Ethereality News & Weblog

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When I started my search for a killer pair of studio monitors years ago, I had no idea that it would eventually lead me to my current favorite piece of gear in the studio–the Klein + Hummel O 300D. Yep, I’ve gone and done it, and no, it did not cost me almost $7k (I was incredibly lucky to find a pair on ebay). It was listed for $3,000, and as I watched and watched, not a single person bid on it, so I went for it. Thank God it did not have a sensible reserve price, because anyone who knows anything about high-end gear knows that the 300D’s are a steal at $3,000. This past couple of years in general has been rough for me, and the 300D’s sure soothed the pain a bit. Just look at those soft curves on the waveguides:

Here they are, sitting pretty in my studio (need to add some Auralex Mopads to cushion their bottoms):

Here’s a Sound On Sound review that reads like a love letter. I generally prefer Hugh Robjohns’ reviews to Paul white’s , as Paul tends to be more cautious with negative remarks (for the sake of not pissing off the advertisers?).

You can find out more about the sexy Germans from Klein + Hummel’s website.

I’m not sure if I can add anything to Hugh’s review–he’s certainly heard a lot more high-end monitors in his career, so he’s bound to know a lot more. If he says the 300D’s are amazingly good, then who am I to argue? My own experience with them (after having had them for a few days) is that they are certainly very revealing, accurate, with an open soundstage, non-fatiguing, and have the cute little K+H red lights in the front that blinks if you overload the internal limiter–which I’ve yet done (I’m pretty sensible when it comes to monitoring levels–I try not to exceed 90db, and usually keep it at around 80db~87db). For such a small size, they definitely do deliver unbelievable big sound, yet remaining accurate and not hyped in any frequency range. I’ve thrown just about all kinds of recordings at it–classical, industrial, metal, electronic, jazz, vocals, rock, pop, film/game scores…etc and they have performed beautifully. They do reveal bad recordings for what they are though, whereas lesser monitors mask the shortcomings. I’ve listened to some of my own recent cues, and I’m hearing things that have changed my mind about how I should mix them. I don’t think I’ll be using the digital inputs, since I’ve read from other 300D owners that they aren’t really all that better than the analog inputs.

All in all, I’m just thrilled to have the 300D’s in my setup, and I’m also ecstatic over the killer price I got them for. I doubt I’d want to add the O 800 sub to them, since the 300D’s go pretty low already (definitely lower than the listed 40Hz, since it’s a closed enclosure and 40Hz is what’s rated as within the flat response range). Maybe if one day when I need a larger studio, I’d add the sub.

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I want to give a shout out to Jeremy at Guitar Center’s San Jose branch. He was a very cool guy who helped me demo a bunch of monitors and allowed me to move them around (which the stores typically don’t allow) to get more accurate listening positions for A/B’ing different pairs.

I might have ended up with a pair of JBL LSR6328P’s if I didn’t see the 300D’s on ebay, since I was quite impressed with those during my last listening test there. The 6328’s blew the 4328’s out of the water (I had a good impression of the 4328’s until I heard the 6328’s), as they made the 4328’s sound almost timid and limp. The 6328’s had much nicer soundstage, and overall a lot more articulate and dynamic (not in a hyped way).

I got to test the new Mackie HR824 mkII’s while there too, and I was quite disappointed. The treble was rolled off and sounded like there was an invisible blanket over the high frequencies (maybe Mackie chose less fatigue over accuracy?). It’s still got that fat bottom end like the previous version, which may or may not be accurate, but for the bass heads, they’ll buy them just for that.

I got to hear one of the Blue Sky 2.1 systems (finally!), and they were definitely nice, but sounded like there was a hole missing in the frequency range (lower mid’s). It must be due to the crossover issues in the 2.1 setup.

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The 300D’s weren’t my only recent ebay winning bids–I also nabbed a Kurzweil PC2X master controller keyboard:

You can find more info at Kurzweil’s site.

