MCM Productions invests in new technical and AV division

Posted on February 7th, 2008 by admin.
Categories: Audio Visual, Business News.

If you're new here, you may want to subscribe to my RSS feed. Thanks for visiting!

MCM Productions is a fully equipped agency that offers ‘creative business communications’ in events, video, broadcast and graphics and produce high quality communication tools.

The company recently announced the acquisition of leading Southampton-based, AV and technical production company Lite Relief, as a new division within its business.

MCM’s client base boasts John Lewis, Royal Bank of Scotland, Warburtons and Mothercare. The acquisition of Lite Relief comes with a large store of AV equipment, warehouse space and an existing client portfolio including Southampton FC, Hampshire Chamber of Commerce and Hampshire Cricket Club.

Lite Relief has so far operated two distinct services:  Audio Visual and Technical Solutions to the corporate sector across the South Coast, as well as renting specialist and general AV equipment to local businesses and theatre companies.

MCM’s southern office will manage the entire AV, technical, design and production stock and be operationally managed by two newly created positions which will support all areas of the business – from corporate clients through to smaller, local businesses.

Neil Crespin, Managing Director of mcm Productions, said of the purchase:

 “Meeting the demands of delivering tangible and successful results for clients in an increasingly competitive market has never been more challenging.  Lite Relief has been a long term supplier to mcm, and this strategic acquisition strengthens our position in the market place at both a local, national and European level.”

0 comments.

Marshall Electronics release 24 Bit/96Khz Mic with USB

Posted on February 6th, 2008 by admin.
Categories: Mic's and Headphones, New Technology.

There are mixed feelings about Marshall Electonics‘ latest release, the MXL USB.008-24.

A 24 Bit/96Khz, HDTV Broadcast quality USB microphone; Marshall have come up with something which is pretty much ‘The Works’ on paper. Podcasters and home recordists alike now have an all-in-one solution for all their needs.

Of course, the pro’s are all over it, wondering whether Marshall Electronics has sacraficed quality for features. Only time will tell. If it delivers what ME says it will, though, then you’re looking at the first of a new wave of plug ‘n’ play solutions.

The MXL USB .008 24 features  32 mm pressure gradient condenser capsule with a gold sputtered diaphragm,  24-bit A/D and D/A converters, 96 kHz recording capability and a dynamic range of 114 dB.  A low nose analog front end, with front panel gain control, keeps signal at the correct levels before the A/D section. With a 1/8th-inch stereo headphone jack and adjustable level control the mic provides a convenient means to monitor a recording—with zero latency, while bypassing the computer entirely. The MXL USB.008-24 also has a mix control for adjusting the balance between playback and the direct source signal—providing a fully self-contained monitoring solution for multitrack recording. A attractive blue LED behind the grill illuminates the large capsule while providing visual confirmation that the microphone is powered and active.

0 comments.

Cambridge Music Technology launch new courses

Posted on February 5th, 2008 by admin.
Categories: Mic's and Headphones, Studio Shenanigans, Technical Education.

A new range of day courses, founded by Sound On Sound contributor Mike Senior, has been launched by Cambridge Music Technology.

Mike is the author of SOS cover features including Recording Guitars  , and the Piano Recording piece in Sound On Sound’s January 2008 issue. He will give live demonstrations of audio equipment and techniques so that atendees can compare different studio gear and recording approaches first-hand.

The courses cover topics such as vocal production, electric guitar recording, drum miking, piano recording, and mixing, with special emphasis on exploring the techniques employed by top-name producers.

Vocal

In the vocal production course, for example, participants will be able to take part in a shootout of mics costing between £80 and £2000, allowing them to make their own mind up about what yields the best results and value for money.

Mike has also recently appeared as a guest lecturer at London’s School of Audio Engineering (SAE), where he gave a talk to students about mixing on a budget.

Put your money where his mouth is!

The courses, delivered by Mike and his hand-picked team, cost £145
per person, and run from 10am to 4pm, with time for Q&A. They take
place on Saturdays in selected locations around Cambridge.

