Speaker A: Y’all ready be history.

Speaker B: Get started.

Speaker A: Welcome.

Speaker B: Hi. Hi. Hello, everyone, to the Pro Audio Suite.

Speaker A: These guys are professional and motivated with tech. To the Vo stars George Wittam, founder of Source Elements Robert Marshall, international audio engineer Darren Robbo Robertson and global voice Andrew Peters. Thanks to Triboo austrian audio making passion heard. Source elements. George the tech. Wittam and robbo and AP’s. International demo. To find out more about us, check thepro audiosuite.com.

Speaker B: Learn up learner. Here we go.

Speaker C: And don’t forget the password. Trip a P 200 to get $200 off your Triboof. Now, talking of product, one of our sponsors, apart from Triboof is Austrian Audio. And Austrian Audio have been busy lately and just released some new product, which is my creator studio, my creator satellite and my creator Ylav, which is an interesting thing for Austrian Audio. I didn’t think they would get into this or particularly the Mylav thing. I didn’t see them going that way. But what do you think, just a first look at this product from Austrian Audio.

Speaker B: Well, I would say they are reading the tea leaves, as you could say, and it’s just they have to have a product in this category. The creator category is a massive category. It kind of encompasses podcasting, Vlogging, songwriting. If you make content, you’re a creator. And so this is like we are creators today because we’re making a podcast. So this is who they need to reach out to. It’s no longer the home musician or the home studio. It’s the creator. This is the category that’s replacing the quote unquote home studio. And so they’re entering that market. And if their engineering track record so far is any indication, because this is new and none of us have one, I think they’ll nail it. They haven’t really missed a beat on anything they released so far, and I think they need to be very careful to make sure that brand stays gold. It’s really concerning when companies release something half baked or just not quite up to par, even though it’s at a lower price point. So obviously it’s not going to be made in Austria in the same lab as the OC eight one eight. Right.

: It’s interesting. It’s got one knob. I wonder if it’s like that one thing where we couldn’t figure out how to use it because the interface was like two buttons and everything happened.

Speaker B: Yeah, well, I’m looking at it closely on screen and I don’t have the software again, but it’s got a three position switch on the face of the body of the mic itself and it’s got high low mute. So that leads me to believe that it’s just a very simple two position gain switch.

: Yeah, but it talks about low latency monitoring, so it’s got some stuff going on as a creator. It talks about low latency monitoring without any trouble.

Speaker B: Yeah, well, it’s got a volume balance knob, which I would say probably is that. So it’s a volume control and it’s a blend control, assuming that’s what Bal means.

Speaker C: Unless it could actually be when you plug into the micreator studio, you plug in the micreator satellite to create a stereo mic. Maybe that switch actually doubles as that to get a blend between left and right. I don’t know right.

Speaker B: Don’t know yet. Don’t know yet.

: I’m looking for a manual.

Speaker B: It’s got a nice engineering industrial design. Not sexy, just kind of utilitarian looking. A square ish rectangular body and then the microphone capsule on top, which kind of has that cool retro look where the capsule is suspended inside a rim. And it’s a nice looking design if it holds up to the abuse of what creators do, which is, to be completely frank, not take care of their gear. In a lot of cases, you just chuck things in your bag. I’ll talk about another one of our friends rode, right?

Speaker C: Yes.

Speaker B: One thing I love about my rode wireless mics, the little wireless mes I have the cheapy ones is they’re so light and so basic that I can just kind of I mean, I stick them in a little bag. And throw them in my gear bag. And they’re so inconspicuous and they’re so simple to operate that when I do need to use them as long as the battery is charged. And that’s important. But as long as they got a charge on them, they’re just so easy to deploy. Like within 30 seconds, I had it plugged into my iPhone. I launched the Road, I think they call it Capture road capture app. And I’m capturing my mic on my camera, the mic on my talent, and both cameras, the front and the rear. And I’m automatically shooting video and audio.

: Is that all down to three files? Does it give you them separately or how does it do it?

