plasticmoonrain

Trouble Installing Sony Oxford Plug-ins

Just got Sony Oxford plug-ins to use with my TC Powercore (Dynamics, EQ). However, I'm having a lot of problems installing the plug-ins. I have a Mac G5 running OSX 10.2.8.

After I download each zip file, I drop them onto Stuffit Expander. Then hit each installer for each plug-in. However, very little seems to be installed -- no VST's, a folder named SONY with a lilicense agreemtn and a few presets in another folder.

I don't know if I'm extracting the zip file correctly -- it would certainly seem that it is correct -- or something is just screwy with the installation process.

Has anybody had these problems with the Sony Oxford plug-ins?


THANKS.


Drew

2 Monitors For 1 G5 Using Cubase Sx

I'm reconfiguring my studio layout so I can have two monitors for my G5. Tired of flipping between screens on Cubase SX, so i figured I can have the mixer on one screen and the main screen on the other.

However, before I go to this trouble, how do I do it? How do I get two monitors on one graphic card? And how do I set up Cubase SX so I get different screen on each monitor?

THANKS.


Drew

Ric Ocasek's Recording Tips In Future Music (us)

If you're a Cars fan or dig Ric Ocasek's production of bands like Weezer, it's really cool that he finally talk about producing in the new edition of Future Music (the US edition).

Ocasek is like a hero of mine, from a songwriting point of view, and putting together the sound of the Cars. I think this is the first interview I read where he gets more technical than usual.

Here are a few of the things I picked up:

1) He syncs together four digital 8-track machines because legendary producer Roy Thomas Baker was a stickler for Tascam tape machines. Ocasek does no hard disk or Pro Tools recording, which is a rarity!

2) For the first Cars album, Baker would have three people singing a part in unison, making them do it over and over again. The band thought it was because they didn't get it right on the first take, but Baker was just layering the vocals.

3) From Baker, he learned "if you want to hear something, you push it all the way up. There weren't any subtle moves with Roy. If you couldn't har the toms, he'd just jack'em to the top. I think you have to exaggerate whatever you want to pop out in the mix."

4) "Recording and mixing guitars is much more about cutting frequencies away rather than adding EQ boosts. I like to get rid of anything that hurts your ears, but I still like the guitars to be powerful. I do try to cut 3 kHz away a lot because I want the vocal to be able to fit in. Whatever I cut away from the guitars, I just put on the vocal to get it to stick out more."


Drew

New Us Version Of Future Music Magazine

So I got my hands on a copy of the first issue of the US version of Future Music. I'd been buying the UK version for almost a couple of years and it was costing me a fortune. So I'm glad this is a lot cheaper ($7.99). Thought I'd share my thoughts.

Yes, it has a disc on the cover, with 200 acidized loops, tutorials for Live and Logic, and the demo software for Absynth 3. I haven't gone through all the videos yet, but it looks promising.

Unlike the UK edition, which seems to be very dance/electronica oriented, this is much broader. Heck, the opening interview is with Nirvana producer/Garbage main guy Butch Vig, and then there's a lengthy interview with Alan Parsons.

The cover story is how to create mash-ups, like that one with the Beatles White Album and that rap black album. There's also a tutorial on using Ableton Live on doing one of these.

My favorite parts actually were the columns in the back. There's one about spectrum analyzers, and they have links to sites that have free ones. I downloaded one from one of the sites, so it's useful.

Lots of reviews in the back and there's one already on Reason 3.0, so that was pretty quick.

Overall, I'd say they are off to a good start. It's supposed to be coming out 10times a year. It's issue one, so I'm curious what else they'll be doing. If it's anything like Computer Music, that would be awesome.


Drew

Lounge Lizard 2 Vs. Elektrik Piano

In this corner, weighing in at $219 is the veteran Lounge Lizard 2.

And in this corner, the newcomer from Germany, weighing in at $199.95, Elektrik Piano!

Who has heard them both? Any opinions of the pro's and con's of each one?

If you found a few hundred bucks on the sidewalk, which one would you buy tomorrow?


THANKS.


Drew