The Recording Academy

The Recoding Academy is one of the most respected premier outlet for honoring achievements in the recording arts and supporting the music community. The Grammys awards are the only peer presented award to honor artistic achievement. Being part of the Grammy community is huge opportunity and lets fellow peers see your work. In order to become part of the community you must have received technical or creative credit on at-least twelve tracks in the past five years. All recordings must have been commercially released in the U.S. either through traditional distribution channels or recognized online retail settings. When becoming a member of the Academy you are given the right to vote on the Grammy Awards, speak out collectively for your rights as a music maker, attend events and network with others who take their passion for music seriously. Amongst the member of the academy there are more than 5,500 producers, engineers, mixers, and manufacturing professionals that you can collaborate with. The Academy is located in twelve cities including, Atlanta, Chicago, Florida, Los Angeles, Memphis, Nashville, New York, Philadelphia, San Francisco, and Washington D.C. Being in the recording industry myself becoming part of this community will open doors for me that otherwise i would never even see. The people in this community are all like minded Professionals who all have the same passion for music. Networking and meeting individuals like theses will help establish a name for myself and help put my work on the map. With out this community I would be stuck were I am now  which is recording music and wondering how to get it out to more professionals for opinions and feedback. Once a member of this community the opportunity for your music to be heard and noticed is tremendous. Anyone in the music business who qualifies for a membership should join immediately because you never know who in the industry will need you or when you need a professional opinion on your own project.

Art Pro-VLA II

The ART Pro-VLA II is a tube driven Vactrol-based compressor/leveling amplifier designed for tracking, mixing, mastering, live sound, or broadcast situations. By using an opto-electronic design, (as opposed to a more typical VCA driven level detection circuit) the Pro-VLA II allows more compression to be added to an audio source with a more natural, musical sounding output and virtually transparent dynamic leveling. This VCA-less design coupled with a 12AT7 vacuum tube in the gain stage makes the Pro-VLA II an ideal dynamic control device! ART’s Pro-VLA circuitry is a hybrid design utilizing the latest and most advanced analog and tube technology. Using a transformerless design throughout, the Pro-VLA maintains exceptional signal integrity and extremely low noise. Its VCA-less design utilizes optical electronics coupled with a 12AX7 vacuum tube gain stage for superior musical performance. You have the option of switching out the stock tubes and replacing them with aftermarket tubed of your choice for total control of sound coloration. The Pro-VLA also is a soft-knee leveler and, although capable of providing a fully squashed signal, it excels where transparent expressively musical dynamics control is desired. It has full control of Variable threshold, ratio, and output controls. It features fully balanced XLR and 1/4" TRS Inputs and Outputs. With its high quality components and transformerless design you would expect this compressor to be in the price range of a typical DBX compressor. The amazing thing about the Pro-VLA II is that it retails for around $300 which is an exceptional buy. Your not going to find any other product out there on the market that can compete with the quality of the ART compressor for the money you pay. Overall I would say this is a great buy, not only for professionals in the industry, but for home studios as well. I would rate this piece of gear a 5 out 5 and would recommend it for anyone looking for a great compressor at a great price.

RME ADI 8

The recording world has flipped from analog to digital in the past 10 years and how we convert our audio is crucial to great sound. There are many kinds of interfaces from compact to large studio format. If looking for top of the line conversion than RME ADI 8 is the way to go. Let's have a short walk over the front panel from left to right. Setting up the ADI-8 PRO starts with an input sensitivity that perfectly suits your needs and maintains the excellent dynamic range of the AD-Converters. Input Level lets you choose between Lo Gain, +4 dBu, -10 dBV. Each analog input has its own Signal Present and Clip led, so levels and Overload are easy to check. The key bit split allows to spread the 24 bit signal on two outputs. This technique allows two 8-channel 16 bit tape recorders to record 8 channels in 24 bit resolution. Bit split works with both TDIF and ADAT. RME's intelligent clock control provides professional features you won't find anywhere else. First set the clock of the AD-Converter, choose between internal, external or input. The internal clock can be 44.1 or 48 kHz. The DA-Converter has the same settings available. The current state of locking and clock synchronization is shown by blinking or constantly lit leds. The next key digital input determines the used digital input, and the clock source in case input was activated. The RME ADI 8 is a reference-quality, 8-channel A/D and D/A converter in a compact 19" 1U rack mount enclosure. It has 3 gain levels, making it compatible with a wide range of studio equipment - loss is avoided before the signal gets to the A/D converter. It employs a special damping technique: using latest hi-grade electronic switches, the gain switch is placed in the best possible position within the signal path. The ADI 8 has ADAT optical inputs, TDIF 24bit low jitter PLL, Dither, and a virtual sample buffer. All in all this is a top of the line conversion unit. If you have high quality microphones and still cant achieve that professional sound you were looking for than you need a RME converter. I have recorded music for over 5 years and cant believe it took me this long to realize the actual quality of great conversion. I rate this piece of gear a 5 out of 5 and would recommend it for any recording application.