Metric Halo announced the immediate release of version 4 of Mobile I/O. This release is available as a software / firmware / driver update that enhances the capabilities of all new and existing Mobile I/O hardware. The update is available free of charge to all Mobile I/O users.

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Brad Madix, returning to front-of-house for Rush after first mixing the band for part of the Roll the Bones Tour, puts SpectraFoo to good use, not only during system setup but, also throughout the show. "I use it mainly for tuning the PA - that's the big job that it does - but also for stuff in the mix. Even though I'm mixing live, I do use it for 'mastering,' metering and looking at phase."

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Metric Halo is pleased to announce that major updates for ChannelStrip TDM and ChannelStrip RTAS are now shipping. The 2.2 update is freely available to all registered OS X users of ChannelStrip and provides a large number of significant enhancements and bug fixes.

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Tom Hanks' writing and directorial debut, "That Thing You Do!" captured the innocence of the early '60s pop scene with a story about a young band, The Wonders, that wins a talent contest, scores a hit single then breaks up, all during one summer. With a ten-year anniversary DVD of the film due soon, producer and musician Neil Citron recently used his Metric Halo Mobile I/O to transfer nearly three-dozen of the original title song contenders for inclusion on the special edition disc.

Citron began with the DAT tapes and was amazed at the audio performance of the Mobile I/O. "I had the analog output of the DAT machine and the MIO both coming up in the mixing board so I could A-B what I was hearing. The MIO was better. In theory it shouldn't have been any different, but it was extremely different. Everybody was happy and they loved it.

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Although it has a well-earned reputation as one of the best sounding and most user-friendly audio recording interfaces available, Metric Halo’s Mobile I/O offers much more. According to Sean Quackenbush, front-of-house engineer with Robert Randolph and the Family Band, “It’s like an audio Swiss Army Knife. It can be whatever you need it to be.”

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Artist, engineer and producer Pat Thrall is redefining the art of the remix through his work on classic recordings from the late 1960s, introducing a whole new generation to the music of Miles Davis and Sly and the Family Stone, while carefully preserving the integrity of the original tracks. Thrall relies heavily on Metric Halo's ChannelStrip to insure that the old and the new recordings are correctly balanced in the remix. "It's got a certain grittiness about it. There's something about ChannelStrip that's kind of like mixing on an SSL G console - grit that's very musical and makes things sound more aggressive. I like that it has that personality."

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Ralf Kleemann's new Celtic harp CD "Tides" reflects how the new age of recording engineers use the power of Metric Halo gear and Apple computers versus racks of hardware and or renting expensive studios. "The feedback I have received so far has been very encouraging. People have been asking in which high-end studio the recordings were done. I take that as confirmation that I made exactly the right choices when I picked my equipment."

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Cold War era nuclear submarines may seem an unlikely source of inspiration for a conference telephone design. But with the assistance of some declassified documents, plus Metric Halo's SpectraFoo analysis software, LifeSize Communications has set a new benchmark in sound quality with a revolutionary phone that combines a patent-pending microphone array with beam forming technology to bring high-definition audio to the boardroom.

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Italian pianist/composer/arranger and recording engineer Graziano Mossuto is bringing musicians on two continents together, with the help of Metric Halo, for an ambitious project entitled "Ramalé From Mediterranean To Mongolia." For the last three years, Mossuto has criss-crossed Europe and Asia with a portable setup, based around the Metric Halo Mobile/IO 2882, recording local musicians performing his compositions for the elaborate world music project. "I use the Mobile/IO 2882 all the time when I travel, I find that the sound of the MIO has a special personality, and above all very good A-to-D converters. The quality of the mic pres is amazing."

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Billy Decker, one of Nashville's hottest country music engineers, has found the ChannelStrip plug-in so efficient that it has little impact on the horsepower of the host DAW computer. "I can put ChannelStrip across every channel. It's on every single instrument. Here in Nashville I do predominantly country music, so you've got a drum kit, bass, acoustic guitars, electric guitar, piano, fiddle and steel, then, sometimes, a dobro or banjo, but that's it, other than the voice and the backgrounds. So they're not huge sessions as far as track count. But I've got ChannelStrip running across the board, at the top of the inserts on just about everything."

