January 29, 2025 • 34 mins
The Pro Audio Suite crew takes you inside NAMM 2026! 🎤✨ George catches up with Austrian Audio to discuss their big news—DPA has acquired them! What does this mean for the brand and its legendary mics? Plus, Robert showcases the PASport VO to industry insiders, and we explore the latest gear from Neve, Roswell Audio, Grace Design, and more.
🚀 Key Takeaways:
🎧 Austrian Audio & DPA Merger – What this means for both brands
🎙️ PASport VO at NAMM – Industry reactions and future plans
🔊 New Tech & Gear – The latest from Neve, Shure, Focusrite, and beyond
🤖 AI in Audio – Who’s jumping on the bandwagon (and should we be worried?)
👂 Tune in as we share stories, trends, and exclusive insights straight from the NAMM floor!
🎙 Special thanks to our sponsors:
- Tribooth – Use code TRIPAP200 for $200 off your Tribooth
- Austrian Audio – Making Passion Heard
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#ProAudio #NAMM2026 #AustrianAudio #DPA #VoiceOver #Podcasting #AudioGear #Neumann #Shure #ProAudioSuite #AIinAudio
A big shout out to our sponsors, Austrian Audio and Tri Booth. Both these companies are providers of QUALITY Audio Gear (we wouldn't partner with them unless they were), so please, if you're in the market for some new kit, do us a solid and check out their products, and be sure to tell em "Robbo, George, Robert, and AP sent you"... As a part of their generous support of our show, Tri Booth is offering $200 off a brand-new booth when you use the code TRIPAP200. So get onto their website now and secure your new booth...
And if you're in the market for a new Mic or killer pair of headphones, check out Austrian Audio. They've got a great range of top-shelf gear..
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
(Transcribed by TurboScribe.ai. Go Unlimited to remove this message.) Y'all ready to be history?
Get started.
Welcome.
Hi.
Hi.
Hi.
Hello everyone.
To the Pro Audio Suite.
These guys are professional.
They're motivated.
With Tech the VO stars.
George Witton, founder of Source Elements.
Robert Marshall, international audio engineer.
Darren Robbo Robertson and Global Voice.
Andrew Peters, thanks to Triboo, Austrian Audio, Making
Passion Heard.
(00:20):
Source Elements, George the Tech Witton, and Robbo
and AP's international demos.
To find out more about us, check theproaudiosuite
.com.
Line up, man.
Here we go.
And welcome to another Pro Audio Suite.
Thanks to Tribooth.
Don't forget the code.
T-R-I-P-A-P 200 to
get $200 off your Tribooth.
And Austrian Audio, Making Passion Heard.
(00:43):
Now, George did catch up with Austrian Audio
whilst at NAMM in California.
And Robert was there also, of course, on
the Source Elements stand.
So, you guys both have some stories to
tell.
Who wants to kick us off?
I'll kick it off, I guess, because I
was there as a content creator this year.
First time I saw a content creator badge.
(01:05):
So, it's kind of neat because I've been
going long enough and showing up as media
long enough and consistently that they actually now
invite me for the first time.
This is the first year where I got
an email.
Did they let you go without paying them?
Yeah.
This is the first time where I got
an email months in advance expecting me to
be there, asking me, you know, here's where
you get your badge, etc.
So, I had my QR code.
(01:25):
It was awesome.
I parked, went right out of the elevator,
scanned my badge, QR code.
They printed me off a badge and I
was in.
Wait, did they pay for your parking?
No, I paid for parking.
Oh, I was about to say.
Damn.
But, yeah, and I was in.
And what was the very first booth I
wandered into?
Straight from the hallway, Austrian Audio.
It was perfect timing.
(01:47):
Not only that, was it right there.
I was going to sit down and do
that interview that you guys saw on our
Facebook feed.
And they were like, we're doing a press
conference in 10 minutes.
Why don't you stick around for that?
So, it was just amazing timing.
I was there for the press conference and
was there for the announcement that DPA is
now owner of Austrian Audio.
Yeah.
Which was a big, quite an announcement.
(02:10):
I mean, we knew about it already because
we went through it.
It was already public, but still, it was
quite amazing that that is the case.
So, we're really curious to see what comes
of that.
Actually, talking about that, I know we've gone
through this about the DPA thing before.
But, did it seem like it was a
really positive thing for Austrian Audio, do you
think?
They seemed to see.
(02:30):
Like, when I talked to Bernard, Bernard, right?
Or Bernie?
Bernard.
Yeah, he seemed pretty.
I talked to him when we were just
setting up that day because Freeman didn't give
us our table for the whole fucking day.
Day one kind of stuff.
Yeah, so I was just chatting with him
for a while.
He seemed very stoked about it.
(02:52):
Honored and good company.
Yeah, he didn't seem to have any...
No, the PR around it, of course, was
very positive.
I mean, that's obvious, right?
But, you know, the thing that I noticed
and the thing that they called out clearly
in the press conference, which will be up
on one of our YouTube channels at some
point, I'll throw it up.
Is that the two product lines do not
(03:15):
directly overlap each other.
There is very minimal overlapping of products.
For example, when Rode bought Mackie, they both
make a podcaster mixer.
I mean, they're literally directly in competition with
each other.
And now they are both under one roof.
And I have no idea what's going to
happen after that, right?
(03:36):
But in this case, there's so little overlap,
you know?
And anything that does overlap, I would say
the price points are different.
I don't think DPA had one large diaphragm
mic in their entire lineup.
No, they mentioned that they had done one,
but it clearly was not...
And then Austrian Audio had one small diaphragm
mic in their entire lineup, which is basically
(03:56):
what Andrew's on right now.
Yeah, the CCA.
Yeah, so there's totally no overlap.
I don't think DPA has any multi-pattern
mics in their entire lineup.
I don't believe they do either.
Yeah.
In fact, one thing one gentleman told me,
and I don't recall at this point whether
this was on camera or off, I think
it was off camera, was that they're looking
forward to the fact that Austrian Audio has
a team of software engineers that do the
(04:18):
software controls for their products.
They also have the firmware development stuff that
DPA doesn't have.
So they weren't just acquiring a product line,
they were acquiring engineers in this process.
And DPA was definitely really excited about that.
So I don't see how it could in
any way be a negative.
We just want to make sure that both
(04:38):
companies thrive into the future, because they're both...
DPA is a brand that keeps sponsoring and
sending us really cool stuff.
And we just hope that that's part of
the future.
We hope that...
It in no way means that DPA wants
to replace Austrian's product line.
No, it's just that way.
That's not happening.
(04:59):
And I also asked if the brands would
remain independent.
That also is true.
So Austrian Audio as a brand will remain
Austrian Audio as a brand, which is very
smart.
Because those guys have spent...
They've spent a lot of time building that
brand name.
Nearly 10 years building that brand name.
Has it been 10 years?
I don't know.
Six, at least five or six.
It was, it would be...
Oh, let me think.
It was...
(05:19):
I met Martin when he came here, and
that was just when COVID kicked off.
So was that 2020?
It's like five years.
So there was like five plus another two
before that.
So you've got probably about seven years, maybe.
Yeah.
Which is not a long time, really.
