Spire Studio review: performance
Spire Studio’s rear with two XLR inputs for keyboards, electric guitars and high-quality mics
The Spire Studio’s built-in microphone is excellent for the price and perfectly acceptable for vocal and instrument recording – it’s certainly sensitive enough to capture most nuances of a recording – but it can’t compete against a high-quality third-party condenser mic like a Neumann or a Shure. Thankfully, iZotope’s tech bods have addressed that issue by including a pair of rear XLR inputs and a phantom power button for boosting mics that require it. These same inputs will also accommodate a standard electric guitar jack.
The effects that come with the app are remarkably varied and infinitely adjustable. However, you can only add them to the instrument or vocal being recorded and not after the event. Also be aware that each following track you record will adopt the same effect, so be sure to change the effect or turn it off if you don’t want the whole song to be swamped in echo. The editing software on the app only allows you to trim individual tracks but you could always export the song to a desktop DAW for more comprehensive editing.
One of the best things about this recorder is that it also runs on a built-in lithium ion battery which provides an exceptional four to six hours of use on a full charge – more than enough time to record an opus in the woods.
Overall sound production is excellent. As long you have a decent sounding instrument and voice and you hit the Soundcheck button first, it’ll produce exceptional results every time. It won’t necessarily replace your current DAW recording system with all its bells and whistles but as a means for getting an idea down on ‘tape’ quickly and efficiently, it rocks on all fronts.
Spire Studio review: design and features
The Spire Studio interface with condenser mic on front
The Spire Studio is about 3.5-inches tall and 4.9-inches wide and weighs just under half a kilo (450g). Granted, it’s not the most streamlined shape to carry around but it will easily fit in a shoulder bag or hand luggage. Nevertheless, that wedge-shaped, trunk-like design is genuinely useful since it ensures that the unit’s control panel and built-in microphone faces the user for easy access when placed on a desk or a forest floor, and that can be considered a bonus when your movement is restricted by a guitar in the lap or cello between the legs.
The interface itself is stripped to the bone and is an utter doddle to navigate. In fact it only has five buttons on it – New Song, Soundcheck, Volume and two huge record and play buttons. The circumference area is comprised of a touch-sensitive circular LED pad that serves as a VU meter (volume unit), a guide to the amount of tracks used and a means for raising or lowering the monitoring levels in your headphones.
The Spire Studio comes with its own built-in, front-mounted omnidirectional condenser microphone for acoustic instruments and vocals, two headphone mini-jack inputs for monitoring and a pair of professional XLR inputs (with phantom power) on the rear for high-quality condenser mics, electric guitars, keyboards and drum machines. It works best when used in cahoots with the free iPhone, iPad or Android app but it can also be used in basic form without the app. However, you’re advised to always use the app because it allows you to add effects like reverb and echo to the instrument or voice as they’re being recorded. The app also provides access to Spire’s admittedly limited but handy track editing feature.
In Use
Using the Spire Studio in stand-alone mode is simply a matter of powering it up, plugging in a pair of headphones, pressing the New Song button (which creates a new Spire Studio Project), pressing Soundcheck and playing and/or singing until that process completes and, finally, pressing the Record button. Once you press stop, the next track is ready to record and, should you wish to, you can carry on — repeating the Soundcheck process when necessary — until all eight tracks are used up. To record two sources simultaneously, plugging into both rear inputs simultaneously (or leaving the internal mic active by plugging into input 2) will ready two tracks for recording.
Drawbacks that you need to bear in mind when running the Spire Studio stand-alone is that there is no way to manually adjust the input level of the track you’re recording and that there is no facility to create a level-balanced cue or master mix. However, add remote control via the Spire Music Recorder iOS app and both these issues vanish instantaneously.
Микрофоны
Микрофоны в студии звукозаписи являются важнейшим инструментом – от их качества и правильного использования, напрямую зависит звучание голоса и инструментов. Хорошая, качественная запись – это уже 80% правильного и красивого звучания песни. В своей работе я использую несколько типов микрофонов.
Neumann TLM 103
Neumann TLM 103 – это высококачественный конденсаторный студийный микрофон с большой диафрагмой, который может похвастаться капсюлем, взятым из популярного U87, и бестрансформаторной схемой. Это отличное устройство для любого профессионального или проектного студийного использования.
