🎧 Austrian Audio & DPA Merger – What this means for both brands
🎙️ PASport VO at NAMM – Industry reactions and future plans
🔊 New Tech & Gear – The latest from Neve, Shure, Focusrite, and beyond
🤖 AI in Audio – Who’s jumping on the bandwagon (and should we be worried?) 👂 Tune in as we share stories, trends, and exclusive insights straight from the NAMM floor! 🎙 Special thanks to our sponsors:
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A big shout out to our sponsors, Austrian Audio and Tri Booth. Both these companies are providers of QUALITY Audio Gear (we wouldn't partner with them unless they were), so please, if you're in the market for some new kit, do us a solid and check out their products, and be sure to tell em "Robbo, George, Robert, and AP sent you"... As a part of their generous support of our show, Tri Booth is offering $200 off a brand-new booth when you use the code TRIPAP200. So get onto their website now and secure your new booth... https://tribooth.com/ And if you're in the market for a new Mic or killer pair of headphones, check out Austrian Audio. They've got a great range of top-shelf gear.. https://austrian.audio/ We have launched a Patreon page in the hopes of being able to pay someone to help us get the show to more people and in turn help them with the same info we're sharing with you. If you aren't familiar with Patreon, it’s an easy way for those interested in our show to get exclusive content and updates before anyone else, along with a whole bunch of other "perks" just by contributing as little as $1 per month. Find out more here.. https://www.patreon.com/proaudiosuite George has created a page that is strictly for Pro Audio Suite listeners, so check it out for the latest discounts and offers for TPAS listeners. https://georgethe.tech/tpas If you haven't filled out our survey on what you'd like to hear on the show, you can do it here: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/ZWT5BTD Join our Facebook page here: https://www.facebook.com/proaudiopodcast And the FB Group here: https://www.facebook.com/groups/357898255543203 For everything else (including joining our mailing list for exclusive previews and other goodies), check out our website https://www.theproaudiosuite.com/ “When the going gets weird, the weird turn professional.” Hunter S Thompson
00:00:00
(Transcribed by TurboScribe.ai. Go Unlimited to remove this message.) Y'all ready to be history?
00:00:01
Get started.
00:00:01
Welcome.
00:00:02
Hi.
00:00:02
Hi.
00:00:03
Hi.
00:00:03
Hello everyone.
00:00:05
To the Pro Audio Suite.
00:00:06
These guys are professional.
00:00:07
They're motivated.
00:00:08
With Tech the VO stars.
00:00:10
George Witton, founder of Source Elements.
00:00:12
Robert Marshall, international audio engineer.
00:00:14
Darren Robbo Robertson and Global Voice.
00:00:16
Andrew Peters, thanks to Triboo, Austrian Audio, Making
00:00:19
Passion Heard.
00:00:20
Source Elements, George the Tech Witton, and Robbo
00:00:23
and AP's international demos.
00:00:25
To find out more about us, check theproaudiosuite
00:00:27
.com.
00:00:28
Line up, man.
00:00:30
Here we go.
00:00:31
And welcome to another Pro Audio Suite.
00:00:33
Thanks to Tribooth.
00:00:35
Don't forget the code.
00:00:36
T-R-I-P-A-P 200 to
00:00:38
get $200 off your Tribooth.
00:00:40
And Austrian Audio, Making Passion Heard.
00:00:43
Now, George did catch up with Austrian Audio
00:00:45
whilst at NAMM in California.
00:00:49
And Robert was there also, of course, on
00:00:50
the Source Elements stand.
00:00:53
So, you guys both have some stories to
00:00:55
tell.
00:00:55
Who wants to kick us off?
00:00:56
I'll kick it off, I guess, because I
00:00:58
was there as a content creator this year.
00:01:02
First time I saw a content creator badge.
00:01:05
So, it's kind of neat because I've been
00:01:06
going long enough and showing up as media
00:01:08
long enough and consistently that they actually now
00:01:11
invite me for the first time.
00:01:12
This is the first year where I got
00:01:14
an email.
00:01:14
Did they let you go without paying them?
00:01:16
Yeah.
00:01:17
This is the first time where I got
00:01:18
an email months in advance expecting me to
00:01:20
be there, asking me, you know, here's where
00:01:23
you get your badge, etc.
00:01:24
So, I had my QR code.
00:01:25
It was awesome.
00:01:27
I parked, went right out of the elevator,
00:01:29
scanned my badge, QR code.
00:01:31
They printed me off a badge and I
00:01:31
was in.
00:01:32
Wait, did they pay for your parking?
00:01:33
No, I paid for parking.
00:01:34
Oh, I was about to say.
00:01:35
Damn.
00:01:36
But, yeah, and I was in.
00:01:38
And what was the very first booth I
00:01:40
wandered into?
00:01:41
Straight from the hallway, Austrian Audio.
00:01:44
It was perfect timing.
00:01:47
Not only that, was it right there.
00:01:48
I was going to sit down and do
00:01:50
that interview that you guys saw on our
00:01:51
Facebook feed.
00:01:52
And they were like, we're doing a press
00:01:54
conference in 10 minutes.
00:01:55
Why don't you stick around for that?
00:01:57
So, it was just amazing timing.
00:01:59
I was there for the press conference and
00:02:00
was there for the announcement that DPA is
00:02:03
now owner of Austrian Audio.
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Yeah.
00:02:06
Which was a big, quite an announcement.
