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Post by jimwilliams on Aug 20, 2018 9:44:51 GMT -6
When both were released I got a chance to play quite a bit with both at NAMM. I was an exhibitor so I got in early before the crowds so I could play and listen alone. The PCM96 was impressive, like a 480 in a small package. It reminded me of those classic Lexicon chorus/reverb sounds. The M7 was in another class altogether. Brian showed me all the possibilities and he really messed with my head switching from the real Boston Hall ambiences to the Bricasti's version. I could not tell which was which. The M7 sells the room better than anything ever invented. Since that was what I was looking for I sold off my hot-rodded Lexicon 224XL that week and bought the M7. I never looked back as I have other Lexicon stuff for those sounds. There are two types of studios in this world: Those that have/use the M7 and those that do not. Which are you? 78.media.tumblr.com/cbdc91841381d6aec48d9f8943bc5a4a/tumblr_n40kuzM7L31smcbm7o1_250.gifNow I know whom not to ask to come to the local comedy club. BTW, I use the M7 analog only. Emulations will not approach the processing power of those 6 AD Blackfin processors. You would need 10 Pentium core 7's to get close. I'd prefer most skip it myself. I like the edge it gives me.
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Post by jimwilliams on Aug 19, 2018 10:51:53 GMT -6
I put the buffers/preamps into the guitars. That way they always work great with anything. The added levels also help overcome pedal hiss issues and the amp gain can be set lower = less noise. The low impedance outputs have no losses. They even drive headphones directly.
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Post by jimwilliams on Aug 19, 2018 10:43:07 GMT -6
When both were released I got a chance to play quite a bit with both at NAMM. I was an exhibitor so I got in early before the crowds so I could play and listen alone.
The PCM96 was impressive, like a 480 in a small package. It reminded me of those classic Lexicon chorus/reverb sounds. The M7 was in another class altogether. Brian showed me all the possibilities and he really messed with my head switching from the real Boston Hall ambiences to the Bricasti's version. I could not tell which was which. The M7 sells the room better than anything ever invented.
Since that was what I was looking for I sold off my hot-rodded Lexicon 224XL that week and bought the M7. I never looked back as I have other Lexicon stuff for those sounds.
There are two types of studios in this world: Those that have/use the M7 and those that do not. Which are you?
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Post by jimwilliams on Aug 5, 2018 10:49:35 GMT -6
Nothing bests the tone of the original designs. Passive dummy coil add-on's lower output levels and change impedances as well as the resonant peak. I use an active hum cancelling design here with original Fender pickups and that achieves a -80 db s/n ratio. No noise, pure tones.
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Post by jimwilliams on Jul 31, 2018 9:48:40 GMT -6
I have a pair of Monoprice 1060 planer headphones made by Audeze. The do very well in the deep bass yet the tops are lacking compared to Stax ESL's or even AMT type speaker tweeters. The Monoprice do 10~50k hz but the large surface area (105mm) seems to damp very fast transients.
I also have a pair of Fiio F9 pro in-ear buds. Those use Knowls mid and top end armatures and a dynamic bass driver. They have fabulous transients with those swinging armatures, like a pendulum swinging...
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Post by jimwilliams on Jul 22, 2018 11:09:45 GMT -6
I had Clarence White's proto-type #7 in the shop last week. It's a 70's Telecaster thinline sunburst with the extra tele body stuck on the back. It's a rather clunky system, way harder to deal with than the routed versions that I've also had in the shop. That extra thick Tele body is a PITA.
It's owned by Dwight Yoakum. I put in one of my original 1980's "Pete Anderson" fet preamps with a push-pull bypass switch. It should be in a museum (several had expressed interest) but it's now out on tour with Dwight. Go see/hear it if you can.
I believe Warmoth offers a B bender routed body.
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Post by jimwilliams on Jul 20, 2018 9:06:10 GMT -6
Cheap Fender basses are loaded with dead spots. The body wood is part of the reason. It's too soft. Mine is made of Hawaiian Koa hardwood. It rings everywhere without those dead notes on the G string.
I always evaluate an electric bass unplugged first. You can find those problems that way before you buy.
