Douglas Cuomo’s remarkable aptitude for creating engaging music across genres has earned him renown in the concert halls and on the operatic and theatrical stages of the world. To appreciate the tremendous scope of Cuomo’s work, it may be sufficient to note that his work has been commissioned by both Chanticleer and Britney Spears. But Cuomo also maintains a prolific career as a composer for film and television, where his ability to create genuine music of any style is a rare and valuable commodity. Among his credits are literally hundreds of themes, scores, and incidental music for network television (including Sex and the City, Homicide: Life on the Streets, Committed), film (including In the Weeds, Naked in New York, and Lie Down with Dogs), and documentaries (including Crazy Love, America’s River, and National Geographic Explorer). Part of what explains Cuomo’s high volume of consistently excellent music is Metric Halo’s ChannelStrip plug-in, which provides eminently useable presets that help translate the sounds he hears in his head to the loudspeakers.

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Jamey Lamar is the classical recording engineer and producer at the helm of boutique audio services company Art Music Recording. Lamar received his undergraduate training at the Cleveland Institute of Music and went on to earn a postgraduate degree from the University of Memphis before wending his way to the Intermountain West with wife and violist Dr. Linda Kline Lamar. Boise, Idaho serves as the unlikely hub for Lamar’s on-location recording service. Lamar travels the country to effect stunningly vivid live and session recordings for clients such as The IRIS Orchestra, Strings Music Festival in Steamboat Springs, Colorado, the Baltimore Chamber Orchestra, the Carpe Diem String Quartet, the Poulenc Trio, and American Public Media’s Performance Today, to name a few. Lamar was an early adopter of the best-in-class FireWire interfaces from Metric Halo, and the company’s top-of-the-line ULN-8 mic-pre/AD/DA currently forms the heart of his eminently mobile studio.

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Although they work independently, France’s Benoît Gilg and Alain Français meet frequently to ensure that their gear and techniques stay at industry’s cutting edge. Their works are numerous and often prestigious. For example, Gilg runs broadcast sound for several of the headlining acts at France’s massive Jazz Sous Les Pommiers and Vieilles Charrues Festivals and at Germany’s Hurricane Festival. He has worked with legendary artists such as Lenny Kravitz, The Pixies, The Cure, and jazz guitarist John McLaughlin. With two decades of experience beyond the younger Gilg, Français is in charge of the FOH sound at almost every French fashion show and works with many big names across many genres, from Sting to French tenor Roberto Alagna to German superstar Nina Hagen. Both engineers have been longtime advocates of Metric Halo’s tremendously flexible and thoroughly professional FireWire interfaces for both post-production work and live mixing and recording. They recently upgraded to Metric Halo’s top-of-the-line ULN-8 boxes, with eight channels of studio-grade preamps, accurate AD and DA conversion, and a wealth of +DSP functionality.

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Andrew Dowling is charged with an impressive task: make a FOH mix translate to every seat in any random venue. He frequently works for twenty-time Grammy winner and country legend Vince Gill, but Dowling applies his in-demand skills for bands from radically divergent genres as well. For instance, he will be traveling with metal icons Rob Zombie and Slayer on a twelve-stop tour that mix festival PA systems with a hand-picked Adamson system for headlining shows. To get signals in reliably and to analyze them powerfully, Dowling calls on a Metric Halo ULN-8 interface paired with Metric Halo’s SpectraFoo Complete analysis software.

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“I work too many hours,” laughed Ariel Borujow, chief recording and mix engineer at New York City’s now-famous Stadium Red studios. With fifteen years spent in front of the monitors, Borujow has worked with Kanye West, The Black Eyed Peas, Faith Evans, J-Lo, and countless others. His efforts, coupled with his knack for transforming whatever crosses his path into aural magic, have earned the young engineer multiple platinum albums and a Grammy nomination. Nevertheless, Borujow is hardly content to rest on his laurels. Although he does sometimes take a day off, putting in a six-day week instead of his usual seven, on the days he does work, it’s never less than ten hours. And if there’s ever a dip in the frenzy at Stadium Red, Borujow puts in time at his moonlighting gig, delivering mixes for Fox broadcasting. With deadlines looming and a finely-calibrated sense for what it takes for a mix to become a hit, he was glad to recently discover Metric Halo’s ChannelStrip, an eminently usable plug-in that simultaneously delivers an “out-of-the-box” sound with “in-the-box” convenience.

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Producer and engineer Jay Ruston has been recording and mixing tracks for artists such as The Donnas, Jars of Clay, Steel Panther, and Meatloaf for going on twenty years. He has watched the technology that is championed by the industry shift and evolve, sometimes for the better and sometimes for the worse. He hangs onto the better bits. For example, Ruston is an avid (ha!) user of Pro Tools, which he pairs with a Trident console for analog summing. Recently, while working with Anthrax on their forthcoming release, Worship Music, Ruston found Metric Halo’s ChannelStrip plug-in, which combines the classic frequency and dynamics tools found on the monster analog consoles of yore. Together with Anthrax producer and guitarist Rob Caggiano, Ruston recorded and mixed the album.

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Gareth Jones is well known for producing ground-breaking albums with ground-breaking artists, such as Depeche Mode, Wire, and Erasure, and he continues to work with their next generation heirs, such as Interpol, Grizzly Bear, and Mogwai. From the start, Jones has been a technological pioneer, blazing trails down which the masses later followed. Jones was an early adopter of digital recording technologies and is today considered one of the world’s foremost experts on the Logic Audio recording, mixing, and editing platform. Relatively recently in the context of his long career, Jones outfitted his studio – which is by necessity mobile – with a pair of Metric Halo FireWire interfaces, that provide him with sixteen studio-grade mic preamps, sixteen channels of AD and DA, powerful DSP processing, 80-bit master summing, and – taken together – the flexibility to do what needs to be done, whatever the circumstance.

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John Latartara received his doctoral degree in Theoretical Studies from the prestigious New England Conservatory of Music in Boston, Massachusetts and is currently an associate professor of music at the University of Mississippi. With interests and aptitudes neatly divided among the three complementary activities of composition, research, and teaching, Latartara makes extensive personal and professional use of his Metric Halo ULN-2 FireWire interface. The ULN-2, which combines peerless mic preamps, converters, and recording software integration, forms the heart of his home studio, where he creates electronic and experimental music (releases on Sachimay, Centaur, and Visceralmedia Records). But the ULN-2 also travels with Latartara to points far and remote in support of his research. Most recently, Latartara has been traveling throughout Southeast Asia to document the rare, and slowly vanishing, music of the Tai Dam people.

