Directed by Jenn Nkiru, the fourth and final film in the ‘Second Summer of Love’ series in collaboration with Frieze, traces the lineage of techno via its birthplace in Detroit and later innovation in Berlin.
Opening with a series of vignettes of long-forgotten archive film paired with original shot footage by Jenn Nkiru, ‘Black to Techno’ explores the roles played by history, technology, geography and race that lead to the creation and emergence of techno as a sound. The film is ushered in by a series of voice-over interviews with leading academics and musicians. ‘Black to Techno’ presents an original and fresh narrative on the most influential sound in modern electronic music.
Artist and filmmaker Jenn Nkiru talks about techno and the making of her documentary in a new episode of the Gucci Podcast. Listen on: gucci.com/_Gucci_Podcast
Houston, TX (May 7, 2020)—MLB may be MIA due to the coronavirus pandemic, but that hasn’t stopped Ross Stripling and Cooper Surles as they produce The Big Swing podcast. For Stripling, it’s one of many balls he keeps in the air—he’s also a financial advisor and, more importantly, a right-handed pitcher for the Los Angeles Dodgers. As a result, when he and Surles get on the mic, they chat about everything from baseball to Netflix to finance to you name it. The show kicked off in January, 2019, and after some initial audio issues, the pair settled in on MXL BCD-1 broadcast mics to help clean up their sound.
“In our first few months of podcasting, audio was the biggest challenge for us,” said Stripling. “Once we were able to deploy the MXL mics and put them in front of each speaker, our audio went up twofold [compared] to the previous solution we were using.”
Some of that is due to noise-rejection features on the mic, said Surles, noting, “Not only do the mics pick up audio well, but they also do an awesome job of rejecting outside noise. This is a particularly helpful feature when we record in our home studio set up, where my dog might be barking in the other room. Also, we frequently have guests that have no previous microphone experience, so they often won’t speak directly into the mic, and the BCD-1 does a solid job of capturing their voices off-axis.”
An end address dynamic microphone, the BCD-1 sports a tuned grill intended to help eliminate internal reflections and a built-in shock mount that prevents unwanted noise. The mic is designed for capturing audio in a variety of settings, which comes in handy for Stripling. While many podcasts are recorded in the same spot show after show, his day job understandably finds him on the road a lot, so the pitcher often has to record in new spaces instead of the same studio show after show. “When we travel, I keep the mics in my carry on, which gets thrown around a great deal, and while my luggage takes a real beating, the MXL mics remain in perfect working condition no matter what,” he said. “They’re definitely durable and they’ve been exactly what we need.”
Rob Byers on location in Aspen, CO. Suzanne Schaffer
St. Paul, MN (May 7, 2020)—As podcasting continues to grow at a blistering pace, its production needs are likewise maturing. For audio pros like Rob Byers, American Public Media’s director of broadcast and media operations, the medium represents not only a technical challenge, but a creative one as well, providing a venue where podcast sound design and audio technologies like ambisonic and binaural sound can be used as exciting tools for storytelling.
After graduating the Peabody Conservatory at Johns Hopkins University with a Master’s in recording arts, Byers began working at NPR, eventually joining the NPR Training team, training reporters about audio production. Now at American Public Media and Minnesota Public Radio, his team provides the production platform for podcasts like Marketplace, Make Me Smart and In the Dark. He also works separately as an audio mixer on podcasts like the long-running hit Criminal and Fiasco.
Byers, whose work has contributed to a Peabody and Pulitzer, talked with Podcast Pro about how his efforts in both radio and podcasting inform each other, and the importance of sound design in the future of podcasting.
You work with both broadcast radio and podcasts disciplines. How are they alike and different in your experience?
Broadcasting has brought me a real appreciation for systems [and] workflows. In broadcasting, you’re always keeping an eye on the clock. You only have X amount of time to tell your story. All of those things provide this nice framework for telling the story that doesn’t exist in podcasting. I think that leads to a real efficient way of working, and the boundaries that sets can be really helpful for creativity.
What’s really unique about podcasting is that the audience is there to listen to your story, and that’s it. They are making a conscious choice to listen to that thing at that time, whereas the radio you can put on in the background. Knowing your audience is there, they are a captive audience, they might even be listening on headphones—that opens up some really interesting possibilities in terms of podcast sound design, mix and the way you tell your story.
What does that mean for the audio production side?
