Tonelux Designs, makers of recording consoles and console modules, has announced the release of the Tonelux OTB16, a 16-channel analog summing mixer that fits nicely into 1 rack space. Summing mixers -- such as the OTB16 -- are an ideal way to add an analog warmth element to digital mixes on a budget.

Priced at around $1800, the OTB16 is a fully-featured summing mixer with individual pan, level, and stereo slave control on each channel. Under the hood, TX-240 and TX-260 discrete op-amps on the summing bus provide warm, rich analog tone.

No shipping date has been announced.

Now that Pro Tools has had a few months' time untethered from Avid's hardware, I've been really interested to hear my readers' thoughts on the hardware they've been using. Many have stuck with Avid's racks and control surfaces -- or, most recently, I've heard of many plans to adopt the M-Audio (a subsidiary of Avid) interfaces now that Pro Tools MP 9 is out.

So, I'd love to hear your comments. Do you plan on using Avid hardware, now or in the future? Or are you more apt to use other brands now that it's not a complete requirement to use Avid hardware?

Lately, I've heard from a few readers with questions about how to best protect their hearing -- both in the studio and on stage. Protecting your hearing is one of the most important things that any musician and sound engineer should take seriously -- it's not something you can fix later on if you ruin it for yourself.

I've freshly updated our guide on hearing protection for musicians and sound engineers, and it's worth a read. Remember, the only cure for hearing loss is prevention -- and if you take the time to protect your most important assets now, you'll have a long a happy musical career in the future.

Following on the success of the introduction of Pro Tools 9, Avid Technology has introduced Pro Tools MP 9, an updated, feature-rich version of Pro Tools M-Powered, available with or without affordably-priced hardware bundles.

If you're looking for information on Pro Tools 9, check out our complete guide to Pro Tools MP 9. Pro Tools MP 9 offers some very surprisingly powerful features -- and it's interesting to see how much bang for the buck you can get with Pro Tools 9 compared to where we were just a few years ago!