Speaker B: Yeah. So what it’s doing and I would like to control this, but I can’t. So what it does is it makes two video files and then each video file has a two track audio to go with it. So each video has both the microphones on ISO tracks. So what I do is when I bring why does it make two videos.

: Like front and back or what?

Speaker B: I can set it up to do that. Yeah. So you’ll see a video I’m going to release soon, which is the interview of the owner of Vocalbooth.com. And I use that feature. So you’ll see a video of me and him talking to each other. I’m behind it, he’s in front of it, and you’ll see it’s just switching between the two of us. I’m using software to do this switch back and forth. And all I had to do was actually isolate the two audio tracks so I could get a better mix because I ended up having both audio tracks on both shots. So I had to kind of isolate them so you didn’t have doubles, right, if that makes any sense. But this reminds me of that kind of, like, creator’s tool, simple USBC plug and go. Looking at the back of the microphone now, I’m actually finally saw the rear of it. There’s a few more functions, a few more jacks.

: Well, the plug in the satellite mic is one.

Speaker C: Yeah, that’ll be the out. And then you get to the satellite mic, and then it’s got an input and an output. And I’m assuming that what you do there is you get the headphone monitoring will come from the out, from the satellite, I guess, yeah.

Speaker B: I mean, I look at this as Austrian audio saying, those road systems are cute, but we make good mics. So let’s do the same idea. Forget at the wireless mics. This is really more for musician creators. So let’s be able to have two mics, but all plugged into one USB.

: This is a little bit of a RODECaster, I think it does.

Speaker B: It’s a little bit of a road type. Yeah.

: Because it’s recording both the lavalier mic and the close up mic, I guess.

Speaker B: The lav or the satellite mic, which.

: Looks like I think it records both.

Speaker B: Yeah. The satellite mic looks like just another of the same capsule, just without the rest of the brains. It’s just a little it’s got a TRRS microphone cable, and it goes to the slave. It’s like a master slave. We don’t use that anymore, do we, the terms anymore? But it’s kind of like there’s the primary secondary, or whatever you want to call it.

Speaker C: That’s really interesting. Interesting product. We’ll try and get our hands on something, at least one or two of those, just to check them out. Also, in the next few weeks, someone is sending me an ISO booth. I think you’ve done a demo on.

Speaker B: Those sending you an ISO booth. So if they’re sending it to you and it’s for isolation, that already makes me concerned that it’s not going to be very good at Isolating.

Speaker C: Well, you know the big thing, you stick your head inside the ISO booth.

: Yeah. The gray one that makes you want to vomit once you’re in there for.

Speaker C: A while, probably we’ll find out when I get it, but it’s going to be shipped to me in the next week or so.

: Brush your teeth.

Speaker C: Yes.

Speaker B: Are we divulging who this is yet? Are we going to wait until you’ve used it and then you’re going to.

Speaker C: Mention we’ll wait till I’ve used it. I just want to check it out.

: Isn’t it Isovox?

Speaker C: Isovox, yeah.

: Yes.

Speaker B: They’re going to send you their new.

Speaker C: Cheaper one, the Isovox Two, I think it’s called.

Speaker B: Oh, they’re going to send you Isovox Two.

Speaker C: Yeah.

Speaker B: Okay.

: Aren’t those things like, $800?

Speaker B: I did a video review of that. How long ago? Five years ago. They’re going to send you one of those?

Speaker C: Yeah, I think you did the Isovox one, is that correct?

Speaker B: I did the isovox two. I have the video loaded right now on my screen.

Speaker C: Wow. Yeah, because the distributor that brings in Austrian audio into Australia have got them.

: Yeah. The isovox two is like $1,000.

Speaker C: So it’s just going to come down for a week. I’ll play with it and then we’ll use it on one of the upcoming episodes and see what we think. Also an update on the passport vo. I’ve seen a bit of correspondence flicking backwards and forwards, mainly to you, George. How’s it?