00:02:10
I mean, we knew about it already because
00:02:12
we went through it.
00:02:13
It was already public, but still, it was
00:02:16
quite amazing that that is the case.
00:02:18
So, we're really curious to see what comes
00:02:20
of that.
00:02:21
Actually, talking about that, I know we've gone
00:02:23
through this about the DPA thing before.
00:02:25
But, did it seem like it was a
00:02:26
really positive thing for Austrian Audio, do you
00:02:29
think?
00:02:29
They seemed to see.
00:02:30
Like, when I talked to Bernard, Bernard, right?
00:02:33
Or Bernie?
00:02:34
Bernard.
00:02:35
Yeah, he seemed pretty.
00:02:37
I talked to him when we were just
00:02:40
setting up that day because Freeman didn't give
00:02:42
us our table for the whole fucking day.
00:02:45
Day one kind of stuff.
00:02:47
Yeah, so I was just chatting with him
00:02:48
for a while.
00:02:50
He seemed very stoked about it.
00:02:52
Honored and good company.
00:02:56
Yeah, he didn't seem to have any...
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No, the PR around it, of course, was
00:03:00
very positive.
00:03:00
I mean, that's obvious, right?
00:03:03
But, you know, the thing that I noticed
00:03:05
and the thing that they called out clearly
00:03:06
in the press conference, which will be up
00:03:08
on one of our YouTube channels at some
00:03:11
point, I'll throw it up.
00:03:12
Is that the two product lines do not
00:03:15
directly overlap each other.
00:03:16
There is very minimal overlapping of products.
00:03:21
For example, when Rode bought Mackie, they both
00:03:25
make a podcaster mixer.
00:03:27
I mean, they're literally directly in competition with
00:03:30
each other.
00:03:31
And now they are both under one roof.
00:03:33
And I have no idea what's going to
00:03:34
happen after that, right?
00:03:36
But in this case, there's so little overlap,
00:03:39
you know?
00:03:39
And anything that does overlap, I would say
00:03:41
the price points are different.
00:03:43
I don't think DPA had one large diaphragm
00:03:46
mic in their entire lineup.
00:03:47
No, they mentioned that they had done one,
00:03:49
but it clearly was not...
00:03:50
And then Austrian Audio had one small diaphragm
00:03:54
mic in their entire lineup, which is basically
00:03:56
what Andrew's on right now.
00:03:57
Yeah, the CCA.
00:03:58
Yeah, so there's totally no overlap.
00:04:01
I don't think DPA has any multi-pattern
00:04:03
mics in their entire lineup.
00:04:04
I don't believe they do either.
00:04:05
Yeah.
00:04:05
In fact, one thing one gentleman told me,
00:04:08
and I don't recall at this point whether
00:04:09
this was on camera or off, I think
00:04:11
it was off camera, was that they're looking
00:04:13
forward to the fact that Austrian Audio has
00:04:15
a team of software engineers that do the
00:04:18
software controls for their products.
00:04:20
They also have the firmware development stuff that
00:04:23
DPA doesn't have.
00:04:24
So they weren't just acquiring a product line,
00:04:26
they were acquiring engineers in this process.
00:04:28
And DPA was definitely really excited about that.
00:04:32
So I don't see how it could in
00:04:33
any way be a negative.
00:04:35
We just want to make sure that both
00:04:38
companies thrive into the future, because they're both...
00:04:41
DPA is a brand that keeps sponsoring and
00:04:45
sending us really cool stuff.
00:04:47
And we just hope that that's part of
00:04:48
the future.
00:04:50
We hope that...
00:04:52
It in no way means that DPA wants
00:04:55
to replace Austrian's product line.
00:04:57
No, it's just that way.
00:04:58
That's not happening.
00:04:59
And I also asked if the brands would
00:05:00
remain independent.
00:05:02
That also is true.
00:05:03
So Austrian Audio as a brand will remain
00:05:06
Austrian Audio as a brand, which is very
00:05:08
smart.
00:05:08
Because those guys have spent...
00:05:10
They've spent a lot of time building that
00:05:11
brand name.
00:05:11
Nearly 10 years building that brand name.
00:05:12
Has it been 10 years?
00:05:14
I don't know.
00:05:14
Six, at least five or six.
00:05:16
It was, it would be...
00:05:17
Oh, let me think.
00:05:18
It was...
00:05:19
I met Martin when he came here, and
00:05:22
that was just when COVID kicked off.
00:05:24
So was that 2020?
00:05:25
It's like five years.
00:05:27
So there was like five plus another two
00:05:29
before that.
00:05:30
So you've got probably about seven years, maybe.
00:05:32
Yeah.
00:05:32
Which is not a long time, really.
00:05:34
And that company clearly was in existence not
00:05:37
publicly for quite a while before that.
00:05:39
You have to imagine that all that was
00:05:41
happening.
00:05:42
So let's call it eight years.
00:05:44
But yeah, so I think it's all going
00:05:46
to be good things for them.
00:05:48
So while we were there, we got to
00:05:49
see the press conference.
00:05:51
And if you've already seen our Facebook, then
00:05:53
you've seen a video where we got to
00:05:55
see a demonstration of the new OC S10.
00:05:58
Which is on our YouTube channel as well,
00:06:00
by the way.
00:06:00
It is on the YouTube channel.
00:06:03
And you'll notice the not-so-subtle backdrop
00:06:07
image that they use.
00:06:10
It is the hand of God reaching for
00:06:13
the OC S10.