You know what the end user is getting. I think this is one of the untapped opportunities of podcasting. I know the file that I export from my production system is pretty much the same file that you’re going to listen to. I know you’re going to hear the panning, and the way that I use the panning. I know you’re going to hear the levels, and the way that I use the levels. If I want to start experimenting with other technologies, like ambisonic or binaural, I know it’s going to make its way to the end user. I’m super excited to see where podcasting goes from here. I have a feeling we’re only scratching the surface.
Rob Byers, American Public Media’s director of broadcast and media operations. Bria Granville
Do you see the opportunity as akin to something like the adventurous growth seen in the early days of multi-track recording?
I think I do see it like that. The barrier to entry is really low, and that allows for a lot of experimentation. [But] in order for podcasting to fully realize its potential, especially on the sound design front, the budgets have to be there. There are many great examples of low-budget, well-sound-designed content, but those productions, in my mind, don’t tend to last. Maybe they’re not bringing in the money, maybe it’s too much work, [or] it was a passion project. But I’m hoping those who are making audio content are going to be more willing to budget money into sound design.
You’re been very vocal about loudness in radio. How does that relate to podcasters?
Loudness, loudness tools and loudness meters are so helpful for one reason: consistency. Consistency of level, consistency from episode to episode, consistency between one voice and another voice in the podcast.
There are different opinions right now about what levels should your podcast episode target. The AES, a couple years ago, made some recommendations, and they’re pretty spot on. It’s a range, but they tend to gravitate toward -18 LUFS for podcast episodes. [Byers was an author on the report. —Ed.] One of the nice things loudness allows you to do [is] mix at a lower level, so you can use the -24 LUFS broadcast target to do your mix of your podcast. That provides quite a bit of headroom for the spoken word, and it’s much easier to mix without having to know about compressors. Then, when your show is mixed and it sounds good to your ear, use a loudness normalization tool to bump it up to -18.
You’ve trained audio journalists whose technical experience varies. What are the most common questions they ask?
I think the single-most-asked question is some variation of, “What gear should I get?” I really wish the question were more focused towards, “What should I record? What should I be pointing my microphone at?” Something that will help tell the story, that will put the listener in the space, that they need to be in to hear the story.
You put more emphasis on the sound needed to tell the story rather than the tools you use to get there?
100%. If all you’ve got on you is your smartphone, you’re going to have technical challenges, no doubt. But you can still come back with a recording that will help you tell a story, that will help you put a listener in someone’s living room or someone’s kitchen or the side of the street. And depending on the kind of storytelling you’re doing, that may be the most important thing. I could give you a $3,000 Schoeps CMIT 5U. That’s a beautiful mic and I’ve recorded opera with that. It’s glorious. But it doesn’t mean you’re going to tell a great story if I put it in your hands, right?
What is your new position, and what does it entail?
Jonathan “JP” Parker: In my new role as director of global sales and marketing, I will focus on global expansion of the Danley brand and business development into new market segments for our company, including product offerings in touring sound, studio recording, home theater, luxury cinema and safety warning systems divisions.
How has your background prepared you for your new role?
I have been very fortunate to have held a variety of positions over the last 30-plus years in domestic and international sales and marketing management, product management, front line sales, general management and procurement. Working for both small and large corporations (Aviom, ASPI, Harman, Bose, Martin Audio and others) has helped sharpen my understanding of how all the important pieces of a business must fit together to work effectively.
What new marketing initiatives are we likely to see from the company?
There will be an emphasis on bolstering our brand awareness to the markets we serve, especially at the user level.
Short-term, our goal is to provide the best support possible for our customers, providing education, design support, and getting them the best solution for their projects. We have doubled our support staff to accomplish this. Long-term, my goal is to expand production overseas so we can provide faster turnaround and reduce some of the absorptive costs of shipping by air and sea to our international distribution.
What is the greatest challenge you face?
One of our biggest challenges is to get resellers and customers to open their minds to our technology and take the leap forward to a different and very viable approach! We are all human and become comfortable using the same things over and over that we know will work, even when there might be a better solution.
Yet more sad news: I’ve received the belated word today that Marty DeWulf, editor and publisher of Bound for Sound, another well-known high-end audio journal from the late 1980s until the early 2000s, passed away at the relatively young age of 65 on March 22, 2020. Marty’s health had apparently not been good for a… Read More »
Artist: Florence / Wladimir M
Title: Analogue Expressions / Leaves Fallin’ Recklessly
Label: Delsin Records
Cat No: dsr-eevo001 / dsr-eevo002
Released: 24th April
Genre: Techno / IDM
Amsterdam label, Delsin Records really has developed a flair for reissuing and repressing lots gems. This time they turn their attention to one of the most important and unsung labels in the story of Dutch techno, Eevo Lute Muzique.
