16th October 2012
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#1 | | Lives for gear
Joined: Apr 2005
Posts: 784
Thread Starter  | Aurora Audio Sidecar
Last Tuesday I took delivery of the very first production Aurora Audio Sidecar by Geoff Tanner and thought I would take a few moments to share my incredible experience with you. In full disclosure, I am an authorized dealer for Aurora and you may take this thread with as many grains of salt as you require, but I purchased the Sidecar with my own hard earned/borrowed cash for my personal ownership and use.
In April of 2011, I started a thread here asking why there were seemingly so few options in small format high end fully featured consoles. Ironically, when I saw the New Product Alert announcing the Aurora Audio Sidecar, I immediately thought back to this thread and the wheels started turning.
For me, the Aurora Sidecar couldn't be more suited to my workflow. I have a private studio in Denver, CO, but I do a lot of work on location in Denver, and even more down in Austin. In other words, I have a highly mobile tracking setup comprised of a Metric Halo ULN8 and LIO8, and I have no use (or room) for a LFAC. I also don't have a slew of outboard gear requiring elaborate bussing or inserts. The Aurora Sidecar gives me a killer 10 ch. front end for tracking in my studio, as well as a pretty killer mixing setup for smaller arrangements or 5 stems.
I was pretty keen to own SN #0001, and Alan Dickson (Aurora Sales Manager/Grandmaster Recorders) went above and beyond to help me get this unit while I worked to get funding in place. Once the financial details were sorted, the royal treatment kicked into high gear. Alan put me in touch with one of the engineers at Grandmaster who is very familiar with the Sidecars to consult with me on some technical questions about integrating the unit with my setup. I've exchanged emails with him ever since. Alan then informs me that he and one of the Aurora techs will be personally delivering the console to me in Denver...from Hollywood.
Alan and his tech, Edward, drive 1,030 miles (each way!) last Monday to get to me in Denver and arrive Tuesday morning with my Sidecar wrapped in a cocoon of protective shrink wrap and cardboard. They even carry it down a flight of stairs for me--no small feat for a 130 lb. top heavy console!
I open it up and it is just beautiful. The craftsmanship is unlike anything I've seen. We get everything cabled up and I attempt to run 5 stems out to the board, but for some unknown reason, one channel isn't getting signal. This is my first time cascading two converters together as a 16 ch. aggregate in Logic, so I figure I must have f*cked something up on the software end of things. We even switch cables around and determine that the channel is not the culprit. Long story short, I dick around for 30 mins and concede that I'm going to have to put it through its paces on my own time. Alan and Ed then walk me through some basic operation and maintenance (calibrating meters, removing a channel, etc...) and even went to a hardware store beforehand to buy me tools for the console (mini screwdriver set and allen wrench multi-tool). Underneath the master bus panel, Geoff Tanner personally signed to commemorate the very first serial number, which was pretty cool! Also, they put together a binder with the manual and schematics as well as a foam lined hardwood case with a master pad lock that was custom fabricated for fitting a spare channel in the event I want to keep a spare or have to send anything in for repair. It also included a cache of spare parts (transformer, output stage, etc...).
We shoot the sh*t for a while longer and they finally head out after about a 3 hour visit, but assure me that they will be in town for another couple of days if anything comes up with the console. Sure enough, within 15 minutes I figure out that one of the DSubs on my converter was ever so slightly unseated, hence the reason that one of the channels from the very same snake wouldn't pass signal while the others were fine. Only I could f*ck that up at such an inopportune time, LOL!
I get a mix running through the board and within a matter of minutes I'm grinning ear to ear. It sounds beautiful. I couldn't get over the clarity of the audio...it was not unlike the difference in upgrading converters or monitors where suddenly you hear all of this low level detail in your mixes that you hadn't heard before. Hearing that enhanced dimensionality for the first time was pretty amazing. Then I start messing with Eq's and I'm just floored with how quickly I could drastically improve the stems just by turning a few knobs, not really knowing what I was doing with the points just yet.