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For anyone who lives to make music and pines for a soulmate, it would be hard not to envy Irish folk vocalist Cara Dillon and her husband Sam Lakeman. The two met in the band Equation and quickly left to walk – as seen in hindsight – a sure and steady path to artistic, commercial, and familial success. Winning dozens of awards and countless accolades, Dillon’s otherworldly voice takes the spotlight, and the duo have created and produced four solid albums on Rough Trade Records and, now, their own Charcoal Records. Lakeman also serves as the recording engineer in their second floor (this fact will become important) home studio. Tired of cobbling together equipment and re-jiggering routing on menu-heavy digital boxes, Lakeman purchased the powerful Metric Halo ULN-8 combination mic pre, converter and DSP. But from the time he would receive it to the time he would use it to record a guerilla session for Dillon’s cover of “Corrina Corrina,” both blessings and tribulations would profoundly intervene.

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As the owner and operator of Paper Street Audio Company, Paul Kavicky has carved a satisfying niche for himself in the world of major theatrical productions, where he serves as production audio engineer and, beyond that, guru of all things audio. Indeed, his latest appointment with the Threesixty Theater's production of Peter Pan has placed him at the FOH position for over 350 shows spanning four cities throughout the US in over a year-and-a-half. Much of Kavicky's work back at his well-appointed home studio is related to the theater, creating and recording sound effects and voiceovers. After a thorough search of the available solutions, Kavicky leapt at Metric Halo's FireWire interfaces. Citing superior audio quality, a road-worthy build, and rock-solid driver support, he outfitted Paper Street Audio Company with six Metric Halo interfaces with eight inputs/outputs each: four 2882s, one LIO-8, and one top-of-the-line ULN-8.

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An article published by Stereophile on recording and mastering using Metric Halo interfaces.

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Grace Potter and the Nocturnals' self-titled album - their third studio release - debuted at #19 on the US Billboard Top 200 upon its release and set the band off on a string of sold-out shows and television appearances that show no sign of slowing, including recent performances on The Late Show with David Letterman, Conan and Emmy-nominated music show Live from The Artists Den. The band's brand of rock gives listeners plenty to hook into, and the live show amplifies that effect by the fiery charisma of lead singer Potter at her vintage Hammond B3 and her band of talented players. The group is currently packing theaters across the U.S., and it is easy to extrapolate that the next go-around will require much larger venues. Front-of-house engineer Sam Leonard, who frequently also handles every other aspect of the band's technical underbelly with the help of only one tech, has recently begun to record every Grace Potter and the Nocturnals show using either eight channels or twenty-four channels of Metric Halo's acclaimed 2882 mic preamp/converter.

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Those who have read the book or watched the film Dead Man Walking, about death row, may find it unlikely material on which to base an opera. That is, unless they have their eyes on the classical art form's vibrant and living edge. Originally commissioned by the San Francisco Opera in 2000, Jake Heggie's Dead Man Walking received numerous awards and has been performed throughout the United States and around the world. In celebration of its ten-year anniversary, EMI records will be releasing veteran classical engineer Marlan Barry's recording of this performance with the Houston Grand Opera. Unlike his previous remote sessions, which involved titanic computer rigs with racks of outboard ballast, Barry brought a very modest setup that centered on his recently-acquired Metric Halo ULN-8 FireWire mic-pre/converter.

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Sterling Winfield gained notoriety and respect early in his career for his contribution to Pantera's 1994, Grammy-nominated release, Far Beyond Driven. He's been on the first-call list ever since, and his production and engineering work with Mercyful Fate, King Diamond, Pantera, Damageplan, Hellyeah, and many others has earned his work four Grammy-nominations, two RIAA-certified platinum releases, and five RIAA-certified gold releases. Among his favorite tools is Metric Halo's ChannelStrip plug-in, both for its decidedly "undigital" sound and for its inspiration-fueling workflow. He used ChannelStrip prodigiously on Hellyeah's recent Stampede, which debuted at number eight on the Billboard 200 in July of 2010.

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Adrian Belew is a guitar virtuoso without peer. The flame of his long career, which produced enduring magic with Frank Zappa, Talking Heads, and David Bowie in front of thirty years at the head of foundational progressive rock band King Crimson, burns as brightly now as it ever has. Respected for his ability to produce tones and sounds with a guitar that bear no resemblance to the instrument's usual output, Belew draws crowds around the world with his independent work. He recently completed a home studio, centered on a pair of eight-channel Metric Halo ULN-8 interfaces with studio-grade mic preamps, where he is currently recording his forthcoming album.

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Rich Breen's quick and early ascension to the upper strata of professional recording a quarter-century ago was not owing to a flashy style or a voguish sound, but rather a well-considered, well-rounded approach to sound recording that was, and continues to be, in equal measures scientific and artistic. He holds a degree in electrical engineering and has studied music, a synergism that has contributed to his roster of clients and recordings that include the Yellowjackets, Charlie Haden, Dianne Reeves, Herbie Hancock, Norah Jones, members of the Rolling Stones, and Ramsey Lewis. Breen has been nominated for the Non-Classical Engineering Grammy, and dozens of his recordings have been nominated or won Grammy Awards in various categories over the years. Last year he won a Latin Grammy for the Ivan Lins/Metropolis Orchestra Recording. In recent years, Breen has become an avid user of the Metric Halo ULN-8 interface, which delivers eight channels of AD/DA conversion, together with eight world-class mic pres, powerful digital processing, and flexible routing.

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Ben Arthur is a charismatic, self-made singer/songwriter who has released four critically-lauded albums and opened for such acts as Tori Amos, Bruce Hornsby, and the Dave Matthews Band. His knack for successful collaborations has earned him the friendship of many very talented musicians who tend to fly just under the radar of the mass media. That knack and those friendships will be put to the dramatic test on Dubway Days, a web-TV show - and possible Network TV show - that will air its pilot episode on February 14, 2011 at www.breakthruradio.com. It so happens that Ben Arthur is also an ardent Metric Halo user.

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There is much to admire in a band that forms for the love of music and then, because of the members' talent, inspiration, and joyful willingness to play tour after tireless tour, achieves well-deserved success. A bluegrass band that elegantly draws inspiration from tradition, The Infamous Stringdusters recently earned a Grammy nomination for Best Country Instrumental Performance for "Magic #9," the fourth track on the band's third album, Things That Fly. The Infamous Stringdusters are rather famous - despite the appellation - on the bluegrass-friendly stages of the nation for both their quality (see above) and their quantity (the band plays approximately 150 shows a year!). FOH engineer Drew Becker was fresh off a degree from Full Sail and still rather green when he went to work full-time for the band three years ago. Since then he has logged over 500 shows, some with audiences in excess of 40,000, and has quickly established himself as a prodigious talent behind the board. Metric Halo's SpectraFoo sound analysis software played a critical role in his rapid ascension.