Из-за своего минимального собственного шума он используется для классических записей с широким динамическим диапазоном, сэмплирования (особенно для источников с очень низкой амплитудой) и многого другого. Я использую его для записи вокала и акустических гитар.
AKG C451B
AKG C451B – это инструментальный микрофон премиум класса. Благодаря применению предельно лёгкой диафрагмы AKG C451B почти полностью нечувствителен к механическим шумам. Цельнометаллический корпус микрофона также обеспечивает превосходную защиту от электромагнитных полей.
AKG C451B очень точно передаёт все богатство звукового диапазона от таких сложных источников, как барабаны, тарелки и перкуссия, и отлично справляется и с записью гитар и других струнных инструментов. Прозрачность звука и устойчивость к перегрузкам делают его прекрасным выбором для записи инструментальных партий.
Performance
This little trunk-shaped tool with slightly-sloped top has a lot of power on board. You can record either vocals or instrument or both.
When plugging a mic or an instrument to input 1 (or to both back inputs), the built-in microphone is disabled. This is perfect when recording instruments only, or when you need two vocals. Plugging into input 2 keeps the built-in mic active.
The microphone onboard is a very reliable one, which captures most nuances of the sound source. Though it can’t compete with high-end mics like Neumann, you can record anywhere without the need to plug any mic. This is way better than recording from your phone, based on my personal experience, though.
I can also use another mic and plugged it into the XLR input on the back of the Spire Studio. If you’ll a mic that requires phantom power, simply push to the dedicated button and you can use the mic. These inputs can also be used to accommodate other sources like electric guitars.
There are effects available on the mobile app. But, just to remind you, you can use (choose) effects before recording a track and not after the recording. There’s a preview for each effect, so you’ll know the difference. Yet, beware as well that the effect will apply to the next track. Ensure that you change the effect or turn it off, or you’ll get echoes in your recordings.
This recording tool has a lithium-ion battery, which when fully charged can be used for four hours. This is more than enough if you want to record some inspirations and spark at the moment.
Last, but definitely the best feature that I love about the Spire is its ability to export files to DAW and the cloud. It produces quality recordings that are also share-worthy. Though it can’t totally replace DAW recording system, at least it aids to faster sound recordings.
Design and Features
iZotope Spire Studio is a compact multitracking recorder and a slight slope-sided cylindrical that fits the palm of your hands. It only weighs around 1.6lbs with 4.8 x 4.4 x 3.4 inches dimension. A very handy music gear that boasts tons of features and capabilities.
I would like to start with the built-in microphone. Unlike your home studio, you don’t need to plug-in or trouble yourself with what kind of microphone you’ll use. Spire Studio has a front-mounted omnidirectional condenser mic for acoustic instruments and vocals. So, this isn’t only for music recording, it’s ideal for podcasting as well.
In front, you’ll find the first 3.55mm headphone output jack right below the Spire logo and the microphone grille. The other headphone jack can be found at the back where you can find the On/Off button, two XLR/TRS combination ports with a 48V phantom power switch and the 5V DC power supply for charging the device.
On top, you have five buttons — Record and Play at the center, while the New Song, Soundcheck and Headphone Volume sit on the circumference. You’ll see the touch-sensitive, multicolor LED ring in eight segments representing the maximum of eight tracks it can record.
Despite its seemingly simple appearance, it can record tracks at 48kHz/24-bit resolution. Its internal battery gives you up to four hours of life when it’s fully charged. Though it has limited internal storage, it has up to six hours of recording time.
check out how many projects i’ve made!
For me, Spire Studio itself is already a big advantage for musicians. No need of complex setup, wiring, and big equipment. Just this handy device to store all your musical ideas.
However, if you want to become more efficient, Spire Studio gives you more connectivity. This tool comes with an app for your iPhone and Android devices.
This will not only give you accessibility, but it provides you more versatility on the effects, including delays, reverbs, EQ, amp, and so on.
Though the effects on the app aren’t very advanced, there’s one aspect that I like about it — wireless music transfer. No need for additional wires when sharing the tracks you’ve just recorded. It’s Wi-Fi enabled, so you can easily share and import your music directly to SoundCloud, social media or send it via Dropbox.
