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    Work From Home Customer Care Rep at Universal Audio

    Universal Audio is looking for a talented Customer Care Representative to join our growing team.  This person will provide pre and post-sale customer care support for UA’s product line of connected digital interfaces, guitar products, analog equipment and on-line store.  The ideal candidate for this position will have extensive knowledge of guitar products, support and lore. This is done via online request, telephone support and via self-service tools. Responsibilities: Assist all Universal Audio customers and incoming inquiries as required Provide UA product installation support and troubleshooting for Windows and MAC based computers Provide configuration and troubleshooting of Windows and MAC based computer systems and DAWs to customers Generate knowledge base entries, both written and in video tutorial formats Communicate directly with customers either by telephone, chat, on line requests, or service requests Respond to customer inquiries, complaints, and service requests within specified department metrics Handle and resolve or appropriately escalate customer complaints to achieve high customer satisfaction interaction scores Obtain and evaluate all relevant information to handle inquiries and complaints Process replacement parts orders Provide customers with presales product and service information Provide support to customers to help resolve potential account issues, including research of on line purchases Communicate and coordinate with internal departments as required Provide Return Material Authorizations (RMA) in accordance with warranty standards, internal policies or for approved sales returns Coordinate the handling of RMA, and service requirements through the distribution channel Qualifications: Communication skills – English, verbal and written. In addition, region specific language as required by position. Problem analysis and problem-solving Attention to detail and accuracy Ability to translate support transactions and provide data collection to categorize interactions Adaptable, initiative, tolerant, empathetic, and with a positive approach to customer’s needs Experience with use of UAD-2/Apollo hardware products. Experience with UA Software: UA Console and LUNA recording software. Ability to lift 20 pounds Must be able to sit for extended periods Available to work overtime and weekends when required. Have access to high speed internet connection to accommodate working remotely Have an appropriate workspace in your residence, when applicable Have reliable transportation, when applicable Education / Experience: High school diploma, general education degree or equivalent work experience. Formal recording technology education desirable Advanced Knowledge of customer service principles and practices Advanced Knowledge of configuring and troubleshooting Windows and MAC based computers Knowledge of relevant computer applications “DAW” for use with Universal Audio products (i.e. Cubase, Pro Tools, Nuendo, Ableton Live, Logic Pro, etc.) Knowledge of recording studio hardware/software signal routing principles, and modern recording techniques Knowledge of music production, sound design, basic principles of sound Knowledge of guitar rig configuration, signal routing, pedal board set up, and effects Compensation:California Hourly Rate of Pay is $18.50 – $19.71 per hour Base salary/hourly rate of pay will be based on the cost of labor for the city/state in which the new hire resides, at the time of hire UA offers competitive benefits:  Profit sharing, Medical/Dental/Vision, 401K Safe Harbor Contribution, Stock Options, Flexible time-off (PTO/Sick Leave/Company Holiday Time-off), etc. UA Mission:  We exist to thrill and inspire music makers everywhere with timeless sound and impeccable craftsmanship, freeing the songs inside and allowing you to sound like the records you love. UA Vision:  In the future, music makers around the world will trust Universal Audio as a friend and creative partner, inspiring them to craft amazing records as naturally as playing their first instrument or singing their favorite song. The best home, project, and professional studios will feature most of the UA equipment from floor to ceiling — ranging from audio interfaces and guitar gear to microphones and software — all of it working together to deliver unrivaled sonics and operational symphony. Our customers will eagerly await each new UA product like a hit record or blockbuster movie, trusting that it may spark them to create the best music of their lives. In doing so, UA will become revered worldwide as the way that music is made. APPLY HERE

