Gear Reviews

Parasound is a California company that is well known by audiophiles and consumers of high-end audio gear. One of their lines, Zcustom, is a set of half-rack components for situations where space is limited. The piece that caught my eye is the Zbreeze. As the name implies, the Zbreeze provides...

SM Pro Audio are an intriguing company. Half German, half Australian. They sell unusual devices and problem solvers for little money. I discovered them while searching for a pro-quality volume control to replace an unbalanced consumer one. I felt my new ADAM S3-As should be treated right. The...

EASTWEST has grown into quite a juggernaut within the sample library and software instrument market. Originally formed in 1988, the company found success in 1989 when it teamed with Bob Clearmountain to release the Bob Clearmountain Drum CD, a library of drum samples that went on to become one of...

I have to be honest with myself sometimes and assume that I will never own a Fairchild 660. Or a matched pair of vintage U 67s. My consoles will never sound like a TG 12345, nor will my room sound like Abbey Road Studio Two. I'm comfortable with that for all of the obvious reasons. Just as...

I have to be honest with myself sometimes and assume that I will never own a Fairchild 660. Or a matched pair of vintage U 67s. My consoles will never sound like a TG 12345, nor will my room sound like Abbey Road Studio Two. I'm comfortable with that for all of the obvious reasons. Just as...

One of the hardest parts of writing these reviews is coming up with a good opening sentence. It's easy to get caught up in excess hyperbole when geeking out over pro audio gear, especially when you discover a truly amazing item that on one hand is fresh and exciting, and on the other hand is...

A dynamic mic and a condenser mic packaged together into a single body? Kinda gimicky, no? I've seen the trick that inspired the design of this mic many times-tape together a condenser and a dynamic and point them at the snare, kick drum, guitar amp, etc., with the goal of capturing a sound...

Most large-diaphragm condenser mics are too big to use in tight situations. The AE3000, on the other hand, is small enough to fit in the palm of your hand. I originally bought this mic because I wanted an affordable (i.e., breakable without breaking the bank) side-address large-diaphragm mic for...

When my colleague Neil Mclellan informed me that he'd be flying out to L.A. to mix the new Adam Freeland album, which features Tommy Lee on drums and members of The Distillers, Devo, Pixies, NIN, etc., he told me he'd be working "in the box"-without an SSL desk that he prefers...

By day, Chris Johnson is a mastering engineer. By night, he's an audio plug-in designer. Or maybe it's the other way around. In any case, I was first drawn to his Airwindows plug-ins because they offer a vast range of capabilities, and their straightforward GUIs reflect the functionally...

Check out these little lo-fi gems. The Bing Carbon Mic is made from retired telephones, but transformer-coupled to provide a balanced XLR connection for studio use. It comes in a compact housing complete with attached mic-stand adapter. Depending on inventory, you can sometimes specify the decade...

As some of you know, I've got quite a collection of tools from Radial (Tape Op #36, 38, 45, 49, 50)-from various DIs to re-amping devices to signal distributors. Why am I such a huge fan? Because their products are designed with unique, killer features and second-to-none build quality....