Above all things, 2008 will always be remembered as the year we all went broke. For the most part however that was ok, because for project studio engineers and weekend warrior musicians (read ‘the brokest of us all’), the industry provided solutions and devices that were fantastically functional and in many cases very affordable. From USB Microphones to Caps Lock Keyboards, technology put music in the hands of everyone, regardless of budget, musical background, and in some cases, actual talent.

With that in mind, and the hope that out of the masses now making music something good has to come, here is my list of the great eight audio happenings of 2008.

1. CEntrance Micport/Axport Pro

I came across these brilliant devices in ’07 but they did not hit the market until this past year. When they did, however, I like to think they did so by storm. I had mine as shortly after their release as possible, and copycat items quickly followed from MXL, Blue and several other notable names in the industry.The Micport is a 24bit/96kHz in-line XLR to USB converter that literally puts portable recording in the palm of your hand. Bus-powered, you simply plug any XLR mic (yes, any; it has its own phantom power) into one end and out comes high-quality USB audio straight into any DAW. The Axport is largely the same, substituting a 1/4” input jack for instruments and line inputs. Both also feature a built-in mini-headphone out for zero latency monitoring.

While the intention appears to be to capitalize on the democratization of portable recordings for singer/songwriters, what CEntrance didn’t count on was that they had created the perfect device for the modern field producer. I have plugged these bad boys into soundboard outputs, low-quality Radioshack mixers, video cameras, and even an old school record player to capture audio seamlessly into a Macbook. I have one of each, and they go with me everywhere. With a little bit of outside-the-box thinking, the Micport and Axport are more useful than an extra arm.

2.Guitar Hero / Rockband

Seeing the Rockband booth at NAMM in 2008 made me want to fall to my knees and throw my hands to heaven screaming, “Whyyyyyy!” But even so, there is simply no denying what the rise in popularity of Guitar Hero and Rockband has done for the music industry. It was just released that Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock was the first video game in history to pass $1 billion dollars in sales. The funny thing is that this has translated into increased music sales for artists whose songs are featured in the game, sometimes to the tune of increases of 800% or more!

Facing facts, educational funding for music programs has been fading away thru the past decade or more, and these games have put the drive and love for music back in the hands of an increasingly inactive youth. If playing these games makes kids want to really learn guitar, and makes kids appreciate the music of the past, well then I guess I can look beyond the obvious contradictions between playing them and really playing instruments. I will still however champion Washburn’s efforts to market Guitar Wizard (which is now called Disney Star Guitarist).

3. Melodyne Direct Note Access

I don’t even know where to start. Direct Note Access both scares me to death and makes me jump for joy. At the start of the year, when Celemony announced that they had cracked the mystery of how to separate notes played in a chord for targeted pitch correction, I thought to myself, “Oh great, get ready for the guitar playing T-Pain.” Luckily that hasn’t been the case, but rest assured, the potential is still there.

Now, I am not a computer engineer, but I am smart enough to figure out that what they are doing is isolating pitch frequencies to identify notes. That is why this wouldn’t work with separate instruments playing the same notes, but even still, the clarity, precision and versatility with which this technology works on a single recorded track makes me think that one day, it may become self-aware and start writing music without you.

4. Apple’s Logic Studio

When something becomes so powerful that people who have no musical background whatsoever can produce platinum tracks, then you know you have fire on your hands. Apple’s Logic overhaul really came into the spotlight this past year as the dominant force in DAWs.

The word of 2008 in the audio world was “democratization,” and Apple really led the charge with Logic Studio. They put one of the most powerful music creation packages together and then made it available at an unbelievable price. Skinning the already dominate MIDI production juggernaut of Logic 7 in a friendly GarageBand facade and stepping up the audio recording and editing abilities was key for Apple to win over the crowds that saw Logic 7’s Environment and went running for the hills. Throw in a ton of free production goodies and some killer virtual instruments, all designed with Apple’s notorious good looks and usability, and it is no wonder they have the rest of the DAW world playing catch-up.

To Be Continued...

Due to the fact that Matthew is a long-winded bag of rant, this blog will be presented in two parts. Please log back on next week for the four remaining items of his completely arbitrary top-8 list!

Matthew Hendershot is an audio engineer in New York City with a chip on his shoulder about the same size, and his editor Deborah Arndt is a panda tamer whose only religion is sugar.

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