John Gatski is the Publisher & Executive Editor of Pro Audio Review.
Every since we began our PAR Excellence Awards back in 1996 at the annual U.S. AES convention, I have had periodic requests from companies to extend our innovative product award to other trade shows. Since PAR covers a number of niches within Pro Audio, there have always been plenty of shows that we covered including NAB (broadcast production/post), NSCA(live) Infocom (contracting/presentation audio) and NAMM (with its divergent set of music dealer products).
So for the first time, we are branching out our brand of product recognition with our first ever Pro Audio Review Hot Gear list. Our first list of Hot Gear product, published in this issue, comes from the NAB 2008 convention. Our editors and contributors who helped out with the coverage from NAB made their recommendations after the show and the results are published on page 56-57.
The list is a pretty good one and is quite varied — from handheld FLASH recorders, to production consoles, to test equipment and many others in between. Congratulations to all the winners. We even made a cool little logo so they can wear the badge with pride.
We also will be making Hot Gear lists from InfoComm/NSCA and the Summer and Winter NAMM conventions. We will continue with the formal PAR Excellence Awards at AES in San Francisco.
CONSOLE-ATION
I wanted to pat our reviewers on their backs for the great crop of console reviews written up for this annual studio console issue. We have the world exclusive review on api’s killer 1608 analog board (front cover shot, too) and first looks on the Euphonix S5 Fusion and SSL Matrix. After nearly three years since its introduction, we finally get a look at Malcolm Toft’s low-cost and featurefilled ATB analog console.
Despite the computer mixing lure, pro audio folks still like their consoles and many of them are still them analog. I snagged one of John Oram’s 8T boards in 06, and I love it. I also have an old American-made Mackie 1402 and that puppy still gets a lot of use as well. As long as they keep making them, we will keep reviewing them.
TAPE NEVER DIES
While I was NAB I stopped by the Otari booth to chat and, of course, the venerable MX- 5050 15-ips half-track was on display, the last of the analog two tracks still in production.
But I also picked up a brochure on the Tape Project, an enterprise of fiercely dedicated tape die-hards who claim to be putting remastered classic and current master tape hi-fi recordings on 10-inch reel. Hey, since everyone always says how open reel playback sounds more like the real thing, now you can hear it again for yourself. The titles are most jazz and classical, including the venerable Bill Evans Waltz for Debby.
They even offer a network of repair centers and information where to buy used decks. I guess I will fire up the old Technics 1520 and sample a few of the tapes. Now where is that empty reel … I love the smell of tape in the morning! For more info, go to www.tapeproject.com.
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