Renew Your Audio Media Subscription for 2009!
Renew Your Audio Media Subscription for 2009!
Renew Your Audio Media Subscription for 2009!
Create successful ePaper yourself
Turn your PDF publications into a flip-book with our unique Google optimized e-Paper software.
28<br />
Mastering without limits; DAVE<br />
FOISTER finds the ISA One is<br />
an all-in-one tool that doesn’t<br />
restrict its options and thus<br />
appeals to all.<br />
THE REVIEWER<br />
Since doing the Surrey (UK)<br />
Tonmeister course, DAVE FOISTER<br />
has produced, engineered, and<br />
played on innumerable recordings<br />
in the classical, commercial, folk,<br />
jazz, and TV music areas, as well as<br />
live sound operation. He currently<br />
manages the Guildhall School<br />
of Music and Drama recording<br />
department, and spends spare<br />
time watching racing cars and<br />
wishing he was driving them.<br />
Focusrite’s reputation is founded solidly on a long<br />
history of good engineering and no-compromise<br />
audio quality. Fairy dust and snake oil do not feature.<br />
The range that best exemplifies this is the ISA series, a range<br />
of tracking tools now used extensively in studios and live<br />
environments when pristine, reliable, reproducible signal<br />
processing is required.<br />
One of the more recent incarnations of the ISA<br />
franchise is the ISA One, which features the renowned<br />
microphone preamp from the range in an unusual<br />
package that includes much more than just the preamp.<br />
It sets out its stall as a serious piece of kit by contriving to<br />
look more like a laboratory test instrument than a studio<br />
processor; there’s no attempt at rack-mounting options,<br />
but a sloping front panel, a tall narrow case, and a handle<br />
on the top that make it clear this is intended <strong>for</strong> the<br />
itinerant engineer/producer/musician to bring a major<br />
part of their sound into any studio with them. It even<br />
comes in a chunky flight case.<br />
In ISA Control<br />
The controls on the preamp<br />
section will be familiar from<br />
other ISA models. Gain is handled in two<br />
ranges on a detented knob with continuous fine gain<br />
available separately; there are front-panel illuminated<br />
switches <strong>for</strong> phantom, phase, a high-pass filter and an<br />
insert loop, and a selector <strong>for</strong> mic or line inputs or the<br />
front-panel instrument jack (although there’s more to<br />
that jack, as we shall see). A trademark of the modern<br />
ISA preamp though is the impedance switch – a feature<br />
introduced to the ISA pre-amp in 2002, and still rarely<br />
seen on microphone preamps, despite the useful<br />
variations it offers.<br />
The manual gives a good explanation of how the<br />
input impedance interacts with the microphone<br />
characteristics to influence the sound, and what it says<br />
in effect is that higher settings will produce higher signal<br />
levels, flatter frequency response, and improved HF<br />
response, while lower settings will bring out the inherent<br />
character of the microphone, possibly even exaggerate<br />
it. Thus it offers low (600Ω), medium (2400Ω) and high<br />
(6800Ω) settings, as well as the distinctive 1400Ω setting<br />
that characterises the classic ISA 110. Whatever the theory,<br />
the experience of adjusting the impedance with a familiar<br />
microphone makes you wonder why more preamps don’t<br />
have this function, as it can tailor the sound to the source<br />
in a very different and more subtle way than EQ, and<br />
really bring out the best in the microphone. Working<br />
with a fairly powerful male classical voice, it enabled me<br />
to balance the fullness and warmth of the voice with the<br />
detail of the upper end without having to consider using<br />
anything else.<br />
A Little Bit Extra-ordinary<br />
Alongside this is the a<strong>for</strong>ementioned instrument input,<br />
and this is where the ISA One begins to depart from the<br />
norm. As well as having access to the main preamp, the<br />
instrument jack has its own separate circuitry delivering<br />
a DI output on the rear panel, as well as a loop-through<br />
<strong>for</strong> an amp. This means it delivers two independent<br />
signal paths through the unit, both shown on separate<br />
LED meters, although the main vu meter is dedicated<br />
to the principal preamp. Suggestions in the manual <strong>for</strong><br />
exploiting this dual-path configuration include recording<br />
AUDIO MEDIA MAY <strong>2009</strong><br />
electric guitar and vocals simultaneously through it, and<br />
recording a guitar using both a DI and a mic on the amp,<br />
all through the ISA One.<br />
With A Twist<br />
Next up is even more of a twist on the basic package:<br />
a headphone output with a mysterious switch labelled<br />
‘Cue Mix’, and this too has a variety of uses. By default it<br />
provides a fixed mono mix of the two input sources, but<br />
<strong>for</strong> more sophisticated foldback use, it has a stereo cue<br />
input that can be fed from a desk’s conventional foldback<br />
send, giving the musician local volume control and the<br />
option to switch to the source signals <strong>for</strong> checking if<br />
required. A final option is the use of an additional mono<br />
external input, which overrides the instrument input to<br />
the cue circuit. This allows a mono foldback send from<br />
the recording system to be heard alongside the signal<br />
being handled by the main preamp, and Focusrite<br />
suggests this set-up <strong>for</strong> latency-free monitoring when<br />
using a DAW, as the live source signal will not have passed<br />
FOCUSRITE ISA ONE<br />
Dual Path Mic Pre/DI<br />
through the DAW.<br />
A thoroughly useful optional extra is a digital output<br />
card, user-fittable, which provides AES/EBU, SPDIF, and<br />
ADAT outputs all the way up to 192kHz 24-bit, including<br />
two-wire mode. AES/EBU and wired SPDIF require<br />
separate breakout cables, but optical output is switchable<br />
between ADAT and SPDIF. The two signal paths through<br />
the unit appear independently on whichever output<br />
<strong>for</strong>mat is selected. Wordclock in and out are supported,<br />
and a comprehensive section on the front controls the<br />
digital setup.<br />
One For All<br />
I must admit to being slightly puzzled as to who the<br />
intended market <strong>for</strong> the ISA One is. Some of its features<br />
belong in the studio, some in the control room, and the<br />
only place where you might use all the bits at once is a<br />
project-type studio where everything happens in one<br />
room, including loud guitar amps. On the other hand,<br />
<strong>for</strong> somebody wanting to introduce a bit of Focusrite<br />
ISA magic into such an environment, this is the ideal<br />
way to do it. In any case, the quality of the design and<br />
engineering, and the thought that’s gone in to the<br />
features and functions, make this well worth having in<br />
the arsenal in any context, and its portability means you<br />
can use what you want, where you want, as circumstances<br />
demand. �<br />
...................................<br />
� GB£499.00 (inc.VAT)<br />
INFORMATION<br />
� Focusrite <strong>Audio</strong> Engineering Ltd., Windsor House,<br />
Turnpike Road, Cressex Business Park, High Wycombe,<br />
HP12 3FX<br />
� +44 (0) 1494 462246<br />
� +44 (0) 1494 459920<br />
� www.focusrite.com<br />
� sales@focusrite.com