Tony Lindsay has been a singer for just about as long as he can remember. During a candid conversation with us he revealed that at as a young boy he remembers the first time seeing the Beatles on television. “When I saw them singing, and all those girls going crazy, I knew then and there what I was cut out to be!”

By the time he turned 8 he was fronting an a-cappella group in his hometown of Kingston, New York. He credits the great Donny Hathaway as having a profound influence over his early years. Later many others helped shape his personal style. Teddy Pendergrass, Luther Vandross, Lou Rawls, Billy Paul, Sarah Vaughn, and Ella Fitzgerald all contributed to the development of the evolving young singer.

Now a resident of San Mateo, California, Tony has become a “mainstay” of the Bay Area music scene. With a mantle over his fireplace full of Grammys you could say he's done pretty well for himself. As lead singer for Santana for the last 14 years, he's best known for his contributions to the multi platinum “Supernatural” release and the follow up “Shaman”.

This year Tony is finally going his own way. Hard at work on an untitled debut solo CD, these days you'll find him in the studio with co-writers Myron Dove (Santana), Ben Yonas (Smashmouth, Her Favorite Things), and producer Randy Ematta. When asked about what style the new material is, he responded with “R&B – Pop – Jazz…. I don't know, it's hard to put it into any one category.” With 14 songs nearing completion one of the hardest decisions he'll make will be “which 12” make the CD!

In his “spare time” he teaches young singers at Gelb Music in Redwood City, as well as vocal stylings and performance at Dave Stroud Voice Studio in San Francisco.

His microphone of choice? Studio Projects T-3! “When Myron and I were auditioning mics for the project, an industry contact sent us several of the Studio Projects models. I loved the T3! It didn't matter who was singing on it, male or female, it sounded terrific on everyone!”

Be sure to check out Tony's website (click here) , and be on the lookout for his debut release, out early next year!

T he Compressor is one of the most vital pieces of equipment in any studio or PA rig, yet it is one of t he hardest to understand. In the third part of this series Joemeek designer Allan Bradford examines the various types of compressors.

Most compressors work in essentially the same way: a volume-controlling element or "gain cell" is inserted into the audio signal path. The level of the signal at any given moment is measured and that information is used to control the gain cell. So if the signal gets bigger, the volume is turned down, automatically and in real time.

However there is a variety of types of gain cell and, in the manner of fine wines, they have subtle differences in performance and how they sound. Various types of gain cell in common use include FET's, valves (tubes), light-dependent-resistors or LDR's (photoelectric) , digital potentiometers and voltage-controlled-amplifiers better known as VCA's.

The most neutral sounding gain cells are digital potentiometers and (good) VCA's. Tubes and FET's produce 2 nd order harmonics that add “warmth” to the sound. LDR gain cells in themselves may sound fairly neutral at any given volume but their slow response time and non-linear gain-controlling characteristics, affect the dynamics of the sound.

Note that all types of compressor will change the harmonics of a sound if the “Attack” and “Release” times used, are too short for the lowest frequency present. In that case the gain cell will try to follow individual wave cycles and so mangle the waveform. This effect can be used to add “grunt” to bass guitars and even the cleanest sounding VCA will do it.

The Joemeek Compressor is a unique recreation of the sort of photoelectric system used by record producer Joe Meek in the 1960's. Using modern components for consistency and reliability, it nonetheless reproduces faithfully the same punchy sound that was so characteristic of the pop records of that time.

Variable Ratio

As we saw last time, some compressors have a control to set the ratio anywhere between 1:1 (ie: no compression), and 20:1 ("brick wall limiter"). However that's not all there is to it.

In a theoretically ideal compressor, this ratio is constant for any size of signal above the threshold but for that to be true, the gain cell and its control circuitry must be perfectly linear over a very wide range. In practice only compressors based on VCAs and digital potentiometers are likely to behave in this way.

In the Joemeek optical compressor for example, the compression 'threshold' is not sharp but gradual and then the compression ratio varies with the amount of compression applied. For signals only just exceeding threshold, the ratio is little more than 1:1. As the compressor is driven harder, the ratio rises to (say) 5:1, at least up to a point. It is a feature of the J oemeek compressor that the compression ratio actually reduces again during large transients and, adjusted correctly, this helps to retain brightness that is often lost with other types of compressor. This is one reason vintage compressors often sound more lively than their modern counterparts.

Next time we'll look at some more specialised types of compressor.

The new twinQ from Joemeek is everything you ever wanted from a vintage sounding mic pre, and then some!

Hot on the heels of the release of new threeQ, the twinQ offers an unparalleled number of really usable features at a price that most ordinary musicians and recordists can afford.

