Exclusive! Overloud's Simone Coen talks dongles, black sheep, TH1 and pizza...
Wednesday, October 15, 2008
Want to know more about the people behind our brands? What they get up to when they´re not working on new products or who their favourite bands are? Every other month we bring you an exclusive interview with one of the many talented people behind our products...
Overloud Audio Tools – the company that brought us the hi-end algorithmic reverberation plug-in Breverb last year is set to release TH1 this month – a virtual guitar amp plug-in based on 4th-generation technology. In the next of our exclusive supplier features, Overloud´s Sales and Marketing Manager Simone Coen indulges us with the lowdown on TH1, his opinion on the big ´dongle debate´ and why he´s a black sheep among a family of mad scientists...
For those of our first-time web visitors that are not so familiar with Overloud Audio Tools, please introduce yourself and your company background.
Hi, my name is Simone Coen and people I know have seen me playing guitar, arrange, produce, write reviews, teach and lead seminars on audio technology in the last 15 years or so. Overloud is based in Italy and has a strong technological background. While the brand is relatively new (2006), most of the guys involved in it have been in this business for some time – two of our main developers have had experience in other software firms and were among the pioneering developers of the first native software guitar amp emulation. Apart from the above-mentioned former activities, I produced a sample library for Scarbee in 2003 and 2005 and now I am running my own soundware company which goes under the name of Chocolate Audio.
What is the story behind the beginning of Overloud?
Overloud was born out of necessity: Thomas and Alfonso met 10 years ago as music lovers and software developers. They decided to start Overloud after developing some great products for others - like all people great at what they do in their own field, they were happy about the results but they felt they needed the kind of freedom in development that you can have only by running your own company.
The partners actively involved in the company are now three, while I work as an external consultant for marketing, sales and product design (for what I am able do); add to the recipe, a graphic designer, a web-manager, a couple of internal developers and some quite-involved friends and you can start to see the picture. Our commitment is in creating the highest quality plugins, while trying to make them great and easy to use; we don´t cut corners here: sometimes we went through some big-time delays due to the fact that we discovered how to further optimize the code for the GUI or how to save some CPU cycles while keeping the same audio quality. Thomas and Alfonso are two nerds when it comes to optimization in DSP code or GUI and UI management.
 How is Breverb different from other reverberation plug-ins?
Well, the same old marketing-oriented story is: we´re the best in what we do... just kidding. The idea at the heart of Breverb is: let´s make the vintage digital reverberation sounds from the 80s (still so much sought after) be available in a gorgeous, easy to use and affordable software-only package. Why? Because we all felt, as musicians and engineers, that there was a hole in what the market was offering. While you can find some pretty amazing convolution-based reverbs on the software market, algorithmic-based reverbs with a lush and huge sound are nowhere to be found, especially at our price tag of 299 Euros (£199). Thomas had made an academic research in the field of emulation of digital vintage gear but he wanted to first explore the analog, tube-based world that he´s so much into (our brand new TH1 is there to testify it).
We convinced him in trying to dive into this other world first and when we got his enthusiasm on it, we found that the research he made a few years ago, was already a great product by itself: we just needed ´some´ tweaking and an easy-to-use interface. Almost 12 months later Breverb was available to the world and I can tell you our users are raving about it: there´s people who sold their hardware or using Breverb alongside their revered hardware reverbs and this is rewarding since they keep saying that this is the first time they can´t tell Breverb is a software reverberation: they just get a different ´taste´ or colour out of Breverb when compared to the big names in hardware reverbs. So we succeeded in getting a native software reverb up to par with top level hardware reverbs, something nobody else seemed to have done before... and if you also consider the fact that this beast doesn´t hog the CPU, then you´ll understand why our users are so into Breverb.
Your software requires an iLok key to run – how do you feel about the level of debate within the industry press and online forums about the use of keys/dongles with music software?
Let me tell you a little Italian story (but I am afraid it can be applied to the whole world): a few years ago, I used to do a lot more music production than I do now. I used to be a freelance tracking/mixing engineer, technician, producer and programmer back then, so I had lots of chances to produce or attend sessions in different studios where it happened to me to meet many musicians and engineers. Most of them used to complain about the whole mp3 thing: that this whole ´sharing-craze´ was going to destroy their own careers and so on. Partly they were right. There was a thing that struck me all of the time: they were complaining about music-piracy, but most (about 90%) of them were using almost only pirated software that allowed them in the end to earn money as studio wages, royalties or copyrights.
This said, if we were in a perfect world, then we could live without protection, but the iLok (or any other protection system) is something which is needed for many reasons.
First, developers need to sell software in order to survive and further develop their products. Second, we try to be as fair as possible towards users: we let them test Breverb for 2 days even if they don´t have an iLok, then for 14 days with an iLok. Third, as odd as it may sound, there are a lot of professionals around that love iLoks: the insurance they can buy to cover them against breakage or theft, the idea of having all their authorizations on the iLok, not depending on the machine itself: for example, in my own sample production business, I transfer iLoks all of the time between our 6 Macs in order to have one computer process with the plugins needed at that time, something I couldn´t be able to do if I had a 2-machine install software authorization without buying more licenses that we´d never use at the same time). Fourth, the dealers need to know that the product they have in stock and that they invested in are a good investment over time: since iLok is harder to break into and it´s a very diffused system (especially among PT users), it all makes sense to them.
Again, I have always loved software which needed no authorization (not even a serial, maybe) because of the hassle-free install, but I am sure that without dongles or authorizers this industry would be much smaller and the first to suffer from this would be the end users.
Of the many well-known producers and guitarists who use Breverb which ones give you the greatest pleasure to be associated with?