And that company clearly was in existence not
publicly for quite a while before that.
You have to imagine that all that was
(05:41):
happening.
So let's call it eight years.
But yeah, so I think it's all going
to be good things for them.
So while we were there, we got to
see the press conference.
And if you've already seen our Facebook, then
you've seen a video where we got to
see a demonstration of the new OC S10.
Which is on our YouTube channel as well,
by the way.
It is on the YouTube channel.
(06:03):
And you'll notice the not-so-subtle backdrop
image that they use.
It is the hand of God reaching for
the OC S10.
It's a bit bold in terms of PR.
I like it.
I like it.
But it's bold.
(06:23):
But, you know, if you see the video,
you'll see why the mic is cool.
It's like a diaphragm floating in the middle
of a huge, open, unobstructed basket.
Exactly.
And that's what they said OC stands for,
is open capsule.
That is what OC stands for.
And so this is even more open.
(06:45):
They made a very large basket around the
capsule.
The capsule is very exposed.
So this is not a mic with an
internal pop filter.
This is a very open, very clean microphone.
It's sort of like it's a flagship mic.
It's clearly priced in the ballpark of the
Neumann U87.
(07:05):
Obviously, this mic is going to out.
But honestly, I thought the 818 was like
right there with the 87 cleaner.
I've been calling this the U87 killer for
a while.
But, you know, that's what everybody says.
But I really think the OC818 is, I
mean, I can't imagine why you'd want a
U87 when you have an OC818.
It does everything, and then more, and it's
(07:26):
cleaner.
The only reason that you do is because
you're an engineer or you're a studio owner,
and you have to have certain mics in
the quiver because that's what the production asks
for.
That's what the client expects.
I just ran with that today where it
was a well-known show, and I was
helping them set up another really small studio.
(07:50):
So they just ended up in that situation
where the talent is in like some tiny
little town.
They found the one studio, and they're like,
you know, what do you got?
And I just heard the whole conversation.
I was like, I got this, that, and
the other thing.
The guy had okay mics, like 887, that
one.
That's the one.
That was it.
Ended conversation.
All the time people ask me what mic
should I get, and I go, well, if
(08:12):
you're buying microphones for brand recognition only because
that is what you feel is important as
a voice actor, that you must have a
certain brand and model because that's what they're
looking for.
If you feel like it's going to hurt
you, fine.
You should have a TLM-103, or if
you have the scratch, a U87.
But that is not the reason to buy
(08:33):
a mic at all.
It's just these mics, Neumann, and they absolutely
earn this, right?
They've been at the forefront of condenser mic
popularization.
RCA and Neumann were the first to make
condenser microphones.
They have a huge head start on everybody,
Telefunken, Neumann.
(08:54):
And so they deserve it.
But many, many years have passed, and there's
revolution and evolution and brands coming and going,
and there's a lot of room for innovation
out there.
Neumann is keeping it kind of old school.
I mean, they're branching out by coming out
with their own audio interface, which really was
not really their own audio interface.
It was actually a rebadged version of another
(09:17):
brand audio interface.
Here, just mute that and tell me who
it was.
Oh, crap.
Man, I knew you were going to ask
me who it was.
Oh, no, no, no, no, no.
I'm thinking of Neve.
Oh, yeah.
So Neve comes out with like a...
The 88R or the 88R.
Just bleedingly expensive, like...
2-channel.
They came out with the $1,200 Scarlett
(09:38):
2i2.
Yeah, exactly.
That's what Neve came out with, by the
way.
Yeah, and then Neumann comes out with like
the next closest thing to Apollo, basically.
From, you know, built by another company.
Speaking of Neve, I did see all of
the booths that you're probably thinking of.
I saw Neve.
I saw the Neve booth.
What's the AMS Neve?
Is that what it's called?
Yes, AMS Neve.
(09:58):
I saw the AMS Neve booth, and I
saw the Rupert Neve booth.
If you're not keeping score, there are two
Neve brands, which is a crazy thing.
Well, Focusrite is technically a Neve brand.
Correct.
Well, yeah.
Neve, but Rupert started Focusrite.
Well, he started Focusrite, right?
It doesn't have the name and title.
And then could you consider Amec a Neve
(10:19):
brand?
Kind of.
Not really.
Because that's also one of his designs?
Well, when he left Neve, he then went
to Amec.
Oh.
Oh, he said right.
I didn't know that.
Rupert has his fingerprint on almost every circuit
at this point.
It's either a Rupert, or maybe it's a
Telex.
I'm not sure.
(10:41):
Universal Audio.
They're kind of the American Neve.
Can I say that?
Yeah, you can say that, I think.
Well, Ward Beck is the Canadian Neve.
They sometimes call Neotech the American Neve, but
it definitely isn't.
I mean, it is and it isn't.
But UA is more in that heritage of
(11:01):
true, like the 40s, 50s, the burgeoning of
the whole audio industry.
They were there.
I didn't have the time to focus in
on those high-end boutique makers, but I
did see Neve had an 88 series compressor,
so it was supposed to be the mate
to the 88...
(11:22):
What is it called?
The 88C is the USB audio interface that
they made?
I don't know.
You can look it up.
And they have a compressor now that's the
same form factor.
It would stack quite a bit.
A third of a rack space.
Yeah, exactly.
Like a chunky third.
Yeah.
Let's call it a chunky third of a
rack space.
With the big, giant Neve knob with the
wings on it.
(11:43):
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
You didn't have time to go over and
say hi to Jonathan Little, probably, huh?
No, I...
There's this guy.
I've seen at NAMM since the aughts.
That's 2008 for you and me, kids.
I thought that was the 90s, but yeah.
Since the aughts.
And his name is Jonathan Little, and his
(12:04):
company is called Little Labs, and I love
his vibe.
He's got all kinds of cool tools.
He's a cool dude, and he makes really
cool circuits, and you've never talked to anybody
who makes equipment who's more enthusiastic about his
circuits, like the way he talks about them.
Except for maybe John Hardy.
Yeah, maybe John Hardy, but I don't know.
Is John Hardy making new stuff?
(12:24):
No, he just makes the same preamp for
the last 40 years, and he can talk
about it for 40 years.
Right, but Jonathan is making new stuff.
Almost every year, he's got something new.
Maybe every two years, Jonathan has something new,
and he talks about that circuit design.
And even if you don't understand really what
he's saying, and honestly, I don't really understand
(12:45):
a lot of what he's saying because I
don't know circuit design, but it sounds amazing,
and the way he describes it, it makes
you want to use that thing.
But it's also not just circuit design.
He comes up with cool, no-one-else
-has-it products.
I was telling you how when I was
in physics class when I was in college,
I went to my teacher and said, how
do you make a circuit that will just
(13:05):
rotate the phase of a signal?
Not just flip it out of phase.
Just continuously rotate it.
Continuously rotate the phase.
Right, and my genius teacher is just like,
oh, yeah, this, that, and the other thing,
and you can't do it with one knob,
but you can do it with the first
180 with one knob, the second 180 with
the other knob, and then two years later,
you're flipping through Mix Magazine, and little labs
(13:27):
has a phase mistress or whatever the name
of his product is.
The names are clever, too.
He has a VOG box.
