We have developed devices to amplify and record a number of acoustic instruments. On this page you’ll find demonstrations of some of  our devices and their features. Though not exhaustive, these are good examples of the basic capabilities and features of our devices, some of them in difficult acoustic environments.

• Interactive Video Demos
  • Guitar
  • Strings
  • Drums
  • Ukulele
• Standard Video Demos
  • Guitar
  • Strings
  • Drums

Interactive Video Demos

You’ll be able to solo different audio tracks to explore the capabilities of the Your Heaven^® Close-Up^® and EzQ^® devices for yourself. We also have non-interactive versions of some of these demos.

Close-Up^® Mic System for Guitar

Close-Up^® Mic System for Strings

EzQ^® Drum System

Close-Up^® Mic System for Ukulele

Note: We’re still working on the Close-Up^® Mic System for Ukulele – the following demos show our current progress with this instrument. They are not the a final product.

Browser Compatibility: These interactive demos require a modern web browser that supports HTML5 such as Firefox^®, Chrome^®, Safari^® or Internet Explorer^® 11+. You can use the demonstrations on mobile devices, but you may see a still image instead of video on older iPhones. On older browsers that don’t support HTML5, links to older Quicktime-based versions will appear on some of the demo pages.

Standard Video Demos

These videos are not interactive. Instead they have on screen text explanations.

Close-Up^® Mic System for Guitar

Guitar Demo 1 with Arc Iris

(this is the non-interactive version of the one above)
The band Arc Iris performs live. The sound switches between a stereo room mic and the Your Heaven^® Close-Up^® Guitar System. See the interactive Arc Iris page for more description (and a chance to do the switching yourself):

Your Heaven ® Close-Up ® Guitar System – Live Band from Steve Schwartz on Vimeo.

Guitar (Nylon Strings) Demonstration

This video demonstrates the similarity of the Your Heaven^® Close-Up^® Guitar System sound to an excellent recording microphone (DPA4036), and shows how well it rejects the sound of a nearby drumset:

Your Heaven ® – Nylon vs Drums from Steve Schwartz on Vimeo.

 

String Quartet Demonstrations

These videos demonstrate the results of the Your Heaven^® Close-Up^® String System devices for violin, viola, and cello (string quartet). There is also a version for bass.

String Demo 1 with the CMW Fellows Quartet

(this is the non-interactive version of the one above)

The Community Music Works Fellows String Quartet performs Beethoven Quartet in F Major, Opus 59 live in concert. The sound switches between a stereo room mic and the Your Heaven^® Close-Up^® Guitar System. See the interactive CMW page for more description (and a chance to do the switching yourself):

Your Heaven ® Close-Up ® String System – String Quartet Live Performance from Steve Schwartz on Vimeo.

 

Cello System vs. a ‘pickup’ (contact mic).

Recorded during a rehearsal in a living room, the rehearsal included a mic’d vocal,  pedal steel guitar (amplified), trumpet, upright piano, cello (amplified with a Your Heaven^® Close-Up^® Cello system) and acoustic guitar (amplified with a Your Heaven^® Close-Up^® Guitar system). The cello had a ‘pickup/contact mic’ of some sort attached, which was recorded on a separate track, but not otherwise used during the rehearsal.

Your Heaven ® Close-Up® Cello System vs a “Pickup” from Steve Schwartz on Vimeo.

 

Different Trains and Beethoven

These string instrument examples were all recorded at a live concert at RISD’s Metcalf Hall. It has a wood floor stage, and the string quartet played in their normal arrangement, a five or six foot semi-circle that is graphically represented in the video. Each instrument was recorded through one of our specialized devices to a separate track, then mixed, without effect except for a small amount of reverb. The performance was simultaneously recorded with an Audio Technica AT822 (X-Y coincident stereo microphone) placed about 6 feet from the front-most strings. The video format uses graphic representations of placement with descriptive text, and is self explanatory when watching.

Different Trains – String Systems vs. Loud Monitors

This example is from Steve Reich’s “Different Trains”, performed at the concert.

