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Post by Guitar on Jul 16, 2021 8:39:00 GMT -6
I am late to post again, since you've already made your purchase. And it's funny to say this after Michael's post. But if you have access to KSM141 or KSM137 I think they would possibly be ideal for your purposes. And I haven't recorded a piano in years but you might want to try some ribbon mics there. The ribbon mics would also be valuable, IMO, for drum room capture, assuming the acoustics aren't chaotic. Oktava MK 012 would also be worth using on these two sources if you have access to a pair.
Guess I've never been all that into LDC mics, other than vocals, so this is an off topic recommendation. Seems like you might have just bought a pair of workhorse microphones, so good luck with those.
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Post by Guitar on Jul 16, 2021 6:46:47 GMT -6
Welcome to RGO, now post some clips!! Haha. I would love to hear those Austrian Audio mics on your drums.
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Post by Guitar on Jul 15, 2021 11:56:53 GMT -6
Well, I sold it. I'll look around for an SM57, maybe one with the Tab Funkenwerk mod. I have the TFunk mod, and the Crimson Yellow mod. But my all around favorite for most uses is still the stock SM57.
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Post by Guitar on Jul 15, 2021 11:24:46 GMT -6
Sad, but I guess that's how it is. It's a good time to sell right now, if anyone's got gear to sell. I got the last Epiphone LP Standard 50s in their warehouse.
Plugins on the other hand... sales everywhere right now.
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Post by Guitar on Jul 15, 2021 10:31:21 GMT -6
gravesnumber9Yep, Softube is like the "top shelf" for me at the plugin shops, because of their prices. I have Curve Bender and also Weiss EQ MP, that I would say are top shelf, specialty plugins. Love these things, but I'm not going to go out and buy everything Softube makes. Tape and Harmonics are also first-reach for me, utility stuff. But many of the rest of their plugins are too expensive to justify compared to alternatives. Also to tie in with UAD, Softube and Brainworx (P.A.) both have plugs in the UAD store, so there's an endorsement for anyone who cares about that sort of thing.
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Post by Guitar on Jul 15, 2021 9:34:37 GMT -6
Plugin Alliance installer is dangerously easy to use. Oh yeah, 100%. And the Waves-ish pricing scheme for "UAD Level" (roughly speaking) native plugins that get updated on a regular basis, no weird license BS, easy to resell if needed, good support from the company themselves when I've needed it. I did the math, and I've spent about the same as what I spent on UAD at Plugin Alliance. The thing is though I own 97 plugins from Plugin Alliance, and 51 plugins from Universal Audio. So you do that math, and the PA plugins are about $15 per plugin, and the UAD are about $30 something per plugin. Satellite Quad included in the total price. That includes free and legacy as well as bundled plugins, so those prices sound a bit low to what's actually spent, but that's the simple math for me. You could say you get twice as much for your money with PA, unless UAD is "twice better" but I don't think they are. Maybe in a few specific instances. But the inverse would also be true. I could have had one Bill and Brad's Silver Bullet and one Audioscape bus compressor. But no, I have 150 plugins instead. That's how I operate, I guess. The plugins are my dream gear. It's also a 10 minute install to put them all on a new computer. I guess I'm the drbill of plugins, haha.
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Post by Guitar on Jul 15, 2021 8:31:00 GMT -6
Update: So I may have dodged a bullet. My Mac booted up fine and worked great last night. I think it may have overheated the other day, it was hot, although not crazy hot, and I had left the computer on for hours….which I do all the time without issues. But now it seems to be working so maybe there’s hope I can hold out till the M1x comes out. But now I’m thinking maybe I go all in on UAD lol. When I was facing the prospect of emergently reinstalling all my plugins and vi’s on a new machine I was wondering how much easier it would be if I just had to plug in a UAD satellite, run one installer and be done with it. I think I’m going to do another round of purging plugins I don’t use and then see where I’m at. I’d love to scale things down to just a few companies. Here's some "Easy Install" companies for you to consider adding several choices from the menus: Plugin Alliance Izotope Arturia Softube Native Instruments Fabfilter Melda Tokyo Dawn Labs with the new TDR Collector installer Waves (arguable) IK Multimedia (arguable) yes UAD of course Probably missed a few... In a couple hours or something you could have a bulldozer of a plugin folder going with these streamlined installers on a new computer. To the point, this is a big reason I shop these companies, the convenience, and the relatively low prices of some of them. I could make an exhausting post about my favorite plugins from each one, but I'm sure you'd be able to pick your own.