It's called the Voice of God.
Right, like a low-frequency resonance thing, and
he's got this matrix thing for guitar players
so they can hook up all their pedals,
and then just by pushing buttons, change the
order of how they're connected.
(13:49):
Just cool, no one else has it stuff.
Yeah, he has a sweet headphone amp called
the Monotore because it lets you sum different
sets of mono signals, like sum left, both
inputs to your left ear, both inputs to
the right ear.
I mean, every single way of summing things
is a mode on the Monotore headphone amp,
(14:10):
right, and it's an ultra-clean, ultra-clean
headphone amp.
So anyway, that was cool.
I saw my friends from Grace Design, Eben
and Michael.
They have a new audio interface?
A new audio interface.
They finally launched their multi-channel, rack-mounted
audio interface, the serious one that you put
in a studio that lets you plug every
(14:30):
single signal into it.
And it's got a low-latency DSP mixer
in it, right?
It does.
It has a monitor mixer that does up
to eight outputs, so you can create eight
headphone mixes, and it's a two-rack space,
64 in, 64 out.
And it's $64,000.
No, what did he say?
I think he threw me a number, and
(14:51):
it was high, as you would expect, but
the thing is, it's modular.
$62,000, I think it was, wasn't it?
Oh, yeah.
Canadian.
You can buy it almost empty with one
card, you know?
But you can load it up with cards,
and you can choose whatever I.O. you
want.
You can have a mix of AES and
analog.
(15:11):
It'll plug into a DigiDesign rig.
It'll plug into MADI.
It'll plug into Dante, you know, web.
It does all that stuff.
So let me ask you a question.
Was there anything there that competes with this?
No.
And I showed the Passport VO to numerous
vendors because, first of all, I did show
it to Michael Grace from Grace Design.
(15:33):
He does all their hardware design.
And I was saying earlier how software, when
we were talking about DPA and how they
were happy to get, he said the reason
we could make the 107 was we finally
had a great software team because the 107
is running a web server on board, and
so every single thing you see on laptop
or tablet or whatever.
(15:55):
So they're doing it like Motu where you
can just go to a URL and talk
to it.
Yes.
Yeah.
Everything's on board.
So he said we couldn't have done that
without the software team we have here.
And so I showed this to Michael Grace,
and he gave it high praises.
I mean, obviously, he's not been able to
use it, but having a guy who designs
hardware for the last 35 years give our
(16:17):
design and our physical product praise was really
pretty awesome.
But I showed it to a lot of
other companies that don't compete in any way,
obviously.
Lots of my companies, right?
I mean, it was really fun showing it
to all these different microphone vendors and saying,
you know, this thing is the next best
thing in broadcast and podcasting, and people are
(16:38):
going to want to have this to use
with your microphone.
So imagine next year at NAMM show, a
number of these microphone booths have passports at
their booths.
Oh, that'd be nice.
That will be good.
So you were saying you've spoken to a
couple of microphone guys, you know, I guess
encompassing all of them, if you could sum
up their thoughts in a few sentences.
Were they like, wow?
Or just like, oh, yeah, that's a good
idea?
(16:58):
Or were they sort of like, eh, meh?
I didn't get any meh.
I got mostly, oh, cool.
That's really nicely made.
I didn't get any big wows.
No one got it that, like, this thing
routes like no other product.
At least two people got the routing as
a cool thing.
I've got to tell you, at the show,
the saturation point is very high.
(17:19):
And explaining and showing something new, you know,
at their booth when they're there to sell
their product to other, it's hard.
You're not really going to connect very well
with people.
Especially since I didn't have it, like, plugged
into a computer, you know, with a mic
plugged into it, the whole demo thing.
You know, I'm freaking briefcasing at NAM.
You know, what can I do, right?
It's the best I could.
(17:40):
But I got some very nice positive feedback.
And to say that this thing could be
an ideal booth companion.
He missed an opportunity by not having one
at our booth as well.
Yeah.
Because we're sitting there playing through a UA
Apollo.
Yeah.
Yeah.
We're going to have one up and running
for sure at VO Atlanta probably, right?
(18:04):
I mean, if there's ever a show to
take it to, it'd be VO Atlanta.
Well, VO Atlanta and NAB.
Yeah.
There you go.
Are you guys at NAB?
Hell yeah, we are.
Oh, yeah.
You're back this year.
NAB, absolutely a no-brainer for the Passport
VO.
I did show it to people that were
more broadcast-related, you know, because again, NAM
(18:26):
is music.
And they seem to get it even more
so.
The question is, do podcast people look at
broadcast stuff as, like, too complicated?
Like, oh, that's over my head.
Or too expensive.
I don't know about the price point thing,
because there's some seriously big-dollar podcast production
going on.
There is.
Big money.
(18:46):
So it's not a price point thing.
I showed it to several people at PodFest.
When I told them the price point, nobody
said, oof.
Nobody reacted to the price like that.
It's two interfaces in one.
Come on.
They all were like, oh, okay, that's not
bad.
One guy thought it was worth a lot
more than that when I told him what
it was.
Dude, it's $300 an interface.
It's two of them.
(19:07):
And it's a gold digger.
Yeah, it's a gold digger switcher.
That was cool.
I think that got the most reaction was
when I was trying to explain all the
things that it does.
It is not stereo.
Showing the mic switcher and showing that it's
a switcher, you know, a single-button switcher,
that got a few eyebrows, because nobody's doing
that.
Nobody's got it, yeah.
Nobody's doing it.
(19:28):
And it can still do stereo if you
need it to.
Yeah, that's right.
I mean, there was so much I didn't
get to talk to and engage with, because
there's so much in this hall.
This is like AES times three.
The other thing that was in this hall
times three was three stupid AI voice companies,
including, do you know who's doing AI voices
now?
Oh, God, don't tell me.
(19:48):
The ones that do your sound ID and
flatline your room.
Oh, yes, sound ID.
The company that does room calibration.
Yeah, what does room calibration have to do
with frickin' AI voices?
Um...
Sound...
I'm glad I'm forgetting it now.
Yeah, screw them.
Exactly.
Screw them, because they're doing voice...
(20:10):
Now, I will say this.
This is music-related, mostly.
No, it's not, though.
Oh, it wasn't?
Because all you do is you just give
it anything you want, and you just start
flipping through voices that you want, and it'll
just sing, and it'll talk, whatever you give
it.
It doesn't talk.
It doesn't matter.
It just mimics what your crappy voice switches
out.
It was like, now I'm a little girl.
(20:32):
Now I'm a guy.
It was just like, come on.
And it was cheap, too.
Yeah, that's what's scary.
It's true.
It's true.
Also, I saw Roswell Audio, because I always
come and see Roswell, the fellow that owns
it, Matthew McGuinn.
He's like Mike Parts, isn't he?
Yeah, he was Mike Parts originally, and now
he's making full fleshed-out product.
(20:52):
His little K87 is a pretty damn good
-sounding F portable.
It's a U87, right?
It's intended.
That's literally 87s in the model name.
I mean, obviously, he's not trying to pull
a punch there.
He's got a K47 and a K67 as
well.
This was another thing.
Customizing microphone.
That's pretty cool.