Eevo Lute Muzique was established in 1991 by Wladimir Manshanden and Stefan Robbers, (who was already releasing tracks as Terrace and as one-half of Acid Junkies for Djax-Up-Beats). Their early releases were heavily influenced by Detroit techno, even naming their first release “U.S Heritage”, while fusing those influences with their own love for the Euro Synth Pop and 80’s New Wave sounds they’d grown up with.
This release offers 2 albums of 22 complied tracks spanned across a 5-disc set. The first album, Analogue Expressions is a compilation of music by Stefan Robbers under his moniker, Florence. All 11 tracks across these 3 discs offer a divine kaleidoscope of different electronic flavours and styles, while still managing to maintain a consistent level of emotion and innovation. From the opener Exploration; a panicked, bass-heavy, electro driven pep-talk to the closer, Revival; a subtle, emotive stomper, each and every track is quite unique. Despite these tracks being over 25 years old (mostly recorded between 1991 and 1994), the majority still sound as fresh and as forward-thinking today as they did then.
Part 2 of the Delsin x Eevo Lute Musique retrospective is a collection of tracks by Eevo Lute co-founder, Wladimir M, entitled Leaves Fallin’ Recklessly. It kicks off the same way as his 1994 LP, Life is a Short Story, with short spoken word, Autumn Leaves I, followed by the epic Planet E (originally released on the Detroit label of the same name in 1991). Generally though, Leaves Falling Recklessly lacks the same colour and diversity as Analogue Expressions. The highlight here is Wladimir’s track, Evil. Abrasive percussion rumbling below, virtuous synth hovering above, and with Wladimir’s apocalyptic poetry in-between. So good! Canned by everyone, from Dave Clarke to DVS1 over the years, the original is still a highly sort after record.
Most of the early Eevo Lute singles have been well sort after, with record hounds paying up to and even over 100 euros for some discs.
The first five releases have become highly coveted, not just because of the timeless music they contain, but also because the pressing stampers were accidentally destroyed meaning they were never repressed.
Once again Delsin has come through in bringing some unsung heroes of electronic music to the foreground, particularly the highlighting one of the many monikers of the much underrated, Stefan Robbers. Three thumbs!
Italy’s Kappa Futur Festival have released the following statement…
“Kappa Futur Family,
During the last 7 weeks of social distancing we worked tirelessly and tried to imagine different scenarios in order to hold another extraordinary edition of Kappa FuturFestival on 4-5 July, as initially scheduled.
However the truth is that the situation is still very serious and there’s total uncertainty as to when our industry will bounce back.
We have to put the health and safety of our whole community first ,which is why we have no other option than to postpone the 2020 edition to 3-4 July 2021.
Tickets for KFF2020 will remain valid for the new dates or, upon choosing, for 2022 edition. All ticket holders will be contacted in the coming days at the email address used during purchase with all details (please check your SPAM and Promotions folders as well).
This does not mean we won’t be able to come together before that. We are in fact working on a new episode of Futur Beats, that will allow us to celebrate our 9th edition with you. We’ll keep you posted on this in the near future.
We are truly saddened by this decision we were forced to make and are aware of the inconvenience that this causes you, but we are also grateful for your support, which is vital to keep our community and Festival alive.
Our customer service remains at your disposal for any doubts or questions at [email protected].
Group One Ltd., the Long Island, NY-based U.S. distributor for Avolites, Calrec, DiGiCo, KLANG, Solid State Logic and several other professional audio and lighting manufacturers, has promoted Trisha Matulewicz to the newly created position of chief financial officer. Matulewicz’s previous role was financial controller, a position she had held since joining the company nearly two years ago. Before coming to Group One, she served as the vice president of finance at NYC-based Medical Knowledge Group, a professional services organization specializing in medical communications, healthcare consulting and data analytics. Prior to that, Matulewicz spent time in public accounting, where she managed audits of hedge funds, broker dealers and 401(k) plans. Matulewicz holds an MBA from Baruch College’s Zicklin School of Business, as well as an undergraduate degree in accounting and marketing from Pace University in New York City.
Amy Luley
Meyer Sound
Meyer Sound has promoted two managers to key high-level management positions: Amy Luley has been named director of U.S. sales operations and Mary Molnar has been appointed technical services manager, Americas. Both will report to senior vice president of sales and marketing John McMahon.