I almost went for a CME UF-80, since I finally got to try one out at Leo’s Pro Audio (in Oakland) recently, and the action is not nearly as bad as some have claimed on the internet. In fact, it felt remarkably like the Kurzweil and Fatar’s piano action. I was going to get it because I wanted to connect a Yamaha BC3 (breath controller) to it, and it comes with the connection ready (otherwise you’d need to spend a couple hundred more just for a converter). But when I saw the PC2X on ebay, I had to go for it, since I could connect a ribbon controller to it, AND it’s got the breath controller port too, not to mention it comes with some pretty good sounds. My logic is that if I’m paying the same price, why not get something that actually makes a sound–I might find some presets I really like. I don’t need all the knobs and sliders on the UF-80 anyway, since I already have a Novation ReMOTE 25 SL. I ended up getting the PC2X for $711. Not too shabby at all.

I nabbed a few other items off ebay as well–a M-Audio 4×4 MIDI USB interface (my Midiman 1×1 is not going to cut it now that I’m adding more gear, since I don’t want to do too much chaining), and a Behringer Xenyx 1622FX mixer (please don’t groan. Not all Behringer products are crap. Plenty of Behringer’s products have gotten great reviews. Besides, if I hear any unwanted coloring/noise from the Xenyx, I’ll immediately get rid of it and get something more “respectable”).

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All that remains is pretty much acoustic treatment. I’m willing to spend up to a couple of grand to treat my studio, but any more than that, I might have to consider the DIY solution. I’m currently looking at both Realtraps and Auralex solutions. I’m a lot more impressed with Realtraps so far, since their customer service is a lot more in-depth, and they are the one company that gets name-dropped constantly at high-end audio forums by reputable mastering engineers.

I’ll need a good all-around mic too, since I don’t have a decent one in the studio right now (just a couple of el cheapo’s). I haven’t had the need to record vocals or acoustic instruments for a long time now, but that’s going to change real soon. Maybe something like a Studio Projects C1, Shure Beta 87C, or RØDE NT1-A.

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Elena and I finally got to see Before Sunrise (we watched the sequel, Before Sunset, previously), and we both agree that the second film is better. The first one is more idealistic and romantic, but at the same time, the emotional impact isn’t on the same level. In the sequel, they never even really touch each other in the entire film, but the emotional impact is far more real and mature, as they’ve had time to understand just how much that day they spent together has affected their lives. I guess it’s also because we are roughly the same age as the characters are in the sequel, so we relate to how much they’ve grown since the first film. I suppose if Elena and I had watched the first film when we were in our early twenties, we would’ve related to that film more. The beauty of the second film is also in that even after nine years, they are still so perfect for each other, despite having had more life experience since their day together nine years ago.

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I’m sure this has happened to some of you before–you were in the market to get a (insert anything), and after some research, you felt like you’ve got it narrowed down to a few sensible candidates. Then came that fateful day when someone who knew quite a bit about the products you’ve been looking at innocently made the following remark:

“Well, if you don’t mind spending just a bit more, you can look at the higher-end manufacturers/models such as…”

And your response was, “Huh? I never heard of those companies before, and I’ve been researching for a while now.”

“Of course not. They are the higher end stuff–totally different league compared to what you’ve been looking at.”

If you controlled your curiosity at that point, your life would still be pretty normal, but as soon as you took a peek into the higher-end, the seemingly comfortable surrounding you live in suddenly unravels, and you realized you were living in a box, and outside of that box are the serious stuff. Respectable stuff. Stuff you now drool after because they are out of your reach.

And you can never go back once you decide you want to leave the box.

This happened to me recently, and I am, of course, talking about studio monitors (I already kind of went through that with Photography).

Until the fateful day, I would’ve been fine with a pair of Mackie HR824’s, or even JBL LSR4328P’s–and this isn’t to say they’re bad monitors, as they are actually quite good for their price range–but since having heard higher-end monitors like the Klein & Hummel O 300’s, Focal Solo 6’s, Digidesign RM2’s (which are essentially PMC’s technology), Dynaudio BM12A’s…etc, I would have a hard time going back. At the same time, we’re talking about up to four times the price though, not to mention the fact I still need to spend quite a bit on acoustic treatment–at least a grand or more (check out this demonstration of what acoustic treatment can do for you).