Speaker B: Well, you know, the bottom line being I think Mike is being very transparent, but this is the truth is that he had a backlog of product to ship because of a part supply issue. So that really took the energy away from our product for a few months that we thought he would have been working on our product. So that means that our product is still in essentially, it’s in design phase. We were the Envisionaries Envisionaries the vision visionaries for what we wanted, but it comes down to actual circuit design, and that is what it takes to get this thing really built. And so Michael is in that stage. He’s in the circuit design stage. We were hoping this would have happened three months ago. It didn’t, because he’s been trying to basically relaunch and redeliver or deliver a whole bunch of their products because of a USB chip problem.

Speaker C: Yeah.

Speaker B: And so they had to literally redesign the boards for four products, get them back into production, get them delivered and shipped. So they’ve done that. So now if you do want to go buy a micport pro Three, they’re actually shipping. They’re no longer on preorder, as they’ve been for quite a while, as well as the mixer face and the portcaster and things like that.

Speaker C: And the English Channel, I think, is number one.

Speaker B: Yeah. Well, there’s another one that’s the English Channel, which I hear a little birdie said that we might have something to test out at some point.

Speaker C: I think one is being shipped to Robo. I know that. I’m pretty sure that’s happening, so that could be interesting.

Speaker B: The English Channel is a fully analog piece, right?

: Is it a preamp and EQ or.

Speaker C: Just a preamp and limiter compressor? Preamp, I think it’s got everything. Basically, there’s a channel strip I got.

Speaker B: To double check because they also have this soapbox, and there’s a little bit of an overlap in terms of what does what, so I’m double checking that right now. But the Channel well, the English Channel.

: Is but he only sent one to Robbo, right? He didn’t send them out all over the place.

Speaker B: I don’t know. I thought he asked for my address, but I could be wrong. Yeah, but the English Channel, he didn’t.

: Ask for mine, as far as I know.

Speaker B: Okay.

Speaker C: Oh, mine.

Speaker B: Tim’s fighting words. The English Channel includes a studio mic, pre dynamics processor with gate compressor and DeEsser and parametric EQ with sonic enhancer and a streaming USB audio interface with SD card recorder. So it’s essentially it’s a little mini rack of three products. That’s the English Channel.

Speaker C: Yeah.

: I didn’t realize English Channel had a recorder on it.

Speaker B: Well, it’s the soapbox, the black cab and the portcaster. Yeah.

Speaker C: All in one or linked together?

Speaker B: Well, yeah, all combined in a cool little rack that they all lock into and connect together to make it feel like one product.

: I think it’s all those together. Oh, is he sending you the whole string?

Speaker C: Holy shit.

Speaker B: I don’t know, but that would be pretty slamming. I was the most interested in testing the soapbox because that’s kind of like a DBX 286.

: I think the Preamp is the most interesting one if it’s a decent external preamp.

Speaker C: Yeah.

Speaker B: Well, the soapbox is the preamp. The Black Cab is a five band spectral processor.

: It’s an EQ five band. It’s a three wait, hold on.

Speaker B: Well, they call it a five band.

: Black Cab is just a three. I’m looking at it right now. It’s a three band parametric q gain.

Speaker B: And it must have a high shelf and a low shelf.

: Oh, yeah, it does.

Speaker B: No, it’s got HDF. Yeah, it’s got a pad that makes it five bands. And then there’s the podcaster, is the recorder side of the whole thing.

Speaker C: Yeah. It’s interesting with sentrance because I’ve sort of been scouting around as well because I got an email from Michael that sort of inspired me to go down a rabbit hole on the Google. And I found some really interesting reviews, particularly on MixerFace, that was written by Sound on Sound magazine. And anyone that knows Sound on Sound knows they’re pretty an authority. And they’re good.

: Yeah.

Speaker B: Beyond reproach, would you say?

Speaker C: I would say pretty well beyond reproach. Yeah. And they rave about Sentrin’s products, so that was quite nice to read.