    UA Apollo E Series, Aimed at Live Sound, Debuts

    UA Apollo E Series. Scotts Valley, CA (March 18, 2025)—Universal Audio has launched the UA Apollo E Series, based around a pair of peripherals for the Apollo x16D audio interface and Dante-networked audio systems, helping to enable using UAD plug-ins in live sound scenarios. The Apollo x16D is an 18 x 20 audio interface with HEXA-core UAD processing that works with digital mixing consoles and networked audio systems over Dante, providing access to more than 200 UAD plug-ins including Neve, API, Lexicon, SSL, and Auto-Tune, as well as compressors like the Teletronix LA-2A and UA 1176. Universal Audio Apollo x16D Audio Interface Debuts Augmenting the Apollo x16D, the Apollo e1x Remote-controllable Unison Preamp ($399 MAP) provides Unison mic/line preamp sounds via plug-ins when paired with the x16D audio interface. Users can link multiple Apollo e1x units with its included coupling bracket and integrated mic-stand mount. Meanwhile, the Apollo e2m Stereo Headphone Amplifier and Line Interface ($499 MAP) provides stereo headphone monitoring and line level I/O on a Dante audio network. Users can connect headphones, IEMs, powered monitors or wedges, as well as external outboard gear, analog mic preamps, synths, drum machines, and playback devices anywhere needed. Both Apollo E Series devices feature mic stand mounting for live, broadcast, and networked studio use, and are compatible with any Dante audio system, adding network “endpoints” using Power over Ethernet (PoE) for all users, with or without an Apollo x16D interface. The Apollo E Series is now available to pre-order through select local retailers, and shipping worldwide in May 2025.