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Metric Halo announced that the Universal Binary version of ChannelStrip AU is now shipping. Version 2.2 of ChannelStrip AU is supported for operation with systems running Mac OS X 10.4.3 or later, and Audio Unit compliant host applications. Version 2.2 is available at all Metric Halo authorized dealers, and updaters are available from the Metric Halo Updates page.

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"I don't think I have a single session where I don't have ChannelStrip up," says Tim Skold, producer and band member of Marilyn Manson. "It doesn't have animations of glowing tubes and fancy VU meters that have no relation to the music whatsoever. It does what it does, it does it well, that is why I like it. It's a lifesaver." The new Marilyn Manson album is being worked on in various private studios, with Skold wielding his multi-instrumental abilities in his role as producer. "I just like to do things and get things done." ChannelStrip has become a useful tool within the band's workflow, he reports, and has also led to some fruitful experimentation with the rest of the band.

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The Universal Binary version of the Mobile I/O driver is now available for download from the MIO Driver Download page. This version 2.2d94 driver runs Native on both the Intel and PowerPC platforms. MIO Console has been tested under Rosetta, and currently runs translated on the Intel-based Macs. Supported operating syustems are 10.3.9 and newer (both Intel and PowerPC). Mac OS X 10.4.4 for Intel has a bug in Firewire that will cause a Kernel Panic if you run MIO Console with a box attached. As a result, users must update their OS install to 10.4.5 on Intel-based Macintoshes to utilize MIO Console.

Time is of the essence in audio post-production, where a busy studio might have several completely different projects pass through in a single day. For Brad McIlvaine, senior mixer/designer at the Washington, D.C.-based audio design and mix division of Henninger Media Services, Metric Halo's versatile ChannelStrip plug-in is the cornerstone of a workflow that guarantees prompt delivery of the highest quality audio to his clients, whatever the project. "ChannelStrip is THE go-to plug in my collection, it's great having a very DSP-sensible EQ, compressor and gate that also sound fabulous."

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The popular HBO/BBC co-production, "Rome" is going into production on its second season, with noted Sound Recordist/Mixer Maurizio Argentieri once again using a Mobile I/O based system to capture location sound for the premium cable show's second season. "I still haven't found an interface that sounds as good as this. The onboard dynamics guarantee that every dialogue take is a keeper. Another important advantage of the Mobile I/O, for someone who works on the set like I do, is having great tools at your disposal. It gives the actors extra freedom, because I have an instrument that protects their performance from technical errors."

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Recording engineer Brian Peters chose a combination of Metric Halo's Mobile I/Os to record a 42-piece orchestra during a three-day rain storm in New York City's Central Park. "Due to the rough weather, we ended up recording the audio inside the ice rink's locker room and then playing back the audio for the performance. One of the things I love most about Metric Halo products is how easily you can scale the hardware to the projects. Two to thirty two channels is easily done and rock solid with the Mobile I/O Record Panel." This hardware scaling and flexibility was the difference between a successful project and a rainout.

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John Horesco, an Atlanta-based independent studio engineer has introduced ChannelStrip to SouthSide, the facility owned by super-producer Jermaine Dupri. Horesco, working in collaboration with Dupri's longtime mixer, Phil Tan, has used ChannelStrip on a string of platinum-selling projects by Usher, Mariah Carey, Whitney Houston and Bow Wow. His credits also include Nelly, 3LW, Run DMC, TLC, Sean 'Diddy' Combs, Pink, Janet Jackson, OutKast, Ron Isley, Jamie Foxx, Lionel Richie and L.L. Cool J. "Our large format console is pretty much obsolete." Horesco quickly discovered ChannelStrip's power. "It's an all-in-one unit and was super, super easy to use. And it sounded good. It saved a lot of DSP, which allowed me to use bigger reverbs and other plug-ins to add a little more space to the tracks."