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Post by jimwilliams on Jul 10, 2018 9:54:53 GMT -6
Bass amp speakers are also weak in the deep low end. There are great replacements available. I use a pair of 12" Eminence Delta 12's in a ported Thiel cab as they do a solid 40 hz plus a top end voiced like their guitar speakers. Those do 40~6k hz for a full range sound. I'll add a horn to get the 20k hz response. They are also rather cheap at around $60 each. They also take the power at 400 watts each. I use a class D 1000 watt amp to pump them.
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Post by jimwilliams on Jun 30, 2018 19:45:02 GMT -6
I've run the one in the TV room 24/7 since April. It doesn't even get warm. It's made in Austria.
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Post by jimwilliams on Jun 29, 2018 9:38:34 GMT -6
Showman and other Fender amps are thin in the bass. They roll-off the deep low end like a guitar amp. Replace the .047 and .1 uf mylar coupling caps with .47 uf. Replace the cathode bypass 25 uf caps to 100 uf. Use a .1 uf to the phase inverter tube. There's yer low end now.
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Post by jimwilliams on Jun 29, 2018 9:32:57 GMT -6
I have some Otari MTR record/play cards in now. They have a slow and cloudy sound that dulls the tape playback. Playback off the sync/record head is worse, band restricted and a poorer s/n ratio.
I remove the head amps on those designs and replace them with a super low noise opamp design. It's like after your ears pop landing in a jet. It's mostly for archive houses these days as the rockers seem to prefer a badly aligned tape sound.
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Post by jimwilliams on Jun 29, 2018 9:25:04 GMT -6
The S2 uses ESS's voltage regulators inside. The quality of the DC source voltage isn't as important as it might be with other stuff. They also claim to clean up the USB voltage feeds internally.
If anyone can find anything with this level of design and build quality for anywhere near it's $399 price, I'm all ears.
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Post by jimwilliams on Jun 28, 2018 9:22:24 GMT -6
Michal of Mytek told me he had a 10 ps clock jitter rate that went up to 100 ps once run through a 3" pcb trace. Getting great clock specs is an art form. The chip manufacturers don't tell you how to do that.
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Post by jimwilliams on Jun 26, 2018 17:40:25 GMT -6
They were booked to play the Hollywood Paladium back in 91 or 92. The crowd was rowdy as it was a free show. The band cancelled at the last minute out of fear and then the crowd rioted.
The rioters tore up all the band's gear as they stormed the stage. I remember seeing a couple of guys pick up the large Yamaha PM4000 mixer and throwing it off the stage landing on it's face. The amps and drums were cut to little bits.
Moral of the story: Cancel a free show at the last second and the crowd will Rage Against Your Machine.
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Post by jimwilliams on Jun 26, 2018 17:32:49 GMT -6
I still like my original dbx 166. The low end is extended so it does well on kick and electric bass. I modified the gate with extra side chain controls. It has variable attack, release and gate range controls.
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Post by jimwilliams on Jun 20, 2018 10:33:39 GMT -6
Better yet is hardware designed to do this. BSS makes an excellent 4 band stereo "Dynamic Equaliser". It uses parametric filters with dbx VCA's for level control. Pump or duck any frequency at any time by any amount.
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Post by jimwilliams on Jun 20, 2018 10:30:57 GMT -6
Now you know why we need a "loser pays" system here. Unfortunately, the "lawmakers" here are also trial lawyers...
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Post by jimwilliams on Jun 18, 2018 10:16:34 GMT -6
California is a special case. We once had the best schools in the USA, now we are at 49th place. Graduation rates are very low, poverty is high here with 20% living below the poverty line, far above the US average.
Unlike other states we don't use local property taxes to fund our schools. We use the general fund. We spend more on schools here than any other state. That avoids "rich schools vs poor schools" but that doesn't mean much when you are at 49th place.
There are very good reasons why most parents here will place their kids in private schools here if they can afford it.
I guess I'm not clear. Are you saying that property taxes are the solution for funding public schools? As a Texas resident, I can tell you that they are not. It just perpetuates the same problems we've always had here. Poor schools in poor areas. And rich schools in rich areas. There's a reason why we have high school football stadiums (which would rival college stadiums) in suburban schools which cost as much as a significant portion of the entire yearly budget of an urban school. Tell me how that makes sense? Re-read carefully. California does not fund the public (government) schools via property taxes. They are funded by the general fund (a 125 billion dollar yearly budget) specifically to avoid the "rich schools vs poor schools" syndrome common in other states.