    MIX’S GEAR OF THE YEAR 2024: PART 4

    So many new pro audio and music products are released each year that it becomes difficult to make fair comparisons or put together a “Best Of” or “Top 25” list. How do you choose when presented with a new $10,000 single-channel analog compressor and a $79 distortion plug-in? In that spirit, please consider this our annual “Must-Have” list, where there’s something for every type of audio pro. To put together this year’s selection, we asked longtime Mix contributors and product reviewers Steve La Cerra, Mike Levine, Rich Tozzoli, Barry Rudolph and Michael Cooper to send in a few of their favorites. Here, presented in alphabetical order, are those selections. (Don’t Pass Up Parts 1, 2 and 3!) TELEFUNKEN USA TF17 FET TELEFUNKEN USA TF17 FET. Telefunken has a pretty long history in making high-quality condenser microphones, and that continues with a new, lower-cost lineup in Telefunken Elektroakustic USA’s Alchemy Series. The new TF11 and TF 17 FET, and the TF29 Copperhead tube, are cardioid-only models; the TF47 and TF51 tube mics are multi-pattern. The TF17 is an everyday, workhorse microphone that comes with a stand mount and recessed XLR connector. I like its size for fitting into tight places, such as under the lid of a piano or near drums and percussion instruments on live stages. Max SPL is 135 dB, and I found it to clip only occasionally on loud drum kits. It has a 34mm, center-terminated, K47-style, single-membrane capsule and a nickel-iron core output transformer made in England by OEP Carnhill Transformers. These microphones are all made in America and construction is first class, with discrete components hand-soldered on a circuit board—no surface-mount construction here. I liked its forward sound with a broad presence boost in the 4kHz region—a mid-forward German voicing. This sounded great for most singers to give them more “cut” for Pop music. I also liked using the TF17 for both acoustic and electric guitars. I recorded a Yamaha acoustic about a foot away from where the neck joins the body. This was a good location for both strumming and finger-picking guitar parts. The electric guitar sound I got with TF17 was crisp and more transparent than my usual SM7B dynamic, with the TF17 capturing the transients more accurately. For a small drum kit, a single TF17 about four feet overhead centered over the bass drum pedal’s beater was the best one-microphone drum sound I’ve ever gotten. The TF17 has proven to be an awesome all-around utility microphone and a good value as an introduction to the Telefunken name! —Barry Rudolph THREE-BODY TECHNOLOGY CENOZOIX COMPRESSOR THREE-BODY TECHNOLOGY CENOZOIX COMPRESSOR. With all the compressors on the market, what makes this plug-in so unique? It’s a chameleon that can emulate the major compressor designs, including VCA, opto, FET and tube. It also offers unusually deep control over the compression behavior and a stellar user interface. The Three-Body Technology Cenozoix Compressor (distributed by Plugin Alliance) features 24 individual compressor emulations. Twelve are modeled after classic hardware such as the 1176, LA-2A, Fairchild 670, Neve 2254 and many others, and the others are original designs from TBT. Many of the latter are aimed at specific compressor behaviors, sources or mixing applications. Examples include Tight, Vocal, Pluck, Drum, Loud, Bus and Mastering. One of this product’s most valuable attributes is that it allows users to easily compare multiple compressor types as audio plays. When you select any of the available compressors, the controls change correspondingly. In addition to standard parameters like Threshold, Ratio, Attack, Release, Knee and Makeup (gain), TBT has added some unique and powerful adjustments. For example, the Clamp knob controls transients without the necessity to set a fast attack time. De-Click makes transients sound less clicky. My favorite is the Punch/Pump slider, which lets you alternatively emphasize transients or sustain. On some models, you can switch between feedback and feed-forward operation. The GUI makes it easy to see the impact of your selections and adjustments. The soundwaves move from left to right in real time, and a downward-facing green line indicates gain reduction. —Mike Levine UNIVERSAL AUDIO RUBY 63, DREAM 65 AND LION 68 UNIVERSAL AUDIO RUBY 63, DREAM 65 AND LION 68. This trio of UAD Native guitar amp plug-ins are based both on the real amps, as well as UA’s own hardware-equivalent pedals. My favorite is the Dream ’65 Reverb Amp, based on the classic Fender model of that era. Aside from vintage tones and a killer reverb and tremolo, the team at UA added some bonus “mods” that guitar players like me live for. When you flip to the Lead selection, the bright cap is “removed” and the boost is enabled, allowing for some ripping rock/blues tones. Switching to D-Tex, it’s a mod that was done for Stevie Ray Vaughn, with a creamy mid- overdrive sound. Also included are six cab and mic combinations, delivering even more flexibility. The Lion 68 goes for the classic British Marshall sound. It features three “golden unit,” 100-watt Plexi amp heads, along with cabs and mics. The amp rips, and plugging in a Les Paul makes you want to play. It’s got that snotty Marshall mid and a ton of fat lows, but it can also deliver some classic clean sounds, just like the real heads can. The third in this trio is the Ruby ’63 Top Boost amp, modeled after a vintage VOX “valve” amp. I appreciate the inclusion of effects such as Galaxy tape echo, Dallas Rangemaster treble boost and a Room knob to dial in some super vibe-y distance. The modes include Vib-Trem, Norman and Brilliant, which includes an extra tube for more gain and treble. There’s a choice of six cab/mic combos, including my favorite, the 15W Celestion Silver Buldog 2X12 with a 57 mic. There’s no denying the UA team did their work on this trio! —Richard Tozzoli UNIVERSAL AUDIO VERVE ANALOG MACHINES UNIVERSAL AUDIO VERVE ANALOG MACHINES. Plenty of plug-ins are available for infusing digital recordings with analog characteristics, including modeled preamps, tape machines and other processor types. Well, imagine the utility of a plug-in that features an array of tape machines and preamp emulations, ranging from subtle warmth to crushing distortion, that you can switch between with a simple button push. Verve Analog Machines does that. This easy-to-use plug-in lets you select one of 10 “Machines” to run your track, bus or mix through. UA created the Machines as generic representations of six tape recorders and four preamps, ranging from studio units to obscure consumer models. UA gave them names corresponding to their effect on the audio, such as Glow, Edge, Vintagize, Distort, Overdrive and so on. The Machines are arranged from left to right, with the cleanest one, Sweeten, on the left and the most distorted one, Sputter, on the right. A row of color-coded buttons running across the upper part of the screen makes choosing the desired Machine easy. When you select one, a nifty graphic depiction of it appears in the middle of the screen. In addition to an Output Level slider, each preamp has Drive and Tone knobs, and each tape machine has Drive and Warble knobs. You also see the input and output levels depicted in horizontal meters. With its simple control set, Verve Analog Machines will appeal to novice users, but its vast variety of excellent sounds makes it a product that will be at home in any studio’s collection. —Mike Levine WOLFF AUDIO FREQ EQ 500 SERIES WOLFF AUDIO FREQ EQ 500 SERIES. Famed audio designer Paul Wolff’s Freq EQ, which he calls “the everything EQ,” is a single-channel, four-band proportional-Q equalizer packed into a single 500 Series module. My pair of Freqs, in a Wolff Bucket 500 Rack, is positioned within reach while sitting in the sweet spot, and the familiar lineup of controls with center-positioned detents and lit-up buttons makes the Freq EQ my “go-to” equalizer for recording/tracking, mixing and/or fixing audio. The controls start at the top with the High frequency section (2 kHz to 20 kHz) and at the bottom with the Low frequency section (25 Hz to 700 Hz). The Wide buttons change these bands between proportional-Q and a conventional 1/3-octave, bell-shape EQ. This super-smooth Wide mode is Wolff’s version of a shelving EQ. But unlike a shelving equalizer, which continues to boost or cut out to the extremes, a constant-Q, bell-shape starts to roll off above and below the selected frequency(s). The Freq’s midrange section is divided into the High Mid-Range (350 Hz to 10 kHz) and Low Mid-Range sections (75 Hz to 2 kHz). Both sections have their own fixed-Q, 1/3rd octave switches, with the default position being proportional-Q. In the studio, the Freq EQ is indispensable for subtle touch-ups, any kind of mixing, or carving out fixes for broken audio. I can recommend at least a pair of them, if not a whole rack of them! —Barry Rudolph

