Abbey Road Studios has always been at the forefront of innovation. We’re thrilled to now be part of this incredible story and together help continue pioneering the way for the future of music technology. As part of our new series, we are delving into some of the ground-breaking innovations created at Abbey Road – and give you an insight into the stories behind them. This week, it’s the mighty RS56 Universal Tone Control Unit, affectionately known as the Curve Bender.
The RS56 is one of the world’s first fully parametric EQs with only two units still known to exist. Originally introduced in the early ‘50s, it was used at Abbey Road to prepare recordings for the record lathe, as part of the process we now know as mastering.
It was first designed in 1952 by Abbey Road engineer Mike Batchelor who later became the Chief Engineer at Abbey Road Studios. It was completely passive in design and was initially intended for the disc cutting rooms but sometimes made its way into the recording studios, if special permission was granted. Often used on Beatles’ recording and mixing sessions as their style became more experimental, the unit was tremendously more powerfully than the comparatively primitive REDD mixing console EQ.
In celebration of Abbey Road Studios’ 75th anniversary, the curve bender was reimagined by Chandler Limited in the form of the EMI TG12345 Curve Bender unit. An incredible tool for both mixing and mastering. Founder Wade Goeke turned the nine selections of the vintage version into 51 EQ points plus a multiply switch that increases the cut/boost up to ±13.5dB (as well as sharpening the Q), filters and bell/shelf selections on the high and low bands.
Waves Audio and Abbey Road Studios also faithfully recreated the unique magic of the RS56, using advanced circuit modeling techniques based on the original schematics. The result is an extraordinary equalizer that is as effective today as it was when it was created over half a century ago.
Our new, weekly YouTube Livestream, focussed on giving you all the information you’ll need to work remotely with collaborators from around the world is here.
Join our Product Specialist Eddie Pitman every Monday at 14:00 ET / 11:00 PST / 19:00 UK where we reveal how you can get the most of our software. The first live stream launched on Monday the 8th of August and covered the fundamentals of LISTENTO within Pro Tools, which you can re-watch here.
Get involved and submit the topics you’d like us to cover here.
Emerging artist, producer and content creator Amber Ryann & producer and multi-instrumentalist Zach Golden tell their story of developing Amber’s sound remotely during the pandemic.
Could you give us an introduction to yourselves and your history of working together?
Amber: My name is Amber Ryann. I’m an independent artist based out of Pasadena, California. I’ve been working with Zach ever since 2020. I’d say that’s when our collaborative process really kicked off.
Zach: My names Zach Golden. I’m a producer, for the most part, that’s my main focus. I got introduced to Amber through our management MajorStage and we met in person once before the pandemic hit and got into the studio together and just vibed.
After that, obviously, the pandemic hit and since no one was traveling, we hopped on Zoom and used LISTENTO and started working on everything from there.
So working remotely was something you had to do from the get-go?
Amber: Exactly. We had worked in person once, just off of the coincidence of him being in my town. I actually don’t think we really got much done. It was really cool. Like the vibe was always there. I’ve always loved Zach and his process. He’s an amazing producer. But yeah, for the most part, it’s been remote.
Amber Ryann (Left) & Zach Golden (Right) at their only in-person session
Awesome! So you recently released your latest single ‘Liquid Courage’. Talk to us about the track. What are some lyrical themes/ messages in the song and what influenced the instrumental?
Amber: For sure, so the lyrics of the song centralize around when you’re out and you’ve had too much to drink. You kind of let go of your inhibitions and do some wild things. That’s like the general theme of the track.
It’s funny, I always like talking about the story of making the track, because when Zach and I actually made the track, for me it felt like a ‘dad-rock anthem’! The production was completely different. We’ve gone through the production of the track four to five different times and landed on the released version, which is in a very different place.
What was the setup and process for these remote sessions?
Zach: The one thing we’ve left out so far is that Amber has an album that’s going to be coming out and that process was done in person for one week, about 9 or 10 months ago. We worked on that with a writer and producer that goes by the name Sol and another producer that goes by the name Xmane. They’re based in LA so they all flew out to New York, we all got together for a week and cooked up a whole bunch of music.
Like Amber said, this track was originally said, this track was originally like a dad rock, trappy beat that almost went to the graveyard and never made it past that point. After that, Amber and I just worked on everything through Zoom and LISTENTO. So I have all the sessions, access to all the stems and everything and I have the LISTENTO plugin opened up on my end. She’s there the whole time, giving directions on what she wants.
We were able to experiment with and come up with a tonne of ideas and build them to the finish line, even if we didn’t use those tracks in the end. That’s the dope thing about working with Amber really is that I don’t I’ve worked with another artist like her that’s so focused on making sure everything’s right, that she’s willing to disconnect from the record to make sure that it’s the right thing. She’s not like “okay, well, we’re done with the record, so let’s put it out”. It’s more like, is this the right feeling? Is this everything that I need it to be?
How much of the process was done in this way?
Amber: I mean, we re-worked the entire album remotely. That’s an interesting situation within itself. If we didn’t have the capabilities to collaborate remotely in this way, I don’t think we’d be able to create the way we do in general.
“Everything in terms of re-working it, re-writing certain parts, re-producing certain elements, passing ideas back and forth. All of that was done over Zoom and Audiomovers.”
Amber Ryann
Zach: There have been a few singles that have been put out where the entire process all the way through was all done remote.
Do you feel that this workflow has allowed you to experiment creatively in the way you would’ve liked to?
Zach: I would say so for me. Since Amber and I have started really creating together in this digital world, I don’t think there was anything that was lost in translation. Like obviously when you’re in person things are super immediate. But there wasn’t like a loss of creative potential at all.
