About Me
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Quick list and description of gear here at my studio.Mac G4 dual 1.42ghz & Protools LE - Various plugins. Favorites are the EMT 250 reverb IR and Vocalign. Plugin eqs and comps dont seem to be close to real outboard gear.Lucid AD9624 - Decent sounding A-D converter gets you past that Protools lackluster conversion.Neumann M269c tube microphone - Ranks up there with the top 5 of the best vintage mics. Now everyone knows this is a U67 by trait, but with the AC701 tube it gives you a bit more top and slightly quieter signal. Everyone who has recorded with one has been charmed by its big natural tone. Purchased this one back in 2000 prior to the DM being phased out.
Wiring up the Gotham cable to the N52 was a chore and I'll post the entire wiring scheme in my photo section soon.
Here's something to keep in mind about the battle of which mic is best...Klaus Heyne once stated, is having one of each type capsule in a mic collection. One mic with a KK67, a KK47, and a mic with a CK12 capsule. Great wisdom...pick three ranging from a U87, U67, M269, 367, SM69, U47, fet 47, U48, M49, C12, C24, Elam 250/1, C12a, C412, C414. Doesnt matter which models, basically you'll end up with a solid starting point when recording that will never be outdated. The low end collection would be an 87, 414, and a fet 47 for about $5K for the three. Those 3 have been industry standards for 40 years! *Disclaimer: I know an M7 capsule can also be substituted for the KK47, some prefer the M7 over the KK47* BTW all of you curious readers get a myspace and say hi, or at least email me at my yahoo address...thank youTelefunken KM254 tube mic - pure nickle diaphram & AC701 powered mic which pushes it to be nearly the ultimate mic for acoustic guitar. Wonderful vintage tube mic with a nice tight pattern, soild low end and non metallic sounding which makes it great for acoustic guitars.
(Bettered only by my previous pair Neumann KM53's. The late Stephen Paul commented the KM53 is the only mic he couldn't better by his own hand. You hear the wood and soul of the guitar without the boom or honkiness that everyone dials out anyway. In other words no eq needed!) I'm also lovin my M269c for acoustic gtr, needs a bit more eq than the 54 but still fits the track like a glove.Beyer M380n - The friend of low end, my favorite dynamic mic, has a nice big bottom waaayyy down, peaks below 50hz. Someone once said its a poor mans RCA44 but this is bi-directional dynamic - no ribbon needed! EV RE20 - Kick and vocals, every mic locker should have one of these along with a few SM57's.The honorable EMI REDD 47 (2) - John Hinson's recreation of the tube microphone preamp found in the Beatles era REDD 51 console at Abbey Road. I could write a book on how sweet sounding it is, silky, huge, and 3D...not a tube sound you would ever expect. Beatles recordings from '64 to 68 1/2.. Studio 2 in Abbey Road.
The REDD 47 shares NOTHING in common with the later EMI TG desks, which are solid state. By Geoff Emericks account the TG fell short of the REDD 37's and REDD 51 used at the time. Meanwhile, at home here testing both older and new REDD was interesting, the Red panel seems to have quite a bit of low end..5db more around 100-200hz and less top beyond 7k than the silver one. The silver REDD47 is much flatter it seems, so next plan is send white noise through both and compare using an analyzer in the DAW. Maybe a fresh set of tubes for the older REDD 47 is in order....its been 9 years now.Quad Eight MM310 (2) - Mic pre/3 band eq, discrete AM4 opamp circuit, class A/B...sick amount of gain and character, and refuse to distort when pushed. The two here are from the Motown LA "Sunrise" console. In the early 70's Poppy studios was opened indepedently, two rooms with matching 20 input Quad Eight orange consoles, one dubbed "Sunrise" (facing east) and the other larger room "Sunset" (facing west) later purchased by Barry Gordy which starts the beginning Motown West (LA). This link gives further info:
http://soulfuldetroit.com/archives/3838/4200.html?1057283349
MT