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Post by Guitar on Jul 14, 2021 17:08:27 GMT -6
I want to know what the "Custom iron" is, who makes the transformers?
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Post by Guitar on Jul 14, 2021 13:59:00 GMT -6
I have a D1000E. I've only used it on guitar amps. Like the other guys have mentioned, it's mellower than an SM57. I've made some IRs of a Weber Ceramic Blue Dog speaker in a 1x12 cabinet including an SM57 and D1000E on the 'B' mode if you fool around with impulse loaders for guitar. It's all close mic'd on Axis impulses for my reference. Link to IRsWhoa thanks! Downloading now, very cool of you to share.
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Post by Guitar on Jul 14, 2021 11:11:38 GMT -6
Looks like something out of the original Star Wars movies. Cool mic.
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Post by Guitar on Jul 13, 2021 10:14:23 GMT -6
I know it was just an example, but in the spirit of the OP, some good LA3A plugs too look for:
Black Rooster - It's special, IMO, this is the one I use. I have no idea how it compares to hardware, but whatever it does sounds right to me. It sings. Makes me want to try their other compressors.
Waves: not bad at all, part of the CLA series.
And if you've seen that guy Masterclaes on Youtube, the Overloud Comp LA seems to be the closest match to his particular vintage LA3A. It was closer to his hardware than the UAD was.
I'm sure the UAD is fine, but, as expected, you have options.
I guess some people like "wasting time" and using mental energy exploring options, I put myself in that category 100%. Must be some sort of Meyers Briggs thing, the people that want to tinker and dwell VS the people who just want to get on with it.
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Post by Guitar on Jul 13, 2021 8:07:28 GMT -6
Just read the manual and keep it on insane for cranking input, saturation, and under 10ms attack rate. slick eq Ge is my fave though. Just the auto volume match makes it worth it to me. i only have the free molot version. do i miss a lot vs the GE? You're missing the saturation, which is a huge difference, big draw of the GE. As well as the limiter, knee control, and the input drive knob. I'm sure Dan can tell you more. I haven't messed with the dual stage compressor but Molotok is missing that, too. GE also has feed forward, feed back, and lo fi modes. And yet more, the smiley face, frowny face, mid frequency knob. So, that's a lot that's missing.
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Post by Guitar on Jul 13, 2021 5:52:42 GMT -6
I'm suddenly aware and interested, but haven't any plans yet. Would be really cool to meet some RGO people again.
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Post by Guitar on Jul 13, 2021 5:41:50 GMT -6
ericn what SRB said, circuit revisions. A lot of the amps got "louder and cleaner" with ultralinear power stages and so on. More output power and less tone. Some of the early silverface amps have blackface circuits, those are the ones I tend to seek out.
