The basic tenet of Bleeding Edge is to look forward at cutting-edge technology and what it can offer us now, or perhaps might promise us in the future. Sometimes it can be fun (and quite educational) to look in the rearview mirror, so to speak, where technology is concerned. Since this month is AES month and we’ll be seeing a lot of new product from our favorite gear manufacturers, we thought it might be fun to set the time machine back to 1998 and have a look at the audio rage of the time and what has perhaps fallen by the wayside.
A Flashback
In 1998, I purchased my first real computer: an Apple PowerMac 8600. It was one of those beige rectangular boxes Apple made before their sleek designs started showing up in the Smithsonian. It had a 604e CPU running at 300 MHz. Your average high school track star runs faster than that now, but it was good enough for me to run Pro Tools 4, which had just come out (more on that in a minute).
My 8600 had 32 MB RAM, three PCI slots and used SCSI drives! Now? It’s still in service at my studio, though mostly for word processing, archiving of various files (including audio) and an occasional e-mail. It has floppy and ZIP drives so every once in a while it comes in handy — like when I recently purchased a used TC Electronic M5000. I wanted to upgrade the operating system, and you can download the files from the TC Web site. If you have a floppy drive, you can transfer the files to floppy, insert the floppy in the M5000 and off you go. By the way, that M5000 is pushing toward 15 years of age and still sounds great. 1998 was the year that TC announced the M3000, which like its older brother, still sounds fantastic. Take THAT, plug-ins.
Interesting Developments
An interesting development in the computer world was something called the Universal Serial Bus. We now commonly refer to it as USB, but prior to the development of USB, your keyboard and peripherals either mated with Apple or PC hardware — but not both. USB delivered on the promise of providing a portal to a multitude of devices including storage devices and audio interfaces.
If you had one of those hot-rod Macs you could run Pro Tools 4 software. One of the big features of PT4 was that it offered support of 24-bit audio files. While I’m not yet convinced that 88.2 and 96 kHz sample rates are always the way to go, I think most people can hear the difference between 16- and 24-bit audio files. Score one for Digidesign. For those engineers who couldn’t bear using a mouse to mix (show me one engineer who likes to mix using a mouse and I’ll show you to the psych ward), Digidesign rolled out the Pro Control while Mackie produced the HUI. Both of these controllers set trends that others would follow, all the way to Digi’s own current Venue and D-Show Profile.
If you were recording live shows in 1998, you were using either Tascam DTRS machines or Alesis ADATs. Those lucky enough to take a 2-inch, 24-track machine had palpitations that year when tape manufacturer Ampex became Quantegy — and would later go out of business.
There were several interesting product introductions aimed at live sound in 1998: Xwire unveiled the X905, a 20-bit digital audio wireless transmission system. About a year ago, the developer of Xwire, Guy Coker, started a company called X2 to market the latest 24-bit version of that technology, and X2 was recently purchased by Line 6. Digital consoles had invaded the studio: The Mackie d8B, Panasonic DA7 and Yamaha 02R were all setting new standards for digital audio recording and mixing. Initially, the concept of a digital console for live use was a pretty foreign concept. I believe it was a Todd Rundgren tour where the engineer carried on the road a couple of digital desks intended for studio use. Soundcraft on the scene with the Spirit 328, a digital console that could interface 16 digital and 16 analog inputs, plus included total recall with moving faders and onboard effects designed by the folks at Lexicon. Yamaha’s 01V brought most of the capabilities of the 02R down to a smaller format, and Tascam’s TM-D1000 also provided a compact format more suited to live use. All of these desks were a far cry from current digital live sound consoles, but they helped develop the standards that we expect in digital mixers today.
A Different World
In the world of power amps, manufactures started paying attention to the weight of the chassis, way before we’d have to swallow $4-a-gallon gasoline prices. In particular, QSC’s PLX Series offered light weight, high power and reliability in a two-space package. That trend is certainly continued today with more amplifier manufacturers designing less weight into their products while increasing performance. In the world of microphones there were several important developments. beyerdynamic announced the world’s first digital microphone. Employing a traditional transducer, the beyer MCD Series performed A/D conversion onboard the microphone for the first time, negating the need for an external mic pre while ensuring that the mic signal would not degrade due to cable capacitance, RF or EMI issues.
Neumann would later join beyerdynamic as the only other manufacturer of digital microphones, but at the time, Neumann was busy celebrating its 70th anniversary. The Neumann TLM103 became one of the most affordable Neumann microphones ever, making it available for studio and (albeit high-end) live use. Shure rolled out their first large-diaphragm studio condenser microphone ever, the KSM32. This mic offered great performance, quiet operation and affordability. At the time, we didn’t know that the KSM44 would be the first in a line of mics that have become popular in the live sound world. The KSM Series continues now with models such as the KSM27, KSM141 and KSM9. The wonderful thing about microphones is that they never become obsolete.
Outboard Offerings
New outboard offerings in 1998 included feedback exterminators from various companies and the Antares ATR-1, which provided real-time pitch correction in a rackmount package. Who would need to use such a thing? Hmmm… is it true that engineers mixing certain artists have to sign non-disclosure agreements? I’m sure we’ve all heard the ATR-1 in live situations more often than we are aware.
One of the developments in live sound consoles that didn’t fair so well was the idea of placing vacuum tubes in the mic preamps for extra warmth. I thought that a console sitting in the sun at a County fair in Jefferson City, Mo. during August had all the warmth it needed. Apparently, I was correct. Unfortunately there are some audio products that we are still awaiting. Some of those include the Lead Singer Attitude Adjuster, Guitar Player Attenuator and Teletransporter — so I can stay away from planes. That would truly be progress.
Steve “Woody” La Cerra is once again out on tour this summer mixing front-of-house for Blue Öyster Cult. He can be reached via email at Woody@fohonline.com