Custom shops for microphones where you can get
(21:14):
any kinds of color.
Can you just get it wrapped instead of
painted?
Probably.
Singers have been doing that with handheld wirelesses
for years, just wrapping them in gold-plated
sequins and lace.
I saw Studio Float.
This is a company that does studio design.
I've looked at these little isolators for the
ceiling and the walls.
(21:34):
Talked to this gentleman for a while that's
from the Studio Float company.
It's crazy how expensive those things are.
Yeah, they're way overpriced.
They're like $6 each or something.
They're really expensive.
I also stopped by Odyssey microphones, Odyssey headphones,
known for making disgustingly expensive.
I was going to say more really expensive
stuff.
Planar headphones, but they make a $300 gamer
(21:56):
headset that's a planar headphone.
Tried it on, and it was pretty freaking
cool because it has head tracking, so as
you move your head, the sound, the mix,
it maintains center.
Sony had a crap load of—a really big
booth, actually.
Sony came in strong.
I didn't even see their booth.
I didn't even make it to their booth.
Were they in the same hall?
(22:18):
You did.
They were the wall in front of us.
Oh, that was Sony's booth.
They were so big that you didn't even
realize.
They had a huge Atmos set up with
a stadium practically for sitting there.
There's massive amounts of headphones.
Their microphone that goes from zero to 50
,000k.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
(22:39):
I skipped Sony.
I don't know.
Sometimes I like to focus on the smaller
vendors.
I just mostly do.
Chef's had the best set of mics.
It was called the Desert Island Stereo Set.
These things were like those really small, very
small body, interchangeable head mics.
(23:00):
So they have a whole range of capsules.
Whenever you see an opera or you see
an award show, it has a long, skinny
stalk.
Almost like the one that the Beatles up
on the roof.
I think we worked out that the Beatles
one on Abbey Road was AKG.
Oh, was it AKG?
Yeah, I'm pretty sure it was AKG.
(23:20):
But Chef's is famous for the super slender
little, yeah.
And that's very hard to do because it
definitely increases the noise when you get the
preamp so far away from the capsule.
But they make the preamp five, six feet
away from the capsule.
Yeah.
They also have this freaking crazy ORTF 3D
(23:41):
microphone rig for stadiums.
So this thing will get mounted.
It doesn't have the basket around it with
the dead cat, you know, for wind and
everything in this picture that you guys are
looking at.
But what was really cool was there was
heating elements on all the capsules.
So that keeps the condensers.
Can they fly that along with the camera
that goes zooming across?
(24:01):
It's not meant for that.
It's meant to walk down and provide a
3D sound representation of what that entire room
stadium sounds like.
So it's doing not just a standard ORTF,
but a 3D ORTF.
So it's four sets of ORTF capsules.
ORTF in all four directions.
(24:22):
Yeah, it's freaking nuts.
It's got to be $20,000, $40,000.
But that's Chef's, you know.
They're always there.
I mean, Chef's is going to be like
Chef's and DPA.
That's sort of like the top of the
hill.
I tried out $700 Focal headphones, and then
I tried out probably $80,000 Focal monitors.
(24:45):
That was fun.
I stayed around until after they tell you
to leave.
And so I just sat there and listened
to these ginormous, probably soffit-mounted monitors from
Focal.
I got to say the bigger ones sounded
better than the inner ones, the smaller ones.
Different or better?
It could have been placement, but the single
(25:08):
woofer.
Yeah, I know.
The single woofer ones just sounded more thick
and tubby in the low-mid.
I don't know why.
It was weird.
Well, also it only has one mid-frequency
driver.
Right.
I mean, basically just add a tweeter to
the big ones, and you could just buy
two of the small ones.
Right, exactly.
What else?
What can we wrap this up with?
There was one other thing.
(25:29):
I don't know if you went to, I'm
trying to screw up their name, but like
Cranbourne or something.
I miss Cranbourne.
And they've had it for a while, but
I've always thought it's a very good product
idea, which is they have a 500-series
rack with the USB audio interface built into
it.
Oh, yeah.
So if you want to have a good
(25:51):
interface, and then you want to just pick
your mic pre and have the world's choice
of mic pres, because you know you have
a 500-series.
It's all there.
That's, I think, a pretty cool product.
I saw the MB7 Shure MB7 Plus and
the Shure MB7i.
The MB7i has an input jack on the
(26:13):
back for another microphone.
Oh, so they're kind of doing the mic
creator thing.
Yes.
They're doing what the mic creator does from
Austrian Audio.
Austrian Audio came up with that idea first,
guys.
That's right.
Exactly.
Innovators, not the imitators.
That's right.
MB7 has a mic in now, and that's
what they're doing.
So they were celebrating 100 years.
(26:36):
So yeah, there was a lot, and I
was dying to see Jacob Collier come by
the booth at Shure, and I just didn't
make it.
Was there a commotion when that was happening?
No.
The Shure booth was actually one of the
most active ones.
It was very active.
They had a lot of people showing up
at that.
But when you've got these musicians showing up
(26:56):
at your booth, it's going to be a
mob scene, and they know it.
There's a huge amount of energy around these
musicians.
By the way, everyone, Jacob Collier was using
Source Connect during the pandemic.
Oh, was he really?
There you go.
Yeah.
Without any prodding from us, we caught him
on some podcast talking about it.
It was pretty cool.
Anyway, a lot of fun.
(27:18):
We wish you guys could be there in
person.
And now that NAMM has basically opened its
doors to the public, you can.
Oh, really?
You can go to NAMM.
Well, you can buy a ticket.
You can buy a ticket to go to
NAMM now.
It did not used to be the case.
You had to be an industry representative.
You had to be a guest of a
vendor.
What's funny is this, back when it was
(27:39):
more exclusive, it was physically bigger.
That's true.
The booths were much larger.
Yeah.
Huge.
Neumann would put up a $200,000 booth
that was the size of two semi-trucks
next to each other.
But here's the difference.
Back in the day, retail owners, and my
(27:59):
dad's music store is no exception.
The first time I went to NAMM was
as a guest of my dad's, Taylor's Music
Store in Westchester.
I went as a guest of Taylor's 20
-something years ago.
And that's why they went.
They would go there, shop at Yamaha, do
their orders.
And that was it.
But that's almost dead.
Do you know what it reminds me of?
(28:20):
I used to do all the setup for
the Ace Hardware show.
And it was the same thing.
It was exclusive for Ace Hardware store owners.
Yeah.
But they would go in there and they'd
be like, all right, I'm going to order
50 lawnmowers and 600 leaf blowers, and I
think I might need those.
And there's just buyers.
There's people.
(28:41):
This is crazy.
That's what NAMM was for.
And that's so they had much bigger booths
with offices and ISO rooms for meetings.
And that's gone.
Was Neumann even there?
I don't think Neumann came to NAMM.
AKG was there for sure.
But not Neumann.
I didn't see Neumann.
Because actually, I can tell you this about
AKG, just word to the wise.
(29:01):
We had AKG pair of headphones at the
booth.
Which are nice, right?
Well, they are.
They're very nice sounding.
Comfortable.
Somehow, Vincent's like, and they're his headphones.
I felt really bad.
And he's like, oh, something's funny.
