John Gatski is the Publisher & Executive Editor of Pro Audio Review.
You, the reader, may notice in this issue a couple of new feature articles that go beyond the normal cadre of PAR reviews.
First is the inaugural installment of Dan Wothke's “Worship Audio” column. There has been a lot of buzz about audio at churches, synagogues, etc. over the past few years. We've even seen a plethora of dedicated magazines covering the niche.
Since its inception in 1995, PAR has always covered church audio. We have always had engineer readers who worked with houses of worship to varying degrees. I have received letters and e-mails over the years from them, saying they use PAR as a guide to buying gear that works best in their particular installation.
Dan, who did our exclusive world premiere review of the MIDAS XL8 console in the December issue, is now doing this regular column that will explore various technical subjects pertaining to the rising sophistication of the pro audio in churches and houses of worship. (Talk about sophistication — the XL8 review was conducted from a church installation!) We've certainly come a long way from a podium mic/basic PA image of church audio.
Touring Gear Preview
This issue is distributed at the NSCA convention, so Reviews and Features Editor Strother Bullins has done a great job on his 2007 Touring Gear Preview feature. He interviews major tour engineers and touring authorities about gear to be used (digital boards, of course), as well as tricks of the trade. Though there are different brands of equipment being used, the trends are obvious.
Speaking of live sound, our review of APB DynaSonics analog board is something to check out. Live sound engineer Andy Roberts, who does a lot of gigs in the DC area, says this board is incredible sounding and very user friendly. Yeah, I know there is a lot of action in digital, but don't forget about analog. Lots of folks still swear by their rock-solid dependability and that analog sound. (Heck, I got a few of them myself.)
Tip Of The Month
Those of you with MacBook Pro laptops may know this already, but working with the digital input/output requires you to use the Audio MIDI utility in the System 10 utility folder in order to synchronize your digital.
If you are working with A/Ds and D/As via FireWire, USB or the built-in optical connection (allowing up to 24-bit/96-kHz digital audio), you must set the sample rate for the system's digital input or output even if the editing/recording program's sample rate seems to be set correctly.
Let's say you are working with 24-bit/96-kHz audio files. The audio will be downsampled through the computer's default setting of 44.1 kHz if the Audio MIDI utility is not set to 24 bit/96 kHz.
I found this out when trying a new USB-connection converter. Initially, the digital output connected to the USB port of the Mac laptop converter did not sound as good as the S/PDIF input from another device playing the same exact audio. I later found that the Audio MIDI utility setting for the digital output was set to 44.1 kHz, not 96 kHz. The audio therefore was downsampled to 44.1 kHz in the laptop then fed to the converter, resulting in a sound that was definitely not high res. Once I figured it out with a little help from the converter company the USB input sounded just as good as the S/PDIF coax connection from the other device playing the same audio. You live and learn!
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