John Gatski is the Publisher & Executive Editor of Pro Audio Review.
Judging by our 2006 PAR Excellence Awards at AES last month, development of analog products has not waned. Yes, there were plenty of new, advanced digital products, but I was stunned to see so much new analog gear.
From SSL’s Duality console for high-end recording to Lab Gruppen’s new live sound amps, audio professionals still want analog. Take a closer look at some of the winners: API’s new 550 analog EQ, AEA TRP Ribbon Mic Preamp, Crown CDi amplifiers, DACS Eightch surround volume controller, Groove Tubes SuPre mic preamp, John Oram and David Manley’s new series of rackmount products, Rupert Neve Designs 5088 analog console and True Systems Solo Ribbon preamp. (In fact, ribbon microphone products were three winners this year).
Despite the continuing advances in digital audio design, analog continues to thrive. Why? My hunch is that engineers still feel that the analog sound is more “human.” Noted PAR contributor and early digital recording proponent Tom Jung said that the analog electronic sound has a simplicity and naturalness, albeit with some color, that just sounds right to the human ear. I agree.
And despite all the convenience and power of digital, use of analog products in the signal chain is the result of the engineers wanting to maintain the best part of analog in their sound. One company spokesman said that despite the proliferation of digital workstations and plug-ins, analog imparts “soul” to the music. I’ll buy that.
Excellent is Excellence
Speaking of the PAR Excellence Awards, we celebrated our 10th anniversary of the award at the San Francisco AES.
We originally developed the award to recognize new products that our audio professional judges believed had potential in our little world.
The judges’ criteria are: the product must be new at the U.S. AES show (it could have debuted at another show, but not shown at a previous U.S. AES), and must be an innovation of a new technology, or improvement of existing technology at a lower price.
After selecting about 350 award-winning products over 10 years, I am proud to say that most of them have been successful in the market. Sure, we picked a few duds that died a quick market death, and a few that never made it into production (where is that new Stephen Paul microphone?), but not that many. Although there are flashier awards than ours, the PAR Excellence Award is considered an annual, reliable indicator of the “hot” new products.
Who's Zoomin' Who?
Speaking of interesting products, we are reviewing a product by Zoom (Samson), the H4,in this issue. This product looks similar to Sony’s PCM-D1 flash recorder with built-in mics, records two tracks of 24-bit/96 kHz audio or four tracks at 44.1 kHz onto an SD card, has balanced inputs — and sells for $299 on the street! And guess what? The Zoom recorder works pretty well and the converters are decent. If it proves durable for pro use, they got a winner. It could make a low-cost, spare back up to your PCM-D1.
John Gatski, publisher and executive editor of PAR, recently moved from the motorcycle technology of the 1920s to the modern age by trading in his “airhead“ BMW for a water-cooled, 16-valve “brick” BMW. The new one gets him from point A to B quicker and a has a gas gauge, but the old one still has more “soul.”
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