The much-anticipated Apogee Symphony I/O MK II is here. Building on the success of its predecessor, the MK II is Apogee's newest flagship interface, offering AD/DA conversion, modular I/O (up to 32 inputs and outputs), intuitive touch screen display and optional world-class microphone preamps. Designed with the highest sound quality in mind, the Symphony I/O MK II is the ultimate music production centerpiece for any modern studio whether it's used for audio recording, mixing or mastering. The all-new Symphony I/O connects via one of three platforms – Thunderbolt, Pro Tools HD or Waves SoundGrid network. Apogee has first released the...

Focusrite have addressed the demand for the next generation of Thunderbolt Audio Interfaces for the professional studio and home recordist alike with the new Clarett range. Thunderbolt audio offers extremely low round-trip latency and gives recording engineers the ability to monitor through software plugins and get the most out of a performance. Each of the new interfaces features a newly designed microphone pre amp that builds on the already ubiquitous model as found in the Sapphire range, and features a new ‘AIR’ mode that adds an upper mid boost to the signal, perfect for vocals. The Clarett range also features...

Earlier this month, Metabones announced a new addition to their product line, the Speed Booster XL 0.64x designed specifically for the GH4's Micro Four Thirds sensor, sending us Panasonic users into a giddy tailspin of delight as this effectively transforms the GH4 into a Super 35 format cinema camera when used in conjunction with the 4K mode. The Speed Booster XL reduces the crop factor of the MFT sensor by 0.64x making the 4K mode 2.34x crop factor become a 1.50x equivalent, and the 2x crop factor in non 4K mode becomes a 1.28x or APS-H equivalent. This is great...

Sennheiser have announced the AVX series of professional wireless microphones aimed at the lone Videographer, and feature three models; the Handheld Set, the Lavalier Set and the Lavalier Pro Set. The emergence of the videographer as a single person film crew is a very recent thing in the world of video production, only being made possible by advancements in technology. The Sennheiser AVX set builds on this by combining simple functionality with a fool-proof setup, ensuring high quality audio is captured on location with a minimum of input. Sennheiser promise to deliver on three fronts with the AVX range –...

There must be something in the water at Blackmagic Design headquarters, as the NAB show has brought us a slew of new and exciting products from this prolific brand, including new cinematic production cameras and an update to its DaVinci Resolve software. Blackmagic Design have seemingly come from nowhere in recent years to establish themselves as a company that offers incredible production equipment at an affordable price, giving users at all levels of the industry access to professional tools no matter what the job. And the recent announcements at NAB have carried on in this tradition by seeing the camera...

It's been an incredibly busy few months for the Pro Tools rental division here at ESV. No sooner had we completed the planned upgrade for the rest of our Avid Pro Tools TDM systems to HDX at the start of the year, we discovered that we were way short of meeting our customers requirements for their up and coming spring and summer projects. First off, a 32 Fader D-Control surface to ship immediately to the world famous Cinecitta Studios in Rome for the foreign versions of Star Trek Into Darkness. Founded in 1937 by Benito Mussolini and his son Vittorio...

Dennis and Richard have known each other since the 1970's. Their careers have regularly crossed, Dennis at Scorpio Sound, Videosonics and Pinewood, Richard at Music Lab, GearBox and ESV. Dennis is a regular client of ESV and has the view of an informed end user. They both realised that this is a valuable perspective to channel into Richards expansion plans for ESV. They agreed that it would be both fun and useful for ESV to tap into his experience to help make sure that ESV's continues to deliver to clients the best available products and workflows they need today and...

On 10th December 2007 Led Zeppelin gave a one-off critically acclaimed performance at the O2 arena in London, for a concert in aid of the the Ahmet Ertegun Education Fund. It was their first concert since the death of their drummer John Bonham in 1980. Founding members Robert Plant, Jimmy Page, and John Paul Jones were joined by Jason Bonham, the son of their late drummer John Bonham, to perform 16 songs from their celebrated catalogue including landmark tracks "Whole Lotta Love", "Rock And Roll", "Kashmir", and "Stairway To Heaven". Eastwood Sound and Vision Ltd (ESV) founder Richard Eastwood makes...

Halo Post, one of the finest audio post facilities in the UK, situated in Soho, has recently completed final mixing for the award-winning Les Misérables film, which has been a huge box office success. When they needed more Pro Tools systems for the project to cope with the complexity of the audio mix, they called Richard Eastwood, Managing Director of Eastwood Sound and Vision Ltd (ESV). The Les Misérable s project at Halo is typical of the projects Richard supplies equipment for, "David Turner, Director of Film Post Production at Halo Post, called me as he required additional Pro Tools HD...