Review: SSL Duende Native Essentials

     Solid State Logic (SSL) have been at the top of the studio audio market for what seems like forever. Their success has been built on products that are both consistently incredible sounding and reliable. Studio tools that never fail and hardware that stands the test of time.

     Their Duende plugins are no exception. When these plugins were first realised it was required that any users also had a powerful DSP card to go with them; such were the processing requirements that would have strained computers of that time to breaking point without ever hitting useful numbers of instances of the plugins. With the power of modern computers SSL have completely revamped their plugin offering over the last few years so that they can all be run "Native", which means without additional DSP cards or boxes.

Film&TV: Ren

A few months ago I agreed to help out on the set of a new fantasy web series called Ren.

It was a real pleasure working with Kate and her highly skilled and amiable crew, on what should end up being a great series.

Here's the synopsis:
    Ren is a new original independent fantasy series from producer and director Kate Madison, the creator of the hugely successful Lord of the Rings prequel Born of Hope which has had more than 29 million online views.
    When a young woman is possessed and her face branded by a powerful ancient spirit, she becomes feared by all who see her. Banished from her home and hunted by the powerful ruling order of the Kah’Nath, Ren refuses to accept her fate and journeys across the land to discover what she is and if there are others like her. Joined on her perilous quest by a small band of outcasts, led by the mysterious Hunter, she discovers that the truths she has been taught may all have been a lie.

And here's the trailer (which was made before principle photography of the main part of the series)



The series has now wrapped on photography for the series and post production is now underway. Please go and check out the sites below and keep following the project as I think it has a lot of potential.

www.rentheseries.com
Ren on Facebook

Gear Review: TC Electronic BMC-2 Monitor Controller and DAC

    When my old TC Level Pilot died on me I needed a new master monitor controller. The TC Level Pilot is essentially a stacked matched pair of variable resistors in one pot. The build quality seems high, until general wear and tear takes it's toll and it starts crackling and cutting out. Not great for a pro audio device. I needed something more feature packed and with more advanced features and greater overall value.

    My final choice as the replacement for that mini monitor controller was the BMC-2 also by TC Electronic. This unit is really a very different beast. What we have here is a multi-input DAC with the ability to take AES, SPDIF, ADAT and TOS and convert any one of those to a couple of balanced XLR outputs, a headphone output, and to a digital output of your choice. All the while the BMC-2 provides a variety of monitoring functions for the mix and mastering engineer.

Short Film: Malachi Trailer

    Here's the trailer for a short film I did production sound recording on earlier this year. The film is called Malachi.



"MALACHI is a dark, psychological thriller that embarks on a roller-coaster journey of love between three characters from different walks of life. Ricardo, Charlene and Malachi.

Set in a world filled with trauma, Ricardo and Charlene must battle to overcome past demons in an attempt to disable psychological disorder from unfolding and disrupting their newly found equilibrium.

As the drama begins to unfold, we are gradually introduced to flashbacks and nightmares, which distort Ricardo and Charlene’s reality, leaving the coast, clear for Malachi to manipulate Ricardo to a path of destruction."

Director - Daniel Bailey
Writer/Producer - Sanchez Brown
Ricardo - Solomon Israel
Charlene - Naydene Mills

Gear Review: Bose QC15 Noise Cancelling Headphones

    As the long standing flagship model in the Bose headphone range, the QC15's are highly regarded as a benchmark in not only noise cancelling technology, but also in sheer audio fidelity. They are an icon of both style and quality. With that in mind, how does this pair of £250 cans live up to those lofty expectations?

Sound/Music: Priism: An Introduction

Earlier this year I worked with a great crew to record a promo for a DJ duo known as Priism. I've not been into my House music for a long while, but these two got me listening to some of the stuff I was into at uni again. They are both gifted DJ's in their own right, but together they have a chemistry that can only create something quite special. With their debut record on the precipice of release, this is the promo we put together in a day of cross London shooting. I hope you enjoy:

They have a Soundcloud page, where they have been uploading mixes, so go and check it out:
PRIISM Soundcloud

Sound Design: Bringing Realtime 3D Environment Art to Life

My brother is a 3D environment artist, who now works at Rocksteady Studios.

He got the job based on the work from his website. One of the works on there was a video he'd rendered out, from the Unreal Engine 3, of a replica set of the Chess House scene from a Jet Li movie.

The original didn't have sound, but he asked me to have a go at making it a bit more exciting for him. I didn't get round to doing it until very recently, after I found it floating around amongst some old files in my "Video" folder on my PC.

Here's the finished result:




There's more information about the model at my brothers website : www.willhurst.co.uk
For more about what I do check my website : charliehurst.co.uk

Follow on Twitter :
@chazhurst

Gear Review: Audio Technica ATH M50x Headphones

   Audio Technica's ATH M50x headphones are the latest revision to their very popular ATH M50 cans. They represent a professional solution for people using the headphones in a wide variety of scenarios. They are the same great headphones, with those great full sounding drivers, but with a very useful collection of detachable cables. You get standard length curly and straight cables, as well as a long straight one, for those occasional long runs you get. So lets take a closer look.

Short Film: "Game Over"

This is the latest film that I recorded sound on, which has just completed post production.

It's called Game Over, and was Directed by Cyrus Trafford. I'm really proud of the way it turned out. We have a great team working on films with Cyrus, who all work efficiently and with great passion for their craft.

Watch it now!




Get your twitter on:
@cyrustrafford
@chazhurst

Guitar Review: Ibanez SV5470F NBL

When I saw this instrument on the rack at Andertons Music, in Guildford, I decided to give it a go, because I'd never played an instrument worth more than about £600. This guitar had a sticker on it that said "Reduced: £1400 - £1099"... At first I was sceptical, but I was assured by staff that the only problems were cosmetic. There were one or two very minor scratches that you can only see from very close up. It was also the demo model that was out on the shop floor... All in all though, practically zero fret wear and minimal signs of use. I plugged in, and had nothing but fun for about 20 minutes.

For me, it has the perfect feature list. Skinny neck, massive frets, carbon nut, locking tuners, no pointy bits to bang on things, pickup versatility and a non-locking fully floating trem (which you can lock to the body if you want to). Read on for more...

Studio: Now Finished!

I have just completed work on my own studio!!!

Here's a quick video run-down of it:




For a full kit list, hit the Studio tab on my website (http://charliehurst.co.uk)

Twitter: @chazhurst