A quick summary of my recent listening tests (conducted at Cutting Edge Audio in San Francisco and Leo’s Pro Audio in Oakland):

Klein & Hummel O 300 - $4,000, or O 110 - $2,000
Buttery smooth and accurate. Probably too rich for my blood though (the 300). The 110 might be doable, but I’m afraid I’d want to add a sub to it and that’ll get expensive again.

Focal Solo 6 + Sub 6 - $3,500
Sounds very lush (especially on orchestral/vocals). I heard it without a sub, and it definitely needs one–at least when compared to the Dynaudio BM12A’s.

Digidesign RM2 - $3,500
The ATL technology works as advertised! At low levels the bass was still full bodied. Everything else about it really didn’t stand out all that much from the JBL LSR4328P’s I A/B’d against though, but the RM2’s also weren’t burned-in properly though (suggested time is 14 hours).

PMC DB1S-A
Have not heard, but am definitely interested. Should be similar to the RM2’s since both are PMC technology.

Dynaudio BM12A - $2,000
Very nice, but when compared to the Focal’s, they seemed a bit clinical in the orchestral/vocal area.

JBL LSR4328P - $1,450
Pretty amazing performer when pitted against more expensive monitors. Often it was hard to tell that the JBL’s were “inferior” in any way–whether in soundstage, frequency response, reaction time…etc. In fact it sounded very close to the BM12A’s and the RM2’s when I A/B’s with them. In some instances, the JBL’s actually had slightly better soundstage and clarity than the RM2’s (once again, the RM2’s were not burned in properly though). The onboard DSP calibration system is also a big bonus. I can totally use it in conjunction with acoustic treatment to get the desired accurate sound.

Mackie HR824 MKII - $1,200
I could always save some money and get these. They aren’t bad monitors–just not quite as good as the ones listed above (you get what you pay for). The rest of the money can all go to acoustic treatment.

It appears the the middle-of-the-road is always the most complicated. With el cheapo options, you don’t need to be picky. With super high-end options, you only have to consider the best of the best. It’s the middle range of the market that requires you to do a lot of research and choose which battles fight, and which ones to compromise on.

NEWS:
ImagineFX have collected a bunch of artwork, tutorials, interviews, articles…etc from past issues into one volume called Fantasy Art Exhibition Vol.1, and it contains the interview they did with me (along with the tutorial I did). You can now also read the interview directly from their site as well.

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Been a long time since I updated Kitty Cat Diary. Not that I’ve stopped taking photos of Elena–just that I’ve been too busy to sort through them. For it looks like I’m all caught up though. Latest entries:

Shot a quickie session around our apartment’s pool/entrance too:

WEBLOG:
I finally got the Bioshock demo to work on my machine. It seems like it was only months ago that I had upgraded my video card, and now I’m behind the times already. I had to run the demo at much lower resolution than I had hoped to (I have a 24″ widescreen monitor), and the audio was stuttering the entire time. At least the surround sound was working though (I have a 7.1 system), unlike with the Valve games running on the Source engine. I always have problems getting the surround sound to work with the Source games, and often even typing “snd_digital suround 1″ in the command console doesn’t work.

I have been looking forward to Bioshock ever since it was announced years ago. Being a huge fan of System Shock 2, there was no questions as to whether I would play this “spiritual sequel.” I could see why all there’s all this hype about the game (some of the reviews read like love letters), and I did enjoy the demo quite a bit, but I have say it didn’t quite grab a hold of me in the same way that System Shock 2 or any of the Half-Life games did. Perhaps after playing through the entire game I will feel differently. For now I’ll hold back any final thoughts until after I’ve played the whole game.

