Nathan Chapman has produced, written, and engineered records with artists such as Taylor Swift, Sara Evans, The Band Perry, Jewel, and K’Jon. Joe West has produced, written, and engineered with Warren Zevon, Emmylou Harris, Toby Keith, and Keith Urban.

Video Transcription:

NC: A couple of months ago, Joe West and I got to get together and do a shootout at Sony Studios here in Nashville.
 
JW: The way we had the desk arranged was that we had the two mics just coming in, just the two raw inputs, the mic pres, and then we had the Symphony I/O, a 192, and we had an AD-16X.
 
NC: We recorded piano and we recorded guitars… and we recorded everything simultaneously through all the different interfaces and then we were able to play back simultaneously and sit there and A/B all the different interfaces that we were going through.
 
JW: What I loved about it was it was a clear, concise difference.
 
NC: We were astounded at the Symphony I/O. The depth, the 3D characteristic to it which is kind of an intangible thing that you can’t explain. You feel it. There was a feeling of more of that openness and the air around everything and the detail and the 3D quality that is what we all really hope for when we are trying to record music.
 
JW: You know, coming in, being asked to come in and listen to that in an environment that you don’t know, on monitors that you don’t know, it’s always sort of like, well, am I really going to be able to tell the difference? But, man, it was just as clear as day.
 
NC:  The stereo piano really came through, even a mono acoustic guitar… you could tell that there was a place you could point at in the speakers where the guitar was.
 
JW: What I noticed primarily was that the 192 and 16-X both sounded good, but I’d always want to EQ them.. let me just get this frequency out of there, let me get that out of there. But with the Symphony I/O, I didn’t want to EQ it.
 
NC: It’s been astounding, the difference. I had an artist, that was sitting on the couch, the first day that I turned that on and we had been working for a few days, and one of the days in to the week we were working together, I plugged the Symphony I/O in and didn’t say anything and the artist immediately sat up on the couch. And they were like, what did you do to the song? Did you do something last night? I was like, No, it’s just this new interface.

That to me is a big deal because it’s not that, when an artist or an average listener or somebody who is not really listening critically, like engineers, I mean we are all pretty nerdy about it. But when someone who is more artistic about it notices a chance in the engineering, just with something as simple as plugging in a different interface, to me that is something that we -as nerdy engineers who love the gear- we should take note when someone who isn’t obsessed like we are, notices something better, that’s a good sign, and maybe even a better sign than someone like myself or Joe geeking out on it. 

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Dave Tozer has produced, performed, and written with artists such as Kanye West, John Legend, Free Sol, Musiq Soulchild, Jazmine Sullivan, Bridget Kelley, and Emile Sande.

Video Transcription:

I track probably I would say about 75% of the work I do here. And, If I have to track strings or live drums, I’ll do it in bigger rooms, but it all ends up coming back here. So when I come out with records that I produce, for the large part, they are recorded here. Absolutely.

My main chain going in is going through this Vintech Stereo Mic Pre into the Tube Tech compressor, a very good compressor, and into the interface, which is now the Symphony. It really struck me, you notice that all of a sudden, to me, that the bass is a little tighter. And there is more depth to the stereo spread. And it just sounds pleasant. It’s really great. And also I’ve noticed the sound going in, that’s just the monitoring side, but the recording side is sounding really good. The conversion itself is top shelf. So it’s a great thing just knowing that you’re getting the best conversion going in, because that’s really the sound you’re getting right there, that’s what you’re getting. You want it to sound really great going in.
 
***
 
One of the things that strikes me about the Symphony I/O is the thought that is put into the engineering of it so that it can be used across the board for people who work in a variety of styles and who also have a variety of needs. It’s set up to be very compatible. The fact that it’s modular in the first place really illustrates that. It’s designed being very intuitive and flexible and I think it’s great.

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About The PSM

Pauli “The PSM” Stanley-McKenzie is internationally known as the backbeat behind Gorillaz Sound System, a remixed version of the cartoon band, Gorillaz, performed to visual effects. The london based group has headlined major music festivals around the world spreading danceable arrangements to thousands.

More about Pauli “The PSM” Stanley-McKenzie >

More about Rohan Blair-Mangat >

About this video:

Equipment used:
Apogee GIO
MacBook Pro
MainStage 2
Logic Pro 9
Sennheiser e835
Mini Power Generator

In this video GiO was used as an interface and controller, plugging into a MacBook Pro via USB also providing bus power. The small guitar amp is plugged into the output of GiO and an XLR to 1/4″ cable is connecting a Sennheiser e835 microphone to GiO’s input. Prior to shooting, Pauli created his own concert file, mapped to the GiO and created custom patches in MainStage which were recorded via the Loopback plugin.