Speaker B: Good to see. Yeah, I know a lot of the reviews. I mean, it’s probably more likely to find a pretty honest review in these traditional print magazines than I would say you’re going to find on a YouTube channel these days. I know that YouTubers are being forced to divulge that the product was sent to them, but that is part of the whole. Those that want to give the most impartial reviews tend to be the ones that actually go buy the products. Right. And so it’s getting increasingly difficult to find reviews of brand new products that were not gifted to the reviewers.

: I can tell you that I bought the Mixer.

Speaker C: Bo Weaver. He’s got a mixer face from memory as well, isn’t he? Did he get one?

Speaker B: He may. I don’t recall particularly, but I think so. I think he’s always been an early adopter. Whenever something new came out that was portable, he was all over it.

Speaker C: Yeah.

Speaker B: So I’m sure he had one. Yeah.

Speaker C: Well, if that’s the case, then I should put my hand up and say, I bought my OC eight one eight.

: Yes, you did.

Speaker C: Yes.

: That’s what started the whole thing.

Speaker C: It was because I just bought the thing and loved it. That was the beginning of getting into bed, so to speak, with them.

Speaker B: I bought my Rode wireless. Mics.

Speaker C: Good work.

Speaker B: It’s about the cheapest thing they make.

: But I bought my Rode Wireless Mics, but I didn’t buy this guy, which I do like. I have to be honest, I think the NTG Five has been quite a good mic.

Speaker C: Yeah.

Speaker B: Now, we’re on a new topic, but when I recommend product, I do try to defulge that I know or I have some kind of a relationship with that vendor. I do try to say that if it makes sense in the context, but it’s proving your integrity. If you’re listening to us right now, honestly, and you don’t know who we are, first of all, Google us, okay? And second of all, we all have worked in this industry a really long time. We have very large client bases of trusted people. And if we’re going to shill a product that was given to us by these vendors, we’re going to use them, you’re going to hear them, and you’re going to get our god’s honest thought about those products, period. There is no reason we’re not going to go out of business because we told you something didn’t sound good. It ain’t going to happen. Like, we’re just going to keep right on chugging whether we like something or not. So we’re always going to be very straightforward with what works and what doesn’t, you know what I mean?

Speaker C: But the thing is, if it’s something good, you want to share that information with people. I mean, I know the Austrian audio, particularly the OC 8118. I know quite a few people have bought them on my recommendation and love them. So it’s not they’ve bought them and just going on, great, thanks for that. I’ve just shelled out some cash and.

: You haven’t gotten any commission or anything for that?

Speaker B: No, really?

: In fact, we should talk about that.

Speaker C: Yes, indeed.

Speaker B: No, we don’t. We get product, we get to use it. We get to use it in the real world. We get to do our shows with the products. You hear us using the products, we talk about them. That benefits them, the vendor or the manufacturer, that benefits us because we get to use the stuff and talk about it with authority. And it benefits hopefully, you guys, too, because you’re going to hear us say what we like, what we don’t like, and what works, what doesn’t, and that kind of thing. So hopefully everybody wins and they find that there’s some integrity. There’s going to be people out there who say, well, screw those guys, they got that thing for free. I’ve immediately written them off as an authority on that product or impartial reviewer, and that’s fine. What are you going to do?

Speaker C: Yeah. And we do get stuff for free, and we’re quite happy to disclose that we’re not going to lie to anybody about the product just because we got it for free. I mean, if it’s free and it’s junk, we’ll say it’s junk. Like the product. The Austrian audio thing. When I approached them to come on as a sponsor, I was expecting a big no. But no, they were happy to listen to the podcast and were happy to get involved.

Speaker B: Going back, do you remember why you approached them? What caught their attention to you?