    Universal Audio LA-6176 — A Mix Product of the Week

    New York, NY (June 3, 2024)—Universal Audio’s latest plug-in is based on its vintage 6176 tube channel strip, which featured both the 610 mic preamp/EQ and the 1176, a classic, aggressive-sounding FET compressor. The plug-in version ups the ante by including a model of a second iconic compressor, the tube-based, opto-driven LA-2A, and gives users the ability to switch between the two. The LA-6176 is available in UADx (Native) and UAD-2/Apollo formats. The UAD-2 version of the plug-in is “Unison Enabled,” meaning when you use it with an Apollo interface, the hardware adjusts the mic input impedance and gain staging to match the original hardware. The preamp section of the LA-6176 contains a five-position stepped Gain knob that provides plus-minus 10 dB of gain. The impedance can be switched from Line to Mic level, with the latter offering impedance choices of 500 Ohms or 2K Ohms. Switching to one of the Mic-level settings on a line-level source makes it possible to overdrive the input. Sound Devices Astral Wireless Guitar System — A Mix Product of the Week When using the UAD2 version with an Apollo interface, you can access the Hi-Z input setting, which gives you a choice of 47K Ohms or 2.2M Ohms impedance. A 75 Hz high-pass filter, polarity reverse and a -15 dB pad are all available via switches. At the end of the preamp’s signal chain is a large knob controlling the Output level. How you set the knob is critical because it impacts the level going into the compressor section and thus governs how hard you hit either the 1176 or LA-2A. Universal Audio LA-6176. Before the compressor section is the two-band EQ, with the High and Low bands providing boosts or cuts of up to 9 dB, and each offering three frequency choices. The high band settings are 4.5 kHz, 7 kHz or 10 kHz, and the Low band 70 Hz, 100 Hz or 200 Hz. Despite it having only two bands, the EQ’s frequencies are well-chosen and provide significant control for sound sculpting. The EQ and Compressor sections each have their own Bypass switch, which is handy for comparing settings with and without processing. A global bypass switch resides in the middle of the GUI. Next in the signal chain is the compressor section. A small switch under the VU-style meter (switchable between showing Input, Output or Gain Reduction) toggles the plug-in between the 1176 and LA-2A modes. The faceplate’s color changes depending on the mode: silver for the 1176 and black for the LA-2A. Each compressor provides a control set similar to the original unit. The 1176 offers knobs for Attack, Release, Ratio, Input and Output. Supplementing what’s in the hardware version, it also sports a Mix knob, allowing for parallel compression. The LA-2A mode features Peak Reduction and Gain knobs and a switch to toggle from Comp to Limit. The LA-6176 is on sale for $99 through June 30, after which it rises to its regular price of $299. The native version of the plug-in is also included in the UAD Spark subscription program. Find out more at the UAD website.

