It’s that time of year again, temperatures begin to drop, frost begins to bite, and SoundOnSound hunker down to decide on their top picks for the best pro audio gear of the year in the prestigious and widely coveted SOS Awards!
This year SCV Distribution are honoured to be informed of no fewer than five distributed products featured amongst the SOS 2021 Awards shortlists. Without further ado - lets take a closer look at the nominees...
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lack Lion Bluey Compressor
Effects & Processing Hardware CategoryDeveloped in the laboratories of Black Lion Audio in Chicago IL, the Bluey is based on the favourite (and highly modded) blue-stripe 1176 compressor from the Mix L.A. studio in California.
Asides from the usual limiting amplifier control trimmings such as attack, release and ratio, Black Lion have also installed a mix knob which allows users to easily pan between wet/compressed and dry/source signals to achieve the precise doses of effect needed to finish a vocal or instrument track perfectly.
A solid, stylish and great-sounding 1176-style compressor that allows us all a taste of Lord-Alge's favourite vocal treatment
Neil Rogers – full review
Avantone CLA10A Active Studio Monitor
Monitors CategoryAvantone turned swathes of heads in 2018 with the release of the CLA10 studio monitor, their homage to the classic NS10M of the 1970s – a monitor still used by many studios as a valuable reference for ironing out midrange frequencies during mixing.
As of 2020, Avantone are shipping the next evolutionary step – the highly anticipated CLA10A. The new version features the same fantastic mixing insight with a healthy dose of active circuitry for plug and play use, negating the need for an external amplifier.
An NS-10 in all but name
Phil Ward – full review
Hear Technologies Hear Back OCTO
Live Sound Product CategoryFrom notorious personal monitoring solution manufacturer Hear Technologies comes an affordable system designed to offer multiple performers their own customisable fold-back mix and retire antiquated methods of daisy chaining multiple analogue consoles together to get everyone tuned in to a take.
Hear Back OCTO is built on lightning fast RJ45 connectivity for ease of use both on the stage and in the studio, and its central hub can be fed by ADAT digital or DB25 analogue audio sources.
A very well thought-out and solidly built personal monitor system that's extremely easy to install, configure and use, with a useful feature set and clean, very powerful outputs
Hugh Robjohns – full article
Avantone CV12 Tube Microphone
Microphones CategoryCV12 is an affordable valve condenser microphone that has truly stood the test of time.
Used in hundreds of studios and on the vocals and instruments of many notable artists (including Taylor Swift – check out SOS’s Speak Now article for the full story), the CV12 performs at a sonic level that rivals many microphones often more than twice its price and is built to satisfy all requirements of modern studio recording.
Black Lion Eighteen Channel Strip
Effects & Processing Hardware CategoryThe newest product from Black Lion to be nominated in SOS’s 2021 Awards, Eighteen is a full-featured channel strip loaded with a vintage style preamp section, a 2-band EQ based on inductors and switchable high/low pass filters.
Built around discrete opamps custom built by Black Lion Audio, as well as rock solid Cinemag input and output transformers, the Eighteen is a powerful strip worthy of studio racks in both commercial and home studios.
A very nicely judged channel strip with a characterful, Melcor-inspired preamp and an excellent-sounding Pultec-style EQ. It won't spend much time sitting idle in your studio!
Neil Rogers – full review
Vote Now!
Voting is now open on the SOS Awards official ballot page. Be sure to submit your votes by midnight on 30th November to ensure they’re counted, and a huge thank you from everyone at SCV for all your support!
Voting is now closed