of the noisiest devices I’ve ever heard. This experience successfully put me off ART for a very long time. Until recently my opinions of these processors was “pure chinese rubbish”! During some midnight internet adventures  I discovered many Read more »

Behold! The new Cape Audio College AKAI room.

A few days ago, the Cape Audio College sealed a deal with audio peripheral manufacturers AKAI professional. AKAI are the company behind the legendary MPC series of hardware samplers (Used extensively by just about everyone who has ever released a Hip Hop album) and the stella APC40 Ableton Live controller that is currently a preferred favorite by Ableton experts everywhere. Apart from that, AKAI also manufacture a range of extremely hard waring and high quality software controllers. The MPK series offers unparalleled functionality paired with the very best build quality, and should be seriously considered for those in the market for a decent controller keyboard. AKAI also manufacture a range of Read more »

Cape Audio College Live and Direct 2012 off with a bang!

This time of the year is always enjoyable here at the College, Summer is in the air and people are beginning to venture further than their living rooms again. The Cape Audio College has been throwing the Live and Direct party every year for the past five and we’ve always managed to pack in the punters and let loose for a sort of pre-exam bash. This year was no exception as one and all joined us for a great evening with some great bands and DJ’s as well as tequila girls and our annual MC battle. The venue of choice this year was Cafe Zula on Long street, an interesting and Read more »

N.I & Softube Fruitful Collaboration

This past week we saw a dream come true for many Gear heads world-wide, Native Instruments in collaboration with Softube, have released 3 plugins (A Enhanced EQ, A Passive EQ and a Vari Comp) that are apparently the best thing since sliced bread and match up to the big boys like UAD’s Massive Passive and the  Read more »

Behringer: The Comeback

We’ve all worked on some piece Behringer gear at some point and some of us have even been taught to stay away from Behringer for a number of reasons but the fact of the matter is most of us entry level engineers will have to work on these units either for lack of capital or lack of trust from our employer not to break anything,  well it looks like they have tried Read more »

AVID Pro Tools tour 2012 event at the Cape Audio College

The event has kicked off with representatives from S.E.G.M.A demonstrating some fantastic new units from AVID, the makers of Pro Tools digital audio workstation software and Hardware. First up Maldwyn Greenwood (SEGMA CEO) gave some of Cape Towns local dealers a hands on demo of the new D-Command ES controller, C|24 control surface as well as the smaller Artist Control surface. These units represent the very cutting edge of DAW technology worldwide and have been fitted in some of the largest studio facilities in the world. Some of the biggest budget hollywood studios have Read more »

Auria the new DAW ?

This Product got released yesterday and as far as i can tell there are no reviews yet but this seems to be the 1st real fully functional DAW that runs on a tablet. This is not a DAW controller or some cheap imitation according to Wave machine labs this is the real deal with everything from Read more »

Dave Subkleve guest lecture.

With over 30 years of sound engineering experience Dave Subkleve sure knows sound. Dave has a passion for audio gear and software plug-ins that he uses with great skill in order to produce world-class mixes. The final year students were given an opportunity to attend an advanced mix lecture from Dave who gave them some great insight into being a professional sound engineer. “Sound Engineering is a great career choice and pays my bill, but it is not all glam. It requires hard work and dedication from young up and coming engineers”.

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DAW Controllers for Android tablets and phones.

I remember a day when software controllers where these ugly grey boxes with big rubber F keys. They had nasty, complicated MIDI integration and cost more than a family car. That wasn’t all that long ago and with technology moving at such a pace I find myself wondering what we are in store for next. Minority report styled holo-decks? Telepathy controlled motorized faders? Plutonium based Wordclocks? Perhaps!  But for now, we will have to suffice with the current craze that seems to be taking over the world. iPad’s and androids have found their way Read more »

The South African music business according to “Roach”

So, you have written and produced your music, now what?

With a staggering figure of over 250 000 CD releases coming out in 2011 (this equates to over 850 new releases a day and 35 million new mp3 tracks added to the already 27 trillion different releases on the internet currently). How do you stand out of the crowd?

Hilton “Roach” Roth came through to the Modern Music Producer’s course to shed some light on this difficult subject.

Hilton has been involved in many aspects of the South African music industry: he co-founded Krushed and Sorted and the African Dope record Label Read more »