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Soundkeeper Recordings is a beautiful amalgamation of old and new. Veteran recording, mixing, and mastering engineer Barry Diament (Bob Marley, Pete Townshend, Led Zeppelin and on and on and on) founded the fledgling record label and expertly handles all of its technical tasks. On the one hand, Diament reaches back more than half a century, to a time when sound engineers viewed their art as the capturing of what were, first and foremost, live events. Diament records the artists on Soundkeeper Recordings’ roster in beautiful acoustic spaces using only a pair of microphones. Described as “recording without a net,” the musicians, with direction from producer Diament, determine every aspect of the “mix” as they play, with no hope for a technical save in the form of a punch-in or overdub. On the other hand, Diament relies on state-of-the-art equipment to accurately render the recordings and preserve the sonic cues that help “bring the listener to the musical event, with the feeling of being in the space in which it occurred.” The critical tool in his approach is a Metric Halo ULN-8 Mobile I/O interface, which captures his stereo signal with unprecedented transparency.

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Metric Halo has earned an Outstanding Technical Achievement award by the TEC (Technical Excellence and Creativity) Foundation for the Digital Converter Technology of its LIO-8 AD-DA. The foundation announced the award at January's NAMM Show in Anaheim, California. The win adds satisfaction to the honor of Metric Halo's three previous TEC nominations for its SpectraFoo sound analysis software, its ULN-2 +DSP combination multi-channel mic pre/converter/processor, and its ChannelStrip multi-platform plug-in. To celebrate the victory, Metric Halo will offer the LIO-8 and its technological sibling, the ULN-8, at an amazing 25% discount, through all Metric Halo sales channels, from January 24 through February 18, 2011. So, as they say, act now.

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Geert Bevin has been coding computers and making music since he was twelve years old. Now a few decades later, Bevin splits his time between Eigenlabs, where he is a senior developer on the EigenD system in support of the revolutionary Eigenharp electronic instrument, and his indie-pop-rock band Flytecase. Both passions fully utilize his technical expertise and his cultured aesthetic sensibilities. Bevin relies on Metric Halo FireWire interfaces - one 2882, one ULN-2, and one ULN-8 - as well as Metric Halo's DSP capabilities to deliver exacting recordings in the studio and sophisticated setups on stage.

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Metric Halo, maker of top-tier pro audio interfaces, announces a significant upgrade to its Mobile I/O software, which is freely available for download at the company’s website, www.mhlabs.com. The MIO Console software, which runs on a Macintosh computer, provides a virtual console that configures and controls all internal routing and DSP within Metric Halo’s family of FireWire hardware interfaces. Version 5.4 adds support for infrared remote control and demos of Metric Halo’s popular +DSP upgrade and plug-ins, along with a large number of smaller tweaks and improvements. Most importantly, however, version 5.4 takes MIO’s industry-leading reliability and makes it even more bulletproof.

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Recently opened, Ferrari World, the world's largest theme park and the first and only Ferrari theme park in the world is located in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates featuring a multiplex of driving-related attractions, thrill rides, and, of course, a racetrack. The structure is massive, covering fifty acres with a unique red dome roof adorned by a massive Ferrari logo. In a distinctive break from the well-trodden theme park music motif, celebrated composer Julian Scott was commissioned to write and record themes for the "factory" section of the new park. His cues are replayed in surround sound and synchronized to both the ride dynamics and the high-definition video replays. Scott recorded the pieces at famed Abbey Road studios, relying on Metric Halo ULN-8 and 2882+DSP converters to capture the enormously expensive session in stunning quality, without hiccup.

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After reading this story, every FOH mixer will be begging for his or her own personal Doug Lemke/SpectraFoo combo for the Holidays. In a nutshell, Lemke’s recent outing with enduring 80s pop-rock legend Tears For Fears epitomized the challenge that FOH engineers are forced to confront over and over again – as if in a bad dream! – different venues and different PAs from night to night conspired to threaten the repeatability of veteran engineer JB Blot’s otherwise studio-worthy mix. But Lemke provided a robust solution to this timeless trial. He used the power and nuance of Metric Halo’s SpectraFoo audio analysis software to tune each disparate system to match the sonic fingerprint of Blot’s reference Genelec nearfield monitors.

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Metric Halo is pleased to announce the that the LIO-8 Line Level Converter has been nominated for the Technical Excellence & Creativity Award in the category of Outstanding Technical Achievement, Digital Converter Technology.

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DeeTown Entertainment is the brainchild of prolific contemporary composer and musician Ali Dee Theodore. In less than a decade, DeeTown has risen to prominence in the American film industry, turning out a seemingly limitless number of chart-topping scores and songs for a huge number of films and musicians, including Hannah Montana: The Movie, The Jonas Brothers, Hot Tub Time Machine, Transformers, Mary J Blige, Daredevil, Mr. & Mrs. Smith, Ghost Rider, and Iron Man, among many, many others. The rise of Ali Dee and his crack team of writers, producers, musicians, and engineers has been compared to the heyday of Tin Pan Alley, when Irving Berlin, George Gershwin, Cole Porter, and their contemporaries ruled New York City. Indeed, DeeTown's recent move to an upgraded facility in Manhattan makes the analogy all the more apt. From the beginning, Ali Dee and the engineers and producers of DeeTown have relied heavily on the superlative frequency and dynamics processing of Metric Halo's ChannelStrip plug-in, and Ali Dee asserts that every DeeTown product, without exception, bears its sonic signature.

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Rob Caggiano is perhaps best known as the guitarist for heavy metal icon Anthrax, but those in the scene know he is responsible for some of the best-produced albums of the last decade, including We’ve Come For You All by Anthrax, Hunter by A Life Once Lost, Glitter In The Gutter by Jesse Malin (featuring Bruce Springsteen) and the Grammy-nominated Nymphetamine by Cradle of Filth, among many, many others. Most recently, Rob is busy producing and engineering the forthcoming debut album for his new band The Damned Things which features himself and Scott Ian of Anthrax together with members of Fall Out Boy and Every Time I Die. To perfect the guitar and bass sounds on the band’s forthcoming album to be released on Island/Def Jam, Caggiano stepped up from his longtime favorite interface, a Metric Halo ULN-2, to the Metric Halo ULN-8, allowing him to input multiple mics on multiple cabinets per take. Apart from drums, everything on the yet-to-be-named album went through the ULN-8 to capture the “in your face” sound that the producer is noted for.