00:06:15
It's a bit bold in terms of PR.
00:06:20
I like it.
00:06:21
I like it.
00:06:22
But it's bold.
00:06:23
But, you know, if you see the video,
00:06:26
you'll see why the mic is cool.
00:06:27
It's like a diaphragm floating in the middle
00:06:31
of a huge, open, unobstructed basket.
00:06:34
Exactly.
00:06:35
And that's what they said OC stands for,
00:06:37
is open capsule.
00:06:39
That is what OC stands for.
00:06:42
And so this is even more open.
00:06:45
They made a very large basket around the
00:06:47
capsule.
00:06:48
The capsule is very exposed.
00:06:50
So this is not a mic with an
00:06:51
internal pop filter.
00:06:53
This is a very open, very clean microphone.
00:06:57
It's sort of like it's a flagship mic.
00:07:00
It's clearly priced in the ballpark of the
00:07:03
Neumann U87.
00:07:05
Obviously, this mic is going to out.
00:07:07
But honestly, I thought the 818 was like
00:07:08
right there with the 87 cleaner.
00:07:11
I've been calling this the U87 killer for
00:07:14
a while.
00:07:14
But, you know, that's what everybody says.
00:07:16
But I really think the OC818 is, I
00:07:19
mean, I can't imagine why you'd want a
00:07:21
U87 when you have an OC818.
00:07:24
It does everything, and then more, and it's
00:07:26
cleaner.
00:07:27
The only reason that you do is because
00:07:29
you're an engineer or you're a studio owner,
00:07:33
and you have to have certain mics in
00:07:35
the quiver because that's what the production asks
00:07:37
for.
00:07:38
That's what the client expects.
00:07:39
I just ran with that today where it
00:07:42
was a well-known show, and I was
00:07:46
helping them set up another really small studio.
00:07:50
So they just ended up in that situation
00:07:51
where the talent is in like some tiny
00:07:54
little town.
00:07:55
They found the one studio, and they're like,
00:07:58
you know, what do you got?
00:07:58
And I just heard the whole conversation.
00:08:00
I was like, I got this, that, and
00:08:01
the other thing.
00:08:01
The guy had okay mics, like 887, that
00:08:04
one.
00:08:05
That's the one.
00:08:06
That was it.
00:08:07
Ended conversation.
00:08:08
All the time people ask me what mic
00:08:10
should I get, and I go, well, if
00:08:12
you're buying microphones for brand recognition only because
00:08:16
that is what you feel is important as
00:08:19
a voice actor, that you must have a
00:08:20
certain brand and model because that's what they're
00:08:23
looking for.
00:08:24
If you feel like it's going to hurt
00:08:25
you, fine.
00:08:26
You should have a TLM-103, or if
00:08:29
you have the scratch, a U87.
00:08:31
But that is not the reason to buy
00:08:33
a mic at all.
00:08:34
It's just these mics, Neumann, and they absolutely
00:08:38
earn this, right?
00:08:39
They've been at the forefront of condenser mic
00:08:42
popularization.
00:08:46
RCA and Neumann were the first to make
00:08:49
condenser microphones.
00:08:50
They have a huge head start on everybody,
00:08:52
Telefunken, Neumann.
00:08:54
And so they deserve it.
00:08:55
But many, many years have passed, and there's
00:08:58
revolution and evolution and brands coming and going,
00:09:02
and there's a lot of room for innovation
00:09:04
out there.
00:09:04
Neumann is keeping it kind of old school.
00:09:08
I mean, they're branching out by coming out
00:09:10
with their own audio interface, which really was
00:09:12
not really their own audio interface.
00:09:14
It was actually a rebadged version of another
00:09:17
brand audio interface.
00:09:19
Here, just mute that and tell me who
00:09:20
it was.
00:09:23
Oh, crap.
00:09:24
Man, I knew you were going to ask
00:09:25
me who it was.
00:09:26
Oh, no, no, no, no, no.
00:09:27
I'm thinking of Neve.
00:09:29
Oh, yeah.
00:09:30
So Neve comes out with like a...
00:09:31
The 88R or the 88R.
00:09:33
Just bleedingly expensive, like...
00:09:35
2-channel.
00:09:36
They came out with the $1 Scarlett
00:09:38
2i2.
00:09:39
Yeah, exactly.
00:09:41
That's what Neve came out with, by the
00:09:42
way.
00:09:43
Yeah, and then Neumann comes out with like
00:09:44
the next closest thing to Apollo, basically.
00:09:48
From, you know, built by another company.
00:09:50
Speaking of Neve, I did see all of
00:09:52
the booths that you're probably thinking of.
00:09:54
I saw Neve.
00:09:55
I saw the Neve booth.
00:09:57
What's the AMS Neve?
00:09:58
Is that what it's called?
00:09:58
Yes, AMS Neve.
00:09:58
I saw the AMS Neve booth, and I
00:10:00
saw the Rupert Neve booth.
00:10:02
If you're not keeping score, there are two
00:10:04
Neve brands, which is a crazy thing.
00:10:07
Well, Focusrite is technically a Neve brand.
00:10:09
Correct.
00:10:10
Well, yeah.
00:10:11
Neve, but Rupert started Focusrite.
00:10:13
Well, he started Focusrite, right?
00:10:15
It doesn't have the name and title.
00:10:17
And then could you consider Amec a Neve
00:10:19
brand?
00:10:19
Kind of.