Speaker C: Well, first of all, I had been reading about these microphones coming out and I was actually the barbecue at a friend’s place, and the guy who is the distributor for Austrian Audio now had told me some time ago that he said, I’ve got something special up my sleeve that’s coming out. We’re going to be distributing this new microphone. And I’d forgotten all about that. And I saw him at the barbecue and I said, oh, Mark, I’ve seen this great new mic. It looks fantastic. It’s called the Austrian Audio. OC. Eight one eight. He goes, Mate, that’s the one we’re bringing in. I went, Holy shit, you’re kidding. Looks great. He goes, It’s fantastic. And then they did a bit of a launch just when COVID had kicked off, unfortunately, and I went to this.

Speaker B: I’m familiar with that problem. Yeah.

Speaker C: God. And it was all the product launched.

Speaker B: Exactly like three months before the friggin Pandemic. We’re trying to sell a portable product whenever traveling.

Speaker C: Then I went to this function that Group Technologies here in Australia are put on. So they had Austrian Audio down there, they had a whole bunch of other products they bring into Australia from Europe and all over the place. And I met Martin, who’s the CEO of Austrian Audio. He was there just talking to people and demonstrating product. And so I had a good chat with him and he was telling me about how Austrian Audio happened and what the capsule they put into the OC eight. One eight was actually from all the R and D they were doing at AKG, trying to replicate the C Twelve. And it’s all the stuff about microphones that they got from famous people just to try and get some kind of sonic signature from the C Twelve that they could base their new OC 8118 on. So that was when I first got it. And I bought one and just loved it and kind of went from there, really. So I was talking to the guys here and I said, it’d be really nice if they became a sponsor. Would they be interested? And it’s like, Talk to Walter in Austria and see what he says. So I did.

Speaker B: And they said, you did it the old fashioned way.

Speaker C: Old fashioned way? I didn’t use a pen and paper to write a letter.

Speaker B: No, but you had a relationship, you made a connection, you had a relationship, you just reached out and that’s how it works. Whereas a lot of influencers, it doesn’t work that way at all. The influencers just getting inundated with emails from the marketing departments of all these different products saying review our product please. And that’s not at all what happened and how things work around here. Partly because we’re kind of in terms of the internet of personalities, we’re small potatoes. We do not have 20, 5100 and 3 million followers. It ain’t going to happen. So there’s not that motivation for companies to get these products into our hands. Like bandru?

Speaker C: Yeah.

Speaker B: From podcastage and those guys nor do we want to be in that position either. Those guys, it’s a grind for them. I’ve talked to Mike Delgadio, the booth junkie and other guys like them and it’s a grind for them. They just oh get I have four more of these things to get reviewed in the next know or whatever. It becomes just sort of a grind. And we’re not in that position either, which I’m really grateful for that we don’t have to. It’s just not part of how we do things and how we make money. We just get product, we talk about it, use it and then we just do our thing.

Speaker C: Yeah, and we’re not just a product reviewer either. I mean, we’re more not at all brainstrust.

Speaker B: If this is your first time listening to us, go back a year or two.

Speaker C: Yeah, that’s right. Yeah. It’s more of a brains trust and a place where people can listen in and just use us as a resource to get some information about anything they might want to do in their home studio, including buying an Austrian Audio microphone.

Speaker B: I’ve gotten some really good anecdotal just literally a man on the street. People I meet at events. Great compliments about the that’s well that’s know I really enjoy your shows that you podcast. Pro Audio Suite podcast, you know, it resonates with people. I am told about this show I showed up to Joseph Brando’s promo masterclass and three different people at lunch there were like, hey, I love that’s. Great. People are hearing really they really enjoy it and it resonates with them and there’s some value that they’re getting from the show.

Speaker C: Well, I do know that there’s quite a few dealers in Chicago that resonates with them as well.

: Definitely.

Speaker B: Well that was fun. Is it over?

Speaker A: The Pro Audio suite with thanks to Tribut and Austrian audio recorded using Source Connect edited by Andrew Peters and mixed by Voodoo Radio Imaging with tech support from George the Tech Wittam don’t forget to subscribe to the show and join in the conversation on our Facebook group. To leave a comment, suggest a topic or just say g’day. Drop us a note at our website. Theproaudiosuite.com.