Thanks goes out to Richard Kaplan for selling MM310's out of the Indigo Ranch studio collection, and Ken at Orphan Audio for racking this pair. I knew I should've bought more when I had the chance..dang it!UA 2100sc (1) - UA 2100s (2) - UA 2100s is a unique channel strip that Bill Putman designed and installed at United-Western & Coastal recording studios circa 1968. Based around his design of the UREI 1108 class A mic pre, 508 eq section and the optional optical compressor (called the 2100sc). The Universal Audio 2100s design is basically a mic pre, two band eq, and an aux send and fader..The SC adds the compressor option, (when racked will act as the final output stage). The units here dates around 1969. For those looking for documentation for thier modules I have a 24 page manual and schematics for the UA2100s. Both 2100s modules are now sold, just the one left with the optional compressor.B&B CX-1 compressors (6) - Basic and kinda like the SM57 of compressors, decent on everything and sometimes great. They pop right into a API 500 series lunchbox, clean and smooth, push these to a GR of -06 to -10db and you can't tell its actually working! Maybe the meters are broken but they track perfectly so how could that be? These CX1's were made in '79 and each have that nice fat Jensen output transformer.Manley 10db Limiter/Compressor (1) - A mono vari-mu thats *supposedly* a Gates Sta-Level reincarnated to serve the recording studio instead of radio era broadcast limiter duties. Great on bass gtr as expected, but honestly I havent found that magical setting yet...maybe that 6386 is kaput. I think older versions are David Manley "VTL" called a Lim-Com.Eventide Harmonizer H910, The classic doubling/pitch shifting processor. A little goes a long way as this thing has tons of character and vibe. You get subtle cool flanging out this box, fun, fat and thick sounding. Love the term "Anti-feedback"Sony DPS V77 what doesnt this thing do? Hard 'verb to beat for the money and sounds great...two internal dsp engines that are controlled by 5 pages of parameters with a mix page for the two. Sweet! Roland SRV2000 reverb - a classic from the 80's, deepest thing I've got in my rack, I mean looonnng, like a shelf...also did you know there's a secret DDL inside this thing?, DeltaLab ADM 1024 (I've had this since 1985 bought new from the legendary "Modern Music" store on Oakland Pk Blvd.) My original Effectron is still sweeping away...I've put this poor DDL through hell and back and sounds like heaven.Dynaudio BM6A monitors - Best pair of monitors you can get for under $1800, fast approaching 8 years that I've had these...Roland Jupiter 6 and D50, classic synths that cover a huge range of sonic textures. I've tried all the virtual software vintage remakes, remodelers, and visually realistic clones, nothing can replace classic insturments in tone or playablity. Sometimes you need to get away from the computer and just play!!!Fender Stratocaster - 1979, Black/Maple tremelo..had her since 1980 and a real neccesity when recording, probably the heaviest strat you'll ever have hangin on ur neck...but has a wonderful Strat tone especially through the next item below..Guild D40NT - 1976, Tone to the bone, not like the pretty boutique sounding six stringers you hear constantly these days. How many songs will this thing continue to provide? Nearly a hundred and counting. Noticed Bob Clearmountain like these too if that means anything.Ovation 1615-4 - Deep bowl 12 string with the old open headstock, only sounds good
with Martin silk and steel strings..and beleive me after 26 years of trying different ones
they are the only ones that work. Bought used in 1981 from Modern Music west. "Dave Morgan, you should have given me a discount!"Hiwatt Lead 30 combo, this 9 tube monster was built with the Marshall preamp in mind and a Vox AC30 for the power section. So many tones it gives, brutal to blues...Right after the Van Halen concert here Feb 12th (Eddie wasnt happy with his gtr sound) they pulled all of the tubes and the next day I found an abandoned box of 8 JJ Tesla 12AX7's- actually (ECC83S). Not only that, 17 pair of 6L6GC's also! Promptly pulling my worn out Mullards, inserting the basically new ECC83s's, me ol Hiwatt opened up in ways I never thought possible! The second show here Feb 20th, I got to talk at length with his guitar tech which cleared up many questions about Eddie's tone and setup. Even more interesting was the old Cadac FOH console he insisted they use.Vox AD60VT - Josi's favorite amp, lots of variations 'cause of the funky tone modeling design, I'm liking it, cool vibey sounds not chunky and massive and not every song calls for a "full range" amp.
I planned to reel in a small format Trident, Quad Eight or Neve console for tracking, but prices are far too high for me so...I settled for a really nice Amek TAC Bullet. Not the best but has the all important "mono" button, and sounds half way decent...the PSU had more dust than I pull out of my dryer. This little 16 channeler needs a nice bath in Caig DeOxit! Then we'll see how good it sounds.Bottom line is trying not to use gear with IC's (chips) in your front end before the A/D converters, thus the quest for classic discrete and tube gear.