Long story, I'm thrilled with the purchase already, and I haven't even scratched the surface on the capabilities of the board. And the customer service from Aurora has been nothing short of world class. Alan said, "Chris, you are now part of our family", and considering I have an Aurora tech, Grandmaster engineer, and Alan all within earshot, it certainly feels that way.
If you've managed to read this far, then you have more than earned the right to see some pics!
Best,
Chris
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16th October 2012
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#2 | | Lives for gear
Joined: Oct 2007 Location: Australia
Posts: 722
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You lucky man. That is a helluva piece of equipment!
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16th October 2012
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#3 | | Gear maniac
Joined: Jan 2009
Posts: 278
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Very cool thanks for sharing. So how does it sound compared to bouncing in Logic?
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16th October 2012
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#4 | | Gear interested
Joined: Oct 2010 Location: Germany
Posts: 6
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Fantastic. Well done.
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16th October 2012
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#5 | | Lives for gear
Joined: Jul 2009 Location: Auckland, New Zealand
Posts: 2,246
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uln8 here and when these you might need this ad turned up i was like dayum this would be dope and then i see it looks even more amazing than i expected... seething envy lol
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16th October 2012
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#6 | | Gear addict
Joined: Aug 2004
Posts: 421
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Amazing purchase Chris ! Sweet damn that looks like a sexy piece of gear. And rock solid stable too. If I know Aurora, that thing is built like a military battle tank. WOW ! is all I can say, - speechless.
Hey on a side note, I just want to thank you again for getting me my Aurora GTP-8 and Aurora GT4-8. For such a big purchase, the transaction went so smooth, and you made the price right !! Thanks for handling all the details with Aurora, I couldn't have asked for more and I am extremely happy with the product too. Geoff makes some great circuitry man, no doubt. Add that to your knowledgeable and helpful service, and man... there's some happy customers out there ! 
(though you didn't drive it to my doorstep for a personal delivery  - LOL  ) I still say you did even more than I expected and my experience with you as a Aurora Dealer has been more than positive 
I can't believe you got Serial #0001 WITH a GT signature ! That has to increase its value.
Just to be clear, these things are linkable right ? Aurora doesn't seem to advertise that or list it as a feature for it, BUT I see a knock out in the chassis on the back labeled "Link", soooooo........... ?
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16th October 2012
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#7 | | Lives for gear
Joined: Apr 2005
Posts: 784
Thread Starter |
Thanks Joel, much appreciated! Your 8 ch. Aurora Pre/Eq setup at Roulette Records is killer and also one of the things that got the wheels turning for me on something like this.
You are correct, the link was one of the first things I noticed on the back of the unit. I recall seeing an empty punchout in the factory pics, but there is now a mini dsub connector. According to Edward (tech) there are some options for cascading additional channels into the mix bus, e.g. another Sidecar, a master bus compressor, etc...very cool!
The Sidecar was obviously designed with 'simplicity' in mind, but it is very nice that they have thought to provide some options for expanding the setup without driving the cost up, both in terms of purchase price and maintenance cost. You are correct, this isn't really an advertised feature, so it did come across as a bonus!
Best,
Chris
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16th October 2012
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#8 | | Lives for gear
Joined: Mar 2007
Posts: 998
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Does that bad boy have direct outs on each channel?
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16th October 2012
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#9 | | Lives for gear
Joined: Apr 2005
Posts: 784
Thread Starter |
YES!!!
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16th October 2012
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#10 | | Gear nut
Joined: Nov 2009 Location: Belgium
Posts: 87
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Wow looks really great! Congratz
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16th October 2012
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#11 | | Lives for gear
Joined: Aug 2012 Location: Los Angeles, CA
Posts: 532
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Nice!
Wow, I went browsing on the Aurora Audio site and they (Geoff Tanner) sure have been busy! Lots of new high-end product additions and configurable options. Great stuff!
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16th October 2012
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#12 | | Lives for gear
Joined: Jun 2002 Location: Santa Monica, CA
Posts: 7,441
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Pure pornography. Yikes!
