In our pursuit of remaining the best review magazine for pro audio, PAR is currently tweaking a few elements in our formula. One of our latest additions is the hiring of Strother Bullins as our new Reviews and Features Editor. Strother will be working with PAR's class group of reviewers and the manufacturers to make sure we line up the best reviews for our many thousands of readers who rely us as the pro audio's review resource.

Strother, an accomplished drummer and studio tech, joined our sister title Audio Media in the late 1990s. His AM tenure included stints as associate editor and managing editor of the US edition, as well as handling mucho writing chores. He has been freelance writing our X/Audio column and the Single Slice column for a couple of years. Thus, he is no stranger to the PAR readership. Beside his liaison with the manufacturers and the reviewers, Strother will continue to write the two columns, plus a review or two each issue.

His new position coincides with PAR's growth plans, which includes last year's introduction of the very successful digital edition, and the September debut of PAR's new look, as well as a ramping up our web site.

Being an industry veteran, Strother will work closely with me, and Managing Editor Brett Moss to give you the readers the best reviews out there. Feel free to email Strother and welcome him aboard to the PAR staff (strotherpar@earthlink.net).

Two-track nirvana

There has never been so many choices for pro audio engineers in the world of two-track recorders — especially the portable ones for remote work. Long-time remote recording engineer Mike Rivers overviews a bunch of the recorders in this issue, ranging from the low cost units from Fostex, M-Audio and Edirol to high-end units from Sony, Nagra and all the ones in between. The hard drive/Flash card evolution has simply revolutionized the capability of the small recorder. I have auditioned a number of them and currently own a TASCAM HD-P2; the onboard recording quality in the high-res mode is very good, and if you add external converters, phenomenal.

Although the pressure is on from computer recording solutions, digital studio decks continue to advance from the old DAT days with DVD and hard drive-based solution, showing there are people who still like to record on standalone machines. The TASCAM DV-RA1000 and the Fostex series of DVD-RAM decks are quite popular as is the Alesis MasterLink.

Remember standalone CD recorder decks? Even with their speed disadvantage to a computer burner, there are still a number of those still made from TASCAM, Alesis, Marantz and Denon. Heck, I have three myself. Ain't nothing easier than duping a copy of a CD from my dual-deck Denon DN-650. Yeah, it's the slow burn mode at 2X, but the set-it-and-forget-it simplicity and the satisfaction of actual button pushing buttons make me feel like I am doing something.

The media for all these machines just gets cheaper and cheaper. Decent capacity hard drives approaching $50; Flash Cards down below $50 for 2 GB, and DVD and CD-Rs — they almost pay you to buy them.

For those who love the simplicity and quality of recording analog, one solemn moment to note: there is only one 1/4-inch two-track 15 ips machine still being manufactured and made available in the U.S. The Otari MX-5050BIII priced at almost $5,000 grand continues in production in Japan and distribution here, while the two-track 1/4-inch TASCAM BR-20 R-R finally bows out.

Since there is still a lot of preference (electric guitars still sound the best on R-R) in analog for studio recording machines, some companies still repair and modify R-Rs. Tape is also still available — at higher prices, but the final chapter of the big tape machines is almost here.

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