Monday, May 30, 2011

The Focusrite Saffire 6 USB (Vocal Interface)


Well folks as promised, here she is! Ms Andreya Triana in an ad for the Focusrite Saffire 6 USB Interface. This interface device seems to be getting a lot of attention lately as I found out while surfing around the internet for new and improved studio equippment to write about.

Ms. Triana is not a DJ (that I know of) but she is a new artist that is making her way into the spotlight with her own style of vocals. She is likely to be compared to other artist such as Corrine Bailey Rae and Alicia Keys but I have no doubt that this young lady will end up being recognized as a different kind of artist in her own right.

Now, getting back to the product being featured here. The Saffire 6 vocal interface came to my attention not only because a lovely young lady was featured in the ad, but I wanted to find something that would bring studio quality sound to a live performance. This product claims to be able to do that.

Along with DJaying, I sometime work as a sound engineer for bands and singers. The last band that I worked the sound board for seemed to have a real problem with clarity from their microphones while perfoming live. They had good equippment and good speakers, but the audio was really muddy sounding! This raised a question in my mind, what can be done to correct this? And so began my search for an interface device that would solve the problem. Now, I haven't had the chance yet to try this unit on this particular band yet, but when I go to purchase it I will also be looking for some advice on wether or not this is the right thing to use.

The price seems pretty reasonable (about $250 retail) so even if it doesn't work for them, I may still want to use this in my own home studio. Which by the way, there are some more videos after the main video on building your own home studio (if you're interested)As I said before, while I was sufing I ran into a lot of videos that talked about the Saffire 6 and the comments that went along with them were mostly good reviews.

So when I go shopping again, if another interface device turns out to be a better bargain than this one seems to be you'll probably hear about it in one of my upcoming post. So for now that's about all I have, but remember to "Stay In The Mix"

Sunday, May 22, 2011

The Rane TTM57 DJ Mixer (The Search Is Over)

After careful review of several mixers, this is the one that had been most recommended for use with Serato Video SL.


It was a close call between the Rane 68 and the Rane TTM57 as far as which mixer goes best with Scratch Live Video software. Both Rane mixers are designed to run Serato SL1 and SL2 and the new SL Video program. And I must admit that the Rane 68 seems like the easier of the two to use. But the rane 68 is running about $2,600.00 and like I said before that's a bit pricey for your average mobile DJ. You'll save about $1,200.00 by going with the TTM57 but you're still looking at about $1,450.00 even for this model.

Either way you go, you're still going to have to load up your own videos to your iTunes library for it play video and Serato software will do the rest. I like the short video above because it shows the mixer being used with the pioneer CDJ 1000s and like I said before, this will probably be the route I'll take with video mixing.

In one of the videos I watched where the Rane 68 was being used the DJ was loading the video from Serato to his turntable decks and using Scratch Live vinyl to mix and scratch the video. I had to watch it a couple of times to see how he was playing the videos without a CD deck or video mixer. But apparently, once the videos are loaded to your SL Video library they will simply play through your Rane mixer!

Now of course you know hooking up your video monitors and recorders and what-have-you will require an interface device of some kind. Which brings to mind a very interesting interface that's out now and being introduced by a new artist that I found to be very sexy and talented. I'll give you more on the interface device and this new artist in my next blog post!

As with other videos I've posted there are more videos you can watch after the main video ends... and they all offer a little more insight to the TTM57 mixer and Serato Video Scratch Live! If you want to see the Rane 68 mixer in action with Serato Video SL just go to "Youtube" and type in Video Mixing with the Rane 68 DJ Mixer.

So keep on following this blog and I'll be coming back with lots more info on the subject of Video Mixing! And there's plenty more to come!....So until next time..."Stay In The Mix"