MTMIncoming

Zen And The Art

Of Mixing Mixerman The title and cover may pastiche a certain well-known book about motorbikes, but this is nonetheless a very practical guide to mixing and mastering, served up by a highly experienced producer who’s not short of a few controversial opinions (SSL desks, for instance, are ‘nothing more than usable’).

Hal Leonard 286pp, £16.99

Managing Your Band Stephen Marcone

This book looks at contracts, royalties, branding and all that other boring stuff you need to know if you want to makemoney out of your musical career, with the newly updated fifth edition taking into account newmusic business developments. Gripping? No. Fun? Not really. Essential reading?

Most certainly! HiMarks Publishing

346pp, £22.50

Book Shelf

The best new music titles to be found on the shelves of your local bookshop

Rockin’ Your Stage Sound Rob Gainey Gainey has been a sound engineer at venues like the WAGandHouse Of Blues, working with a Who’s Who of big-name guitar bands. So few could be better qualified to present this guide to monitors, microphone setup, soundchecking and all other aspects of ensuring a live band sounds great. Hal Leonard, 246pp

£16.99

1000Music Graphics

Clifford Stoltze In this age ofMySpace et al, no doubt manyMTM

readers will have designed their own artwork, websites and so on. If you’re short of inspiration, then in this book, leading graphic artist Stoltze picks out

1,000 classic album sleeves and posters. And if you’re still stuck, there’s a handy index of design agencies, too.

Rockport, 440pp

£12.99

Tweak your tubes BOX CLEVER...

KBO Dynamics has developed the TubeSync Bias Engine V4, an internal hardware bolt-on for tube amps that offers improved sound, longer tube life and lower power consumption.

Virtual monitoring now accessible to all allall

The V4 consists of ‘interceptors’ that sit between the tubes and their seats, plus a main unit that also fits inside the amplifier chassis. Once fitted, the unit monitors the tubes’ output, giving early warning of any failure issues via a series of LEDs, while maintaining a constant power supply to the tubes at a level set by the user via the Bias Engine’s computer interface (this can be done per tube, eradicating the need for matched pairs). A ‘power-down’ feature drops the current level if the tubes are inactive and there’s a Boost button should you want the valves to run hot.

The Bias Engine V4 will be available in Q1 2011, priced £265. Contact KBO Dynamics 01207 585846 Web www.tubesync.co.uk

Focusrite’s VRM (Virtual  Reference Monitoring)  technology, which first made an  appearance in the company’s  top-of-the-range interfaces, is now  available in a standalone box costing  just £80. This means that pretty much  anyone making music can have access  to the huge array of virtual monitors  contained within the VRM Box.

costingcosting muchmuch accessaccess

The VRM Box essentially emulates, in  your headphones, what you’d hear if you  played your track through a pair of  Genelec 1031As. Or a pair of KRK VXT8s,  or a pair of Auratone 5Cs or Yamaha  NS-10s. Or any of various popular  models of hi-fi speaker. This eliminates  the need to spend a small fortune buying  a number of different monitor speakers  – not to mention saving you the  headache of finding room for them all in  a small studio. The built-in headphone  amp has a dynamic range of 108dB and  the Box can be powered from your USB  port. There’s also an S/PDIF input, so it’s  compatible with Pro Tools systems.

Contact Focusrite 01494 462246 Web www.focusrite.com

SOUNDBYTES PolyII’s a cracker! The PolyKB II is an updated version of XILS Lab’s emulation of the classic RSF PolyKobol analogue synth. It’s based on two waveform-morphing oscillators and new features include new patches and new modulation options. Full details at www.xils-lab.com

14 | February 2011 magazine