In her new position, Luley assumes direct responsibility for managing Meyer Sound’s team of 15 sales managers and sales engineers throughout the United States. Account management, dealer contracts and dealer relationships will be under her direction. Since joining Meyer Sound in 2014, Luley has served as Salesforce.com administrator, sales operations manager, and sales and business development project manager.
Mary Molnar
Meanwhile, Molnar assumes overall responsibility of Meyer Sound’s newly integrated design services and technical support teams throughout the Western Hemisphere. Molnar joined Meyer Sound in 2018 as strategic projects manager. For the 25 years prior to that, she held key management and sales positions at San Francisco rental partner McCune AVL, overseeing company logistics and managing major projects.
Anne Philipp
DHD Audio
DHD Audio, a manufacturer of professional mixers and audio devices, has promoted Anne Philipp to general manager. She reports to managing directors Joerg M. Deubner and Sven Hoffmann. Graduating in 2006 with a business administration degree from the University of Leipzig, Philipp joined DHD in January 2007 as an executive assistant responsible for materials procurement and accounting. She later also took on production planning duties. She left the company to work on public tender preparation for a municipal organization in 2010 but returned to DHD in 2016, resuming her former roles within the company and adding supervision of DHD’s human resources department.
Lin Buck
MSE Audio
MSE Audio, parent company of SoundTube Entertainment, Soundsphere, dARTS, Phase Technology, Induction Dynamics, SolidDrive and Rockustics, has appointed Lin Buck to director of U.S. sales and global business development. Buck brings more than 20 years of sales experience to MSE Audio in the professional audio video markets. Previously, Buck worked as an independent manufacturer’s rep and then worked directly with Bosch (Electro-Voice), Harman Professional and Adamson Systems. Buck began his professional music career at age 13, which led to his career in pro audio. Based in Kansas City, MO, Lin has a home recording studio and enjoys writing, playing and producing music, spending time with his three children, cooking and building things.
Peter Fong
Clear-Com
Clear-Com has brought on Peter Fong as director of sales for the Asia-Pacific region. Fong will be responsible for developing and implementing sales strategies and ensuring his team is supported and meets their sales goals. He brings global technical sales experience to the role, with more than 20 years in sales/marketing and business development for technology companies. In his last position, he worked for Net Insight as head of sales, APAC. Prior to that, he worked at Globecast Group as sales director (APAC) and at Netia as head of sales (APAC). In these roles, he became familiar with the nuances of the market and what is required for sales in the area.
David Fisk Copyright Lifetouch Inc. 2020
beyerdynamic
Beyerdynamic has expanded its North American team by hiring David Fisk as sales manager for consumer products and Chris Norris as sales manager for communications products. Norris is an experienced audio professional. In addition to having worked in Korg USA’s educational division, he most recently was the key account manager for a major DJ and music technology product manufacturer. He is based in Long Island, NY.
Meanwhile, Fisk started his audio career as a 2001 graduate of DePaul University with a bachelor of science degree in sound recording technology. He has since attained a background in professional audio retail, post-production sound, field recording, game development, sales and manufacturing. He is based in Nashville, TN.
From left, Joe Cota, Justin Hall and Mitchell Ho
Point Source Audio
Point Source Audio has named Joe Cota as its customer education specialist; Justin Hall has been named key account manager; and Mitchell Ho has become account manager, Western U.S. Cota is a professional singer and musician by trade, while Hall is a seasoned account manager who has served customers, managed projects and dealt with international distributors for much of his career. Ho’s new position as account manager is his first job outside of minor league baseball, although he has been around professional audio his entire life.
Jimmy Yap
Lectrosonics
Lectrosonics has appointed Jimmy Yap as its technical representative for the Asia-Pacific Region. Based in Cambodia, Yap will represent Lectrosonics by supporting dealers, end users and future customers throughout the region, which includes China, Japan, India, South Korea, Australia, New Zealand, Singapore, Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar, Nepal, the Philippines, Taiwan, Thailand, Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia and Bangladesh. Yap has a background in technical engineering, distribution and sales, having held executive positions at his own company as well as at a variety of industry manufacturers. Since 2012, he has been the owner of AV Designs & Consulting Engineers, and has held product specialist and technical consultant positions in the region at manufacturers including QSC and Coda Audio.