Growing up in LA back in the 1950/60's we had music teachers in each school. Those were cut back in the 1970/80's. Seems spending up to $20,000 per student per year here just isn't enough to restore the music programs here. You can buy one heck of a private school for $20,000 per year.
Smart parents vote with their feet.
In Texas, football is king. It has far more importance there than here in California. It could be said high school football in Texas is more important than scholarships. The reason? Follow the money trail...
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Post by jimwilliams on Jun 16, 2018 12:00:34 GMT -6
Music education used to be free as part of the public school system. Ronald Reagan went a long way toward killing that when he cut support for the arts in school. That's what you get when you remove government involvement in such things. Trickle down economics. there is still music taught in public schools here in Texas. Maybe it’s just California where people no longer care about the arts? California is a special case. We once had the best schools in the USA, now we are at 49th place. Graduation rates are very low, poverty is high here with 20% living below the poverty line, far above the US average.
Unlike other states we don't use local property taxes to fund our schools. We use the general fund. We spend more on schools here than any other state. That avoids "rich schools vs poor schools" but that doesn't mean much when you are at 49th place.
There are very good reasons why most parents here will place their kids in private schools here if they can afford it.
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Post by jimwilliams on Jun 13, 2018 9:11:53 GMT -6
Good stuff is out there but it's harder to find. Modern pop/rock is a desolate place. Back when there were only 50,000 releases per year it was easier to find the good stuff. Now you have to sort through millions of releases.
It's out there but like a treasure, you must search hard for it.
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Post by jimwilliams on Jun 13, 2018 9:06:50 GMT -6
A lot of times when someone upgrades to a DAC that is much more detailed and reveals more there is always the response of "it's so much brighter, my old converter was nice and warm" They are not brighter, the older converter is just plain duller. It's chewing your audio food for you. The same thing happens with slow audio electronics that act as a low pass filter.
Some like the LPF on playback, I don't. I love hearing new tiny details on familiar recordings. It's audio archeology.
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Post by jimwilliams on Jun 12, 2018 9:37:21 GMT -6
I run mine with the OTF and the THD set to "clinical". Low THD settings sounds best with my stuff. I do notice many recordings have zero details and air up top, ride cymbals are missing the attack transient and the natural open sonics. Many older recordings have that information encoded, something is amiss with most modern stuff 20 years old or newer.
I have older analog recordings that sound stunning next to most of the modern stuff. Besides mass compression it's like a low pass filter is used at 10k hz. Is this a Pro Tools or DAW issue? It doesn't happen here but I don't use PT or a DAW.
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Post by jimwilliams on Jun 11, 2018 13:05:56 GMT -6
Altec passives are coil designs. They also rely on the recovery amplifier's THD, noise, slew rate, IMD, phase shift etc, which can vary the results considerably.
In the dynamic domain, coils ring and can saturate. That is another form of distortion but if added to every track I suppose it can "glue" everything together by slowing/ringing everything in tandem. Sort of like that main group of riders in a cross country bike race. Most of our fav and best engineered recordings did not use a final buss EQ during mixdown. The technology they used worked just fine without needing a passive Altec EQ strapped across the mix buss.
Equalizing the mix buss while mixing is akin to pushing down ping-pong balls with your thumb while they float on water. If your mix needs a final stereo EQ, leave that to the mastering guy or risk messing it all up for him first.
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Post by jimwilliams on Jun 11, 2018 9:33:48 GMT -6
Not in over 45 years in the biz. If a stereo mix needs an extra EQ that mix isn't ready for prime time. Keep working it until it is.
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Post by jimwilliams on Jun 10, 2018 11:11:32 GMT -6
Yes 90215 was mixed on a Soundcraft 2400 at Trevor Rabin's Studio City home. The later "Open Your Eyes" was tracked at Billy Sherwood's Van Nuys airport studio. The console was a modified Tascam M600.
None of the other band members saw each other, they came in alone to track their parts with Billy. They don't get along.
Come mix time they booked the Enterprise SSL 9k room with Ultimation. They hated it and left. They could not get the same big @ss sonics they got with that modified Tascam M600. So they rented a bunch of outboard and mixed it on the Tascam.
It was an incredible sounding record, but you won't know that listening to it. Billy strapped an old Neve compressor on the stereo mix and that ruined the sonics, at least for me.
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