How it Works?
Using Spire Studio is simple and straightforward. You don’t need any manual, at all. Perhaps, you need to read the manual, but, the operation is pretty simple. The purpose of the gear is to give musicians the convenience to record up to eight tracks with a few controls.
For this review, I would like to emphasize the advantage of using it with an app. At least, for the first few times, because you can see the meaning of what’s going on in your Spire Studio. Once you know how the tool behaves every time you record a track, you can reserve the app for the effects.
To start, simply press the New Song button or you can create a New Project via the mobile app. Once you do, the built-in mic will automatically begin to work, which can be seen from the signal displayed on your phone.
Likewise, you can also see the signal in the tool via the incremental illumination of the LED ring.
Now, you can press the Soundcheck, which is a very useful part of the tool that automatically sets the optimal gain level and activates the intelligent digital signal processing (DSP) onboard. This helps reduce noise, clipping, room reverb and so on.
Play your instrument or simply speak on the mic and the tool detects it as indicated by the incremental illumination of the LED ring or in the app. This is like calibrating the app to give you the best recording environment. You can use the option before every recording of the eight tracks.
You are now ready to record your first track. Hit the Record button (the semi-circle at the left) to start recording. Listen to the two-bar count-in, then start playing or recording.
Now, if you want to add another track, just trigger the Record button again to record the next, up to eight tracks. Press the other half of the circle at the center, the Play button, if you want to hear the tracks you’ve recorded.
These tracks are represented by a different set of sound waveform (with different colors) in the app and the illumination of the LED ring from right to left. The colors of the LED ring corresponds to the color of the sound waves displayed in the app. So, for example, if you have three tracks (purple, blue and green) illuminating the first three sets in the LED ring, you can also see three waveforms (purple, blue and green) from top to bottom in the app.
You can do more with the waveform that you’ve just recorded through the app. Simply tapping the track brings you to options like Recording Effects, Soundcheck and Monitoring On.
Though limited, yet, there are still few effects that you can use on your tracks. Additionally, you can export tracks to your DAW or upload to the cloud.
Design
In the palm of my hand, the Spire Studio feels like a million bucks. It’s sturdy but sleek. Compact, but heavy. It feels like how I imagine that pair of night vision goggles felt in Timmy’s hands in Jurassic Park.
Worth noting on the Spire Studio are two key features:
- A “Soundcheck” button that allows the Spire to measure the volume you’re playing at (whether acoustically or through one of the two input jacks located on the back panel) and adjust its input levels to prevent clipping. It’s a really ingenious feature that will no doubt be ripped off by every Tom, Dick, and Dodgson audio company out there.
- The touch-sensitive display on the circumference of the device, which allows you to do things like manually adjust the volume of a track in a couple of quick taps.
As John Hammond would say, it’s clear that iZotope spared no expense when putting the Spire together.
Appiness
Launching the app brings up its home screen, from which you can connect to the Spire Studio and its onboard Wi-Fi. Once connected, the app enables you either to create a new project, to load an already recorded project, or to import or download an audio file from your device or from any other sources that it can reach — iCloud, Dropbox, OneDrive, etc. Once downloaded, the file is converted into the Spire format and uploaded to the Spire Studio to create a new Project.
The recording screen in the Spire app. When using the app, the basic recording process is only slightly more complex than when running stand-alone: connect your source(s), open the Record screen, run the Soundcheck procedure (from either the app or the Spire Studio) and you’re ready to record. If you wish, you can manually adjust the track input level and also add a single recording effect to the track(s) that you are ready to record, and audition the result before you start recording. The available effects include three amplifier emulations (Verb ’65, Tube 30, Bass), an Acoustic Shaper for guitars of that variety, two reverb sounds (Warm Voice and Deep Space Vibes) and two delays (Intimate Space Vibes and a Vintage Dub Echo). Usefully, both delay times are linked to the tempo of the onboard metronome.
On-screen controls enable you to modify the Amount and Tone of the two Vibes and the Dub Echo, the Character and Amount of the Warm Voice, and the Shine and Shape of the Acoustic Shaper. The amplifier emulations are more comprehensively equipped, the Reverb ’65 and Tube 30 having Tone, Tremolo, Tremolo Depth and a Bright switch in common, with the former (as you’d expect) sporting a Reverb level control and the latter featuring Drive level instead. The Bass amp’s five controls are Tone, Presence, Drive and Blend, topped off by a Boost switch, the combination giving you access to more overdriven guitar sounds.
