What's the final piece of the puzzle? Pic included...
May 10, 2021 22:41:32 GMT -6
hadaja likes this
Post by gravesnumber9 on May 10, 2021 22:41:32 GMT -6
Ok, I've been doing an upgrade on my project studio and I'm nearing the end of the line here. I believe that my biggest need is one more vocal microphone. I also have four open 500 series slots and I think I'm going to pick up a 1U headphone amp. I've got a pic below of the studio, got a rack on the way for all this stuff not pictured. Budget is $3k. But nothing wrong with coming under budget!
I'm going to post current gear list at the bottom of this post but first my intended uses and then some of my mic targets. Sorry for the long post but you guys are all insanely knowledgable and I figure the more info I give you on what I would do with this stuff, the better the recommendations I'll get back.
Also at the bottom is a link to my own singing which might help some of you golden ear wizards steer me right.
Uses
- My primary target for my studio is singer/songwriter and indie types looking for creativity over big studio sound. Nathaniel Ratliffe would like the vibe. So would Blake Mills (are you out there Blake? Let's be friends) or guys like Doug Paisley or Hiss Golden Messenger. I've also been kind of a niche session hire doing keys for psych rock type stuff and lots of cosmic country type stuff. Nothing wrong with a little Doug Sahm.
Anyway, those are the styles of the sort of people who are expressing interest and have been coming by to be guinea pigs. It's a style I can nail without having to make my room do something it can't or shouldn't.
- Drums, when there are drums, are usually done with a Recorder Man style or a M/S overhead with kick and snare. I've been using an M160 and a R10 for this along with a 57 on snare and a M88 on kick. It's coming out all right, not thrilled with the kick but that's probably me, not the mic.
- Electric guitars are usually one of Silvertone Twin Twelve, Blues Jr, Vox Pathfinder, or a 90's era blackface Deluxe if I need to rattle the windows. Or whatever anyone brings in. Current technique is M160 at a mid distance blended with a TLM102 at the back of the room. Seems to be working.
- Keys are mostly MIDI though I do sometimes track on an incredibly well maintained 1920's Wurlitzer full size upright. But it's a pain in the ass to be honest. I prefer MIDI and then running it through some analogue processing later.
- Bass I run direct. Usually through a SansAmp, sometimes just straight into 4-710 with the drive pretty well pushed.
- I do a fair amount of horns and accordion and random instruments with session players I'm friends with to spice things up. It's a key value proposition for me that I can call on musician buddies who owe me favors and get a good price for my clients. Never needed anything other than m160 and TLM 102 here.
And then the grandaddy instrument of them all... vocals.
This gets us to where I think I can upgrade with the most impact. My two primary vocal mics are the SM7 and the TLM 102. I've gotten great sounds out of both but I think I need another flavor of LDC in case the TLM 102 doesn't work well. How do I know that? Because it doesn't work well for me and I'm the most important client of all.
Ok, it's good but it takes work. I'm a pretty sibilant singer (despite my best efforts not to be) and the TLM 102, while liking the rest of my voice, is not liking that. I use the SM7 most of the time anyway for myself... or the M88... but I feel like if I had a warmer LDC that could be my go-to. I kind of have a nasally/harsh voice on some songs and am also a pretty loud singer at times. The TLM 102 is working for the ballads, but not so much for more upper midrange stuff that the SM7 works on.
Plus, again, I just think I need more variety for potential clients.
My Thoughts
I'm leaning heavily towards a u47 or u47 FET style. I like the looks and vibe of the United Studios FET47 and the vocal clips I've heard sound quite good. That's on my list. I hear endless good things about the Lewitts although I hate how they look (the 840 is not as bad). The Signal Art u48 is appealing as well because of the fig 8 pattern (I'm really into m/s right now). The Pearlman's are appealing.
And then there's the good old 414. Historically they've sounded good on my voice but I never seem to find any of the old ones for sale. I've never sung into the newer ones.
My budget for this and the remainder of my upgrade is $3k. The other piece of the puzzle is four remaining 500 series slots and a headphone amp. So I could do something like the Signal Art and fill those slots with DBXs or I could something like the FET47 or even a new 414 or Lewitt and fill it with nicer stuff. Priority is the mic though.
What I Sound Like
soundcloud.com/adoniram-lipton
Soundcloud has a couple acoustic covers I recorded for fun a while back followed by a few tracks from the album I'm currently working on in another studio. Mixed but not mastered yet on these uploads. I've got way more recent stuff but not been uploading things. This is mainly so you can hear how I sing. Last thing is a drunken house party from like 10 years ago. I sing a lot like that too.
Below is my band. Maybe defunct, maybe not. Remains to be seen.
What I Have Now
Condensers
TLM 102
AT3035
Oktava 012 (matched pair)
Dynamics
SM7B
57 (2)
Heil P22 (2) - Vocals, snare, amps
Beyerdynamic M88
Sennheiser ND 468 (2)
Ribbons
Beyerdynamic m160
Royer R10
Pre-Amps
Trident S20 (2) - two channels each
UA 4-710 - four channels of Twin Finity plus four line level
Apollo X4
Chroma w/hitmaker (2)
Processing
Cranborne 500ADAT - in/out ADAT plus summing mixer if I wanted to do that
Serpent 4001B
Chroma w/hitmaker (2)
Four 500 slots TBD
Art PRO VLA
TC Electronic M300
More plugins than I need. Lots of UAD as well as a few Softube and the PA subscription
Monitors
KRK VXT6
Pioneer RM-5
Misc
Faderport 16 (love this thing with Studio One)
Studio One
Logic
Sonarworks
Reasonable amount of sound treatment... the REW charts say it's under control and it's working for me, not pictured below are a bunch of Gobos and stuff that I bring out as well.