00:10:20
Not really.
00:10:21
Because that's also one of his designs?
00:10:23
Well, when he left Neve, he then went
00:10:25
to Amec.
00:10:25
Oh.
00:10:26
Oh, he said right.
00:10:27
I didn't know that.
00:10:28
Rupert has his fingerprint on almost every circuit
00:10:32
at this point.
00:10:33
It's either a Rupert, or maybe it's a
00:10:36
Telex.
00:10:38
I'm not sure.
00:10:41
Universal Audio.
00:10:42
They're kind of the American Neve.
00:10:45
Can I say that?
00:10:46
Yeah, you can say that, I think.
00:10:49
Well, Ward Beck is the Canadian Neve.
00:10:52
They sometimes call Neotech the American Neve, but
00:10:54
it definitely isn't.
00:10:56
I mean, it is and it isn't.
00:10:57
But UA is more in that heritage of
00:11:01
true, like the 40s, 50s, the burgeoning of
00:11:06
the whole audio industry.
00:11:07
They were there.
00:11:09
I didn't have the time to focus in
00:11:11
on those high-end boutique makers, but I
00:11:14
did see Neve had an 88 series compressor,
00:11:18
so it was supposed to be the mate
00:11:21
to the 88...
00:11:22
What is it called?
00:11:23
The 88C is the USB audio interface that
00:11:26
they made?
00:11:26
I don't know.
00:11:27
You can look it up.
00:11:28
And they have a compressor now that's the
00:11:30
same form factor.
00:11:31
It would stack quite a bit.
00:11:32
A third of a rack space.
00:11:33
Yeah, exactly.
00:11:34
Like a chunky third.
00:11:36
Yeah.
00:11:36
Let's call it a chunky third of a
00:11:37
rack space.
00:11:38
With the big, giant Neve knob with the
00:11:42
wings on it.
00:11:43
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
00:11:44
You didn't have time to go over and
00:11:45
say hi to Jonathan Little, probably, huh?
00:11:47
No, I...
00:11:49
There's this guy.
00:11:51
I've seen at NAMM since the aughts.
00:11:55
That's 2008 for you and me, kids.
00:11:58
I thought that was the 90s, but yeah.
00:12:01
Since the aughts.
00:12:02
And his name is Jonathan Little, and his
00:12:04
company is called Little Labs, and I love
00:12:07
his vibe.
00:12:07
He's got all kinds of cool tools.
00:12:09
He's a cool dude, and he makes really
00:12:11
cool circuits, and you've never talked to anybody
00:12:13
who makes equipment who's more enthusiastic about his
00:12:17
circuits, like the way he talks about them.
00:12:19
Except for maybe John Hardy.
00:12:21
Yeah, maybe John Hardy, but I don't know.
00:12:22
Is John Hardy making new stuff?
00:12:24
No, he just makes the same preamp for
00:12:26
the last 40 years, and he can talk
00:12:28
about it for 40 years.
00:12:30
Right, but Jonathan is making new stuff.
00:12:32
Almost every year, he's got something new.
00:12:34
Maybe every two years, Jonathan has something new,
00:12:38
and he talks about that circuit design.
00:12:40
And even if you don't understand really what
00:12:42
he's saying, and honestly, I don't really understand
00:12:45
a lot of what he's saying because I
00:12:46
don't know circuit design, but it sounds amazing,
00:12:50
and the way he describes it, it makes
00:12:52
you want to use that thing.
00:12:54
But it's also not just circuit design.
00:12:55
He comes up with cool, no-one-else
00:12:57
-has-it products.
00:12:58
I was telling you how when I was
00:13:00
in physics class when I was in college,
00:13:02
I went to my teacher and said, how
00:13:03
do you make a circuit that will just
00:13:05
rotate the phase of a signal?
00:13:08
Not just flip it out of phase.
00:13:10
Just continuously rotate it.
00:13:12
Continuously rotate the phase.
00:13:13
Right, and my genius teacher is just like,
00:13:15
oh, yeah, this, that, and the other thing,
00:13:17
and you can't do it with one knob,
00:13:18
but you can do it with the first
00:13:19
180 with one knob, the second 180 with
00:13:20
the other knob, and then two years later,
00:13:25
you're flipping through Mix Magazine, and little labs
00:13:27
has a phase mistress or whatever the name
00:13:32
of his product is.
00:13:33
The names are clever, too.
00:13:34
He has a VOG box.
00:13:35
It's called the Voice of God.
00:13:37
Right, like a low-frequency resonance thing, and
00:13:40
he's got this matrix thing for guitar players
00:13:43
so they can hook up all their pedals,
00:13:45
and then just by pushing buttons, change the
00:13:47
order of how they're connected.
00:13:49
Just cool, no one else has it stuff.
00:13:51
Yeah, he has a sweet headphone amp called
00:13:55
the Monotore because it lets you sum different
00:13:59
sets of mono signals, like sum left, both
00:14:03
inputs to your left ear, both inputs to
00:14:05
the right ear.
00:14:05
I mean, every single way of summing things
00:14:08
is a mode on the Monotore headphone amp,
00:14:10
right, and it's an ultra-clean, ultra-clean
00:14:13
headphone amp.
00:14:14
So anyway, that was cool.
00:14:16
I saw my friends from Grace Design, Eben
00:14:19
and Michael.
00:14:19
They have a new audio interface?
00:14:20
A new audio interface.