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Iconic indie-rock band Modest Mouse gained its near-legendary status just outside of pop music's burning spotlight with a series of convention-breaking albums and a rigorous touring schedule that exposed its music to new fans. Despite selling over three million albums to date, the band is still very much in control of its creative destiny, and Modest Mouse concerts have taken on a mystique that draws hundreds of thousands to arenas and festivals during every tour. The band's production manager and FOH engineer Philip Harvey (The White Stripes, The Raconteurs) fights to balance the tortuous logistics of his first job with the aesthetic rewards of his second job. He counts on Metric Halo's SpectraFoo audio analysis software to quickly dial in the right balance at soundcheck and to diagnose any real-time problems during the show. He utilizes a Metric Halo ULN-8 interface, integrated with a Soundcraft Vi6 console, both to provide live effects and to commit each night's performance to a hard drive archive.

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Under the banner, "Outstanding Music for Outstanding Causes," and the leadership of Michael Alexander Young, the Charities Philharmonia gets together twice a year to deliver creative and energetic concerts. All proceeds from the events go to benefit worthwhile causes and organizations. In recent years, Andrew Levine has had the opportunity to record the concerts, which almost always take place at St. John's, Smith Square, in central London, a building erected in 1728 in the English Baroque-style. Its acoustics are stunning, and Levine has captured impressive stereo and surround recordings with minimal setup times using a Metric Halo ULN-8 mic-pre & interface with a Metric Halo MIO virtual mixer. The most recent recording took place at the end of May, with the ensemble performing Rachmaninov's Isle of the Dead and Mahler's Symphony No. 5.

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For nearly a decade, Graham Gardner has been dutifully recording the on-location and on-set sound for both reality-based and scripted television shows in and around New York City. The business is fast-paced, and success is frequently measured not by the captured nuance of a subtle reverb tail, but by the reliable capture of intelligible spoken word. In reality-based work especially, there is no tolerance for a sound mixer's request to "do that again!" But unlike many of his colleagues, Gardner has not abandoned the simple satisfaction of a sound well-recorded and, somewhat surprisingly, his clients are noticing the difference. Apart from technique, Gardner delivers a superior product with Metric Halo's FireWire ULN-8 audio interface, which provides studio-grade mic preamps and AD/DA conversion, along with the DSP muscle to process and mix with efficiency and sonority.

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Marshall Jefferson is an epic figure in the house music movement, having helped found the genre in Chicago in the mid-1980s. In fact, his "Move Your Body" is just as well known by its adopted title, "The House Music Anthem." Other enduring hits include "7 Ways To Jack" and "Open Our Eyes." Apart from his own work, Jefferson's presence runs deep in the House, Acid House, and Deep House movements through his collaborations, productions and remixes. Now splitting his base between Chicago and the UK, Jefferson travels the world on a near-weekly basis for DJ engagements. He always brings (just) his laptop and his Metric Halo ULN-8 preamp/interface/DSP, which he uses both for the show and to make good on a backlog of remix requests back at the hotel.

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The proverb states that nothing succeeds like success, and prolific mix engineer Serban Ghenea is living proof of its truth. After some years sharpening his musical intuition as a player in the jazz, funk and R&B worlds, Ghenea discovered he had a natural aptitude for creating compelling mixes. Over fifteen years, he has developed that aptitude into a flawless genius that has the music industry's A-list artists lined up at the door to work with him. In the last two years alone, Ghenea has mixed over twenty number one songs for artists such as Britney Spears, Miley Cyrus, and Kelly Clarkson. Metric Halo's ChannelStrip plug-in is Ghenea's go-to solution for all equalization and dynamics adjustments. And every mix that has left his studio in the last six years, chart-topping or otherwise, has benefitted from multiple instances of ChannelStrip.

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Prolific recording and mixing engineer and guitarist Sean Gould works with some of the greatest up-and-coming and established acts in the music industry through his close association with renowned production team S*A*M and Sluggo. His most recent projects have included We The Kings Smile Kid, Metro Station "Shake It," Train Save Me, San Francisco, Boys Like Girls Love Drunk, and Uncle Kracker Happy Hour. The list would resonate loudly in any hipster's soul - and it goes on and on and on! Gould relies heavily on Metric Halo ChannelStrip, a multi-platform plug-in that combines equalization, dynamics, and precision delay, to turn out stellar results on short deadlines.

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Skid Row produced a string of iconic hits in the late 1980s and early 1990s, including "18 and Life," "Youth Gone Wild," and "I Remember You," that now help define the era. In fact, a chapter of the new book, Full Metal Jackie Certified: The 50 Most Influential Heavy Metal Songs of the '80s and the True Stories Behind Their Lyrics, is devoted to dissecting the origins and cultural impact of "18 and Life." Today, the band maintains a busy schedule of fly-in dates throughout the country and around the world, performing both their classics and new songs from Revolutions Per Minute (2006). They use house or rental equipment so that they can travel light, and veteran FOH and monitor engineer Mike Thompson relies on Metric Halo's SpectraFoo sound analysis software to deliver consistent sound night after night across disparate sound systems.

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The capabilities of digital audio have brought about a paradigm shift in motion picture location sound recording over the past decade, away from traditional analog hardware to more versatile software-based solutions. As production mixer Paul Ledford, C.A.S. recently discovered, a digital audio solution such as Metric Halo's ULN-8 interface can also handle the increasingly more complex demands of a modern-day film shoot, and may well herald the next step in the evolution of location sound.

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Metric Halo is pleased to announce the immediate availability of version 5.3 of MIO Console, Mobile I/O CoreAudio driver and Mobile I/O Firmware. The new version is available as a free update, and applies to all Metric Halo FireWire audio devices including the 2882, ULN-2, ULN-8 and the recently introduced LIO-8 multichannel A/D/A converter.

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Today, Metric Halo announced the immediate availability of the new LIO-8 multichannel A/D/A converter, processor and interface. Based on Metric Halo’s ULN-8 technology platform, the LIO-8 is perfect for the audio professional that needs archival quality conversion, processing and interfacing. Equally at home in a mastering suite, mix suite or in a recording studio with external preamps, the LIO-8 provides conversion performance that is as stunning as that provided by the ULN-8.

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B.J. Buchalter (Metric Halo's VP of R&D) participated in the "2010: Semiconductors In Audio" discussion at ProSound News. You can read the unabridged text here.

Every year in October, the Bridge School Benefit Concert draws music fans to the massive Shoreline Amphitheatre in Mountain View, California, near San Francisco, to enjoy an A-list lineup of musicians organized by industry icon Neil Young and his wife Pegi. Proceeds benefit The Bridge School, which educates children with severe speech and physical impairments and often relies on expensive assistive communication technology. The 23rd annual concert was held this past October and included performances by No Doubt, Chris Martin of Coldplay, Sheryl Crow, Fleet Foxes, Wolfmother, Gavin Rossdale, Monsters of Folk, Jimmy Buffett, Adam Sandler, and, of course, Pegi and Neil Young. Young's regular FOH and recording engineer, Dave Lohr, was on hand to record the two-day event using ten Metric Halo ULN-8 mic-pre/converters.