GiO’s stomp buttons were used to enable individual effects and the next button was used to toggle through the patches along with the transport control buttons, record, play and reverse – which is demonstrated at the end of the film. In post-production, Pauli saved the loops and exported as files which were then imported to Logic 9. This allowed Pauli to move each loop around to fit to the audio drum bed taken from the mic on the camera, as well as mixing and processing the audio before bouncing and exporting to Final Cut Pro for video editing.

To learn more about Southern, check out their website at: http://www.myspace.com/thomsouthern.

First Open Audio MIDI Setup

Click on the plus button in the lower left corner to add a new aggregate device

Select ONE

Select GiO

Now when you expand the Aggregate Device, you will see ONE and GiO

By clicking on ONE or GiO you can individually adjust Input and Output volume

You can also make it so that it is the device used for Computer sound output, for listening to iTunes etc..

In GarageBand choose Preferences> Audio/MIDI

Change Audio Output to “Aggregate Device”

Change Audio Input to “Aggregate Device”

Now select the input for each track so for the vocal track choose Mono 1. Since ONE was selected first when you built the Aggregate device it is input 1

So now for Guitar you will choose Mono 2 for GiO

In Logic choose Preferences>Audio

Change the Output & Input device to “Aggregate Device”

In Logic you can make custom labels for your inputs and outputs

Click on Options>Audio>I/O Labels

Select “Users”

Name Input #1

Do the same for Input #2

You can now select either ONE or GiO on any of the tracks in Logic

Now you can record vocals with ONE, guitars with GiO, and remotely control all the functions in Logic or GarageBand with your foot…All at the same time.

In this tutorial, we are going to show you a few tricks that will make GiO an even more powerful and invaluable tool to your guitar recording work flow. We will show you how to create and arm a new track, and then scroll hands free through tracks using only GiO.

Creating a new track

Click on Logic Pro > Preferences > Key Commands

In the search bar type “New Track”

Select  “New Track with duplicate setting”

click “Learn new Assignment”

Press button 4 on GiO

Now whenever you step on GiO button 4 you will create a new track with the same amp and effects you were using on the previous track.

Record Enable

With record enable you do pretty much the same thing.

Click on Logic Pro > Preferences > Key Commands

In the search bar type “Record Enable”

Select  “Record Enable Track”

click “Learn new Assignment”

Press button 5 on GiO

Now button 5 will allow you to toggle record enable on the track that is selected

Scrolling through tracks

Click on Logic Pro > Preferences > Key Commands

In the search bar type “Select previous track”

Select previous track

click “Learn new Assignment”

Press GiO’s “Previous” button

Now do the same for the next button

Click on Logic Pro > Preferences > Key Commands

In the search bar type “Select next track”

Select next track

click “Learn new Assignment”

Press GiO’s “Next” button

Now you can record multiple guitar tracks without ever having to touch your computer.

The way we assigned the buttons is just a suggestion, so feel free to assign the buttons however you like to make GiO an incredibly powerful tool for how you record electric guitar.

Visit Puscifer at http://www.myspace.com/censorshipisacancer

Video Transcript

Hi I’m Mat Mitchell, currently performing and producing the project Puscifer. In the past I’ve worked with The Perfect Circle, teching for Billy Howerdel. That’s where I met Maynard Keenan. [I've] since worked with Tool, and most recently with Trent Reznor and Nine Inch Nails. Working a bit in the studio and extensively live doing programming and live tech work.

On tour and in the studio, I’ve been using Apogee products for quite some time. On the Nine Inch Nails tour, we used Symphony Mobile and Rosetta for all the guitar and keyboard sounds through MainStage. For the latest Puscifer recordings, we’ve been using Duet quite a bit. We use Soundelux U95 plugged straight into a Duet, and then using the dynamics in Logic.

Recently I was introduced to a new Apogee product, GiO. It allows me to scroll through my amps; it allows me to control stomp box effects; it allows me to control my transport functions hands free. Another thing we discovered is that you can assign buttons to create a new track and arm that track. Since we are already using MainStage Live, the GiO is a great addition. It allows me to switch through my amps and all my pedals through MainStage. Both live and in the studio, the GiO is really a good addition.

Video Transcript

Related Apogee Gear
ONE

Video Transcript

System requirements:

To follow this tutorial, you need to have

• Mac OS 10.5.7 or greater and MainStage 2

Open MainStage.

For the purpose of the tutorial choose one of the Guitar rig templates.

Click on “Preferences>Audio”

Choose “ONE”  for your Output and Input device

For best latency, set the buffer to 32. However, You may need to adjust the buffer higher depending on the size of the project you are working on.

Open the “Apogee ONE control panel” by clicking on Mainstage>Open Apogee Control Panel

Here you can select the different ONE input choices. For now select instrument.

With output you can choose between stereo for headphones or sending a stereo signal to a PA or amp, if you want to connect the output of one to a guitar amp.

After connecting your guitar and output, raise the master fader, you are now ready to play.