00:14:21
They finally launched their multi-channel, rack-mounted
00:14:25
audio interface, the serious one that you put
00:14:28
in a studio that lets you plug every
00:14:30
single signal into it.
00:14:32
And it's got a low-latency DSP mixer
00:14:34
in it, right?
00:14:35
It does.
00:14:35
It has a monitor mixer that does up
00:14:38
to eight outputs, so you can create eight
00:14:41
headphone mixes, and it's a two-rack space,
00:14:44
64 in, 64 out.
00:14:45
And it's $64.
00:14:48
No, what did he say?
00:14:49
I think he threw me a number, and
00:14:51
it was high, as you would expect, but
00:14:53
the thing is, it's modular.
00:14:55
$62, I think it was, wasn't it?
00:14:57
Oh, yeah.
00:14:58
Canadian.
00:14:59
You can buy it almost empty with one
00:15:02
card, you know?
00:15:04
But you can load it up with cards,
00:15:06
and you can choose whatever I.O. you
00:15:08
want.
00:15:08
You can have a mix of AES and
00:15:10
analog.
00:15:11
It'll plug into a DigiDesign rig.
00:15:13
It'll plug into MADI.
00:15:14
It'll plug into Dante, you know, web.
00:15:19
It does all that stuff.
00:15:20
So let me ask you a question.
00:15:21
Was there anything there that competes with this?
00:15:23
No.
00:15:24
And I showed the Passport VO to numerous
00:15:28
vendors because, first of all, I did show
00:15:31
it to Michael Grace from Grace Design.
00:15:33
He does all their hardware design.
00:15:35
And I was saying earlier how software, when
00:15:38
we were talking about DPA and how they
00:15:40
were happy to get, he said the reason
00:15:41
we could make the 107 was we finally
00:15:43
had a great software team because the 107
00:15:47
is running a web server on board, and
00:15:50
so every single thing you see on laptop
00:15:53
or tablet or whatever.
00:15:55
So they're doing it like Motu where you
00:15:56
can just go to a URL and talk
00:15:58
to it.
00:15:58
Yes.
00:15:58
Yeah.
00:15:59
Everything's on board.
00:16:00
So he said we couldn't have done that
00:16:02
without the software team we have here.
00:16:04
And so I showed this to Michael Grace,
00:16:06
and he gave it high praises.
00:16:08
I mean, obviously, he's not been able to
00:16:10
use it, but having a guy who designs
00:16:13
hardware for the last 35 years give our
00:16:17
design and our physical product praise was really
00:16:20
pretty awesome.
00:16:22
But I showed it to a lot of
00:16:23
other companies that don't compete in any way,
00:16:25
obviously.
00:16:26
Lots of my companies, right?
00:16:28
I mean, it was really fun showing it
00:16:30
to all these different microphone vendors and saying,
00:16:32
you know, this thing is the next best
00:16:35
thing in broadcast and podcasting, and people are
00:16:38
going to want to have this to use
00:16:40
with your microphone.
00:16:41
So imagine next year at NAMM show, a
00:16:43
number of these microphone booths have passports at
00:16:45
their booths.
00:16:46
Oh, that'd be nice.
00:16:47
That will be good.
00:16:48
So you were saying you've spoken to a
00:16:49
couple of microphone guys, you know, I guess
00:16:52
encompassing all of them, if you could sum
00:16:54
up their thoughts in a few sentences.
00:16:56
Were they like, wow?
00:16:56
Or just like, oh, yeah, that's a good
00:16:58
idea?
00:16:58
Or were they sort of like, eh, meh?
00:17:00
I didn't get any meh.
00:17:02
I got mostly, oh, cool.
00:17:03
That's really nicely made.
00:17:05
I didn't get any big wows.
00:17:07
No one got it that, like, this thing
00:17:09
routes like no other product.
00:17:11
At least two people got the routing as
00:17:13
a cool thing.
00:17:14
I've got to tell you, at the show,
00:17:16
the saturation point is very high.
00:17:19
And explaining and showing something new, you know,
00:17:22
at their booth when they're there to sell
00:17:24
their product to other, it's hard.
00:17:26
You're not really going to connect very well
00:17:28
with people.
00:17:29
Especially since I didn't have it, like, plugged
00:17:31
into a computer, you know, with a mic
00:17:33
plugged into it, the whole demo thing.
00:17:35
You know, I'm freaking briefcasing at NAM.
00:17:38
You know, what can I do, right?
00:17:39
It's the best I could.
00:17:40
But I got some very nice positive feedback.
00:17:43
And to say that this thing could be
00:17:45
an ideal booth companion.
00:17:47
He missed an opportunity by not having one
00:17:50
at our booth as well.
00:17:51
Yeah.
00:17:52
Because we're sitting there playing through a UA
00:17:55
Apollo.
00:17:57
Yeah.
00:17:57
Yeah.
00:17:58
We're going to have one up and running
00:18:00
for sure at VO Atlanta probably, right?
00:18:04
I mean, if there's ever a show to
00:18:06
take it to, it'd be VO Atlanta.
00:18:08
Well, VO Atlanta and NAB.
00:18:11
Yeah.
00:18:11
There you go.
00:18:12
Are you guys at NAB?
00:18:13
Hell yeah, we are.
00:18:14
Oh, yeah.
00:18:14
You're back this year.
00:18:17
NAB, absolutely a no-brainer for the Passport
00:18:19
VO.
