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Post by stormymondays on May 15, 2021 8:20:59 GMT -6
I bought a vintage Magnatone from the 50s on Reverb.com. It cost me around $350 about 7 years ago. The good thing about a lapsteel is that there’s no wear to worry about!
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Post by stormymondays on May 15, 2021 5:49:40 GMT -6
Tracing a line from kick center to snare center has always worked for me. I place the stereo overhead aiming at the space between kick and snare, and move back and forth a bit.
I love stereo front of kit as well!
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Post by stormymondays on May 11, 2021 10:31:41 GMT -6
Today I had the rare occasion to remix a track that I had mixed for a time sensitive project that didn’t come to be. So, instead of recalling all the hardware, I took the chance of taking off all the HPF and redo the mix from almost scratch. I’m liking it!!! I’ll let you know if it turns into a muddy mess or if it gets that huge deep sound I’m chasing after... Quoting myself!!! 😂 By the way, fascinating discussion even though hard maths are above my pay grade. This turned out to be a fantastic mix. It beats the original by a mile. It’s not just the lack of HPF but I’ve totally changed my attitude towards the low frequencies. It also translates beautifully from the studio to the car to the diminutive mini Bluetooth speaker! I think I can share both mixes in a couple weeks maybe and we can have a laugh at my initial mix.
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Post by stormymondays on May 10, 2021 16:29:46 GMT -6
I like my Chromas. They are useful and great sounding. Initially I fit Implodes but they don’t fit my workflow as well as I thought. I put the API cards so I have a N>A option. The Implodes are for sale, BTW. PM for a good price
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Post by stormymondays on May 10, 2021 14:59:55 GMT -6
Today I had the rare occasion to remix a track that I had mixed for a time sensitive project that didn’t come to be. So, instead of recalling all the hardware, I took the chance of taking off all the HPF and redo the mix from almost scratch. I’m liking it!!! I’ll let you know if it turns into a muddy mess or if it gets that huge deep sound I’m chasing after...
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Post by stormymondays on May 10, 2021 7:59:20 GMT -6
Man - I just can’t get past the look of the mics. If they’re willing to let the outside look like cost cutting examples of these mics - what’s on the inside? What’s the saying? Don’t throw good money over bad. Are we taking about the same mics? goldenagepremier.com/ga-47-extended/That looks pretty good to me. And you can see what’s inside too...
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Post by stormymondays on May 8, 2021 13:35:13 GMT -6
Let’s see. I have hardware compressors, EQs, reverbs, delays, exciters, transient designers, and “color boxes” (Black Box, Chroma.) Also a truckload of guitar pedals and amps. Plus Hammond+Leslie, Wurlitzer and a Yamaha U1 upright.
Maybe I’m a sucker for knobs, switches and VU meters. In my experience, most things are nicer and easier to use in hardware, and can also be approximated ITB, with far easier recall.
I think only brickwall limiter is definitely better ITB.
P.S. the answer you are looking for is: but a Weight Tank compressor for single sources or a SSL-style compressor for the master buss ;-)
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Post by stormymondays on May 6, 2021 11:22:33 GMT -6
I think there's pure gold in this thread, both in the HPF camp and the no HPF camp. Thanks everyone for the contributions.
I got "addicted" to HPF when I recorded and mixed a live music TV show on location. The rooms were untreated, the preamps were what they were, and cleaning up the low end mess made a lot of sense. My monitoring wasn't as good by then either.
Does it make sense to apply the same philosophy to stuff carefully recorded in my studio, with state-of-the-art sources, mics and preamps? I think not!
I think it's one of those cases of "what got you here won't get you there". HPF has served me well, but it might be time for us to part ways...
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Post by stormymondays on May 6, 2021 7:27:55 GMT -6
I really want one of those mandocellos! The Kavanjo is great, I have it on my 6-string banjo. If anything, it sounds too good! I got a MXR 10-band EQ so I can cut lows and emphasize the banjo-ish frequencies.
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Post by stormymondays on May 4, 2021 11:48:21 GMT -6
I've never found a good reason to record an acoustic guitar in stereo, or with more than one mic. I'm sure you have tried that but maybe it's worth trying that again and compare with your current best sound?
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Post by stormymondays on May 4, 2021 11:40:53 GMT -6
Hpf everything. Using small amounts of distortion creates harmonics in upper octaves that reinforce the tone we hear. Create enough of those harmonics and you can remove the fundamental frequency altogether and still "hear" it. Look up the "missing fundamental" effect. You can make small speakers sound like they're playing notes lower than they're physically capable of this way. It's how things like Rbass work. That's been my modus operandi so far, and it works. HPF, harmonics, use the missing fundamental effect for smaller speakers. Now I wonder if I can have my cake and eat it too, and get the same results with less phase shift and with some instruments with no HPF. I’ll throw the strange monkey wrench into this discussion, what type of HPF slope are you using? Whatever is in the Console 1 SSL 4000E emulation. Probably 12 db/oct?
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Post by stormymondays on May 4, 2021 8:23:42 GMT -6
"Sculpting" the bottom octave was probably a wrong choice of word. A better explanation would be deciding who gets to fill it, why and how. This is all in a rock/americana/folk rock context, by the way. Nothing electronic.