-R
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23rd October 2012
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#13 | | Lives for gear
Joined: Apr 2005
Posts: 784
Thread Starter | Video Link: Aurora Sidecar on Mix Duties
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23rd October 2012
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#14 | | Lives for gear
Joined: Apr 2005
Posts: 784
Thread Starter | Quote:
Originally Posted by bakerman  Very cool thanks for sharing. So how does it sound compared to bouncing in Logic? | Better. Much Better. Significantly Better.
I pulled up a song I engineered in Austin a while back with a lot of instrumentation--acoustic guitars, bass, electric guitar, pedal steel, helpenstill electric piano, french horn, trumpet, vibraphone, accordion, and vox! I'm sure it goes without saying, but this was a very busy mix, so I figured this would be a great test of the Sidecar's abilities.
I could go on for days with superlatives, but suffice it to say, I'm just floored at how great of a tool the Sidecar is. Having ten channels of 4-band Eq with HPF and LPF is a true luxury come mix time, whether they are being employed on individual tracks or even on stereo stems. Dialing in the low end glue between the drums and bass is so much easier than I'm accustomed to when mixing ITB, which is probably also a function of pushing the mix bus to find the sweet spot.
What I still can't get over is how I am hearing so much more clarity and dimensionality in the mix while, paradoxically, also noticing that everything sounds so much rounder and infinitely more listenable.
And the coup de grace...I sent this new 'old' mix to the artist today and the next thing I know my phone is blowing up...he sends me no less than 13 text messages crudely, yet hilariously, expressing his exuberance with the Aurora mix.
This was a big purchase for me, but in retrospect, I'm so glad I made the move.
Best,
Chris
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23rd October 2012
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#15 | | Lives for gear
Joined: Mar 2007 Location: West Coast
Posts: 1,943
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Wow, congrats! I just wanted to second (third?) the great service. I went down Aurora earlier this year to pick up a GTP8 and Alan personally gave me a tour of the then secret sidecar (a hard secret I kept!) - great guy, basically invited me to stop by anytime to just hang out. I've also dealt with Edward and Geoff in-person as well... super jealous of your sidecar but happy to see them getting out in the wild. Have fun.
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23rd October 2012
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#16 | | Lives for gear
Joined: Jun 2002 Location: Bloomington Il
Posts: 5,803
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She's pretty sweet! Make some good records and have fun.
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28th October 2012
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#17 | | Gear Head
Joined: Sep 2012
Posts: 42
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Wow Chris. Sure is pretty at least. There's something about wood adorned consoles with angles... I think that alone would convince me that what I am hearing is classier. Thanks for the tip off. I'm glad you are happy with your desk. And as a gear dealer of any sort I think your testimonial is worthwhile.
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28th October 2012
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#18 | | Gear nut
Joined: May 2010 Location: Vancouver, BC
Posts: 128
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Did you really video this thing in HD and then put an old scratchy film filter on it? That's hilarious!  That's like using a high end Lavry converter to transfer an old gramophone recording.
Congrats on your purchase. I'm more than a little green (In a friendly way). Kind of reminiscent of a Neve Kelso no? But with direct outs.
My hats off to Geoff Tanner for building such a beautiful thing, but I'm having a little trouble with the economics of it. At 20K that's $4,000 per stereo pair. Ouch. Is there any difference in the console strips compared to his stereo mic pre's?
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28th October 2012
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#19 | | Lives for gear
Joined: Jul 2003 Location: Tujunga
Posts: 4,015
| Quote:
Originally Posted by voodoo4u Did you really video this thing in HD and then put an old scratchy film filter on it? That's hilarious! That's like using a high end Lavry converter to transfer an old gramophone recording.
Congrats on your purchase. I'm more than a little green (In a friendly way). Kind of reminiscent of a Neve Kelso no? But with direct outs.