00:18:20
I did show it to people that were
00:18:22
more broadcast-related, you know, because again, NAM
00:18:26
is music.
00:18:27
And they seem to get it even more
00:18:29
so.
00:18:29
The question is, do podcast people look at
00:18:32
broadcast stuff as, like, too complicated?
00:18:35
Like, oh, that's over my head.
00:18:37
Or too expensive.
00:18:38
I don't know about the price point thing,
00:18:39
because there's some seriously big-dollar podcast production
00:18:43
going on.
00:18:44
There is.
00:18:45
Big money.
00:18:46
So it's not a price point thing.
00:18:48
I showed it to several people at PodFest.
00:18:50
When I told them the price point, nobody
00:18:53
said, oof.
00:18:54
Nobody reacted to the price like that.
00:18:56
It's two interfaces in one.
00:18:58
Come on.
00:18:58
They all were like, oh, okay, that's not
00:19:00
bad.
00:19:01
One guy thought it was worth a lot
00:19:02
more than that when I told him what
00:19:03
it was.
00:19:04
Dude, it's $300 an interface.
00:19:06
It's two of them.
00:19:07
And it's a gold digger.
00:19:08
Yeah, it's a gold digger switcher.
00:19:11
That was cool.
00:19:12
I think that got the most reaction was
00:19:15
when I was trying to explain all the
00:19:16
things that it does.
00:19:17
It is not stereo.
00:19:18
Showing the mic switcher and showing that it's
00:19:20
a switcher, you know, a single-button switcher,
00:19:22
that got a few eyebrows, because nobody's doing
00:19:26
that.
00:19:26
Nobody's got it, yeah.
00:19:27
Nobody's doing it.
00:19:28
And it can still do stereo if you
00:19:30
need it to.
00:19:31
Yeah, that's right.
00:19:32
I mean, there was so much I didn't
00:19:34
get to talk to and engage with, because
00:19:35
there's so much in this hall.
00:19:37
This is like AES times three.
00:19:40
The other thing that was in this hall
00:19:41
times three was three stupid AI voice companies,
00:19:44
including, do you know who's doing AI voices
00:19:46
now?
00:19:47
Oh, God, don't tell me.
00:19:48
The ones that do your sound ID and
00:19:51
flatline your room.
00:19:52
Oh, yes, sound ID.
00:19:54
The company that does room calibration.
00:19:57
Yeah, what does room calibration have to do
00:19:59
with frickin' AI voices?
00:20:02
Um...
00:20:04
Sound...
00:20:05
I'm glad I'm forgetting it now.
00:20:07
Yeah, screw them.
00:20:07
Exactly.
00:20:08
Screw them, because they're doing voice...
00:20:10
Now, I will say this.
00:20:11
This is music-related, mostly.
00:20:13
No, it's not, though.
00:20:15
Oh, it wasn't?
00:20:15
Because all you do is you just give
00:20:17
it anything you want, and you just start
00:20:18
flipping through voices that you want, and it'll
00:20:21
just sing, and it'll talk, whatever you give
00:20:24
it.
00:20:24
It doesn't talk.
00:20:24
It doesn't matter.
00:20:26
It just mimics what your crappy voice switches
00:20:29
out.
00:20:29
It was like, now I'm a little girl.
00:20:32
Now I'm a guy.
00:20:33
It was just like, come on.
00:20:35
And it was cheap, too.
00:20:37
Yeah, that's what's scary.
00:20:38
It's true.
00:20:39
It's true.
00:20:41
Also, I saw Roswell Audio, because I always
00:20:43
come and see Roswell, the fellow that owns
00:20:45
it, Matthew McGuinn.
00:20:47
He's like Mike Parts, isn't he?
00:20:48
Yeah, he was Mike Parts originally, and now
00:20:50
he's making full fleshed-out product.
00:20:52
His little K87 is a pretty damn good
00:20:56
-sounding F portable.
00:20:58
It's a U87, right?
00:20:59
It's intended.
00:21:00
That's literally 87s in the model name.
00:21:02
I mean, obviously, he's not trying to pull
00:21:04
a punch there.
00:21:05
He's got a K47 and a K67 as
00:21:07
well.
00:21:08
This was another thing.
00:21:10
Customizing microphone.
00:21:11
That's pretty cool.
00:21:12
Custom shops for microphones where you can get
00:21:14
any kinds of color.
00:21:14
Can you just get it wrapped instead of
00:21:16
painted?
00:21:17
Probably.
00:21:18
Singers have been doing that with handheld wirelesses
00:21:20
for years, just wrapping them in gold-plated
00:21:24
sequins and lace.
00:21:27
I saw Studio Float.
00:21:29
This is a company that does studio design.
00:21:31
I've looked at these little isolators for the
00:21:33
ceiling and the walls.
00:21:34
Talked to this gentleman for a while that's
00:21:36
from the Studio Float company.
00:21:37
It's crazy how expensive those things are.
00:21:39
Yeah, they're way overpriced.
00:21:40
They're like $6 each or something.
00:21:41
They're really expensive.
00:21:43
I also stopped by Odyssey microphones, Odyssey headphones,
00:21:49
known for making disgustingly expensive.
00:21:52
I was going to say more really expensive
00:21:53
stuff.
00:21:54
Planar headphones, but they make a $300 gamer
00:21:56
headset that's a planar headphone.
00:21:59
Tried it on, and it was pretty freaking
00:22:00
cool because it has head tracking, so as
00:22:03
you move your head, the sound, the mix,
00:22:06
it maintains center.