I'm beginning to thing the phase shift introduced by HPF is more detrimental than I thought.
Very interested in knowing your HPF strategies and preferences still!
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Post by stormymondays on May 4, 2021 6:30:38 GMT -6
I confess: For the last few years I’ve been high passing everything at 42 Hz or higher, and it has served me well. Almost no one will be able to reproduce the bottom octave, I gain headroom for the mix, and the lows are controlled. Vinyl records never had any low end below 40-50 Hz anyway!
However, there’s always a trade-off for everything. I think this can make mixes smaller, and it can also make you pile on the lows on the 40-100 range and make life difficult for small speakers. So I’m going to go a new way and try to not use the HPF as a matter of fact, and also take time to sculpt that bottom octave instead of glossing over it.
What’s your take on this? Do you HPF everything? Nothing? What’s your low cut-off?
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Post by stormymondays on May 1, 2021 3:04:57 GMT -6
I have a Yamaha U1, refurbished by a specialist company here in Spain. It’s as good as new. It records exceedingly well. I’ve never heard an U3 but I’ve recorded some other U1s and they’ve always worked for me.
Panels open for a grand-like sound. Ribbon mics at the bottom (below the keyboard) is my preference. Pair of SDC omnis at the hammers if you want that attack or “E-Street Band” jangly thing. Panels closed and mute pedal if you want indie/lo-fi. Etc!
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Post by stormymondays on Apr 29, 2021 11:23:00 GMT -6
I've always wondered why people would get say.. 8 or 16 lunchbox preamps instead of just buying a nice board. Wouldn't it be less expensive? I can see the value in slowly adding to a lunchbox, this way you could get one at a time, but spending $8,000 on eight 500 series preamps doesn't make sense if a board can do that, and more. I'm considering 8 API EQs on a lunchbox as a future purchase. I already have preamps I like. An API The Box II (which I don't have space for) board is 16K+ and it only has 8 preamps. I would still have to buy the 8 EQs. So, I save 16K by skipping the board
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Post by stormymondays on Apr 27, 2021 12:35:42 GMT -6
A true master. I thoroughly enjoyed his book, and his videos!
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Post by stormymondays on Apr 25, 2021 14:16:54 GMT -6
Both sound really good. That's a well tuned, maintained and played kit! KM84 for the win. The punch with the CAPI is just fanatstic.
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Post by stormymondays on Apr 25, 2021 9:41:07 GMT -6
There’s a specific Colour module for that, called the Distortastudio.
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Post by stormymondays on Apr 23, 2021 7:38:14 GMT -6
Damn, I’m buying some 12 Gauge mics straight away!!!
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Post by stormymondays on Apr 23, 2021 7:31:20 GMT -6
A Copicat is always a good idea. You can run it 100% wet for a tape effect as well, and then move back the delayed sound. I need to try that!
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Post by stormymondays on Apr 22, 2021 14:49:02 GMT -6
635a fan as well! Cool sounding track, thanks for sharing. As for "specialty" mics, I didn't like the Copperphone. It's got "a sound" but in order to fit it into the mix you need to EQ it a lot, and at that point, it doesn't make a lot of sense. Check out this Spanish company: www.mothsound.info I have one of their mics and it's all I wanted the Copperphone to be. Still, that's very lo-fi, special effects territory. You could try to find some Mellodium stuff, since you're in France. Old Oktava can be very cool too. And you can find a ton of Grundig/Telefunken/Philips mics designed for tape recorders and such. That's an easy way to test the waters without breaking the bank.
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Post by stormymondays on Apr 22, 2021 14:32:23 GMT -6
Another vote for cheap mics over cheap preamps. I bought a Shure M267 mono mixer with a limiter thinking it would be cool for that. It was just noisy and average sounding, I couldn't sell it fast enough. I think there's too much "lofi" hype and people/stores selling junk just because people will fall for it, only to sell it later like I did I think the coolness of the Portastudio is mostly the cassette sound, and you were also probably using only dynamic mics where you would use a condenser these days.
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Post by stormymondays on Apr 21, 2021 8:07:04 GMT -6
Oh well, thanks to this thread (and being out of rack space) I decided to get the Boss Dimension C DC-2w, with dimension C and dimension D modes. I love it!!! I'm definitely using it on mixes as a send.
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Post by stormymondays on Apr 20, 2021 12:49:45 GMT -6
Talisker is my weapon of choice. To me, it's at the same quality level as Lagavulin but a much nicer price.
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Post by stormymondays on Apr 20, 2021 7:30:10 GMT -6
Guess who just hot plugged through phantom power and fried a Chroma preamp? I was setting up a new lunchbox and making sure I wouldn’t be sending phantom power to my interface’s outputs, testing with a multimeter along the way. I was very careful with the interface. It turns out at the very last step, when all was measured and correct, I plugged in/out my TRS with phantom power engaged. I’m waiting on Brad’s (remote) diagnose of the problem. I suppose I didn’t fry the lunchbox itself. Oh well.
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