• The piece involves a live quartet accompanied by prerecorded tracks (three other string quartets, recorded train sounds, and recorded speech, all supplied on a CD that comes with the rented parts).
• The instructions specify for the musicians to be amplified in a particular way, and to have monitors loudly playing the prerecorded tracks directly at them. During rehearsal, the violist (closest to one of the monitor speakers, inches from his foot) complained that it was hurting his ear, so the engineer turned it down to just the point where it did not hurt.
• There was also a much louder PA system aimed at the audience, playing both the prerecorded tracks and the quartet amplified through our system.

The AT822 ‘room’ recording alternates with solo’d instrument mics (with no reverb added). It demonstrates dramatically how well we isolate while still getting an excellent representation of the acoustic sounds:

Your Heaven ® Close-Up® String System – Compare to Room with loud monitors from Steve Schwartz on Vimeo. Demonstration of Your Heaven® Close-Up® String Instrument Microphones – Isolation with loud monitors – quality ambient room recording vs. our individual mics.

Beethoven String Quartet No. 13

The music in these two examples is from Beethoven String Quartet No. 13, op. 130, Movement 5 (“Cavatina”).

This first one demonstrates the isolation achieved. The mix of the four tracks was not altered at all – each solo’d section is simply the three other instrument tracks muted:

Your Heaven^® Close-Up^® String System – Isolation Demo with Solo Mics from Steve Schwartz on Vimeo. Demonstration of Your Heaven^® Close-Up^® String Instrument Microphones – Isolation – a mix of our system vs. our individual mics.

This one compares the mix of our 4 mics and the AT822. The main point is that we have a lovely sound, in our honest view easily competitive with the well recorded acoustic sound of the instruments:

Your Heaven^® Close-Up^® String System – Compare to Ambient Room Mic from Steve Schwartz on Vimeo. Demonstration of Your Heaven® Close-Up® String Instrument Microphones – Quality – a mix of our system compared to a high quality ambient room recording.

Drum Demonstrations

Here are examples of the Hi-Hat Remover function of the Your Heaven^® Close-Up^® EzQ^® Snare Drum System. This function greatly reduces bleed of the hi-hat into the snare mic, allowing the user to adjust their levels and pan and apply effects almost completely independently.

The first one is the most telling of the Hi-Hat Remover demos, if you’re in a hurry, just watch this one.

Snare Drum with Hi-Hat Remover (HHR) – Snare sound not affected while HiHat sound is reduced.

This is a demonstration of the Your Heaven^® Close-Up^® EzQ^® Snare Drum Microphone channel of our drum system. The effect of the Hi-Hat Remover function is demonstrated in four sections, described in text on the screen as they happen. You will hear:

1. Play only Snare, turning HHR control barely affects sound.
2. Play HiHat with Snare – control reduces HiHat but no change in snare sound (as in #1)
3. Play only HiHat – hear drastic reduction of HiHat sound
4. Repeat of #1, here for contrast after HiHat change in #3.

The Snare and HiHat hits were all recorded live in one take, no changes of microphone or anything else. The only thing changing is the actual knob you see being turned. Everything else remains untouched.

Your Heaven^® Close-Up^® EzQ^® Drum System – Hi-Hat Remover from Steve Schwartz on Vimeo. Demonstration of Your Heaven^® Close-Up^® EzQ^® Snare Drum Microphone Hi-Hat Remover function – Section one with Hi-Hat moving, section 2 with Snare drum moving.

Snare Drum with Hi-Hat Remover – stereo placement flexibility

This is a demonstration of the Your Heaven^® Close-Up^® EzQ^® Snare Drum Microphone, as recorded with our complete drum system in a recording studio. Aside from allowing better control over the sound of each instrument, the system also allows unusual ease of stereo placement of the individual drums.

The effect of the Hi-Hat Remover function is demonstrated twice – section one with Hi-Hat moving, section 2 with Snare Drum moving. You will hear that the location and tonal quality of the fixed (non-moving) instrument is unchanged, while the other instrument is hard-panned to extreme L and R positions. The mix itself was as for use in a piece of music, and was not altered for this demonstration. The only thing that changes in each of these mixes is the pan control for whichever instrument is moving. Everything else remains untouched.

Your Heaven^® Close-Up^® EzQ^® Drum System – Hi-Hat Remover Operation from Steve Schwartz on Vimeo. Demonstration of Your Heaven^® Close-Up^® EzQ^® Snare Drum Microphone Hi-Hat Remover In Operation – Hear changes made while watching control being turned.

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