00:22:08
Sony had a crap load of—a really big
00:22:11
booth, actually.
00:22:11
Sony came in strong.
00:22:13
I didn't even see their booth.
00:22:14
I didn't even make it to their booth.
00:22:16
Were they in the same hall?
00:22:18
You did.
00:22:18
They were the wall in front of us.
00:22:21
Oh, that was Sony's booth.
00:22:22
They were so big that you didn't even
00:22:23
realize.
00:22:23
They had a huge Atmos set up with
00:22:26
a stadium practically for sitting there.
00:22:29
There's massive amounts of headphones.
00:22:32
Their microphone that goes from zero to 50
00:22:36
k.
00:22:37
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
00:22:39
I skipped Sony.
00:22:40
I don't know.
00:22:41
Sometimes I like to focus on the smaller
00:22:43
vendors.
00:22:44
I just mostly do.
00:22:44
Chef's had the best set of mics.
00:22:47
It was called the Desert Island Stereo Set.
00:22:52
These things were like those really small, very
00:22:56
small body, interchangeable head mics.
00:23:00
So they have a whole range of capsules.
00:23:02
Whenever you see an opera or you see
00:23:05
an award show, it has a long, skinny
00:23:08
stalk.
00:23:09
Almost like the one that the Beatles up
00:23:11
on the roof.
00:23:13
I think we worked out that the Beatles
00:23:15
one on Abbey Road was AKG.
00:23:19
Oh, was it AKG?
00:23:20
Yeah, I'm pretty sure it was AKG.
00:23:20
But Chef's is famous for the super slender
00:23:23
little, yeah.
00:23:24
And that's very hard to do because it
00:23:26
definitely increases the noise when you get the
00:23:29
preamp so far away from the capsule.
00:23:32
But they make the preamp five, six feet
00:23:37
away from the capsule.
00:23:38
Yeah.
00:23:38
They also have this freaking crazy ORTF 3D
00:23:41
microphone rig for stadiums.
00:23:44
So this thing will get mounted.
00:23:46
It doesn't have the basket around it with
00:23:48
the dead cat, you know, for wind and
00:23:50
everything in this picture that you guys are
00:23:51
looking at.
00:23:52
But what was really cool was there was
00:23:54
heating elements on all the capsules.
00:23:56
So that keeps the condensers.
00:23:57
Can they fly that along with the camera
00:24:00
that goes zooming across?
00:24:01
It's not meant for that.
00:24:02
It's meant to walk down and provide a
00:24:05
3D sound representation of what that entire room
00:24:09
stadium sounds like.
00:24:11
So it's doing not just a standard ORTF,
00:24:15
but a 3D ORTF.
00:24:16
So it's four sets of ORTF capsules.
00:24:20
ORTF in all four directions.
00:24:22
Yeah, it's freaking nuts.
00:24:24
It's got to be $20, $40.
00:24:27
But that's Chef's, you know.
00:24:29
They're always there.
00:24:30
I mean, Chef's is going to be like
00:24:33
Chef's and DPA.
00:24:34
That's sort of like the top of the
00:24:36
hill.
00:24:37
I tried out $700 Focal headphones, and then
00:24:40
I tried out probably $80 Focal monitors.
00:24:45
That was fun.
00:24:46
I stayed around until after they tell you
00:24:48
to leave.
00:24:50
And so I just sat there and listened
00:24:52
to these ginormous, probably soffit-mounted monitors from
00:24:56
Focal.
00:24:58
I got to say the bigger ones sounded
00:25:00
better than the inner ones, the smaller ones.
00:25:03
Different or better?
00:25:05
It could have been placement, but the single
00:25:08
woofer.
00:25:09
Yeah, I know.
00:25:10
The single woofer ones just sounded more thick
00:25:12
and tubby in the low-mid.
00:25:14
I don't know why.
00:25:15
It was weird.
00:25:16
Well, also it only has one mid-frequency
00:25:18
driver.
00:25:19
Right.
00:25:19
I mean, basically just add a tweeter to
00:25:21
the big ones, and you could just buy
00:25:22
two of the small ones.
00:25:23
Right, exactly.
00:25:25
What else?
00:25:26
What can we wrap this up with?
00:25:27
There was one other thing.
00:25:29
I don't know if you went to, I'm
00:25:31
trying to screw up their name, but like
00:25:32
Cranbourne or something.
00:25:34
I miss Cranbourne.
00:25:35
And they've had it for a while, but
00:25:38
I've always thought it's a very good product
00:25:39
idea, which is they have a 500-series
00:25:42
rack with the USB audio interface built into
00:25:47
it.
00:25:48
Oh, yeah.
00:25:48
So if you want to have a good
00:25:51
interface, and then you want to just pick
00:25:53
your mic pre and have the world's choice
00:25:55
of mic pres, because you know you have
00:25:57
a 500-series.
00:25:58
It's all there.
00:26:00
That's, I think, a pretty cool product.
00:26:02
I saw the MB7 Shure MB7 Plus and
00:26:06
the Shure MB7i.
00:26:10
The MB7i has an input jack on the
00:26:13
back for another microphone.
00:26:16
Oh, so they're kind of doing the mic
00:26:17
creator thing.
00:26:18
Yes.
00:26:19
They're doing what the mic creator does from
00:26:21
Austrian Audio.
00:26:22
Austrian Audio came up with that idea first,
00:26:23
guys.