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Front-of-house engineer Jon Lemon, a veteran of tours with such musical heavyweights as Oasis, nine inch nails, Beck, The Cure, and Depeche Mode, is currently on the road with the recently reunited Mötley Crüe, and has his trusty Mobile I/O rig running SpectraFoo analysis software by his side at every show. "It's a really useful tool. You can do it all by ear but it takes longer, and there's some uncertainty. I can pretty easily tune the system in the space of 15 to 20 minutes in most arenas."

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Metric Halo has released the Version 2.2 update of Mobile I/O Console and driver software for Mac OS X. This update provides increased performance across all Mobile I/O hardware models. Users of the Mobile I/O 2882, 2882+DSP, ULN-2, and ULN-2+DSP can now take advantage of the update with Mac OS X 10.3.9 through 10.4.2. This update is freely available to all registered users of Mobile I/O hardware. Please read the documentation accompanying this release for more information about compatibility for specific operating systems.

When recording engineer and mixer Thom Russo goes to a session, Metric Halo's ChannelStrip is guaranteed to get a good workout. Russo, whose client list includes Eric Clapton, Macy Gray, Audioslave, System of a Down, Enrique Iglesias, Juanes, Jay-Z, Babyface, Kinky and many, many others, is never without the console-style audio processing plug-in. "It's the most versatile, efficient, and elegant compressor/EQ chain on the market. You will certainly not hear a session of mine without it."

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Simon Lewis, who is based in Melbourne, Australia, is using a Mobile I/O 2882+DSP and ULN-2 for recording on the road and live. "I have to say it was a very solid system to work with. And it never let me down on stage either." Last year, his band Rivertribe embarked on six-month tour starting in Singapore and Malaysia. "We had planned to record with artists all around the world while we were traveling. The Metric Halo setup allowed me to run my studio almost anywhere. We met some Indian musicians in Singapore who saw us play and then asked if we would like to jam with them. We had an amazing session in a Sai Baba temple. After that, we got one of the guys to come back to our hotel and lay down some vocal tracks before we left.

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In celebration of the release of Mac OS X
Tiger, Metric Halo has announced that for a limited time new licenses of ChannelStrip Native will be available at a savings of over 40%, for the low cost of only $199USD. This is a limited time offer that expires June 30, 2005. Any new purchases of ChannelStrip Native are eligible for this discount.

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No trucks for Philip Harvey - Instead of a remote recording truck, Harvey used a 24-track Metric Halo rig to record a six-week tour with The Secret Machines. "I'll take the preamp sends from the direct outs of the mixing console and send them to the 24 analog inputs of the three Mobile I/O 2882+DSPs. Just having that capability has blown the minds of The Secret Machines. I was showing that with the right console we could multi-track an entire tour."

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Released concurrently with Mac OS 10.4 Tiger on April 29, 2005, Metric Halo is currently shipping the version 2.0 update of Mobile I/O Console and driver software for Mac OS X. This update provides new functionality and increased performance across all Mobile I/O hardware models. Users of the Mobile I/O 2882, 2882+DSP, ULN-2, and ULN-2+DSP can now take advantage of the update with Mac OS X 10.2.6 through 10.4. This update is freely available to all registered users of Mobile I/O hardware.

Music runs deep in Oscar Castro-Neves. The multi-faceted guitarist/composer/arranger/producer was there in Brazil as one of the founding fathers of Bossa Nova, along with Antonio Carlos Jobim, João Gilberto, and a few others. Oscar relies on just one audio interface when he's working on his projects: The Metric Halo Mobile I/O. "The quality of the sound is fantastic," he says. "Especially the preamps. The transparency is very, very good."

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Producer, mixer, and studio and live sound engineer Bobby Brooks boasts an impressive resume that spans many musical genres, from classic Motown to heavy metal. In that time, Brooks, who operates out of his own Archangel Studio, has used every music production tool out there, but none has proved more essential than Metric Halo's ChannelStrip plug-in. "I love ChannelStrip. I haven't run across too many instances where this thing doesn't do its job. That goes not just for Rick James and Teena Marie but also P.O.D. and Black Sabbath."