Course Dates:

Recording Electric Guitars: Compare the recording techniques of the
world’s top producers first-hand, and learn how to apply the same
principles in your own studio. Saturday 8th March 2008

Maximum Drums, Minimum Mics: Lots of famous producers can get a great
drum sound without using masses of mics. Find out how they do this,
and how you can make these tactics work for you. Saturday 15th March
2008

Mixing Secrets For The Small Studio: Over the years, professional
producers have worked out how to make consistently high-quality mixes
even when the gear and acoustics are far from perfect. Discover the
benefits of these skills for yourself and learn how to remedy the
mixing errors most commonly made by less experienced engineers.
Saturday 29th March 2008

Recording Pianos: Compare the wide variety of different mic
techniques for recording grand and upright pianos, so that you know
when to use them and how to get the best out of them. Saturday 5th
April 2008

Vocal Production: Learn how to make vocal performances shine in this
series of live recording, editing, and mixing demonstrations. Plus,
take part in a shootout of vocal mics of varying budgets. Saturday
12th April 2008

0 comments.

Review: Blaupunkt Lucca 3.5 Satellite Navigation System

Posted on February 4th, 2008 by admin.
Categories: New Technology, Take A Walk On The Live Side.

Audiotechnews spent the majority of last weekend up north, where the weather was grim, the tech specs that we sent ahead had obviously been ignored completely and the competence of all staff at one of the venues quite clearly left at the door.

Seriously - when your equipment spec looks something like this:

36 CHANNEL DESK WITH 6 AUX SEND. 36-8-2 (MIDAS/SOUNDCRAFT/YAMAHA)

SUITABLE MULTICORE FOR SYSTEM

1 X DIGITAL REVERB UNIT

3 X SPX 900/90

2 X STEREO COMPRESSOR/LIMITER

8 X NOISE GATES

1 X MINI DISC PLAYER/DAT/CASSETTE PLAYER

1 X CD PLAYER

1 X INTERCOM SYSTEM BETWEEN FOH-MONITOR DESKS

2 X 30 BAND GRAPHIC EQUALIZERS

And what you get looks more like this:

24 CHANNEL DESK WITH 4 AUX SEND, but only 3 work.

(Fisher Price/Tonka desk)

UNSUITABLE MULTICORE FOR SYSTEM - 16 inputs on stage

1 X DIGITAL REVERB UNIT

0 Compressors

0 NOISE GATES

1 X Useless employee

Leave the graphic up to fate.

It doesn’t make for a fulfilling weekend of gigs.  We would have been well within our rights to cancel altogether, but quite frankly, the show must always go on.

So the highlight of the weekend for me was that we were able to arrive at the venues stress free and early due to the Satellite Navigation skills of the Blaupunkt Lucca 3.5 Edition.

The Lucca comes complete with a music player, and photo viewer (which we didn’t actually use on the trip, but have tried out since. Audiotechnews can report that sound quality is better than a mobile phone, as is the image quality).

On The Road

Programming the Lucca is fairly easy, although there is no obvious way to program in postcodes. Instead, it’s necessary to type the name of your destination, and then the name of the street you want to go to, which is all a bit time consuming. Just as well I’d already programmed the information into the device before we left, using the eraser on the end of a pencil, or the rocky movement from the van would have made sure that the delicate touchscreen misunderstood my every intention!

Having said all that, this all in one unit has a brilliant database of maps (worldwide!!), is quick and smooth in its scrolling, has clear graphic display, with zoomable view, plenty of volume - more than you’d ever need, and sits in its own holder, which you can vacuum suck onto your windscreen or dashboard.

The directions were impeccable, and it even offers alternative routes, which really helped us out when the weather turned from awful to severe!

This unit is definitely up there with the best of them, and ATN only has the one criticism, about the lack of an obvious postcode feature.

More like this please, Blaupunkt!

1 comment.

M1 north - Germany

Posted on February 1st, 2008 by admin.
Categories: You Might Not Care But We Do.

Hi guys

At the time this message appears on the page, I will be somewhere between Northumberland and Langholm in Scotland, using the latest in Sat Nav technology.

At the time of writing this, however, the Sat Nav thinks it’s in Germany, which doesn’t bode too well for our ETA!

There’s some mad weather going off in the UK right now, and snow is expected, so I’m making an early start.

Hopefully I’ll be back to update you by Monday morning.

Chris

0 comments.

« Newer