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Post by jimwilliams on Jul 30, 2013 10:03:44 GMT -6
Beautiful Carlsbad, CA. On the California coast where it never varies from a perfect 74 degrees. I don't even own an air conditioner. Got a nice Jeep and some surfboards here.
It's like "Baywatch" all year long.
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Post by jimwilliams on Jul 30, 2013 9:56:50 GMT -6
Why always in AZ in the middle of the summer?
Even Comic Con is smart enough to do a mid summer convention in San Diego. After all, that's where most Zonie's are located right now.
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Post by jimwilliams on Jul 29, 2013 12:03:51 GMT -6
Full disclosure: A fully biased opinion on mic preamps. I've been doing this for 50 years now. I can say I've used just about every preamp/topology around (except some of the newer botique-y fashion pieces). I have some preamps with a transformer (Jensens), most without. I've built transistor designs, tube designs, opamp designs. Sold most of I've those off, except for my production preamps. I've abandoned most tube circuits (have one I like without negative feedback and .003% THD), no more discrete mic preamp designs and no more voltage feedback designs using tubes, transistors or opamps. Now I use one or two designs here. These are newer concepts for amplification not used before in audio. They are based on transconductance, AKA "current feedback". They have a sound almost tube like in the mids and low end, fat, warm clear. The top end is super relaxing, without a hint of transistor sound nor stridency, sort of like your ears. Specs follow the sonics, .0005% THD+noise, .0002% IMD, -136 db EIN and a whopping 100 mhz of operational bandwidth. Slew rate is like an SR-71 Blackbird. Audio is child's play to these circuits. I'm spoiled, permanently. Can't use anything else, all I focus on is what I'm missing from other topologies. It's more easy on the ears, no fatigue and covers anything I record, anything. If it doesn't sound good, it's not the preamp's fault. I know of no other designers making current feedback based mic preamps. Eventually there will be once the word gets out. I've been building them since 1994. those specs are rad! is this the basis of your 2 channel pre i've been pining after? Yes, made since 1994. Down to the last couple of units. I also have mini cards I made to retrofit other's products, a 2x3" square pcb. I have several designs done, but without "market forces" to generate them, they may not be made. Also in the design bag are 500 modules, a special box that allows combining mic preamps or outboard from one or two sources (use 2 different mic preamps at once, even split hi's and low's from one to the other), a low frequency 2nd harmonic generator, and other wack-a-mole conceptual designs. Too bad we are in the post apoctolyptic record-biz collapse era, these designs would be hot sellers 20 years ago.
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Post by jimwilliams on Jul 29, 2013 11:51:54 GMT -6
Same here. I first did it in the early 1980's, when all that "New Wave" gated reverb crap was done. Yes, I'm guilty of placing a Drawmer gate on an EMT240 too.
Mostly at mix time those tracks were dumped, more like 95% of the time.
The reason? The rooms sound like crap. I've used room sounds in great auditoriums, but those are not at all like a typical recording space.
These days, I rather cut dry and stick some Bricasti M7 on it. Nothing touches that except the world's finest spaces, the spaces you will never get to use. Some of them are sampled into the M7 though, for my benefit. Casey even added some modulation to the delays for me in software, now THAT's service!
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Post by jimwilliams on Jul 29, 2013 11:43:02 GMT -6
You would need to be a master of time and space to figure out all those permutations and delays. I can't think of a better vibe killer than trying to mix that way.
"Left brain, no, RIGHT brain!"
If I did, I'd have to lock up all my guns and give my wife the key, otherwise there would be .223" sized holes in my computers!
(They do make fine targets out in the Borrego Desert).
I tried the ITB stuff out a few years ago, borrowed it. Glad I didn't sell off all that analog stuff.
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Post by jimwilliams on Jul 29, 2013 11:30:32 GMT -6
Full disclosure: A fully biased opinion on mic preamps.
I've been doing this for 50 years now. I can say I've used just about every preamp/topology around (except some of the newer botique-y fashion pieces).
I have some preamps with a transformer (Jensens), most without. I've built transistor designs, tube designs, opamp designs. Sold most of I've those off, except for my production preamps.
I've abandoned most tube circuits (have one I like without negative feedback and .003% THD), no more discrete mic preamp designs and no more voltage feedback designs using tubes, transistors or opamps.
Now I use one or two designs here. These are newer concepts for amplification not used before in audio. They are based on transconductance, AKA "current feedback".
They have a sound almost tube like in the mids and low end, fat, warm clear. The top end is super relaxing, without a hint of transistor sound nor stridency, sort of like your ears. Specs follow the sonics, .0005% THD+noise, .0002% IMD, -136 db EIN and a whopping 100 mhz of operational bandwidth. Slew rate is like an SR-71 Blackbird. Audio is child's play to these circuits.
I'm spoiled, permanently. Can't use anything else, all I focus on is what I'm missing from other topologies. It's more easy on the ears, no fatigue and covers anything I record, anything. If it doesn't sound good, it's not the preamp's fault.
I know of no other designers making current feedback based mic preamps. Eventually there will be once the word gets out. I've been building them since 1994.
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Post by jimwilliams on Jul 29, 2013 11:03:11 GMT -6
Own the gear, not the space. After all, the world is a studio. Location ready and portable rigs offer the most options.
Buildings/rent/taxes/maintanence/zoning/utilities are for the birds.
Not really, birds can fly away, you will be stuck in that room.
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Post by jimwilliams on Jul 29, 2013 10:55:42 GMT -6
Greetings, earthings!
Yes, I am from a different world. No longer a member of NARAS, AES, etc, I set myself free from the commercial restrictions of audio fashion production and the economic ties. Fixin' pays for the mixin'.
I'm not a CGI style of mixer, I'm more a documentarian. Anyone can mess up an audio signal, few can offer "the truth". Having worked with some of the best in the biz, I'm more of a "get out of their way" recordist. There are some with talents so great no gear can help, it all gets in the way on some level.
That's how I learned, let the greats do their thing and keep your sonic thumbprint to a minimum.
Now days, it's all about the AE and "his sound", artist be damned. I'm not one to be so bold. Then again, today's "auto-tune" artists are not that good so anything that can help may be valid.
Buses are what the poor folks ride in. I don't use those either.
I use two busses here, left and right. That's all I need, that's the output of the production and I don't need busses to submix and mess up the audio with parallel compressors and stuff. My groups here are very clear, but I never run through more circuits than are necessary. That comes from my "get out of their way" background. I make extra efforts to avoid running through any additional electronics in the audio path unless something is required. Listenability is the greatest motivation here, I don't know how some of you can listen to a lot of the current crop, it burns a hole in my ears.
Yes, that is against the current style and crew of mixers, but being different was always a badge of honor for me. Less is more, more or less.
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