    UAD Sound City Studios Plug-In Debuts

      UAD Sound City Studios plug-in. Scotts Valley, CA (November 16, 2023)—It’s hosted likes of Fleetwood Mac, RHCP, U2, Tom Petty, Nirvana, Gn’R and Metallica; it’s been the subject of a documentary by Foo Fighters’ Dave Grohl; and now it’s an emulation plug-in from Universal Audio. We could only be talking about Sound City Studios, and while the facility itself has spent over half a century in Van Nuys, CA, its acoustics are now available right in your DAW. UA says its plug-in is its “most complete studio emulation to date,” providing users with the facility’s room, mics, analog gear and legendary mixing console. Using the plug-in, music makers can now record and mix their music essentially in the facility where some of their favorite albums came to life. DVD Review: Sound City In the plug-in, users dial in sounds by choosing a source, and selecting from presets based on different room and mic combinations. Using Dynamic Room Modeling technology, they can move classic condenser and ribbon mics, in realtime, around the virtual space. Users can apply the tone of what the company calls “an iconic ’70s custom British console”—meaning the Neve 8028 mixing console that captured so many albums there—and make use of emulated outboard gear including Dolby A-style effects, 1176 limiting and more. “Sound City has always been a place that nurtures talent, helping artists to find their voice,” says Sandy Skeeter, President of Sound City Inc. “Thanks to UA, a new generation of artists can put their music through our historic Studio A live room and carry out the same sonic techniques secretly used by their favorite rock heroes over the decades.” UAD Sound City Studios is available for $349 (US MSRP).

    Universal Audio’s Luna DAW is Now Free

    Previously only available to its Apollo customers, Luna is now free without UA hardware. Scotts Valley, CA (November 13, 2023)—Universal Audio has made its Luna Digital Audio Workstation available as a free download for all Mac users. Previously, the Mac-only software was only available to those who purchased a UA Apollo interface. A purchasable Luna Pro Bundle with additional software is also available. Introduced in mid-2020, and bolstered by regular feature updates, Luna is designed around the concept of sounding like classic analog studio equipment, making use of built-in console summing and tape machine emulations. Luna offers users the ability to record and playback with an unlimited track count. The software also offers Analog Summing, Tape Machines, Channel Strips, Bus and Parallel Compression and more built into the Luna mixer with Luna Extensions, so that extra plug-ins or separate windows are not required. Universal Audio LUNA – A Mix Real-World Review Also on-board is Shape, a toolkit instrument with a variety of sounds; proprietary Razor Blade and Polyphonic warp algorithms for quantization; comprehensive use of Session Data; a variety of control surfaces; and more. Luna Digital Audio Workstation is joined by the Luna Pro Bundle, a for-sale ($399) collection of UAD Plug-ins and Luna Extensions co-created with brands such as API, Ampex, Studer, Pultec, and more. Upon download, Mac users can try the essential Luna Extensions and UAD Plug-ins add-on bundle free for 30 days.

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