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Manhattan-based television and film composer Daniel Antonio Srebnick has plenty to celebrate since adopting Metric Halo's Mobile I/O 2882+DSP production interface. Srebnick likes the fact that Metric Halo's FireWire powered Mobile I/O system allows him to work anywhere. "You can really just pick up and go anywhere. It's so streamlined and simple. And the sound quality, which everyone had told me was fantastic, sure enough blows my previous system out of the water. Nothing that I've heard beats the sound quality."

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Mixer Serban Ghenea's legendary client list includes ten projects that received 13 nominations at the 2003 Grammy Awards, and he won't work without ChannelStrip. "I use ChannelStrip on every session," he comments. "I think of it as my console! It works just like a channel on an SSL, which I'm very used to, so it was easy to transition." The musician, who spent his early years studying and playing jazz, funk and R&B, crosses between musical genres easily, and as a result has built up a resume of some of the best known R&B, Pop, Hip-Hop, and Latin artists in the world.

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English composer Julian Scott has brought his work to a world stage for numerous unique projects. Most recently, Scott produced the soundtrack for the entire Opening and Closing Ceremonies of the Summer Olympic Games in Athens, Greece, during which Metric Halo's Mobile I/O 2882 and ULN-2 played critical roles. "It does sound great. There's an element of surprise there because, from a professional point of view, it's not a particularly expensive kit. But we did get a lot of comments about how nice things were sounding."

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Freelance engineer Sean Sullivan is currently on tour with Jessica Simpson, and is relying on SpectraFoo to provide the metering and analysis tools that he generally cannot find on the road. "The Mobile I/O turns your laptop into a miniature console, with eight analog ins and outs, AES in and out, and S/PDIF in and out. With that setup," he says, "You have a little matrix mixer and everything a console would have, except there's no surface. So that's how I interface my touring console with my laptop."

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Ryan Moore boasts a mouth-watering complement of vintage analogue processing, recording, and mixing equipment, which he uses to add the special sonic sauce to his Twilight Circus Dub Sound System releases. But a Mobile I/O 2882 has brought him kicking and screaming into the digital world and has opened up a whole new way of working.

"I realized that I could go anywhere," says Moore, "I could record stuff on location, in a hotel room. There's this incredible flexibility and freedom to adapt to the circumstances and the situation at hand, without having to depend on studio rental. It's guerrilla recording."

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In 1983, Barry Diament became one of the industry's first engineers to master for CD while working at Atlantic Records. He went independent in 1987. After more than three decades in the business, he expanded his services and went searching for a portable and sonically transparent interface. "The D-to-A converters in the MIO are just beautiful. I like the whole layout of the MIO console and the way it operates - it just feels good. I'm pretty knocked out by the box."

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"ChannelStrip sounds superb on just about anything. Even with the large array of plug-ins at my disposal I still find a vast amount of tracks with ChannelStrip inserted." SpectraFoo, he says, "is very useful for checking unfamiliar control rooms, phasing problems, and more. Once you are familiar with its functions you will wonder how you recorded without it."

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"I also own Metric Halo's Mobile I/O," he reveals. "I use the MIO preamps and interface to bring analog and digital information into and out of SpectraFoo."

Metric Halo has released version 1.5 of the MIO operating system, providing new functionality and increased performance across all MIO hardware models. Users of the 2882, 2882+DSP, ULN-2, and ULN-2+DSP can now take advantage of increased performance under Mac OS X. MIO v1.5 results from aggressively targeted development efforts designed to address inconsistencies with competing DAW applications, operating system anomalies, computer processing shortcomings and FireWire bandwidth issues. Mobile I/O users can also take full advantage of this newly released package in Mac OS 9.

Metric Halo announces the availability of their award winning ULN-2 portable FireWire interface now with +DSP.