Amber, as someone who is quite heavily involved in various aspects of the creative process, have you continued to use LISTENTO in your professional career? If so, how?
Amber: Yeah, I’ve used it in several different ways, actually. Even with my music videos and doing video scores. I’ll always send a link out and be like “yo, can you listen to this and watch it with me?” I actually don’t do any sort of screen sharing without Audiomovers at all, whatsoever.
Last year, I was scoring a film and I had to have a meeting and show them the score I made alongside the film and I used Audiomovers to do that as well. So yeah, I’ve definitely used it across the board.
That’s really interesting! You mentioned that you have a full album coming soon, do you have any more plans moving forward?
Amber: Yeah, so we’ll be dropping the full album later this fall. I’ve also got a show coming up that I will have played by the time this interview goes live! I’ll be playing at The Peppermint Club in LA on July 16th. So I’m super excited about that as I’m going to be playing a lot of new songs for the first time! Zach actually wrote pretty much all of the arrangements for the live performance as well, which is a pretty big deal. So I’m very excited!
Finally, where can people go to check out ‘Liquid Courage’?
Amber: Spotify for sure. I’m a big Spotify fan! All of my music is on there. You can also check out the music video on YouTube, which I was able to direct. So I’d love for people to check it out.
Have a watch of Amber’s self-directed music video for ‘Liquid Courage’ below or visit Spotify to hear the final products from their remote sessions.
In September 2021, LISTENTO moved to subscription-only. In this article, we explain why.
What changed?
When we moved to a subscription-only model for LISTENTO streaming (whether from the plugin or the standalone app), we introduced three subscription tiers for you to choose from, based on your needs:
– Standard (closest to our original offering, with monthly and annual plans)
– Standard Plus (with an advanced set of features including custom branding and with an increased limit of 150 listeners per account)
– Business (designed for larger teams)
Across all plans, opting for annual billing is 20% cheaper.
Why we made the change.
The reason for this was to make it as easy and price affordable to use LISTENTO as possible. The software was launched back in 2017 and has since exploded in popularity. As we’ve grown, the different types of licenses and ways to pay became unmanageable, while many of our clients were requesting automatically-renewing payments to keep uninterrupted access to the service.
The changes have made the options simpler whilst allowing us to keep the price low. This enables us to concentrate on delivering exciting new features and a stable high-quality service.
Keep an eye on our Instagram to stay up-to-date on all the improvements we’re making to our softwares.
LISTENTO Standard Plus subscribers can now upload a custom background image for streams they share with their clients.
– Login to your account and head to My Products from My Account
– Scroll down to Custom Branding and press Upload.
– Upload a 1920×1080 pixels JPG or PNG file. Keep in mind the max image size supported is 5MB.
With new features like this and free access to OMNIBUS, there’s never been a better time to upgrade to Standard Plus.
OMNIBUS — Seamless audio routing for Mac
Today we’re releasing OMNIBUS – a brand new tool for Mac which works with any applications on your machine, allowing you to route between them and combine the audio of multiple applications.
— Send and receive audio between apps — 2 built-in virtual drivers, 16 channels each — Combine multiple audio sources into one
You can try OMNIBUS completely free for 7 days now:
You can buy a license for the one-off price of $49.99. LISTENTO subscribers get the best deal, saving up to 100% on the price. Login now to see the price you’ll pay.
OMNIBUS routes audio between multiple audio sources via two independent 16-channel virtual drivers. Like LISTENTO, it’s versatile and easy to get started, but has a lot of powerful features and potential use cases under the hood.
A virtual patch bay for your Mac
– Easily pass through audio from one app to another – Always-on, giving you greater control over all audio on your Mac
Easily configurable for multiple setups
– Define channel layouts with channel names, volume and muting parameters – Route individual channels from both drivers to different outputs – Save and name up to 8 snapshots of setups and loaded as needed
Why use OMNIBUS?
– Easy routing for screencasts – Manage audio for podcasting and panels – Route the audio for your gaming streams
We are proud to share that LISTENTO now supports Cubase 12 and Logic Pro 10.7.3, following our latest software update. Users will now have access to the full range of LISTENTO software that Audiomovers has to offer, including the LISTENTO and LISTENTO receiver plugins and the desktop app.
Cubase 12 includes a range of new features and workflow enhancing tools such as the FX Modulator, the addition of a 4th mixing console and advanced cross-fade editing to make the recording, mixing and composing process as easy as possible.
We’ve updated LISTENTO with new features. Here’s what you need to know –
– We’ve updated LISTENTO and released new features, you’ll need to update to take advantage
– Legacy versions of LISTENTO for older DAWs and setups will remain available
– Download and update LISTENTO plugins and App here
Multichannel DOLBY Atmos streaming
Increasingly the default audio settings on streaming platforms is binaural spatial audio – whether the listener is aware or not – as a result, more and more music must be mixed with this in mind. To support the move into mixing spatial audio, LISTENTO now supports 16 channel streaming of Dolby ATMOS.
You can now stream your re-rendered Dolby ATMOS channel layout up to 16 channels (as well as binaural e.g. Apple Render) directly from Nuendo or Logic Pro X.
New security features
To tighten security around sessions and prevent leaks, we continue to work on new security features for LISTENTO —
– Listener approval – this allows you to identify users before they can listen to a stream
– Disable Remote Recording – This disable recorder functionality in Listento Receiver for the session. (NB. this does not watermark the audio or make recording impossible)
– Random streaming session name / link – this allow the streamer to create a random session link each login, so listeners can’t continue listening in from one session to the next.
– Recent sessions menu – this allows you to connect to the previous session with no need to resend the streaming link, great for quickly picking up where you left off and resuming a previous session