Housed in a 2u chassis, the twinQ is a dual channel microphone preamplifier/ EQ/ opto-compresser. There's a ¼” input that accepts balanced (TRS) and unbalanced (TS) signals, an XLR mic input, and an instrument level ¼” input. Affecting the input stage, row of buttons on the front panel for each channel control Phantom Power, Pad, Phase, which line input, and “Iron”. Iron allows a transformer to be moved into the circuit path, completely changing the sound of the mic pre. There is a gain control, a Peak LED, and a high pass filter that can be selected. The EQ section has a sweep LF, sweep mid, and HF selectable between 6 and 12 kHz. As you'd expect from a product with this heritage, the EQ sounds terrific, very warm and musical. The optical compressor features Compress, Slope (ratio), Attack, Release, and Make Up Gain. Metering is handled by large analog VUs, one for each channel with switches that allow metering of input level, output level, and gain reduction.

Between the 2 channels is a Link control for stereo use, and an LED to indicate that the unit is locked to incoming word clock.

On the back are your XLR mic and ¼” line inputs, Insert, and XLR and ¼” outputs with a switch to select either +4 or –10 levels. New to the Joemeek line is a full-featured Digital Out section with coaxial SPDIF, optical SPDIF, and XLR AES connectors. There are two switches, one that selects between 44.1 and 48K and another that multiplies times two for 88.2 or 96K.

Joemeek fans will be happy to see the familiar green paint job, and will be overjoyed when they listen to the twinQ. And at a retail price of just $999, it's priced significantly lower than anything else in its class.

Click here to see more about the twinQ!

Available Q4, 2004 at your Joemeek Dealer

In this, part one of a series; PMI Audio Group CEO Alan Hyatt discusses “Gain Staging” and why it's so important that it be done properly.

A critical process in setting up equipment prior to recording, proper gain staging of the gear is often overlooked. Done correctly equipment functions as it's supposed to, and optimal signal to noise ratio is achieved. Done incorrectly it can result in distortion, noisy recordings, and even damaged gear.

It is clear from the numerous phone calls we get and posts that I read that there's a great deal of confusion on this subject.

So what is gain staging, and why is it important anyway?
Webster's dictionary defines Gain as “an increase in amount, magnitude, or degree, or a gain in efficiency, or the increase (voltage or signal intensity) caused by an amplifier; especially the ratio of output over input”. Simply put, Gain is the amplification of a signal.

Gain staging is just controlling the levels of the signal as it passes through the gear on it's way in and out of the recorder (hard disk, DAW, tape machine). Ideally, we'd set these levels so that we have the maximum amount of “headroom” or dynamic range without distortion. In most setups, there will be several “gain stages” along the way.

In some cases, we use what would technically be “improper” gain staging to produce a desirable effect. To illustrate, we'll use and electric guitar and a guitar amp that has both preamp and master volume controls. Plug the output of the guitar into the input of the amp and we're on our way. When you turn the preamp control way up, and set the master volume knob fairly low, you're likely to wind up with a distorted sound coming out of the amp. The reason is you're overdriving or squaring (clipping) the signal at the preamp stage and then amplifying it again at the power amp (master volume knob) stage. Hence the “incorrect” use produces a desired effect, in this case - distortion. By turning down the preamp volume, you wind up with a less distorted signal, and boosting the master volume a bit will allow you to get the same overall volume level out of the amp but with far less distortion. This would traditionally be a more “proper” use of gain staging.

Input signal level has an effect on things as well. Guitars with higher output pickups (typically humbuckers) more easily overdrive the input stage of an amp than if we used a guitar with lower output single coil pickups. To get a similar amount of preamp distortion out of the single coil pickup equipped guitar, you have to turn up the amp's preamp / input volume stage much more. The opposite is also true…if the amp is set "clean" when using low output single coils, it might distort if you switch to higher output humbuckers.

Now we'll begin looking at a recording setup. Let's say we have a microphone feeding into a channel on a mixing board, and out of that into a recorder. The first "gain stage" is the sound source (voice, guitar amp, etc.). Controlling this first gain stage could be achieved by proximity and/or placement of the microphone. The second gain stage would be the sensitivity level and output impedance of the microphone itself. These are things you do not always have the ability to control, but you do need to be aware of them. A low sensitivity ribbon mic is going to put out a lower signal level than a condenser mic will, and will usually require higher levels of gain at the mic preamp stage in order to get useful, clean signal levels to the recorder.

So, begin being aware of the gain stages in YOUR setup. Proper gain staging will insure that you get the best recording results, AND you won't damage your gear!

Next issue, we'll look a little deeper into our “recording” gain staging!