00:26:23
That's right.
00:26:24
Exactly.
00:26:25
Innovators, not the imitators.
00:26:27
That's right.
00:26:29
MB7 has a mic in now, and that's
00:26:31
what they're doing.
00:26:32
So they were celebrating 100 years.
00:26:36
So yeah, there was a lot, and I
00:26:38
was dying to see Jacob Collier come by
00:26:41
the booth at Shure, and I just didn't
00:26:43
make it.
00:26:45
Was there a commotion when that was happening?
00:26:47
No.
00:26:48
The Shure booth was actually one of the
00:26:49
most active ones.
00:26:51
It was very active.
00:26:52
They had a lot of people showing up
00:26:53
at that.
00:26:54
But when you've got these musicians showing up
00:26:56
at your booth, it's going to be a
00:26:57
mob scene, and they know it.
00:26:59
There's a huge amount of energy around these
00:27:02
musicians.
00:27:02
By the way, everyone, Jacob Collier was using
00:27:05
Source Connect during the pandemic.
00:27:07
Oh, was he really?
00:27:08
There you go.
00:27:09
Yeah.
00:27:11
Without any prodding from us, we caught him
00:27:14
on some podcast talking about it.
00:27:16
It was pretty cool.
00:27:16
Anyway, a lot of fun.
00:27:18
We wish you guys could be there in
00:27:20
person.
00:27:21
And now that NAMM has basically opened its
00:27:23
doors to the public, you can.
00:27:26
Oh, really?
00:27:27
You can go to NAMM.
00:27:27
Well, you can buy a ticket.
00:27:29
You can buy a ticket to go to
00:27:30
NAMM now.
00:27:30
It did not used to be the case.
00:27:32
You had to be an industry representative.
00:27:35
You had to be a guest of a
00:27:36
vendor.
00:27:37
What's funny is this, back when it was
00:27:39
more exclusive, it was physically bigger.
00:27:42
That's true.
00:27:43
The booths were much larger.
00:27:44
Yeah.
00:27:45
Huge.
00:27:46
Neumann would put up a $200 booth
00:27:49
that was the size of two semi-trucks
00:27:52
next to each other.
00:27:53
But here's the difference.
00:27:54
Back in the day, retail owners, and my
00:27:59
dad's music store is no exception.
00:28:02
The first time I went to NAMM was
00:28:04
as a guest of my dad's, Taylor's Music
00:28:06
Store in Westchester.
00:28:07
I went as a guest of Taylor's 20
00:28:09
-something years ago.
00:28:10
And that's why they went.
00:28:12
They would go there, shop at Yamaha, do
00:28:14
their orders.
00:28:16
And that was it.
00:28:17
But that's almost dead.
00:28:19
Do you know what it reminds me of?
00:28:20
I used to do all the setup for
00:28:22
the Ace Hardware show.
00:28:25
And it was the same thing.
00:28:26
It was exclusive for Ace Hardware store owners.
00:28:30
Yeah.
00:28:31
But they would go in there and they'd
00:28:32
be like, all right, I'm going to order
00:28:33
50 lawnmowers and 600 leaf blowers, and I
00:28:37
think I might need those.
00:28:38
And there's just buyers.
00:28:39
There's people.
00:28:41
This is crazy.
00:28:43
That's what NAMM was for.
00:28:44
And that's so they had much bigger booths
00:28:45
with offices and ISO rooms for meetings.
00:28:48
And that's gone.
00:28:51
Was Neumann even there?
00:28:52
I don't think Neumann came to NAMM.
00:28:54
AKG was there for sure.
00:28:55
But not Neumann.
00:28:56
I didn't see Neumann.
00:28:57
Because actually, I can tell you this about
00:28:58
AKG, just word to the wise.
00:29:01
We had AKG pair of headphones at the
00:29:04
booth.
00:29:04
Which are nice, right?
00:29:06
Well, they are.
00:29:06
They're very nice sounding.
00:29:07
Comfortable.
00:29:08
Somehow, Vincent's like, and they're his headphones.
00:29:11
I felt really bad.
00:29:13
And he's like, oh, something's funny.
00:29:15
And he takes them off.
00:29:16
And there's like a hairline crack on the
00:29:17
headband.
00:29:19
And I'm like, oh, man.
00:29:20
Yeah, plastic.
00:29:21
And I'm like, oh, man, this looks like
00:29:22
it can come off because it's like the
00:29:24
headband.
00:29:24
Yeah.
00:29:25
And I'm like, well, don't worry about it.
00:29:27
Go over to AKG.
00:29:28
They'll set you up.
00:29:29
So he goes over there and they give
00:29:31
him a pair to use.
00:29:33
So we're fine for the booth.
00:29:35
But then I start looking at it.
00:29:37
And I'm like, can't they just give you
00:29:38
a headband?
00:29:39
He's like, I don't know.
00:29:40
He didn't say anything about repair.
00:29:41
And I go, they're not fucking repairable.
00:29:44
Yeah.
00:29:44
Yeah.
00:29:45
Like crazy.
00:29:47
Yeah.
00:29:48
Not excusable.
00:29:48
Well, I'll tell you, I did get to
00:29:50
try the Hi-X 20s, which I'm dying
00:29:52
to get a pair now.
00:29:53
But, yep.
00:29:54
I tried the Hi-X 20s from Austrian
00:29:56
Audio, the headphones, and I compared it to
00:29:58
the head.