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“The newly designed-from-the-ground-up Metric Halo 8 channel Firewire Interface "ULN-8" impressed us with its with its standard-setting features and functionality. In particular, its sound quality was impressive, even in comparison with other more expensive high-end converters. The ULN-8 takes the deserved peak position in Metric Halo's portfolio. The inclusion of the ULN-8 in the "Editors Choice" list was the only logical conclusion.”

For anyone who has ever gone clubbing till dawn in this brave new century, superstar female vocalist JES is undoubtedly the voice of some fantastic memories. Steeped in the world of electronica and rocktronica, JES exploded onto the dance music scene in 2003 as the singer of Motorcycle's "As the Rush Comes," which held the number one position on Billboard's "Hot Dance Airplay" chart and was the most-played dance song of that year. It was the fourth most-played dance song of the decade, according to Billboard's recently released "Decade End Chart," which also reports her solo release "Imagination" at #46 for the decade. JES's Metric Halo ULN-2 +DSP FireWire interface, with world-class mic-pre, A/D/A converter, and digital signal processing capabilities, has been with her for almost every note. The Metric Halo ULN-2 +DSP forms the basis of both her home vocal production studio, as heard on her new March 15th release High Glow (Black Hole Recordings, Ultra Records), and her live sound for dates the world over.

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Universal Mastering Studios - West (UMS-W) has fully reopened for business following its relocation from North Hollywood to the historic former Hanna-Barbera animation studios building in Hollywood. In the process, the facility's services have expanded to encompass a main mastering room and five production rooms, plus space for expansion into other areas of work, with every room outfitted with either Metric Halo interfaces or the company's OEM units supplied by mastering specialists Sonic Studio.

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Founder of 1980s English progressive rock sensation, It Bites, Francis Dunnery has maintained a busy schedule of solo work, production, and engineering in the nearly two decades since It Bites dissolved. Regular touring and recording with Robert Plant Lauryn Hill, Ian Brown, Carlos Santana and the creation of his own Aquarian Nation record label to "help support and maintain artistic integrity" have cemented Dunnery's position as a venerated member of the musical intelligencia, in both the UK and America. His recently released album, "There's a Whole New World Out There," is a clever reworking of his favorite material from his early years. Like everything Dunnery has worked on in the past two years, the new album was recorded entirely through a Metric Halo 2882 converter and interface. Metric Halo has a sound that he has never been able to capture with anything else.

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Now in its ninth year, the Ethiopian Music Festival (EMF) draws an amazing collection of musicians and performers from around Addis Ababa, Ethiopia’s capital city of 2.7 million people, and from around the world, to participate in nine nights of shows scattered across many stages and many venues. The musical styles that are represented cut across genres and time periods to reflect the tremendous diversity of Ethiopia’s varied nationalities and their rich musical traditions and lineages. This year marked the sixth time that Jeroen Visser, audio polymath and owner/operator of Zurich’s Fishing Bakery Studios, was on hand to record the entire festival, this year with the pristine and stalwart help of a Metric Halo ULN-8 compact audio interface.

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When audio engineer Michael Romanowski describes the Metric Halo Mobile I/O ULN-8 interface as the "do-everything" box, he isn't exaggerating. In fact, the ULN-8 interface is so versatile that it has become an essential component in Romanowski's workflow, whether he is recording on location or in the studio, mixing at home, or working in his mastering facility.

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Airshow Mastering’s East Coast studios are relocating to a larger facility in Takoma Park, Maryland from its longtime operations base in Springfield, Virginia. The new facility will incorporate two mastering studios, each equipped with an eight-channel Metric Halo ULN-8 interface outfitted with the latest 2d upgrades and running v5 software in conjunction with soundBlade™ software from Sonic Studio, LLC.

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The compact size of Metric Halo's eight-channel Mobile I/O 2882+DSP and two-channel ULN-2+DSP interfaces has been of significant benefit to Andrew Levine, a location recording engineer based in Hamburg, Germany, who frequently uses public transportation, or even a bicycle, to travel to local jobs. Levine, who is founder of blumlein records, is making use of Metric Halo's powerful new 2d upgrade to record, monitor and mix stereo and surround sound projects, several of which use his unique XYtri microphone setup.

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Today Metric Halo launched its much-anticipated ULN-8 - an industry-changing audio processing converter and interface. Featuring archival-grade converters, enhanced digitally controlled ULN (ultra low-noise, high-headroom) preamps, dedicated analog-domain sends and returns, analog domain 7.1 monitor controller, AES interfacing, extensive front panel control with excellent front panel metering all built atop Metric Halo's renowned fifth generation 2d Processing, mixing and FireWire interfacing platform, the ULN-8 establishes a new competitive standard for professional audio.

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Steve Devino, owner of sound production company Granite Rocks Live, relies on three Metric Halo Mobile I/O 2882 units to meet the often-complex demands of theatricals, concerts, and special events. Although he typically pairs them with an analog console to provide outboard processing or with a digital mixer to add routing and submixing capabilities, the flexibility and reliability of Metric Halo's 2d and v5 upgrades have begun to change that protocol. More and more, Devino finds himself deploying the Mobile I/O 2882s as standalone, computer-operated mixing systems.

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Gussie Miller is one of those amazing people who are equally talented on either side of the microphone. With the ears of a musician and the ears of an engineer magically merged, the singer/songwriter/engineer/producer brings a unique sensitivity to his projects. He understands, better than most, how a musical performance will translate through the recording, mixing and mastering stages. On the flip side, he understands, again better than most, that some gear fights against the musicality of a piece, whereas other gear enhances it. It is with these subtleties that Miller often finds himself turning to Metric Halo's ChannelStrip plug-in, of which he says - in a charming lilt that only a professional vocalist can deliver - "it's all about the algorithm!"

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Metric Halo is pleased to announce the immediate release of the next version of MIO Console - the software for Mobile I/O. This release is available as a software/firmware/driver update that enhances the capabilities of all new and existing Mobile I/O hardware. The update is available free of charge to all Mobile I/O users.

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Khaliq Glover, perhaps better known by his 80s-video-game-inspired moniker "Khaliq-O-Vision," is a Grammy-winning sound engineer, producer and songwriter whose career neatly spans the analog-to-digital-to-hybrid revolution that has defined the audio industry over the past quarter century. He began working for Kenny Rogers at Lion Share Studios in 1982 and, as an apprentice to many of the top engineers at the time, including Humberto Gatica, Tommy Vicari, and John Guess, learned the skills, perspectives and philosophies that have served him so well.

