Avastor hard drives are favorites of Encore Data Products pro A/V customers.  The company has become a global supplier for people recording music, editing for film and more. 

I spoke with Avastor, Inc. co-founder Richard Wilson the other day about their company...here is what I found out:

1. What is your background that led you to start a pro A/V drive company?
I started way back in 1979 working for Texas Instruments (in the oil exploration business), using mainframe computers and one inch and half inch computer tape!   In 1987 I joined 3M handling the UK pro audio/video tape business.   Hard drives are now the new tape-certainly for audio.   It was time to produce a hard drive product designed for professional applications.

2. What are the biggest changes you've seen in the last 5 years in music recording?
The smaller demand for analog tape and the move to affordable digital workstations that are easy to use.

3. Any predictions on the next 5 years?
Higher sampling rates and bit depth to provide content for DVD-HD and Blu-Ray DVD.

4. Why go with Avastor over a drive you can find on the shelf of your  local computer big box store?
As stated previously, it was time to introduce a robust external hard drive, which could handle the rigors of editing- as well as stream large track counts of high resolution audio and video.  All our drives are 100% speed tested, fan cooled and come in a robust LockBox – ideal for shipping and storing.  Consumer drives simply do not offer this protection and performance for your valuable masters.

5. Any new products on the horizon?
We have some new RAID products – as well as other storage solutions coming.

Encore Data Products is offering a FREE Avastor T-Shirt with every Avastor drive order...while supplies last. 

Since Encore Data Products does most business online our web store had to work well, be user-friendly, have a decent look and most importantly leave customers wanting to return.   we shopped around prior to partnering with a firm to build our online store in 2006.  After checking out various store software versions and companies who created stores we ended up going with Ryan Design Studio.

 The result exceeded our expectations and the store looks great.  I spoke with Padraic Ryan, founder of Ryan Design Studio, to get a little information on their company and find out what makes them successful:

 Tell us a little about Ryan Design Studio 

 I formed Ryan Design Studio back in 2003 as an Architecture and Web Development firm. Architecture and Web Design may sound like two totally unrelated fields, but from a design perspective they are essentially the same thing: solving a problem using design. While the housing market slowed here in the Northeast, the e-commerce market was growing at an exponential rate, so we decided to drop Architecture all together and focus solely on e-commerce and other web development projects.

 Originally Ryan Design Studio was only myself, but I now have two graphic designers and two programmers who I partner with on most projects. This not only keeps our designs fresh and different, but also allows me to give our clients the one on one support that they have grown accustomed to.

Why did you end up focusing on X-Cart store software over some other choices?

 When we were developing our first e-commerce store back in the early 90s, we had to essentially build our own shopping cart system using a programming language called CGI. Over the years, there have been more and more companies who offer pre-made systems, and we have tried most of them. We finally settled on X-Cart mainly due to their extremely flexible system and the extensive development community that has grown up around it. There are literally hundreds of add-on modules available, and most importantly, the code allows us to integrate any look we want into the template system. We have found it to be a great platform.

Does your company offer services other than X-Cart design?

We originally offered Architectural services as well as web development, but have since dropped our Architectural practice. We specialize mainly in e-commerce sites built with X-Cart, but also build 'brochure' type sites for businesses who are just looking for a web presence or on-line portfolio of projects. We also run our own hosting service that is geared primarily for our X-Cart clients.

If you are looking for a company to get your business online we recommend Ryan Design Studio; for more information you can contact them here.   

Prior to starting Encore Data Products I used to co-own a tape supply company in Burbank, CA. The company started out as a 3M distributor moving a lot of 3M 996 open reel tape. Soon after Ampex signed us up and then BASF. A decent-sized recording project would use 20-50 reels of 2"  tape and often more. Since tape is now about $225 per reel of 2" x 2500' I dug back to see what it cost about 10 years ago....somewhere in the neighborhood of $125 depending on which version you went with. While researching I found a studio price sheet for Mitch Easter's Drive-In Recording Studio from 1980.  Tape at that studio in 1980 was $110 per reel.  Costs have doubled but since demand has dropped considerably I guess $225 is not too bad for "that great analog sound".

Mitch Easter is one of those great musician/producer/engineer guys who fronted an excellent band Lets Active.

One of the best shows I've ever seen was at the late, great 688 club in Atlanta, GA that Let's Active headlined.  After not letting anyone in until very late due to sound check issues (if I remember correctly) we finally saw them go on about 1 in the morning.  Definitely worth the wait.

I have never met Mitch but he always seemed like the kind of person you would want to be in a band with.  He has a new CD out now you can order here. 

Analog tape is definitely back. Product was never completely gone but it was close. I caught up with Doug Bernhardt, western regional sales manager for RMGI North America, our source for RMG tape in the United States.

He was kind enough to answer a few questions I had about the current state of tape:

What has the response been to being the only active pro analog tape supplier in the U.S.?

Everyone has been very supportive, and in fact enthusiastic with the reintroduction of the analog tape products. People want to know the history of RMGI from its roots with AGFA, BASF, and EMTEC. They want assurances we will continue the analog product. And our job is to create that comfort level that RMGI is here to stay.

I know there have been some issues with earlier reels of tape....what's the latest?

RMGI expected some initial issues with the move from Germany to Holland, and we have had some issues. But to their credit RMGI has been extremely responsive to our problems here in North America. They have made the necessary corrections to the product and the current inventory is performing to the high level we all had expected. There are still isolated issues, but we are dealing with them as quickly as we are aware of them. And would ask users to contact us immediately if any problem, no matter how small crops up.

Different markets are using the different formulations...what tapes are being used in your main markets?

The SM900 has been the main product of choice in the studios, as it was when it was produced by EMTEC. The SM911, which is the equivalent of the discontinued 456, has had a resounding increase in sales. And even the original AGFA 468 has been getting new users to its fold. But SM900 is still the major player in the analog world. How is the current supply in the U.S.? Our first inventory levels were based on a shared market with Quantegy. So, we were caught a little short with their discontinuation, but we again have had excellent support from RMGI. Along with an increase in our ship containers, they have been shipping by air critical product to us when needed. We seem to be working on a JIT (just in time) inventory, but we fully intend to have at least a 30+ day inventory of all required product for our dealers. We are getting close, but not quite there as yet. Demand has been intense for 1/2" product, and we are working hard to maintain inventory for immediate release.

Any parting comments?

I can't say enough about the dealers and clients positive attitude with all the changes in the analog market the last few months. We hope everyone understands we are doing all we can to satisfy all concerned. And we hope that with a little patience from all we will get back to a stable market. Where one can order, receive and record on the analog product and concentrate on just making music.

Thanks Doug for taking some time with us. We are looking forward to supplying studios and musicians with RMG...long live analog!

This is one to look out for. Daniel Lanois has an incredible production history working with the likes of U2 and Brian Eno and has put out some fantastic recordings. His upcoming movie looks to be very interesting...check out the trailer.

Here's a great link discussing the benefits of open reel analog tape.  Shelby Lynne is a fantastic artist...buy her stuff!

Since analog 2 inch tape is about $235 a reel vs. $120 or so 10 years ago it is definitely an investment.  Luckily there are artists who demand that "warm analog sound"... 

I had the pleasure yesterday of speaking with Ron Powell, owner or Vista Audio Productions, Inc. in Florida.  I could tell right away his experience and attention to detail is why clients keep coming back.

His services include recording, digital audio enhancements, duplication and more.   If you are in the market for quality work definitely visit Vista Audio Productions for information.  

Happy Veteran's Day; this is a day we should all say thanks to the men and women in our armed forces.  Your service is appreciated!