Recorded tracks are displayed on the Record screen as fairly rudimentary waveforms, the colour of each track corresponding to the Spire Studio’s hardware LED track display. Track editing controls that are available on the Record screen are Mute, Delete and Trim, which allows you to delete unwanted areas at the beginning and/or end of a track to clean up your tracks before proceeding to mix them down to stereo. To assist you in auditioning and setting a trim point, touching the on-screen playhead for a second or so brings up a zoom mode with a one-second audio loop.
Another point to note is that projects recorded on your Spire Studio are saved to your iOS device when opened in the app over Wi-Fi, so that you can work on them ‘offline’. Depending on the amount of memory available in your iOS device, you may have to actively manage the number of projects stored on it. Opening a recording made on your device when connected to the Spire Studio automatically exports it to form a new project.
Изучаем Izotope: программы и возможности
Izotope — это ведущий разработчик программного обеспечения и плагинов для обработки и мастеринга аудио материалов. Компания предлагает широкий спектр продуктов, предназначенных для профессиональных звукорежиссеров, музыкантов и звуковых инженеров.
1. Izotope Ozone
Izotope Ozone — это мощное программное обеспечение для мастеринга аудио. Оно предлагает широкий набор инструментов и эффектов для улучшения качества и окончательной обработки звукового материала. С помощью Izotope Ozone можно настроить громкость, эквализацию, компрессию и другие параметры аудио треков, чтобы достичь профессионального звучания.
2. Izotope RX
Izotope RX — это программное обеспечение для редактирования и восстановления аудио. Оно позволяет устранять шумы, щелчки, шипение и другие шумы, которые могут присутствовать на записи. Izotope RX обладает мощными алгоритмами, которые позволяют очищать аудио от нежелательных звуков без потери качества.
3. Izotope Neutron
Izotope Neutron — это плагин для микширования аудио. Он предлагает широкий набор инструментов для балансировки и обработки отдельных элементов в миксе, таких как голоса, инструменты и ударные. Интеллектуальные функции Izotope Neutron помогают автоматически определить проблемные области в миксе и предложить решения для их исправления.
4. Izotope VocalSynth
Izotope VocalSynth — это плагин для обработки вокала. Он предлагает различные эффекты и инструменты для экспериментирования с голосом и создания уникальных звуковых эффектов. С Izotope VocalSynth можно применять автотюнинг, гармонизацию, вокодеры и другие эффекты, чтобы изменить звучание вокала.
5. Izotope Spire Studio
Izotope Spire Studio — это портативная записывающая студия. Это компактное устройство позволяет музыкантам записывать и обрабатывать аудио треки с помощью мобильного устройства. Izotope Spire Studio имеет встроенные микрофоны, входы для инструментов и гитары, а также возможности для микширования и мастеринга аудио.
Вывод
Izotope предлагает широкий набор программ и плагинов для обработки и мастеринга аудио. Они позволяют профессиональным звукорежиссерам и музыкантам достичь высокого качества звучания и создавать уникальные звуковые эффекты. Независимо от ваших потребностей в обработке аудио, Izotope предлагает инструменты, которые помогут вам достичь желаемого звучания.
First impressions of the Spire Studio
Clocking in at roughly four inches in height and a little over 1.5 pounds, the Spire certainly doesn’t look your average recording device. Its cylindrical shape and touch-sensitive display give off a very EDM vibe, and the five buttons adorning its surface make it seem almost too rudimentary to be capable of achieving a studio-quality sound.
Of course, that’s where the app you need to download in conjunction with the Spire comes into play. Featuring a clean, user-friendly interface that walks you through each step of the process – from connecting the app to the Studio to editing and mixing your tracks – the app circumvents a lot of the pain points that even something like GarageBand can cause for newer (or less tech-savvy) musicians.
In use
As a standalone recorder, things couldn’t really be that simpler with Spire Studio. Simply press New Song, record and sing or play away into the microphone. The quality is surprisingly good just using the on-board mic, although you can plug a higher quality one in should you wish. You set the level with the aforementioned Soundcheck, hit record, play your tune, then hit record again, and your first track is stored, and then shown ’moving’ around to the right on the LED indicators.