My hats off to Geoff Tanner for building such a beautiful thing, but I'm having a little trouble with the economics of it. At 20K that's $4,000 per stereo pair. Ouch. Is there any difference in the console strips compared to his stereo mic pre's? | Hi
I'm not sure about your sums - less than $20K for ten channels of class A, transformer balanced, great mic pre and DI amps and 4 band EQ and P&G faders might indicate $2K per channel (which ain't bad for those features) but kind of ignores everything else - the sum of the parts, so to speak.
The Aurora Sidecar is all steel including huge rails and the steel welded module guide rails. Built like the proverbial brick s**t house and weighs around 130lbs.
That's all custom parts and the transformer in and out custom design 2T output PCB lurks under that full colour screened blank panel.
My number one priority is how a unit sounds and I believe the Aurora Sidecar does everything I expected and designed it to do... And with a price that really ain't too bad when you consider everything you get.....
Come to our booth and I or Edward can give you the tour... You will find it great value for money for a unit hand assembled in Hollywood and not built in China.
I guess, taking the chassis costs into effect, the channel costs ball parks at $1.5K per channel... That ain't bad...
Posted from my iPhone
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28th October 2012
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#20 | | Lives for gear
Joined: Apr 2005
Posts: 784
Thread Starter | Quote:
Originally Posted by voodoo4u Did you really video this thing in HD and then put an old scratchy film filter on it? That's hilarious! That's like using a high end Lavry converter to transfer an old gramophone recording.
Congrats on your purchase. I'm more than a little green (In a friendly way). Kind of reminiscent of a Neve Kelso no? But with direct outs.
My hats off to Geoff Tanner for building such a beautiful thing, but I'm having a little trouble with the economics of it. At 20K that's $4,000 per stereo pair. Ouch. Is there any difference in the console strips compared to his stereo mic pre's? | Yes, there is a significant difference in a console channel strip and a preamp. The Sidecar isn't exactly 'cheap', but you will be very hard pressed to find something comparable anywhere near this price range IMO. For me it is an excellent value.
The video was shot on an iPhone using the 8mm app.
Best,
Chris
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28th October 2012
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#21 | | Lives for gear
Joined: Aug 2007 Location: Sweden
Posts: 2,397
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Lovely! I love the Knight logo...
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29th October 2012
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#22 | | Moderator
Joined: Feb 2004 Location: Boston,MA Providence,RI
Posts: 16,335
| Quote:
Originally Posted by superwack Wow, congrats! I just wanted to second (third?) the great service. I went down Aurora earlier this year to pick up a GTP8 and Alan personally gave me a tour of the then secret sidecar (a hard secret I kept!) - great guy, basically invited me to stop by anytime to just hang out. I've also dealt with Edward and Geoff in-person as well... super jealous of your sidecar but happy to see them getting out in the wild. Have fun. | I couldn't agree more... Geoff, Alan and Edward are great people!  | |
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29th October 2012
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#23 | | Lives for gear
Joined: Jul 2012
Posts: 657
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15.000 EUR for a 10 channel sidecar? amazing! just when i was about to drop that exact dough on a second 33609iss12 and 6 1066. i have to rethink my next purchases now.
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29th October 2012
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#24 | | Lives for gear
Joined: Jul 2003 Location: Tujunga
Posts: 4,015
| Quote:
Originally Posted by nickelironsteel 15.000 EUR for a 10 channel sidecar? amazing! just when i was about to drop that exact dough on a second 33609iss12 and 6 1066. i have to rethink my next purchases now. | Hi
Yes indeedy, and you get ten killer channels with DI and four band EQ.... And new parts and a warranty that you won't get with the 1066's.
You would not be disappointed with the sound from the channel outs or the 2T bus amps.... Pure discrete transistor and 24 total transformers to go with your user name.
Plus it is all steel construction... except for the real leather buffer and solid wood side cladding! All the metalwork, panels, rails, even module guide rails, are heavy gauge mild steel.
It comes with a very comprehensive user handbook that includes detailed use and maintenance advice and circuit diagrams of the internal wiring.
We always design for the best sounding units... Our Aurora Sidecar is no exception!