And he takes them off.
And there's like a hairline crack on the
headband.
And I'm like, oh, man.
Yeah, plastic.
And I'm like, oh, man, this looks like
(29:22):
it can come off because it's like the
headband.
Yeah.
And I'm like, well, don't worry about it.
Go over to AKG.
They'll set you up.
So he goes over there and they give
him a pair to use.
So we're fine for the booth.
But then I start looking at it.
And I'm like, can't they just give you
a headband?
He's like, I don't know.
He didn't say anything about repair.
And I go, they're not fucking repairable.
(29:44):
Yeah.
Yeah.
Like crazy.
Yeah.
Not excusable.
Well, I'll tell you, I did get to
try the Hi-X 20s, which I'm dying
to get a pair now.
But, yep.
I tried the Hi-X 20s from Austrian
Audio, the headphones, and I compared it to
the head.
(Transcribed by TurboScribe.ai. Go Unlimited to remove this message.) Y'all ready to be history?
Get started.
Welcome.
Hi.
Hi.
Hi.
Hello everyone.
To the Pro Audio Suite.
These guys are professional.
They're motivated.
With Tech the VO stars.
George Witton, founder of Source Elements.
Robert Marshall, international audio engineer.
Darren Robbo Robertson and Global Voice.
Andrew Peters, thanks to Triboo, Austrian Audio, Making
Passion Heard.
(00:20):
Source Elements, George the Tech Witton, and Robbo
and AP's international demos.
To find out more about us, check theproaudiosuite
.com.
Line up, man.
Here we go.
And welcome to another Pro Audio Suite.
Thanks to Tribooth.
Don't forget the code.
T-R-I-P-A-P 200 to
get $200 off your Tribooth.
And Austrian Audio, Making Passion Heard.
(00:43):
Now, George did catch up with Austrian Audio
whilst at NAMM in California.
And Robert was there also, of course, on
the Source Elements stand.
So, you guys both have some stories to
tell.
Who wants to kick us off?
I'll kick it off, I guess, because I
was there as a content creator this year.
First time I saw a content creator badge.
(01:05):
So, it's kind of neat because I've been
going long enough and showing up as media
long enough and consistently that they actually now
invite me for the first time.
This is the first year where I got
an email.
Did they let you go without paying them?
Yeah.
This is the first time where I got
an email months in advance expecting me to
be there, asking me, you know, here's where
you get your badge, etc.
So, I had my QR code.
(01:25):
It was awesome.
I parked, went right out of the elevator,
scanned my badge, QR code.
They printed me off a badge and I
was in.
Wait, did they pay for your parking?
No, I paid for parking.
Oh, I was about to say.
Damn.
But, yeah, and I was in.
And what was the very first booth I
wandered into?
Straight from the hallway, Austrian Audio.
It was perfect timing.
(01:47):
Not only that, was it right there.
I was going to sit down and do
that interview that you guys saw on our
Facebook feed.
And they were like, we're doing a press
conference in 10 minutes.
Why don't you stick around for that?
So, it was just amazing timing.
I was there for the press conference and
was there for the announcement that DPA is
now owner of Austrian Audio.
Yeah.
Which was a big, quite an announcement.
(02:10):
I mean, we knew about it already because
we went through it.
It was already public, but still, it was
quite amazing that that is the case.
So, we're really curious to see what comes
of that.
Actually, talking about that, I know we've gone
through this about the DPA thing before.
But, did it seem like it was a
really positive thing for Austrian Audio, do you
think?
They seemed to see.
(02:30):
Like, when I talked to Bernard, Bernard, right?
Or Bernie?
Bernard.
Yeah, he seemed pretty.
I talked to him when we were just
setting up that day because Freeman didn't give
us our table for the whole fucking day.
Day one kind of stuff.
Yeah, so I was just chatting with him
for a while.
He seemed very stoked about it.
(02:52):
Honored and good company.
Yeah, he didn't seem to have any...
No, the PR around it, of course, was
very positive.
I mean, that's obvious, right?
But, you know, the thing that I noticed
and the thing that they called out clearly
in the press conference, which will be up
on one of our YouTube channels at some
point, I'll throw it up.
Is that the two product lines do not
(03:15):
directly overlap each other.
There is very minimal overlapping of products.
For example, when Rode bought Mackie, they both
make a podcaster mixer.
I mean, they're literally directly in competition with
each other.
And now they are both under one roof.
And I have no idea what's going to
happen after that, right?
(03:36):
But in this case, there's so little overlap,
you know?
And anything that does overlap, I would say
the price points are different.
I don't think DPA had one large diaphragm
mic in their entire lineup.
No, they mentioned that they had done one,
but it clearly was not...
And then Austrian Audio had one small diaphragm
mic in their entire lineup, which is basically
(03:56):
what Andrew's on right now.
Yeah, the CCA.
Yeah, so there's totally no overlap.
I don't think DPA has any multi-pattern
mics in their entire lineup.
I don't believe they do either.
Yeah.
In fact, one thing one gentleman told me,
and I don't recall at this point whether
this was on camera or off, I think
it was off camera, was that they're looking
forward to the fact that Austrian Audio has
a team of software engineers that do the
(04:18):
software controls for their products.
They also have the firmware development stuff that
DPA doesn't have.
So they weren't just acquiring a product line,
they were acquiring engineers in this process.
And DPA was definitely really excited about that.
So I don't see how it could in
any way be a negative.
We just want to make sure that both
(04:38):
companies thrive into the future, because they're both...
DPA is a brand that keeps sponsoring and
sending us really cool stuff.
And we just hope that that's part of
the future.
We hope that...
It in no way means that DPA wants
to replace Austrian's product line.
No, it's just that way.
That's not happening.
(04:59):
And I also asked if the brands would
remain independent.
That also is true.
So Austrian Audio as a brand will remain
Austrian Audio as a brand, which is very
smart.
Because those guys have spent...
They've spent a lot of time building that
brand name.
Nearly 10 years building that brand name.
Has it been 10 years?
I don't know.
Six, at least five or six.
It was, it would be...
Oh, let me think.
It was...
(05:19):
I met Martin when he came here, and
that was just when COVID kicked off.
So was that 2020?
It's like five years.
So there was like five plus another two
before that.
So you've got probably about seven years, maybe.
Yeah.
Which is not a long time, really.
And that company clearly was in existence not
publicly for quite a while before that.
You have to imagine that all that was
(05:41):
happening.
So let's call it eight years.
But yeah, so I think it's all going
to be good things for them.
So while we were there, we got to
see the press conference.
And if you've already seen our Facebook, then
you've seen a video where we got to
see a demonstration of the new OC S10.
Which is on our YouTube channel as well,
by the way.
It is on the YouTube channel.
(06:03):
And you'll notice the not-so-subtle backdrop
image that they use.
It is the hand of God reaching for
the OC S10.
It's a bit bold in terms of PR.
I like it.
I like it.
But it's bold.
(06:23):
But, you know, if you see the video,
you'll see why the mic is cool.
It's like a diaphragm floating in the middle
of a huge, open, unobstructed basket.
Exactly.
And that's what they said OC stands for,
is open capsule.
That is what OC stands for.