As you record track by track, these build up in different colours to the maximum of eight. It’s not immediately obvious how to then recall different songs that you have recorded – there are very few other on-board controls and the instruction manual (such as it is) make no mention of it – so for this you are really steered towards using the app. But this is really where Spire comes alive, so it’d be churlish not to use it.
It’s a free iOS app (on the iZotope website, it states Android too, but then retracts that, so we tested Spire Studio with the iOS app!). Under Record mode, the app displays all the audio you have recorded as waveforms running left to right, and, just like the audio tracks in your DAW. OK, it’s not as detailed as the audio in your DAW but you are able to clean up your recordings by deleting certain parts either left or right of the current play position.
Where the app works really well is for simple mixing and panning under the Mix window, where you have all eight of your parts displayed on screen to drag left and right (pan) and up and down (volume) very easily. You can also easily mute tracks.
There are some great on-board effects that can be used when recording (not on older recordings you have made, though) which are very good for livening up acoustic guitars and vocals, in particular. Finally, in Tempo mode, metronome and manual tempo adjustment features give you a good audible guide when making these recordings. In general, the app makes Spire Studio very easy to use, and you could also use it minus the hardware to make simple recordings, although you’d be at the mercy of your phone mic.
Программное обеспечение
Многие топовые студии уже давно работают, используя в своих проектах в основном программные инструменты, а аппаратные решения используются только для специфических случаев, например, записи инструментальных партий музыкантами
Современные технологии и мощность компьютеров позволяют добиваться отличного качества звучания и, что очень важно, бескомпромиссного удобства в работе
Основу виртуальной цифровой студии составляет компьютер iMac 21.5″ BTO i7 3.1 ГГц, оснащённый мощным процессором Intel Core i7 и накопителем Fusion Drive, а в качестве основного интегрирующего центра программного обеспечения используется Logic Pro X – программный продукт от Apple Inc. для профессионального создания музыки, обработки и микширования звука.
В наше время, в студийной работе наряду с цифровыми синтезаторами применяются и виртуальные программные синтезаторы, причём некоторые из них являются прямыми аналогами известных цифровых синтезаторов.
В работе студии также используется программное обеспечение для тюнинга вокала и различные программные эквалайзеры, компрессоры, ревербераторы и другие модули обработки звука. Некоторые из них также являются прямыми аналогами известного оборудования.
Logic Pro X
Программный продукт от Apple Inc. Logic Pro X используется для профессионального создания музыки, обработки и микширования звука. Имеет много встроенных плагинов превосходного качества, для решения всех задач, связанных с аранжировкой, сведением, мастерингом. Позволяет использовать и множество сторонних плагинов, что существенно расширяет возможности.
Приложение позволяет работать даже с самыми ресурсоёмкими проектами, включающими тысячи дорожек и сотни плагинов, в режиме реального времени.
reFX Nexus 3
reFX Nexus 3 имеет громадную библиотеку и 16000 инструментальных пресетов, что позволяет создавать самые разнообразные инструментальные партии при аранжировке мелодий.
Улучшенный арпеджиатор, развитая секция эффектов с визуализацией и удобный секвенсор делают reFX Nexus 3 весьма мощным инструментом аранжировщика.
Возможность осуществлять поиск инструментов по тегам или именам, прослушивать их перед использованием, а также сохранять пользовательские пресеты существенно ускоряет работу.
Reveal Sound Spire
Spire звучит поразительно и способен создавать всё, от гигантских наглых гармонических тембров, до кристально чистых тонов.
Это один из самых прекрасно звучащих виртуальных синтезаторов на рынке. Чистые и качественные фильтры и ламповые эффекты добавят энергию, глубину и «теплоту».
Прекрасно продуманный и эргономичный интерфейс превращает работу в удовольствие. Ну и, конечно, встроенные 512 звуков, очень разнообразные и мгновенно вдохновляющие на создание музыки. Часто выходящие обновления, реально добавляют все новые и новые функции и «примочки».