The HD-Audio Challenge is coming to an end. Tomorrow is May 1 and it’s time to wrap phase one of this research project and begin the process of analyzing the raw data. It will be a long and arduous task […]
Live sessions at Seattle’s KEXP are captured for broadcast, podcasts, streaming and other formats. Renata Steiner/Nataworry Photography
Kevin Suggs arrived in Seattle just in time for the ‘90s grunge-era gold rush, when the city was bursting with bands looking to score a record deal. Spending a decade of 12-hour-plus days pushing faders at studios like Avast! Recording Company was the perfect training to head up audio engineering for the podcast series Live on KEXP.
“Things just started to explode,” Suggs says. “Even though I wasn’t working with any huge Seattle bands, there were just so many bands and everybody was recording. It was a very vibrant time to be making music in this town. Everybody had a shot.”
As a freelance engineer and steel guitarist, Suggs racked up credits on albums by Death Cab For Cutie, The Shins and Brandi Carlile. By the time he arrived at KEXP, a non-profit arts organization known for curating adventurous music for its FM radio station and online properties, the audio crew was producing more than 100 live music sessions a year.
The control room at KEXP Studios in Seattle Renata Steiner/Nataworry Photography
Live on KEXP—until this week, known as KEXP’s Live Performances—is the latest evolution of a podcasting program that began in 2004, and a key arm of the organization’s multi-platform approach that includes broadcasting to the Seattle radio market and streaming to two million YouTube subscribers.
Every note of sound, though, begins with Suggs and the audio engineering team. Today, KEXP logs about 300 performances every year. To maintain efficiency and consistency, Suggs begins each session with a proven template based around workhorse mics like Shure SM57s and SM58s and a baseline of plug-ins and presets in Pro Tools.
“My mantra for these things is just simplicity,” says Suggs. “I’m not trying to recreate a band’s record or anything. I’m trying to capture what the band is giving.”
The Live Room at KEXP Studios in Seattle Renata Steiner/Nataworry Photography
Until a few years ago, the engineers mixed the audio to two-track on an eight-bus digital Mackie board before sending it to Pro Tools. These days, they automate the mix through an Avid S6 Pro Tools control surface.
“It’s recording every move I make,” he says. “If I didn’t quite get that guitar solo up in time, I can make a marker. And then once we’re off the air, I can go back and I can fix that [for the podcast].”
Like any live recording situation, though, control is a relative concept. There’s only so much isolation you can do when a full band is playing together in room. Suggs has a few tricks to help keep instruments in their own lanes, but sometimes he simply has to let it bleed.
“I always start my mixes with the vocal mics up because they’re going to color everything,” he notes. “It doesn’t make a lot of sense to solo the kick drum, because as soon you push those vocal mics up, it’s going to change that kick drum sound completely. It’s just a matter of embracing the bleed, because you’re going to get a lot of it.”
Instead of setting up bands according to their stage plots, Suggs positions them in a circle, with everyone facing each other like in a rehearsal. In the absence of isolation barriers, this configuration cancels some of the interference between the vocal mic and drum mics.
Every session that ends up on the Live on KEXP podcast is first broadcast via radio to the Seattle area. With few exceptions, what ends up on YouTube and the podcast is exactly the same as what the radio listeners heard. The main difference between the broadcast and streaming audio is in the mastering stage.
Troy Nelson, KEXP DJ and host of the Live on KEXP podcast. Renata Steiner/Nataworry Photography
“We hit the one that goes out on the air with a little more compression [from an L2 leveling amplifier], and then we do a raw track [for streaming] that has nothing on it and no compression. That’s what we usually use for mastering, so we can start fresh without any other compression.”
When shelter-in-place orders came into play in March, the Live on KEXP team was already set up to have their engineers work remotely. Most, like Suggs, have studios in their homes, so they’re able to mix and master sessions seamlessly.
Luckily, KEXP has enough sessions in the can to last well into the summer months. The only audio currently being recorded at home for the Live on KEXP podcast is the voiceover by host Troy Nelson, who runs an AKG Perception 20 mic through a Universal Audio Arrow audio interface into Logic Pro X.
Rest assured, Suggs and the audio engineering team will be ready to go as soon as they’re able to get back to the studio.
“I really feed off of the vibe,” he says. “There’s really something about that live energy and the mix being a performance. At the same time as the band’s performing, you’re performing the mixing. You still get that adrenaline rush. There’s no net.”
Houston, TX (May 7, 2020)—MLB may be MIA due to the coronavirus pandemic, but that hasn’t stopped Ross Stripling and Cooper Surles as they produce The Big Swing podcast. For Stripling, it’s one of many balls he keeps in the air—he’s also a financial advisor and, more importantly, a right-handed 