Posted from my iPhone 4S
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30th October 2012
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#25 | | Lives for gear
Joined: May 2004 Location: Los Angeles ,Ca.
Posts: 9,413
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looks great.
how are you doing fx/verb returns on that bad boy?
must have a couple auxes right?
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30th October 2012
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#26 | | Lives for gear
Joined: Apr 2005
Posts: 784
Thread Starter |
Nope, I send effected tracks from the DAW. I think Geoff has stated that he had not intended the Sidecar to be a mixing console per se, but the result of mixing down 5 stereo stems through the Sidecar EQ and master bus was a revelation for me and, more importantly, the artist.
I'm moving to a new space this week but can't wait to spend some more time with this beast!
Best,
Chris
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30th October 2012
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#27 | | Lives for gear
Joined: Nov 2008 Location: Boynton Beach, FL
Posts: 3,969
| Quote:
Originally Posted by chrisrulesmore Nope, I send effected tracks from the DAW. I think Geoff has stated that he had not intended the Sidecar to be a mixing console per se, but the result of mixing down 5 stereo stems through the Sidecar EQ and master bus was a revelation for me and, more importantly, the artist.
I'm moving to a new space this week but can't wait to spend some more time with this beast!
Best,
Chris | You don't feel like you'll ever need at the very least inserts added to this thing? $20k for something I can't insert my $10-$20k worth of comps that took me some time to acquire? I really am seeing the need for at least 2 more channels and at least inserts on every channel.
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30th October 2012
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#28 | | Lives for gear
Joined: Jul 2003 Location: Tujunga
Posts: 4,015
| Quote:
Originally Posted by Slikjmuzik You don't feel like you'll ever need at the very least inserts added to this thing? $20k for something I can't insert my $10-$20k worth of comps that took me some time to acquire? I really am seeing the need for at least 2 more channels and at least inserts on every channel. | Hi
It's a sidecar, guys 
We also make the GTM822 2GN rack mounted console with pre-fade inserts in the channels and the stereo bus that can be built up with mic pre's, EQ's, extra busses via the Absolute 8 x 8 and 8 x 2, and various versions of remote fader panels in 8T and 16T format, with Talkback mics if required.
Also, there is a "link d-sub" at the rear that also enables the Aurora Sidecar to link to another console, or another console link to it, or it can link to another Aurora Sidecar.
We provide a very wide range of products to chose from...
E.G. Ivar Street | Aurora Audio  | |
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18th November 2012
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#29 | | Church of UAD
Joined: May 2003 Location: USA
Posts: 2,088
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Did I misread the specs, or is it line only? 1200 ohm, IIRC. no mention of phantom, but the pictures show mic names on console tape attached to it.
Anyway, if it does have pres are they the same as the GTQ2? Honestly, at the price they're at, not having pres makes a bit more sense.
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18th November 2012
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#30 | | Lives for gear
Joined: Jul 2003 Location: Tujunga
Posts: 4,015
| Quote:
Originally Posted by Matt Hepworth Did I misread the specs, or is it line only? 1200 ohm, IIRC. no mention of phantom, but the pictures show mic names on console tape attached to it.
Anyway, if it does have pres are they the same as the GTQ2? Honestly, at the price they're at, not having pres makes a bit more sense. | Hi
First point, no you can use it for mic or line inputs and those red illuminated switches turn on the phantom power. The yellow ones are phase reverse.
Second point, the gain with faders at max is 90dB so I believe you could say it has pres!
And yes, they are the same pres as the GTQ2 but we tweaked them, like feeding steroids, so they would fit in with a console style configuration. The phase works on both the channel outputs and the feed to the 2T busses.
Most pro equipment can (or should be able to) drive a 600 ohm load. So 1200 ohms, double that, should present no problems at all.
When the gain switch is at 0dB and the fader at 0dB, the channel is unity gain.
Crank the gain knob fully clockwise and push the fader to the top and you have 90dB gain .... The best of both worlds!
Posted from my iPhone using the Gearslutz app.
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