Personally, I am very pleasured to be associated with any great musician or producer using Breverb, be her/him famous or not. Well, to tell you the truth, there was a time when I was amazed about a VIP user: when Eric Bazilian, a guy who wrote some of my favourite songs, was put in copy in an email from another famous user and this guy was recommending Breverb to Eric and Eric to us as an endorser. But I can tell you, I have never been the jaw-dropping kind of guy in front of famous people just because of their name and we have the same policy at Overloud: we respect them and their work as much as they respect us and our work.
What would you most like Time+Space customers to know about Overloud?
We´re very passionate, focused and having a technological background, we´re here to stay. Our product line will steadily grow and our ambition is to be faithful to our mission: produce high quality software by using the best DSP technology available and the best and most innovative user interfaces around.
You have probably seen significant changes within the computer-based music industry over the last 2 to 3 years, what significant developments do you predict over the next 2 or 3 years?
This industry, like any other, follows trends: each trend tends to last 2 to 3 years. We had the sequencer years in the 90s, then the audio sequencers era, then the virtual FX era, then the VI era... In these last years the scene seems a bit slow in terms of news, I mean, we have lots of daily news from many developers and makers but there is no more THE big news we used to have back then. This means that the industry is slowly stabilizing and people are getting used to having these tools around.
The development I see for the future is all in three words: integration, portability, performance. Integration between different products and especially with hardware controllers (where we expect some development in the near future). Portability: the chance to have more and more powerful systems and put them in the hands of musician on the road or practicing musicians needing quality at a lower cost but also durability. Performance: meaning both the performance of DSP/CPUs, making sure we can fully use all of the bits available, all the cores and all the memory; we´re proud at Overloud to be among the best in this business when it comes to the quality/DSP power ratio. Performance also means getting in the hands of performing musicians, because we all feel that computers need to become easier to grasp and especially easier to control... and this relates strictly with the former two words.
If you hadn´t become a member of the MI industry what would you have done for a living?
Let me see... I come from a family of mad scientists: 3 degrees in math and 1 in engineering, no signs of music here, apart from a brother born in the 60s with a passion for the Beatles and Simon & Garfunkel. How could he? He was a teenager when the Police, the Led Zepp, the punk scene... I mean all the great music from the 70s was hip and he was listening to 10 years old music!
In Italy we use a term to define the guy who broke the family rules: a black sheep. I am surely one: my Sicilian grandfather passed away before I switched to music 100%. My Jewish grandfather died even before... so my duties to both traditions were a little loosened, luckily I could envision myself being forced to work as a bank accountant in some odd Italian place...
When I graduated after high school I badly wanted to study either Physics or History, but I also wanted to play music so I ended up with aerospatial engineering – that meant an easy-to-get, safe and long-lasting job in the early 90s here in Italy, while my two main passions would have meant low wages as a professor, (a no-go for someone who´s principal dream was in a though-world like the music scene). I lasted 1 year there then I left for the USA to pursue my dream.
What type of music do you most enjoy and do you have any favourite composers/artists/bands?
Already answered this in part, the artists are too many, so I´ll give you an idea of what I have currently on my iPods: Peter Gabriel. The Beatles, The Police, Led Zeppelin, Dire Straits, Prince, Dvorak, Penderecki, John Williams, some Zimmer, Danny Elfman, Depeche Mode, Craig Armstrong, Fiona Apple, Jack Johnson, Evanescence, Metallica, NIN, Outkast, Sly and the Family Stone, Jimi, Goldfrapp... that enough?
What are your other interests and hobbies outside your musical activities?
Movies, reading, watching Formula 1 and Moto-GP races and of course history-related stuff and technology... then I am forced to, erm, love some kind of sport (practised), due to my love for food... ;-)
TH1 will be released by the end of the month (October). How would you describe this product to Time+Space customers?
TH1 is what we call the fourth generation in guitar amp emulation: Thomas (our DSP guru) has been a pioneer in this field and we feel we have another winner here. We tried to address three main areas: sound quality, GUI and look and user interface.
When it comes to sound I can tell you that this is the first product of its kind that I enjoy playing and that allows me to get my sounds very much like I do with my hardware guitar setup; this is not the fruit of improvisation but comes from the privilege of an engine who´s been continuously developed for years and still is getting refined every day, we´re not improvising here, but leading long lasting research on what we love.
GUI: sometimes people cares a lot about features, but they often forget that the best feature is a nice looking GUI that also naturally leads the user in mastering the product with the minimum fuss while giving them the idea of using something beautiful (beauty is not a necessity, but it always helps). User interface is in a way strictly connected to the GUI, but it´s a world by itself when it comes to the solutions we worked on for TH1: I am talking about things like the revolutionary Smart Controls and the life-like renditions of the different modules making it very simple to build your own sound by rearranging the stomp boxes, the amplifiers, the cabinets and the rack effects in a life-like way.
What are the features of TH1 that please you the most?
First, sound – this has to be the number one feature in any audio-related product! Then, the ability to morph between amps: this creates an infinite canvas of tones impossible to find in real life; the ease of dealing with TH1 without having to be a space-scientist; this is mainly due to the guitarist-oriented look and interface and to the Smart Control section where the most important sound parameters are easily grouped and named; the ease of going deep with TH1 like space scientists can do, never losing sight of what´s happening in the signal flow; the ease of controlling and setting up custom presets; the ability to move the mics in 3D, making the virtual mic´ing experience very similar to what happens in a real studio.
And finally, as you/Overloud are Italian we can´t finish the interview without asking - what´s your favourite pizza topping?!
I am a traditional guy, I love it the good and simple old way, with tomato sauce, mozzarella cheese and a leaf of basil.
Thanks Simone!
Click here see Simone demonstrating Breverb at the Frankfurt Musikmesse 2008
Click here for demos and more info about TH1
Click here for demos and more info about Breverb
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