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Respected musician, producer, and engineer, Carl James is equally comfortable in the diverse realms of Rock, Jazz, Pop, R&B, Reggae and World music, a fact reflected in his infectious, joyful manner. A native of Jamaica, Carl's confidence is well earned. He cut his teeth in the mid 1980s playing bass with Lenny White, legendary drummer with Return to Forever, then rock band, Living Colour, before playing with what seems like every big name across the jazz to pop spectrum. This included the likes of Steve Windwood, Mariah Carey, Wayne Shorter and many more. As his aptitude for harnessing pro audio gear in the service of an unerring musical intuition became obvious to those who worked with him, Carl expanded his contributions to include engineering and then production. With a perpetually over-booked calendar, Carl has come to rely on the efficient workflow of a laptop-based Pro Tools LE system and his favorite plug-in - a Metric Halo ChannelStrip.

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Nick Jr. television favorite “The Backyardigans” have embarked on a ‘rocktacular medieval adventure’ across the U.S. with a Metric Halo system that unusually integrates sound system analysis and playback into a single setup. Conceived and implemented by associate designer Allen Rowand for sound designer Kai Harada, the integrated Metric Halo Mobile I/O system and SpectraFoo software speeds up the show’s load-in and tuning process, while also reducing equipment and cost.

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Andy Sneap must surely be one of the hardest working men in metal, producing, engineering and mixing some of the best-known bands in the genre, including Testament, Killswitch Engage, Opeth, Nevermore, Exodus, Arch Enemy, Machine Head, and Megadeth. For Sneap, who also finds time to play guitar with Sabbat, the Nottingham, U.K.-based thrash metal band that he co-founded and reformed in 2006 after a fifteen-year hiatus, the one constant from project to project has been Metric Halo's ChannelStrip plug-in.

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Metric Halo announces the immediate availability of the new Mobile I/O ULN-2 Expanded Mic Pre, Processor and FireWire interface. Powered by Metric Halo's new onboard 2d Processing Card and Version 5 of the MIO Driver and MIO Console software, the flexible ULN-2 Expanded may be operated as a FireWire recording/mixing interface or as a fully standalone 24-bit/96kHz mic pre/converter system complete with processing.

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Metric Halo announces the immediate availability of the new "future proof" 24-bit/96kHz Mobile I/O 2882 Expanded multi-channel processor and FireWire interface for recording and mixing in the studio or on the road. The portable 18-input/20-output 2882 Expanded incorporates the new 2d Card, which provides a nearly six-fold increase in the DSP power available for processing, routing and mixing in Metric Halo's world-renowned FireWire audio interfaces.

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Metric Halo announced the immediate availability of the 2d Card upgrade for Mobile I/O. Powered by the brand new 2d Card, the 2d Processing architecture expands and enhances the fundamental processing, routing and mixing engine of Metric Halo's world-renowned Mobile I/O FireWire audio interfaces. Included with every 2d Card is Metric Halo's exclusive "Character" processing engine. Character selectively adds the euphonic low-order distortions found in classic analog devices to the inputs and mix busses of the Mobile I/O. With fifteen different flavors of Character, users can choose the perfect euphonic characteristic for the sound they are recording or mixing.

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Philip J. Harvey from PilotLight Audio Inc. was hired by the White Stripes to mix front-of-house sound and multi-track record their tenth anniversary tour of 2007 in forty channels of high-resolution digital audio. Harvey put together a Metric Halo rig consisting of five MIO 2882+DSP interfaces passing 24-bit/96kHz audio into his MacBook Pro laptop computer. This endeavor led to the recording and mixing of two songs that were released as B-sides on the White Stripes' "You Don't Know What Love Is" EP.

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Anyone who watches television for any length of time has undoubtedly heard music by JSM Music, Inc. - and as a result, have heard the effects of Metric Halo's ChannelStrip multi-processing plug-in. Composers at JSM Music's production facilities, which occupy 25,000 square-feet on two stories of a building in Manhattan's Chelsea neighborhood, are responsible for the music on some of the highest profile TV commercials, including the very popular Pepsi "Magnetic Attraction" spot featuring Justin Timberlake that aired during the 2008 Super Bowl.

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Whether Hiroaki Honshuku is performing as a musician or working as an audio engineer, Metric Halo hardware and software is invariably involved. Recently, Honshuku's A-NO-NE Studio Services was hired to record the music performed during "Comics Come Home XIII," a charity event hosted by Denis Leary at Boston University's Agganis Arena, for which he used a multi-track remote recording rig comprised of two Metric Halo Mobile I/O 2882+DSP and two ULN-2+DSP units, plus an Apple MacBook Pro.

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It was a long, hot, busy summer for Aurafonic Records, the label established by multi-award-winning Latin music producer/composer KC Porter and production/composing partner Sebastian Jacome, with many major album projects completed and others scheduled for the upcoming months. Jacome, a graduate from the Berklee School of Music, and KC Porter worked together on Ozomatli's Grammy-nominated, "Don't Mess With The Dragon." Says Jacome, "KC was one of the engineers and producers of that album. I programmed the beats, played some guitars and arranged some strings - a little bit of everything" Porter, alongside Robert Carranza, Serbhan Ghenea and John Hanes, was recently nominated for a 2007 Grammy Award in the Best Engineered Album, Non-Classical category for the recording.

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Metric Halo announced the immediate release of version 4 of Mobile I/O. This release is available as a software / firmware / driver update that enhances the capabilities of all new and existing Mobile I/O hardware. The update is available free of charge to all Mobile I/O users.

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Brad Madix, returning to front-of-house for Rush after first mixing the band for part of the Roll the Bones Tour, puts SpectraFoo to good use, not only during system setup but, also throughout the show. "I use it mainly for tuning the PA - that's the big job that it does - but also for stuff in the mix. Even though I'm mixing live, I do use it for 'mastering,' metering and looking at phase."

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Metric Halo is pleased to announce that major updates for ChannelStrip TDM and ChannelStrip RTAS are now shipping. The 2.2 update is freely available to all registered OS X users of ChannelStrip and provides a large number of significant enhancements and bug fixes.

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Tom Hanks' writing and directorial debut, "That Thing You Do!" captured the innocence of the early '60s pop scene with a story about a young band, The Wonders, that wins a talent contest, scores a hit single then breaks up, all during one summer. With a ten-year anniversary DVD of the film due soon, producer and musician Neil Citron recently used his Metric Halo Mobile I/O to transfer nearly three-dozen of the original title song contenders for inclusion on the special edition disc.

Citron began with the DAT tapes and was amazed at the audio performance of the Mobile I/O. "I had the analog output of the DAT machine and the MIO both coming up in the mixing board so I could A-B what I was hearing. The MIO was better. In theory it shouldn't have been any different, but it was extremely different. Everybody was happy and they loved it.