And so this is even more open.
(06:45):
They made a very large basket around the
capsule.
The capsule is very exposed.
So this is not a mic with an
internal pop filter.
This is a very open, very clean microphone.
It's sort of like it's a flagship mic.
It's clearly priced in the ballpark of the
Neumann U87.
(07:05):
Obviously, this mic is going to out.
But honestly, I thought the 818 was like
right there with the 87 cleaner.
I've been calling this the U87 killer for
a while.
But, you know, that's what everybody says.
But I really think the OC818 is, I
mean, I can't imagine why you'd want a
U87 when you have an OC818.
It does everything, and then more, and it's
(07:26):
cleaner.
The only reason that you do is because
you're an engineer or you're a studio owner,
and you have to have certain mics in
the quiver because that's what the production asks
for.
That's what the client expects.
I just ran with that today where it
was a well-known show, and I was
helping them set up another really small studio.
(07:50):
So they just ended up in that situation
where the talent is in like some tiny
little town.
They found the one studio, and they're like,
you know, what do you got?
And I just heard the whole conversation.
I was like, I got this, that, and
the other thing.
The guy had okay mics, like 887, that
one.
That's the one.
That was it.
Ended conversation.
All the time people ask me what mic
should I get, and I go, well, if
(08:12):
you're buying microphones for brand recognition only because
that is what you feel is important as
a voice actor, that you must have a
certain brand and model because that's what they're
looking for.
If you feel like it's going to hurt
you, fine.
You should have a TLM-103, or if
you have the scratch, a U87.
But that is not the reason to buy
(08:33):
a mic at all.
It's just these mics, Neumann, and they absolutely
earn this, right?
They've been at the forefront of condenser mic
popularization.
RCA and Neumann were the first to make
condenser microphones.
They have a huge head start on everybody,
Telefunken, Neumann.
(08:54):
And so they deserve it.
But many, many years have passed, and there's
revolution and evolution and brands coming and going,
and there's a lot of room for innovation
out there.
Neumann is keeping it kind of old school.
I mean, they're branching out by coming out
with their own audio interface, which really was
not really their own audio interface.
It was actually a rebadged version of another
(09:17):
brand audio interface.
Here, just mute that and tell me who
it was.
Oh, crap.
Man, I knew you were going to ask
me who it was.
Oh, no, no, no, no, no.
I'm thinking of Neve.
Oh, yeah.
So Neve comes out with like a...
The 88R or the 88R.
Just bleedingly expensive, like...
2-channel.
They came out with the $1,200 Scarlett
(09:38):
2i2.
Yeah, exactly.
That's what Neve came out with, by the
way.
Yeah, and then Neumann comes out with like
the next closest thing to Apollo, basically.
From, you know, built by another company.
Speaking of Neve, I did see all of
the booths that you're probably thinking of.
I saw Neve.
I saw the Neve booth.
What's the AMS Neve?
Is that what it's called?
Yes, AMS Neve.
(09:58):
I saw the AMS Neve booth, and I
saw the Rupert Neve booth.
If you're not keeping score, there are two
Neve brands, which is a crazy thing.
Well, Focusrite is technically a Neve brand.
Correct.
Well, yeah.
Neve, but Rupert started Focusrite.
Well, he started Focusrite, right?
It doesn't have the name and title.
And then could you consider Amec a Neve
(10:19):
brand?
Kind of.
Not really.
Because that's also one of his designs?
Well, when he left Neve, he then went
to Amec.
Oh.
Oh, he said right.
I didn't know that.
Rupert has his fingerprint on almost every circuit
at this point.
It's either a Rupert, or maybe it's a
Telex.
I'm not sure.
(10:41):
Universal Audio.
They're kind of the American Neve.
Can I say that?
Yeah, you can say that, I think.
Well, Ward Beck is the Canadian Neve.
They sometimes call Neotech the American Neve, but
it definitely isn't.
I mean, it is and it isn't.
But UA is more in that heritage of
(11:01):
true, like the 40s, 50s, the burgeoning of
the whole audio industry.
They were there.
I didn't have the time to focus in
on those high-end boutique makers, but I
did see Neve had an 88 series compressor,
so it was supposed to be the mate
to the 88...
(11:22):
What is it called?
The 88C is the USB audio interface that
they made?
I don't know.
You can look it up.
And they have a compressor now that's the
same form factor.
It would stack quite a bit.
A third of a rack space.
Yeah, exactly.
Like a chunky third.
Yeah.
Let's call it a chunky third of a
rack space.
With the big, giant Neve knob with the
wings on it.
(11:43):
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
You didn't have time to go over and
say hi to Jonathan Little, probably, huh?
No, I...
There's this guy.
I've seen at NAMM since the aughts.
That's 2008 for you and me, kids.
I thought that was the 90s, but yeah.
Since the aughts.
And his name is Jonathan Little, and his
(12:04):
company is called Little Labs, and I love
his vibe.
He's got all kinds of cool tools.
He's a cool dude, and he makes really
cool circuits, and you've never talked to anybody
who makes equipment who's more enthusiastic about his
circuits, like the way he talks about them.
Except for maybe John Hardy.
Yeah, maybe John Hardy, but I don't know.
Is John Hardy making new stuff?
(12:24):
No, he just makes the same preamp for
the last 40 years, and he can talk
about it for 40 years.
Right, but Jonathan is making new stuff.
Almost every year, he's got something new.
Maybe every two years, Jonathan has something new,
and he talks about that circuit design.
And even if you don't understand really what
he's saying, and honestly, I don't really understand
(12:45):
a lot of what he's saying because I
don't know circuit design, but it sounds amazing,
and the way he describes it, it makes
you want to use that thing.
But it's also not just circuit design.
He comes up with cool, no-one-else
-has-it products.
I was telling you how when I was
in physics class when I was in college,
I went to my teacher and said, how
do you make a circuit that will just
(13:05):
rotate the phase of a signal?
Not just flip it out of phase.
Just continuously rotate it.
Continuously rotate the phase.
Right, and my genius teacher is just like,
oh, yeah, this, that, and the other thing,
and you can't do it with one knob,
but you can do it with the first
180 with one knob, the second 180 with
the other knob, and then two years later,
you're flipping through Mix Magazine, and little labs
(13:27):
has a phase mistress or whatever the name
of his product is.
The names are clever, too.
He has a VOG box.
It's called the Voice of God.
Right, like a low-frequency resonance thing, and
he's got this matrix thing for guitar players
so they can hook up all their pedals,
and then just by pushing buttons, change the
order of how they're connected.
(13:49):
Just cool, no one else has it stuff.
Yeah, he has a sweet headphone amp called
the Monotore because it lets you sum different
sets of mono signals, like sum left, both
inputs to your left ear, both inputs to
the right ear.
I mean, every single way of summing things
is a mode on the Monotore headphone amp,
(14:10):
right, and it's an ultra-clean, ultra-clean
headphone amp.
So anyway, that was cool.
I saw my friends from Grace Design, Eben
and Michael.
They have a new audio interface?
A new audio interface.
They finally launched their multi-channel, rack-mounted
audio interface, the serious one that you put
in a studio that lets you plug every
(14:30):
single signal into it.