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Post by Guitar on Jul 12, 2021 13:37:54 GMT -6
I've got an Epi Les (Standard Pro) as my second guitar and it's really a very nice instrument. String choice will also make a big difference in the sound. I had it strung with .010 for quite a while and just took it up to nickel-wound .012 so it would feel more like my jazz box (0.013). The sound changed completely, and got a lot woodier. So you might play around with a few sets before you change pickups. Thanks Michael! Maybe I'll go up to 11s, that's a good idea. I use 12s on my de-tuned guitars but they are too much for me at standard tuning for how I play electrics. The stock pickups are kind of thin and shrill, lacking in bass, you hear that immediately with this one. They do have a nice PAF style sound, however. Also a bit noisy and low output, kind of a bad combination of traits. Sustain is not their forte either. They give you enough to play for a while, but I feel sort of swindled after an hour or so of playing. The Slash pickups did not work at all. Too much rusty barbed-wire grind, odd harmonics, hard nails in the tone with this guitar which is already on the bright side. Anemic in the bass, no better than the stock pickups, possibly worse! Not noisy, though. The Slash sound in this guitar is one of the ugliest guitar sounds I've ever heard. In a muddy guitar they might work, a muddy guitar this is not. The neck pickup is tolerable but the bridge is just absolute nonsense in terms of tone. When you turn on the overdrive it will make an expensive amp sound like a $50 practice amp. It plays like a $1,000 guitar that sounds like a $100 guitar. Today I changed the bridge to an Alinico II Pro (APH-1b) non-slash model and it's immediately smoother, fuller, prettier. The relaxed sound of the A2Pro is a good match for the bright zingy sound of this instrument. I'll stick with the A2Pro set until I can afford some proper PAF style. I'm looking at the RAF2 set from Righteous Sound. I like the modern wax potted, neat and tidy sound of the A2Pro. But I kind of miss that PAF character, the aluminum grind, the round treble artifacts, bulbous mids, and so on. But the A2Pro I think will suit me just fine for a few months. It doesn't draw attention to itself and the note definition is top shelf. Neck pickup should be here soon. OK I had fun with tone words there. Have already started writing 2 or 3 new songs with this guitar, which is a good sign. Hope to come out of the deep dive soon, once this thing is more or less settled, which is near at hand.
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Post by Guitar on Jul 12, 2021 12:26:51 GMT -6
Some speakers that work well with Fenders I've had: Vintage 30s, Weber 12F150, Eminence Cannabis Rex
Yes, they are picky. Ice picky, in fact, if you get the wrong combination.
With the champs the Weber Signature Series are fantastic and not expensive
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Post by Guitar on Jul 12, 2021 8:19:32 GMT -6
Honestly, these days I'm never happy with the amount of high end I have on drums in general, and overheads in particular. I never add any. Always subtracting. It still hurts my ears sometimes. I'm starting to be a broken record, but I'll say it again with more detail. Try the TDR Molot GE and/or the PSP Oldtimer ME either/or or in series, on too-bright drums or drum samples. Both will darken them right up, add weight in the lows and mids. I use them on drum bus but I assume they would apply on overheads as well, as long as a little compresson on your overheads is desired. Or you could run them with no GR and just use the saturation that each have. If you're not allergic to good plugins, haha! These two don't seem to get mentioned as much as I think they should/could.
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Post by Guitar on Jul 11, 2021 18:30:32 GMT -6
I agree with all of this. In other words “it just works.” Yes, that's my number one favorite thing about Apollo interfaces, too, they just work. Same thing, allegedly, with Mac computers. You can see why the Mac / UAD / Apollo setup is so popular, with "It just works" as the headline.
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Post by Guitar on Jul 10, 2021 14:36:29 GMT -6
For VST instruments, I tend to need to freeze once the performance and editing is done, easy in Cubase, frees up a lot of CPU headroom.
Having a computer with a fast core speed (4 GHz ish) seems to be the way to go, and as many cores as you can afford. Intel seems to have a slight edge over AMD here for low latency performance. If you can easily afford the UAD satellite, I don't see why not to buy it, if you already know you'll be using some of the plugins. Not sure where MAC sits because I've never had one.
UAD DSP is not a big help to me, doesn't affect my workflow that much in terms of CPU load. I suppose I could try to use it more heavily to get more benefit. Or I could just use Massenburg EQ's, and so on and not worry about it. Maybe it would be smart to do your overdrive/distortion/saturation on UAD, since those plugins tend to eat up more CPU time by virtue of the need for oversampling to sound right.
With software instruments, using TDR Molot GE and PSP Oldtimer ME is a good way to make a pristine sample sound more "organic" and like a real recording, less perfect. I do this a lot with Superior Drummer to get them sounding more like real drums. They are good for series compression. They bring the darkness.