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Although it has a well-earned reputation as one of the best sounding and most user-friendly audio recording interfaces available, Metric Halo’s Mobile I/O offers much more. According to Sean Quackenbush, front-of-house engineer with Robert Randolph and the Family Band, “It’s like an audio Swiss Army Knife. It can be whatever you need it to be.”

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Artist, engineer and producer Pat Thrall is redefining the art of the remix through his work on classic recordings from the late 1960s, introducing a whole new generation to the music of Miles Davis and Sly and the Family Stone, while carefully preserving the integrity of the original tracks. Thrall relies heavily on Metric Halo's ChannelStrip to insure that the old and the new recordings are correctly balanced in the remix. "It's got a certain grittiness about it. There's something about ChannelStrip that's kind of like mixing on an SSL G console - grit that's very musical and makes things sound more aggressive. I like that it has that personality."

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Ralf Kleemann's new Celtic harp CD "Tides" reflects how the new age of recording engineers use the power of Metric Halo gear and Apple computers versus racks of hardware and or renting expensive studios. "The feedback I have received so far has been very encouraging. People have been asking in which high-end studio the recordings were done. I take that as confirmation that I made exactly the right choices when I picked my equipment."

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Cold War era nuclear submarines may seem an unlikely source of inspiration for a conference telephone design. But with the assistance of some declassified documents, plus Metric Halo's SpectraFoo analysis software, LifeSize Communications has set a new benchmark in sound quality with a revolutionary phone that combines a patent-pending microphone array with beam forming technology to bring high-definition audio to the boardroom.

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Italian pianist/composer/arranger and recording engineer Graziano Mossuto is bringing musicians on two continents together, with the help of Metric Halo, for an ambitious project entitled "Ramalé From Mediterranean To Mongolia." For the last three years, Mossuto has criss-crossed Europe and Asia with a portable setup, based around the Metric Halo Mobile/IO 2882, recording local musicians performing his compositions for the elaborate world music project. "I use the Mobile/IO 2882 all the time when I travel, I find that the sound of the MIO has a special personality, and above all very good A-to-D converters. The quality of the mic pres is amazing."

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Billy Decker, one of Nashville's hottest country music engineers, has found the ChannelStrip plug-in so efficient that it has little impact on the horsepower of the host DAW computer. "I can put ChannelStrip across every channel. It's on every single instrument. Here in Nashville I do predominantly country music, so you've got a drum kit, bass, acoustic guitars, electric guitar, piano, fiddle and steel, then, sometimes, a dobro or banjo, but that's it, other than the voice and the backgrounds. So they're not huge sessions as far as track count. But I've got ChannelStrip running across the board, at the top of the inserts on just about everything."

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Metric Halo announced that the Universal Binary version of ChannelStrip AU is now shipping. Version 2.2 of ChannelStrip AU is supported for operation with systems running Mac OS X 10.4.3 or later, and Audio Unit compliant host applications. Version 2.2 is available at all Metric Halo authorized dealers, and updaters are available from the Metric Halo Updates page.

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"I don't think I have a single session where I don't have ChannelStrip up," says Tim Skold, producer and band member of Marilyn Manson. "It doesn't have animations of glowing tubes and fancy VU meters that have no relation to the music whatsoever. It does what it does, it does it well, that is why I like it. It's a lifesaver." The new Marilyn Manson album is being worked on in various private studios, with Skold wielding his multi-instrumental abilities in his role as producer. "I just like to do things and get things done." ChannelStrip has become a useful tool within the band's workflow, he reports, and has also led to some fruitful experimentation with the rest of the band.

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The Universal Binary version of the Mobile I/O driver is now available for download from the MIO Driver Download page. This version 2.2d94 driver runs Native on both the Intel and PowerPC platforms. MIO Console has been tested under Rosetta, and currently runs translated on the Intel-based Macs. Supported operating syustems are 10.3.9 and newer (both Intel and PowerPC). Mac OS X 10.4.4 for Intel has a bug in Firewire that will cause a Kernel Panic if you run MIO Console with a box attached. As a result, users must update their OS install to 10.4.5 on Intel-based Macintoshes to utilize MIO Console.

Time is of the essence in audio post-production, where a busy studio might have several completely different projects pass through in a single day. For Brad McIlvaine, senior mixer/designer at the Washington, D.C.-based audio design and mix division of Henninger Media Services, Metric Halo's versatile ChannelStrip plug-in is the cornerstone of a workflow that guarantees prompt delivery of the highest quality audio to his clients, whatever the project. "ChannelStrip is THE go-to plug in my collection, it's great having a very DSP-sensible EQ, compressor and gate that also sound fabulous."

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The popular HBO/BBC co-production, "Rome" is going into production on its second season, with noted Sound Recordist/Mixer Maurizio Argentieri once again using a Mobile I/O based system to capture location sound for the premium cable show's second season. "I still haven't found an interface that sounds as good as this. The onboard dynamics guarantee that every dialogue take is a keeper. Another important advantage of the Mobile I/O, for someone who works on the set like I do, is having great tools at your disposal. It gives the actors extra freedom, because I have an instrument that protects their performance from technical errors."

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Recording engineer Brian Peters chose a combination of Metric Halo's Mobile I/Os to record a 42-piece orchestra during a three-day rain storm in New York City's Central Park. "Due to the rough weather, we ended up recording the audio inside the ice rink's locker room and then playing back the audio for the performance. One of the things I love most about Metric Halo products is how easily you can scale the hardware to the projects. Two to thirty two channels is easily done and rock solid with the Mobile I/O Record Panel." This hardware scaling and flexibility was the difference between a successful project and a rainout.

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John Horesco, an Atlanta-based independent studio engineer has introduced ChannelStrip to SouthSide, the facility owned by super-producer Jermaine Dupri. Horesco, working in collaboration with Dupri's longtime mixer, Phil Tan, has used ChannelStrip on a string of platinum-selling projects by Usher, Mariah Carey, Whitney Houston and Bow Wow. His credits also include Nelly, 3LW, Run DMC, TLC, Sean 'Diddy' Combs, Pink, Janet Jackson, OutKast, Ron Isley, Jamie Foxx, Lionel Richie and L.L. Cool J. "Our large format console is pretty much obsolete." Horesco quickly discovered ChannelStrip's power. "It's an all-in-one unit and was super, super easy to use. And it sounded good. It saved a lot of DSP, which allowed me to use bigger reverbs and other plug-ins to add a little more space to the tracks."

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Front-of-house engineer Jon Lemon, a veteran of tours with such musical heavyweights as Oasis, nine inch nails, Beck, The Cure, and Depeche Mode, is currently on the road with the recently reunited Mötley Crüe, and has his trusty Mobile I/O rig running SpectraFoo analysis software by his side at every show. "It's a really useful tool. You can do it all by ear but it takes longer, and there's some uncertainty. I can pretty easily tune the system in the space of 15 to 20 minutes in most arenas."