And it's got a low-latency DSP mixer
in it, right?
It does.
It has a monitor mixer that does up
to eight outputs, so you can create eight
headphone mixes, and it's a two-rack space,
64 in, 64 out.
And it's $64,000.
No, what did he say?
I think he threw me a number, and
(14:51):
it was high, as you would expect, but
the thing is, it's modular.
$62,000, I think it was, wasn't it?
Oh, yeah.
Canadian.
You can buy it almost empty with one
card, you know?
But you can load it up with cards,
and you can choose whatever I.O. you
want.
You can have a mix of AES and
analog.
(15:11):
It'll plug into a DigiDesign rig.
It'll plug into MADI.
It'll plug into Dante, you know, web.
It does all that stuff.
So let me ask you a question.
Was there anything there that competes with this?
No.
And I showed the Passport VO to numerous
vendors because, first of all, I did show
it to Michael Grace from Grace Design.
(15:33):
He does all their hardware design.
And I was saying earlier how software, when
we were talking about DPA and how they
were happy to get, he said the reason
we could make the 107 was we finally
had a great software team because the 107
is running a web server on board, and
so every single thing you see on laptop
or tablet or whatever.
(15:55):
So they're doing it like Motu where you
can just go to a URL and talk
to it.
Yes.
Yeah.
Everything's on board.
So he said we couldn't have done that
without the software team we have here.
And so I showed this to Michael Grace,
and he gave it high praises.
I mean, obviously, he's not been able to
use it, but having a guy who designs
hardware for the last 35 years give our
(16:17):
design and our physical product praise was really
pretty awesome.
But I showed it to a lot of
other companies that don't compete in any way,
obviously.
Lots of my companies, right?
I mean, it was really fun showing it
to all these different microphone vendors and saying,
you know, this thing is the next best
thing in broadcast and podcasting, and people are
(16:38):
going to want to have this to use
with your microphone.
So imagine next year at NAMM show, a
number of these microphone booths have passports at
their booths.
Oh, that'd be nice.
That will be good.
So you were saying you've spoken to a
couple of microphone guys, you know, I guess
encompassing all of them, if you could sum
up their thoughts in a few sentences.
Were they like, wow?
Or just like, oh, yeah, that's a good
idea?
(16:58):
Or were they sort of like, eh, meh?
I didn't get any meh.
I got mostly, oh, cool.
That's really nicely made.
I didn't get any big wows.
No one got it that, like, this thing
routes like no other product.
At least two people got the routing as
a cool thing.
I've got to tell you, at the show,
the saturation point is very high.
(17:19):
And explaining and showing something new, you know,
at their booth when they're there to sell
their product to other, it's hard.
You're not really going to connect very well
with people.
Especially since I didn't have it, like, plugged
into a computer, you know, with a mic
plugged into it, the whole demo thing.
You know, I'm freaking briefcasing at NAM.
You know, what can I do, right?
It's the best I could.
(17:40):
But I got some very nice positive feedback.
And to say that this thing could be
an ideal booth companion.
He missed an opportunity by not having one
at our booth as well.
Yeah.
Because we're sitting there playing through a UA
Apollo.
Yeah.
Yeah.
We're going to have one up and running
for sure at VO Atlanta probably, right?
(18:04):
I mean, if there's ever a show to
take it to, it'd be VO Atlanta.
Well, VO Atlanta and NAB.
Yeah.
There you go.
Are you guys at NAB?
Hell yeah, we are.
Oh, yeah.
You're back this year.
NAB, absolutely a no-brainer for the Passport
VO.
I did show it to people that were
more broadcast-related, you know, because again, NAM
(18:26):
is music.
And they seem to get it even more
so.
The question is, do podcast people look at
broadcast stuff as, like, too complicated?
Like, oh, that's over my head.
Or too expensive.
I don't know about the price point thing,
because there's some seriously big-dollar podcast production
going on.
There is.
Big money.
(18:46):
So it's not a price point thing.
I showed it to several people at PodFest.
When I told them the price point, nobody
said, oof.
Nobody reacted to the price like that.
It's two interfaces in one.
Come on.
They all were like, oh, okay, that's not
bad.
One guy thought it was worth a lot
more than that when I told him what
it was.
Dude, it's $300 an interface.
It's two of them.
(19:07):
And it's a gold digger.
Yeah, it's a gold digger switcher.
That was cool.
I think that got the most reaction was
when I was trying to explain all the
things that it does.
It is not stereo.
Showing the mic switcher and showing that it's
a switcher, you know, a single-button switcher,
that got a few eyebrows, because nobody's doing
that.
Nobody's got it, yeah.
Nobody's doing it.
(19:28):
And it can still do stereo if you
need it to.
Yeah, that's right.
I mean, there was so much I didn't
get to talk to and engage with, because
there's so much in this hall.
This is like AES times three.
The other thing that was in this hall
times three was three stupid AI voice companies,
including, do you know who's doing AI voices
now?
Oh, God, don't tell me.
(19:48):
The ones that do your sound ID and
flatline your room.
Oh, yes, sound ID.
The company that does room calibration.
Yeah, what does room calibration have to do
with frickin' AI voices?
Um...
Sound...
I'm glad I'm forgetting it now.
Yeah, screw them.
Exactly.
Screw them, because they're doing voice...
(20:10):
Now, I will say this.
This is music-related, mostly.
No, it's not, though.
Oh, it wasn't?
Because all you do is you just give
it anything you want, and you just start
flipping through voices that you want, and it'll
just sing, and it'll talk, whatever you give
it.
It doesn't talk.
It doesn't matter.
It just mimics what your crappy voice switches
out.
It was like, now I'm a little girl.
(20:32):
Now I'm a guy.
It was just like, come on.
And it was cheap, too.
Yeah, that's what's scary.
It's true.
It's true.
Also, I saw Roswell Audio, because I always
come and see Roswell, the fellow that owns
it, Matthew McGuinn.
He's like Mike Parts, isn't he?
Yeah, he was Mike Parts originally, and now
he's making full fleshed-out product.
(20:52):
His little K87 is a pretty damn good
-sounding F portable.
It's a U87, right?
It's intended.
That's literally 87s in the model name.
I mean, obviously, he's not trying to pull
a punch there.
He's got a K47 and a K67 as
well.
This was another thing.
Customizing microphone.
That's pretty cool.
Custom shops for microphones where you can get
(21:14):
any kinds of color.
Can you just get it wrapped instead of
painted?
Probably.
Singers have been doing that with handheld wirelesses
for years, just wrapping them in gold-plated
sequins and lace.
I saw Studio Float.
This is a company that does studio design.
I've looked at these little isolators for the
ceiling and the walls.
(21:34):
Talked to this gentleman for a while that's
from the Studio Float company.
It's crazy how expensive those things are.
Yeah, they're way overpriced.
They're like $6 each or something.
They're really expensive.
I also stopped by Odyssey microphones, Odyssey headphones,
known for making disgustingly expensive.
I was going to say more really expensive
stuff.
Planar headphones, but they make a $300 gamer
(21:56):
headset that's a planar headphone.
Tried it on, and it was pretty freaking
cool because it has head tracking, so as
you move your head, the sound, the mix,
it maintains center.