VPS Avenger
Программный синтезатор Vengeance Producer Suite Avenger от компании Vengeance входит в тройку лучших представителей программных аналогов настоящих инструментов. Это не только точная копия нативного синтезатора, но и в добавок целый ряд уникальных инструментов и огромная библиотека семплов, пресетов и модулей.
В одной архитектуре VPS Avenger – волновой, аналоговой и семпловый синтез звука. В новой версии включена и драм и ударная машина. Пожалуй, это самый универсальный синтезатор с многочисленными наградами за самый лучший звук.
Spectrasonics Omnisphere 2
Spectrasonics Omnisphere 2 – виртуальный многофункциональный синтезатор, содержащий более 60 Гб семплов библиотеки из более чем 12000 звуков. Совмещает в себе широкое разнообразие гибридных технологий синтеза и обработки звука в реальном времени, грандиозную библиотеку психоакустических звуков и множество инновационных возможностей.
Из классических инструментов можно выделить хоры, духовые, акустические гитары, пианино, скрипки, органы. Кроме классических акустических инструментов имеются также свойственные для 70-х годов звуки синтезаторов.
The new Spire Studio from iZotope is a mobile recording studio for the iOS generation. Read our full review below…
It’s tough to get into recording without plunking down some cashola. A computer, a DAW, software, cables. Never mind the learning curve of getting all of that to work together. Even with small format systems, it’s still a bit ungainly. Spire is as simple as its name to get into.
Size-wise it’s not much bigger than one of those home integration devices, with just a back panel with XLR combo connectors and headphone outputs on the back, as well as the front.
https://youtube.com/watch?v=T6WimRDd9Rk
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An integrated mic is also on the front, and the angled top has LEDs that not only act as a display but are touch sensitive and a finger swipe easily adjusts levels. Now while the physical device has minimalist controls, the iOS app (iPhone & iPad), really opens things up. It connects through Wi-Fi, and since the iOS device is just a control and display, there’s no worry about latency. The recording and processing is all done on the Spire itself. It can also be used with the included power supply or it can charge the internal battery for four hours of use.
With the dual inputs, two tracks can be done at a time, and the maximum tracks it can do on a song tops out at 8. There are some interesting features in the app, like three amp simulations, and “spaces” that add ambience. The preamps are nice and work well with instruments, as well. The overall sound quality is surprisingly great, and the ease of being able to set up and start recording without plug-ins and external devices is quite amazing. It’s reminiscent of the days of the cassette tape porta studios, before DAWs and interfaces, but with far greater sound quality and flexibility.
We’ve reviewed some small form recording devices and interfaces that are lightweight, and one twist or pull on a cable while plugged in, means it goes skittering across the desk. With the Spire’s weighty metal construction, it’s anchored down, meaning when all the cables are connected, dragging it across the workspace while trying to grab that guitar pick off of the floor, isn’t going to happen. The only downside is that the app is only for iOS.
So, with the ability to record anywhere, with great sound quality, without power, with minimal cables, the ability to share and export the material, makes this a fantastic little powerhouse. Podcasters alone should look into one of these as a simple solution. It’s an excellent sounding portable alternative to a DAW, and really redefines what it is to be a recording studio.
Do I really need this?
If you have a decent home studio set-up then, no, Spire is not essential. However, if you are totally new to music making and don’t fancy the complexities of DAW recording, then Spire, along with the app, makes recording a breeze.
You’ll be limited to eight tracks until you take the plunge and open the DAW route, but it’s a great scratchpad to get you started. Where Spire is really inspired is for the travelling musician with too many song ideas in their heads. It can suck up all your riffs, melodies, beats and moments of inspiration quickly and easily, so if you are one of these people who has maximum ideas when away from your studio, Spire could be the sponge you need.
Final thoughts
There’s a lot more to discover with the iZotope Spire Studio. It’s a powerful tool and really does streamline the recording experience, letting you just get down to the creative task of recording. It’s solidly built and I can see this outlasting other options out there by a good bit. Satch will continue using it over the next few weeks and we’ll update this post with some additional thoughts and sounds soon. In the meantime, here’s a parting vid I wasn’t expecting to see that had me laughing.
Filed in categories: Reviews
Tagged: Music Gear, Musical instruments
iZotope Spire Studio review originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on December 29, 2018 at 9:30 am.
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