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Metric Halo has released the Version 2.2 update of Mobile I/O Console and driver software for Mac OS X. This update provides increased performance across all Mobile I/O hardware models. Users of the Mobile I/O 2882, 2882+DSP, ULN-2, and ULN-2+DSP can now take advantage of the update with Mac OS X 10.3.9 through 10.4.2. This update is freely available to all registered users of Mobile I/O hardware. Please read the documentation accompanying this release for more information about compatibility for specific operating systems.

When recording engineer and mixer Thom Russo goes to a session, Metric Halo's ChannelStrip is guaranteed to get a good workout. Russo, whose client list includes Eric Clapton, Macy Gray, Audioslave, System of a Down, Enrique Iglesias, Juanes, Jay-Z, Babyface, Kinky and many, many others, is never without the console-style audio processing plug-in. "It's the most versatile, efficient, and elegant compressor/EQ chain on the market. You will certainly not hear a session of mine without it."

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Simon Lewis, who is based in Melbourne, Australia, is using a Mobile I/O 2882+DSP and ULN-2 for recording on the road and live. "I have to say it was a very solid system to work with. And it never let me down on stage either." Last year, his band Rivertribe embarked on six-month tour starting in Singapore and Malaysia. "We had planned to record with artists all around the world while we were traveling. The Metric Halo setup allowed me to run my studio almost anywhere. We met some Indian musicians in Singapore who saw us play and then asked if we would like to jam with them. We had an amazing session in a Sai Baba temple. After that, we got one of the guys to come back to our hotel and lay down some vocal tracks before we left.

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In celebration of the release of Mac OS X
Tiger, Metric Halo has announced that for a limited time new licenses of ChannelStrip Native will be available at a savings of over 40%, for the low cost of only $199USD. This is a limited time offer that expires June 30, 2005. Any new purchases of ChannelStrip Native are eligible for this discount.

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No trucks for Philip Harvey - Instead of a remote recording truck, Harvey used a 24-track Metric Halo rig to record a six-week tour with The Secret Machines. "I'll take the preamp sends from the direct outs of the mixing console and send them to the 24 analog inputs of the three Mobile I/O 2882+DSPs. Just having that capability has blown the minds of The Secret Machines. I was showing that with the right console we could multi-track an entire tour."

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Released concurrently with Mac OS 10.4 Tiger on April 29, 2005, Metric Halo is currently shipping the version 2.0 update of Mobile I/O Console and driver software for Mac OS X. This update provides new functionality and increased performance across all Mobile I/O hardware models. Users of the Mobile I/O 2882, 2882+DSP, ULN-2, and ULN-2+DSP can now take advantage of the update with Mac OS X 10.2.6 through 10.4. This update is freely available to all registered users of Mobile I/O hardware.

Music runs deep in Oscar Castro-Neves. The multi-faceted guitarist/composer/arranger/producer was there in Brazil as one of the founding fathers of Bossa Nova, along with Antonio Carlos Jobim, João Gilberto, and a few others. Oscar relies on just one audio interface when he's working on his projects: The Metric Halo Mobile I/O. "The quality of the sound is fantastic," he says. "Especially the preamps. The transparency is very, very good."

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Producer, mixer, and studio and live sound engineer Bobby Brooks boasts an impressive resume that spans many musical genres, from classic Motown to heavy metal. In that time, Brooks, who operates out of his own Archangel Studio, has used every music production tool out there, but none has proved more essential than Metric Halo's ChannelStrip plug-in. "I love ChannelStrip. I haven't run across too many instances where this thing doesn't do its job. That goes not just for Rick James and Teena Marie but also P.O.D. and Black Sabbath."

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Manhattan-based television and film composer Daniel Antonio Srebnick has plenty to celebrate since adopting Metric Halo's Mobile I/O 2882+DSP production interface. Srebnick likes the fact that Metric Halo's FireWire powered Mobile I/O system allows him to work anywhere. "You can really just pick up and go anywhere. It's so streamlined and simple. And the sound quality, which everyone had told me was fantastic, sure enough blows my previous system out of the water. Nothing that I've heard beats the sound quality."

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Mixer Serban Ghenea's legendary client list includes ten projects that received 13 nominations at the 2003 Grammy Awards, and he won't work without ChannelStrip. "I use ChannelStrip on every session," he comments. "I think of it as my console! It works just like a channel on an SSL, which I'm very used to, so it was easy to transition." The musician, who spent his early years studying and playing jazz, funk and R&B, crosses between musical genres easily, and as a result has built up a resume of some of the best known R&B, Pop, Hip-Hop, and Latin artists in the world.

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English composer Julian Scott has brought his work to a world stage for numerous unique projects. Most recently, Scott produced the soundtrack for the entire Opening and Closing Ceremonies of the Summer Olympic Games in Athens, Greece, during which Metric Halo's Mobile I/O 2882 and ULN-2 played critical roles. "It does sound great. There's an element of surprise there because, from a professional point of view, it's not a particularly expensive kit. But we did get a lot of comments about how nice things were sounding."

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Freelance engineer Sean Sullivan is currently on tour with Jessica Simpson, and is relying on SpectraFoo to provide the metering and analysis tools that he generally cannot find on the road. "The Mobile I/O turns your laptop into a miniature console, with eight analog ins and outs, AES in and out, and S/PDIF in and out. With that setup," he says, "You have a little matrix mixer and everything a console would have, except there's no surface. So that's how I interface my touring console with my laptop."

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Ryan Moore boasts a mouth-watering complement of vintage analogue processing, recording, and mixing equipment, which he uses to add the special sonic sauce to his Twilight Circus Dub Sound System releases. But a Mobile I/O 2882 has brought him kicking and screaming into the digital world and has opened up a whole new way of working.

"I realized that I could go anywhere," says Moore, "I could record stuff on location, in a hotel room. There's this incredible flexibility and freedom to adapt to the circumstances and the situation at hand, without having to depend on studio rental. It's guerrilla recording."

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In 1983, Barry Diament became one of the industry's first engineers to master for CD while working at Atlantic Records. He went independent in 1987. After more than three decades in the business, he expanded his services and went searching for a portable and sonically transparent interface. "The D-to-A converters in the MIO are just beautiful. I like the whole layout of the MIO console and the way it operates - it just feels good. I'm pretty knocked out by the box."

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"ChannelStrip sounds superb on just about anything. Even with the large array of plug-ins at my disposal I still find a vast amount of tracks with ChannelStrip inserted." SpectraFoo, he says, "is very useful for checking unfamiliar control rooms, phasing problems, and more. Once you are familiar with its functions you will wonder how you recorded without it."

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