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I have wanted an IEM (In Ear Monitor–the kind that goes into your ear canal, like an earplug) for a long time now, but never could justify the purchase (the good ones will cost you around $200), but now that I’m on the train everyday, I had enough reasons to go ahead and get one. It was down to between the Ultimate Ears Super.fi 5 Pro and the Shure E4c, and I ended up getting the Shure. Boy do I regret it. Not that the E4c’s are bad headphones, just that the bass is really anemic and the highs too shrill for my personal taste. I wish I had gotten it from a different online store too, because the one I got it from does not allow refunds on headphones. I had read all kinds of reviews and debates between audiophiles online beforehand, and my instinct told me to go with the one with the flatter frequency response. The Super.fi 5 Pro is supposed to have more hyped bass, which seemed like a bad thing for accuracy, but now I think when used with a portable mp3 player, it probably would even things out, as the portable mp3 players are always short on bass anyway. Now with the E4c, I have to jack up the bass in my Nomad 3 Jukebox, and turn down the highs as well for a more pleasant sound. See, I’m not even a bass head–in fact I can’t stand hyped up bass, so that tells you just how anemic the bass is on the E4c. Now I’ve gotten the right EQ setting going on the Nomad 3, the E4c’s are starting to grow on me, but I just wish I didn’t have to compensate so much with the EQ to get it there though.

On a side note, my Nomad 3 is starting to feel a bit ancient. Compared to the current generation, it’s quite bulky (about double the size of an iPod), and 20 GB just isn’t enough anymore. I have close to 200 GB of music on my machine at home, so naturally I’d want to get as much of it into a portable player as possible. Maybe I’ll upgrade to the next generation of the Creative Vision? I won’t be going the iPod route again just like last time, since I’ve tried my brother Dennis’s video iPod and I think the ergonomics isn’t quite as good as the Creative products (can’t jump between different hierarchy of directories quickly). It doesn’t even have a customizable multi-band EQ setting, which is a deal breaker for me.

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It’s been a few years since I last did a clean reinstall of the OS (WinXP Pro), and with all the crap I install on my system, it always becomes boggled down eventually (even if I clean the registry and optimize settings regularly). This weekend I did a repair install, and I thought it had fixed the problem, as I was able to have Sonar 6 running a lot smoother than before, and actually got some composing done over the weekend. But as soon as I had to reboot for something, I found out all the old problems are still there (Explorer would freeze up, mouse detection would not work, random reboots…etc). Looks like I’m going to have to do a clean reinstall anyway. That’s always a PITA, but at least the machine will run smoothly for at least another year or so (I hope) before it starts to go weird again.

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I’m thinking about selling my Tamron 28-75mm f/2.8 lens, as it sometimes misses the mark when focusing–especially in portrait orientation using one of the non-cross hair sensors. That lens is already considered a very good one, and from here on the only way up is the Canon EF 24-70mm f/2.8 L, which costs about $1,250 brand new. A bit too rich for my blood, but I might give it a shot on ebay and see if I find a good used one.

Speaking of selling, I’m tempted to sell my Novation ReMOTE SL 25 too, since I have never gotten it to work with Sonar (it did, for about a day with Sonar 5, but not with Sonar 6). I tried the Generic Control Surface approach and the ACT approach with Sonar, but neither could get the transport buttons to work, and it’s also an one-way communication in terms of feedback–the LCD on the ReMOTE SL would not update (and that’s one of the best things about the ReMOTE SL). To tell the truth though, I wouldn’t know what to replace it with. Maybe an Edirol PCR50?

NEWS:
The current issue of Official Corel Painter Magazine’s got an interview with me, so stop by your local bookstore and spend a few minutes to check it out. (The Painter magazine is usually placed near all those Photoshop/computer art magazines.)

WEBLOG:
Do not buy Crest Pro Health mouthwash. Just google that with terms like “dark stain between teeth” and you’ll see why. My wife and I are victims of it, and we have stopped using our bottle and asked for a refund with Crest. We scratched our heads for weeks wondering why we both were getting the dark stains between our teeth. We reviewed our diet, looked into the local water supply, called our dentist, called our landlord, and eventually placed our suspicion on the mouthwash. A search with google confirmed our suspicion, as many others have voiced their anger about the dark staining online.