Sony had a crap load of—a really big
booth, actually.
Sony came in strong.
I didn't even see their booth.
I didn't even make it to their booth.
Were they in the same hall?
(22:18):
You did.
They were the wall in front of us.
Oh, that was Sony's booth.
They were so big that you didn't even
realize.
They had a huge Atmos set up with
a stadium practically for sitting there.
There's massive amounts of headphones.
Their microphone that goes from zero to 50
,000k.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
(22:39):
I skipped Sony.
I don't know.
Sometimes I like to focus on the smaller
vendors.
I just mostly do.
Chef's had the best set of mics.
It was called the Desert Island Stereo Set.
These things were like those really small, very
small body, interchangeable head mics.
(23:00):
So they have a whole range of capsules.
Whenever you see an opera or you see
an award show, it has a long, skinny
stalk.
Almost like the one that the Beatles up
on the roof.
I think we worked out that the Beatles
one on Abbey Road was AKG.
Oh, was it AKG?
Yeah, I'm pretty sure it was AKG.
(23:20):
But Chef's is famous for the super slender
little, yeah.
And that's very hard to do because it
definitely increases the noise when you get the
preamp so far away from the capsule.
But they make the preamp five, six feet
away from the capsule.
Yeah.
They also have this freaking crazy ORTF 3D
(23:41):
microphone rig for stadiums.
So this thing will get mounted.
It doesn't have the basket around it with
the dead cat, you know, for wind and
everything in this picture that you guys are
looking at.
But what was really cool was there was
heating elements on all the capsules.
So that keeps the condensers.
Can they fly that along with the camera
that goes zooming across?
(24:01):
It's not meant for that.
It's meant to walk down and provide a
3D sound representation of what that entire room
stadium sounds like.
So it's doing not just a standard ORTF,
but a 3D ORTF.
So it's four sets of ORTF capsules.
ORTF in all four directions.
(24:22):
Yeah, it's freaking nuts.
It's got to be $20,000, $40,000.
But that's Chef's, you know.
They're always there.
I mean, Chef's is going to be like
Chef's and DPA.
That's sort of like the top of the
hill.
I tried out $700 Focal headphones, and then
I tried out probably $80,000 Focal monitors.
(24:45):
That was fun.
I stayed around until after they tell you
to leave.
And so I just sat there and listened
to these ginormous, probably soffit-mounted monitors from
Focal.
I got to say the bigger ones sounded
better than the inner ones, the smaller ones.
Different or better?
It could have been placement, but the single
(25:08):
woofer.
Yeah, I know.
The single woofer ones just sounded more thick
and tubby in the low-mid.
I don't know why.
It was weird.
Well, also it only has one mid-frequency
driver.
Right.
I mean, basically just add a tweeter to
the big ones, and you could just buy
two of the small ones.
Right, exactly.
What else?
What can we wrap this up with?
There was one other thing.
(25:29):
I don't know if you went to, I'm
trying to screw up their name, but like
Cranbourne or something.
I miss Cranbourne.
And they've had it for a while, but
I've always thought it's a very good product
idea, which is they have a 500-series
rack with the USB audio interface built into
it.
Oh, yeah.
So if you want to have a good
(25:51):
interface, and then you want to just pick
your mic pre and have the world's choice
of mic pres, because you know you have
a 500-series.
It's all there.
That's, I think, a pretty cool product.
I saw the MB7 Shure MB7 Plus and
the Shure MB7i.
The MB7i has an input jack on the
(26:13):
back for another microphone.
Oh, so they're kind of doing the mic
creator thing.
Yes.
They're doing what the mic creator does from
Austrian Audio.
Austrian Audio came up with that idea first,
guys.
That's right.
Exactly.
Innovators, not the imitators.
That's right.
MB7 has a mic in now, and that's
what they're doing.
So they were celebrating 100 years.
(26:36):
So yeah, there was a lot, and I
was dying to see Jacob Collier come by
the booth at Shure, and I just didn't
make it.
Was there a commotion when that was happening?
No.
The Shure booth was actually one of the
most active ones.
It was very active.
They had a lot of people showing up
at that.
But when you've got these musicians showing up
(26:56):
at your booth, it's going to be a
mob scene, and they know it.
There's a huge amount of energy around these
musicians.
By the way, everyone, Jacob Collier was using
Source Connect during the pandemic.
Oh, was he really?
There you go.
Yeah.
Without any prodding from us, we caught him
on some podcast talking about it.
It was pretty cool.
Anyway, a lot of fun.
(27:18):
We wish you guys could be there in
person.
And now that NAMM has basically opened its
doors to the public, you can.
Oh, really?
You can go to NAMM.
Well, you can buy a ticket.
You can buy a ticket to go to
NAMM now.
It did not used to be the case.
You had to be an industry representative.
You had to be a guest of a
vendor.
What's funny is this, back when it was
(27:39):
more exclusive, it was physically bigger.
That's true.
The booths were much larger.
Yeah.
Huge.
Neumann would put up a $200,000 booth
that was the size of two semi-trucks
next to each other.
But here's the difference.
Back in the day, retail owners, and my
(27:59):
dad's music store is no exception.
The first time I went to NAMM was
as a guest of my dad's, Taylor's Music
Store in Westchester.
I went as a guest of Taylor's 20
-something years ago.
And that's why they went.
They would go there, shop at Yamaha, do
their orders.
And that was it.
But that's almost dead.
Do you know what it reminds me of?
(28:20):
I used to do all the setup for
the Ace Hardware show.
And it was the same thing.
It was exclusive for Ace Hardware store owners.
Yeah.
But they would go in there and they'd
be like, all right, I'm going to order
50 lawnmowers and 600 leaf blowers, and I
think I might need those.
And there's just buyers.
There's people.
(28:41):
This is crazy.
That's what NAMM was for.
And that's so they had much bigger booths
with offices and ISO rooms for meetings.
And that's gone.
Was Neumann even there?
I don't think Neumann came to NAMM.
AKG was there for sure.
But not Neumann.
I didn't see Neumann.
Because actually, I can tell you this about
AKG, just word to the wise.
(29:01):
We had AKG pair of headphones at the
booth.
Which are nice, right?
Well, they are.
They're very nice sounding.
Comfortable.
Somehow, Vincent's like, and they're his headphones.
I felt really bad.
And he's like, oh, something's funny.
And he takes them off.
And there's like a hairline crack on the
headband.
And I'm like, oh, man.
Yeah, plastic.
And I'm like, oh, man, this looks like
(29:22):
it can come off because it's like the
headband.
Yeah.
And I'm like, well, don't worry about it.
Go over to AKG.
They'll set you up.
So he goes over there and they give
him a pair to use.
So we're fine for the booth.
But then I start looking at it.
And I'm like, can't they just give you
a headband?
He's like, I don't know.
He didn't say anything about repair.
And I go, they're not fucking repairable.
(29:44):
Yeah.
Yeah.
Like crazy.
Yeah.
Not excusable.
Well, I'll tell you, I did get to
try the Hi-X 20s, which I'm dying
to get a pair now.
But, yep.
I tried the Hi-X 20s from Austrian
Audio, the headphones, and I compared it to
the head.
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