I'm going to post current gear list at the bottom of this post but first my intended uses and then some of my mic targets. Sorry for the long post but you guys are all insanely knowledgable and I figure the more info I give you on what I would do with this stuff, the better the recommendations I'll get back.
Also at the bottom is a link to my own singing which might help some of you golden ear wizards steer me right.
Uses
- My primary target for my studio is singer/songwriter and indie types looking for creativity over big studio sound. Nathaniel Ratliffe would like the vibe. So would Blake Mills (are you out there Blake? Let's be friends) or guys like Doug Paisley or Hiss Golden Messenger. I've also been kind of a niche session hire doing keys for psych rock type stuff and lots of cosmic country type stuff. Nothing wrong with a little Doug Sahm.
Anyway, those are the styles of the sort of people who are expressing interest and have been coming by to be guinea pigs. It's a style I can nail without having to make my room do something it can't or shouldn't.
- Drums, when there are drums, are usually done with a Recorder Man style or a M/S overhead with kick and snare. I've been using an M160 and a R10 for this along with a 57 on snare and a M88 on kick. It's coming out all right, not thrilled with the kick but that's probably me, not the mic.
- Electric guitars are usually one of Silvertone Twin Twelve, Blues Jr, Vox Pathfinder, or a 90's era blackface Deluxe if I need to rattle the windows. Or whatever anyone brings in. Current technique is M160 at a mid distance blended with a TLM102 at the back of the room. Seems to be working.
- Keys are mostly MIDI though I do sometimes track on an incredibly well maintained 1920's Wurlitzer full size upright. But it's a pain in the ass to be honest. I prefer MIDI and then running it through some analogue processing later.
- Bass I run direct. Usually through a SansAmp, sometimes just straight into 4-710 with the drive pretty well pushed.
- I do a fair amount of horns and accordion and random instruments with session players I'm friends with to spice things up. It's a key value proposition for me that I can call on musician buddies who owe me favors and get a good price for my clients. Never needed anything other than m160 and TLM 102 here.
And then the grandaddy instrument of them all... vocals.
This gets us to where I think I can upgrade with the most impact. My two primary vocal mics are the SM7 and the TLM 102. I've gotten great sounds out of both but I think I need another flavor of LDC in case the TLM 102 doesn't work well. How do I know that? Because it doesn't work well for me and I'm the most important client of all.
Ok, it's good but it takes work. I'm a pretty sibilant singer (despite my best efforts not to be) and the TLM 102, while liking the rest of my voice, is not liking that. I use the SM7 most of the time anyway for myself... or the M88... but I feel like if I had a warmer LDC that could be my go-to. I kind of have a nasally/harsh voice on some songs and am also a pretty loud singer at times. The TLM 102 is working for the ballads, but not so much for more upper midrange stuff that the SM7 works on.
Plus, again, I just think I need more variety for potential clients.
My Thoughts
I'm leaning heavily towards a u47 or u47 FET style. I like the looks and vibe of the United Studios FET47 and the vocal clips I've heard sound quite good. That's on my list. I hear endless good things about the Lewitts although I hate how they look (the 840 is not as bad). The Signal Art u48 is appealing as well because of the fig 8 pattern (I'm really into m/s right now). The Pearlman's are appealing.
And then there's the good old 414. Historically they've sounded good on my voice but I never seem to find any of the old ones for sale. I've never sung into the newer ones.
My budget for this and the remainder of my upgrade is $3k. The other piece of the puzzle is four remaining 500 series slots and a headphone amp. So I could do something like the Signal Art and fill those slots with DBXs or I could something like the FET47 or even a new 414 or Lewitt and fill it with nicer stuff. Priority is the mic though.
What I Sound Like
soundcloud.com/adoniram-lipton
Soundcloud has a couple acoustic covers I recorded for fun a while back followed by a few tracks from the album I'm currently working on in another studio. Mixed but not mastered yet on these uploads. I've got way more recent stuff but not been uploading things. This is mainly so you can hear how I sing. Last thing is a drunken house party from like 10 years ago. I sing a lot like that too.
Below is my band. Maybe defunct, maybe not. Remains to be seen.
What I Have Now
Condensers
TLM 102
AT3035
Oktava 012 (matched pair)
Dynamics
SM7B
57 (2)
Heil P22 (2) - Vocals, snare, amps
Beyerdynamic M88
Sennheiser ND 468 (2)
Ribbons
Beyerdynamic m160
Royer R10
Pre-Amps
Trident S20 (2) - two channels each
UA 4-710 - four channels of Twin Finity plus four line level
Apollo X4
Chroma w/hitmaker (2)
Processing
Cranborne 500ADAT - in/out ADAT plus summing mixer if I wanted to do that
Serpent 4001B
Chroma w/hitmaker (2)
Four 500 slots TBD
Art PRO VLA
TC Electronic M300
More plugins than I need. Lots of UAD as well as a few Softube and the PA subscription
Monitors
KRK VXT6
Pioneer RM-5
Misc
Faderport 16 (love this thing with Studio One)
Studio One
Logic
Sonarworks
Reasonable amount of sound treatment... the REW charts say it's under control and it's working for me, not pictured below are a bunch of Gobos and stuff that I bring out as well.