Right now our favorite is the citrus flavored stuff–although it does contain alcohol (the reason we moved to the non-alcoholic formula in the first place–but backfired on us).

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Vector TD is one of the most addictive games (and free) I’ve played in a long time. If you are prone to addiction at all, do not try this game–hours will be sucked away. You’ve been warned.

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I finally watched Before Sunset for the first time (heard about it through Filmspotting a while ago) with Elena. Man, what a great movie! Now we have to hunt down Before Sunrise and see what their romance was like nine years ago. I think this is probably the first time a romantic drama had a sequel? What’s so interesting is that they filmed the sequel nine years later, and in the story it was nine years later as well, so the rate of how the characters aged is accurate. This is one of the rare films where the entire thing is essentially one long conversation between two people, and if that might sound boring to you, it’s really not at all. If you are in any way a romantic, it’s a must see.

NEWS:
Fresh out of the oven is the main menu music I just finished for Galactic Melee (a MMO space shooter I’m composing the score for). It was a struggle to get into the groove on this project, since a bit of hardware and software problems cropped up, but things are looking much better now. The main menu music combines a few different styles (orchestral strings, glitch, industrial, electronic, ethnic percussions), and its purpose is to get you into the mood for some MMO space combat action. For this track I used:

Cakewalk Sonar Producer Edition 6 (sequencing host)
EWQL Symphonic Orchestra Platinum, Edirol HQ Orchestral (orchestral strings)
Best Service Artist Drums (acoustic drums)
Quantum Leap Colossus (electronic drums, ethnic percussion, guitar)
Roland Groove Synth (bass drum)
Native Instruments Absynth 2 (synth pad, lead)
Korg Legacy Cell (synth pad)
Big-Tick Rhino 2 (rhythmic synth sequence)
rgc z3ta+ (rhythmic synth sequence)
Smart Electronix Augur (synth bass doubling cellos)
Ichiro Toda’s Synth 1 (synth lead)
Cakewalk TTS-1 (synth bell doubling synth leads)
Spectrasonics Trilogy (electric bass guitar)
dblue Glitch (glitch effects)
SonitusFX (compressor, EQ, multi-band compressor)
BBE Sonic Maximizer (drums processing)
Lexicon Pantheon (reverb on snare drum)
PSP Vintage Warmer (mastering)

The trickier parts of composing/arranging/mixing this track were:

1) The orchestral strings always require a lot of work to sound good–varying the volume expession so there’s crescendo and decrescendo at the beginning and end of notes, balancing the mix so no one section of the strings dominate (thus killing the harmonic support of the other sections), yet as a whole doesn’t sound too scattered and unfocused. EQ’ing to bring out certain frequencies so it doesn’t get burried in the mix (the lower spiccato cello notes always need a bit of boost in the high mid’s to give it more bite).

2) Experimenting with a lot of different synth sounds/layers to get the right tone for the synth melody.

3) Mixing the heavy guitar just right so it’s not too dominating, but still has enough weight to give enough impact.

4) Mixing/processing the various drum sounds just right to form a cohesive whole that sounds organic and groovy

5) Using the glitch effects just right so they don’t sound accidental, but works as part of the arrangement.

6) Filling in the bottom end with electric bass and synth bass, but making sure they support the general groove instead of causing distraction.

7) Make sure the various effects routing aren’t fighting each other and causing over-processing of certain sounds.

8) Scooping out the low frequencies on some instruments so they aren’t muddying things up, and boosting some instruments in the high mid’s to give them more punch.

9) Fading some instruments out during some parts so there isn’t overcrowding in the arrangement, and raising the volume of some instruments in some parts for more impact.

10) Mixing orchestral libraries can be problematic, as you need to match their sounds (recorded in different settings, processed differently, playing style is different…etc). I had to mix EWQLOR Platinum with Edirol HQ Orchestral (which had more bite or expressiveness in some articulations), and the two sounds quite different in just about every aspect (Edirol HQ OR is a lot more processed and uses digital reverb, while EWQLOR Platinum is recorded with natural concert hall acoustics).

