I've been a big fan of the Avenson Audio STO-2 stereo pair since 2005. I met Brad Avenson at a party years ago, and he is still such a nice guy. When I ordered the STO-2 pair from them recently, one of the guys there said they could send me a pair to use while I’m waiting for my very own pair to come along. He apologized because COVID-19 had basically disrupted how fast they could get mics done. Stellar customer service. Plus, they’re Texas peeps, so I was cool hanging for the time being.

Were the mics worth the wait? Yup. Totally.

The STO-2’s are mics that I’ve wanted for years because I first experienced them on a piano part I was recording in the Bubble, Frenchie Smith’s old studio on East 7th street (he’s since moved). I thought the mics sounded magical. They are pure mics, completely transparent. Seeing as how I didn’t have any mics that just picked up sound and replicated it perfectly (it annoyed me that I never heard what I wanted to hear when I used any of my old mics), the STO-2’s were on my list for years.

I recently got paid for a composing gig, so I decided to get the STO-2’s. What a treat!. First off, This is the box they came in:

Hard not to feel like royalty when I open the box. Also, they look like the tiny gun from Men In Black that packs a whollop:

The STO-2 On A Piano - Low

So now the tests!

All microphone tests were done via Mogami gold cables, the Audient iD44 interface, and was recorded 48/24. No processing was done to preserve the details of the microphones themselves (ie, no compression or EQ).

6 Inches From Source, 18 Inches Apart, Direct

I particularly like the stereo spread on this one, though my pedal needs a little oil. The direct sounds very present.

6 Inches From Source, 18 Inches Apart, 45 Degrees

Notice how this is just a tiny bit more mellow? I like this one the most. Feels great.

6 Inches From Source, 46 Inches Apart, Direct

Super wide stereo spread on this one. You can hear the squeaky pedal in the left.

1 Foot From Source, 36 Inches Apart, Direct

I like how the sound has a little bit more time to develop on this length. Still, the STO-2 manages to carry the weight nicely.

1 Foot From Source, 36 Inches Apart, 45 Degrees

A little more demure, a bit shy, which is something I like in sound! It could fit in beautifully.

1 Foot From Source, 50 Inches Apart, Direct

Really love this one. It has this incredibly large field of sound, and it’s given time to bloom.

3 Feet From Source, XY

Though the stereo field is not as pronouced here as it was in the previous examples, this type of configuration could work great in the right situation.

4 Feet From Source, XY

Starting to capture more of the room on this one. I think that the carpet started to dissipate the sound of the piano blooming towards the mics.

5 Feet From Source, XY

Gorgeous. I like this sound a lot more. It’s so far in the back of the audio bubble. It could really fit if I wanted a piano further back in the recording.

6 Feet From Source, XY

A little noisier than all the others. I was a bit careless with the preamps, but oh well. I like how the sound comes together none-the-less. It really gives the impression of sitting in the room without any hype. How many mics can do that?

Wow, I want to test more!

I am excited about these mics! They are solid so far, and I only tested them on the bottom of a piano so far. I want to do some tests on the top of the same piano, and will do so when my stereo bar arrives in the mail.

I’m smitten with the STO-2’s. So happy!!!

I think my high school psychology teacher was only trying to help when he gave me this:

If you want to know what it’s like to be Jon Bon Jovi in the time of the coronavirus pandemic, here he is, washing dishes and caring for the poor.

Totally badass. Well done, sir!

Recenty composed some music for some behind-the-scenes featurettes for Nowheres Wolf: A Call Not Answered, a brilliant short film by Suzanne Moulton.

So awesome!!!

No one wants to talk about death, but when musicians play music for people in hospice, you can’t deny how awesome that is:

Wayne Miles has not got the energy to open his eyes, but a faint smile flickers across his face as he silently mouths the words to the John Denver song Some Days Are Diamonds.

The 59-year-old Glasshouse Mountains man is dying from cancer, and amid the pain and grief music provides solace.

The former truck driver's love for country music is being nurtured by music therapist Tracie Wicks.

She sits with him at his bedside, strumming a guitar or playing the keyboard, and crooning Slim Dusty and John Denver songs that fill the dedicated music room in the Dove Palliative Care wing of the Caloundra Hospital.

Read the entire article here.

This orchestra helps those who are deaf to feel the vibrations of music.

Flutes and both violins in first part, low strings and high clarinet Sfz in the second.

Modular synthesizer enthusiast with physical disability hacks his arm prosthesis to control synthesizers with his mind:

This is so awesome:

11 second cue: Joyous and triumphant. Measured string tremolos, french horns, trumpet, hard mallet timpani, triangle tremolo:

Got invited by Jonas Wikstrand to do a co-demonstration/presentation on film composing at Thinkery21 tomorrow night. Lots of production peeps will be doing demos. See you there?

Purchase tickets here.

24 second epic drum cue sketch: WARNING! THIS IS LOUD! Taiko drums, toms, chinese tam tam, french horn ensemble, tremolo strings:

I published an article on this blog not too long ago about emotional impact in film scoring.

To me, we composers use sample libraries to create music that sounds like an orchestra without hiring one out. This has benefits and also some intense drawbacks. In my view: Sample libraries are great tools if we use them right.

From the article:

Emotional impact upon the audience of any film comes from humans who are primed and encouraged to bring their own emotions to the table, who deliver their own emotions in their performances, who take part in a story that has real impact upon the lives of the viewer.

Can this idea apply to the music of a film?

Oh my my, oh hell yes.

The technology for creating entire symphonies in a bedroom is available. It’s even cheap to produce a recording! To create a massive-sounding orchestral film score, many film composers nowadays rely upon sample libraries that include tens of thousands of individual sounds of instruments in the orchestra. The trade off is that they also have to program and then manipulate all of these samples so that they can create the score. In other words, the samples don’t come prearranged for the composer. The composer has to reprogram the sample library to sound appropriate for the film.

This small, almost insignificant detail, the fact that composers have to rearrange a sample so that it can be appropriate for a film score, has a remarkably stark effect on the emotional impact of a film.

Stay with me on this.

Before I get into why, we need to jump into a favorite subject of musicians and the online forums they frequent: Sample libraries...

Read the rest of the article here.

Pizzicato strings, french horns, flutes, and celeste