I’m pretty happy with how it turned out, and I definitely learned some lessons while working on this track. The client really liked it, and the various people that’s heard it liked it in general, so I guess I did my job. Now I gotta finish the rest of the score. . ..

WEBLOG:
Elena is back, and life is so much better with her around. I feel sorry for couples that don’t get along, because they’re really missing out life’s greatest gift–a soulmate.

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I’ve read a few zombie novels lately, and the best one so far is Dying to Live by Kim Paffenroth. It takes a more literary approach and has a lot more substance than a typical genre fiction novel, which is rare. Not that all genre fiction is shallow, but there is definitely a huge difference between authors that simply spin yarns, and authors who actually have something profound to say while spinning yarns.

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I threw about 14 GB of music and videos from my collection onto my brother Dennis’s 30GB video iPod (he’s too lazy to rip his own CD collection or convert videos). This is my first experience spending a significant amount of time with an iPod, and I can definitely see what I missed out on when I decided to go with the competition years ago (Creative Nomad 3 Jukebox). The small size is certainly enticing, and the slick design a joy to look at. The ergonomics is a bit clunky, as you’d have to hit the center button a couple of times to be able to fast-forward on the navigation circle, and if you missed a click, you end up jacking up the volume to painful levels by accident. I would’ve much preferred a separate control for either the volume or fast-forwarding. It’s also kind of annoying the only way to travel in the layers of the UI structure is to go forward or back, instead of jumping to various directories as you please (The Nomad is much better in that respect). The iPod also does not allow you to customize your own EQ settings, and that is just unforgivable to me. Factory programmed EQ settings are almost never useful to me, as the people who programmed them can’t possibly know what headphones or speakers I’m using, and which frequencies need to be cut or boosted for it to sound right. I also couldn’t believe Apple didn’t include a recharger–only a USB connector. I’ve never been a fan of Apple, since their marketing strategies piss me off, they over hype their products to the point of false advertising, and there’s always some glaring hole missing in the feature set, ergonomics, or compatibility with everything else on the market. In the end, I felt like if I ever wanted to upgrade my Nomad 3 to something smaller/sleeker/with larger capacity, I’d probably pick something from Apple’s various competitors again.

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Some people move along in life, never stopping to ask themselves what it is they really want, and what it takes to be truly happy, while others are constantly searching for it. Some feel that happiness isn’t something we should feel entitled to, while others feel it’s something that can be pursued and attained, and there are also those who feel happiness is overrated–simply finding peace is enough. It’s really up to your own expectations and goals, and one man’s happiness might be another man’s nightmare.

The experts say that happiness comes from having control over your life, feeling fulfilled, challenged, and accomplished, although these things can mean drastically different things for different people. A person can be happy because he’s got an OK job that pays the bills and has enough time to play as many video games as he wants, and that is enough for him. Another person can feel happy because he’s been working hard and about to get that promotion to be an account director at some advertising company. Yet another person might be happy because he’s finally getting close to finding the cure for cancer after a lifetime of research. Whether our source of happiness comes from accomplishing something that’s considered noble, or simply mundane pleasures, it only matters that you know what you want, and that you are doing something about it instead of doing nothing and blaming everyone and everything else.

I’ll be thirty-five the end of this year (in December), and at this point in my life, I still don’t have it all figured out yet. This is something I talk about with Elena sometimes. She always points out that even if I do end up doing what I really want for a living (writing/directing feature films, or composing music), I might find out that it’s not quite what I had hoped for. Unseen issues that come with the job can turn the whole experience sour–lack of funding, demands on script changes by the studio, low box-office sales, creative differences, unable to secure desirable projects, forced to work in styles you don’t like, trashed by the critics, misunderstood by the audience…etc. But those are things all creative people face, and if one can’t accept that they come with the job, then maybe it’s better off doing something else. I know for me, the rewards are greater than the risks, but simply getting from here to there in itself is an uphill battle. I guess if you can put yourself in the right frame of mind to enjoy that uphill struggle, then you’re already ahead of the game when it comes to achieving happiness.