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Post by Guitar on Jul 10, 2021 13:20:01 GMT -6
Carving the neck does not seem like a DIY job to me. Are you a luthier on the side or is this simpler than it sounds? Why not just buy a new neck and go full FrankenPaul? I'm a sort of a semi-trained yet fearless guitar tech person. I've carved a neck before. My buddy who went to luthier school said it was "almost perfect." As far as building a guitar from scratch goes, I've attempted two and haven't completed them yet, they have been back burner projects for several years now. Not going to take off a lot, just modify the shape a little bit. I'll be 'very careful' gosh I hope so anyway. Measure along the way and so forth, stop a lot to measure and check. That's the way to go with this type of thing. A lot of neck carving is very much a feel thing. You sort of get in tune with the wood and tools and zen out, trying to match it to your hand. It's really fun, as a matter of fact. Not as scary as it sounds. This is something I'll do on my own instruments but I'm not sure if I would take a paid job on someone's prized guitar. Maybe a friend's guitar, sure. Same thing with condenser mic capsule cleaning, ribbon mic re-ribboning, and so on. I can do it, but I'm not proven in the pro realm. Maybe this gives a picture of how I work. I've nearly sold a $1,000-ish DWA (my brand name) tube/condenser mic before, but it hasn't quite happened yet. That will be a milestone for me, to get one of those out there. .... Grovers just went on. Added 4 Oz to the already fairly heavy guitar (ouch!) but the tone is more solid and beefy now with those metal knobs up there rather than the vintage plastic, so I think it's a good change. Think the tuners need to break in a bit but they work OK.
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Post by Guitar on Jul 10, 2021 11:44:56 GMT -6
I take it back. I kind of like the satin finish on this one. Plus, someone dropped $5 in the case while I was trying it out. It’s a sign! This guitar is a money maker. I've always liked satin finishes. Poly gloss is sort of overrated anyway. I think mine's going to get a refinish on the top to more of a plain natural or slight honey amber stain, I think that will be more to my liking. Just a no nonsense natural top. Going to carve the neck a bit to. It's a great neck depth but the slight D is bugging me I'd like more of a real C shape more of a semicircle without the shoulders, they cramp a bit. Slash pickups might be going in tomorrow and Grovers might be going on today, already put a vintage Switchcraft toggle in there. I guess it's a keeper! Interestingly, this is the most I've ever paid for an electric guitar. I've always gotten great deals before, most of my other e-guitars are used or super-sale new priced. Never really thought an Epiphone Les Paul would be my "premium price" guitar but hey, why not. Always used to look down on these things a bit until they were updated just recently.
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Post by Guitar on Jul 10, 2021 5:55:37 GMT -6
It would be financially unwise, IMO, to use a newly purchased UAD Satellite / UAD Plugin Prices for 1176 / LA2A / Plate / Digital EQ. The UAD DSP satellite system is a bit of an anachronism in 2021. It's slightly interesting to me that people consider it to be modern or high tech or anything like that, since it's so limited and old-school. The price of the system is also "interesting," to me. But hey, this is recording studio culture, most of what we do seems insane to other people.
Anyway, I'll recommend a few native alternatives that I would happily use instead of the UAD you mentioned, and often do.
1176: Arturia FET 76 (tweak city if you want it), IK Multimedia Black 76 (cheeeeap, simple), there are just so many of these out there to pick from, I happen to use those two lately more often than not.
LA2A: ACME Opticom, Empirical Labs Arousor opto mode, Plugin Alliance / IK Opto also will work. Or the free Analog Obession plugins, as a no-cost option.
Plate Reverb: Soundtoys Little Plate, this is really close to the UAD...close enough. IK Sunset Sound: This will replace UAD Plate, Chamber, Spring, and Ocean Way in one plugin. It's fantastic. The Waves Abbey Road plate/chamber are also cool, but heavy on CPU, and not quite the same as the UAD. PSP 2445 is also excellent as mentioned. For the digital algorithmic/everything else reverbs I'd simply grab Exponential Audio R4 and Nimbus, and Eventide SP2016, these all go on sales.
Cambridge EQ: I would recommend the Massenburg MDWEQ6 Native, it's mastering-grade, super low CPU, oversampled, great at notching/cutting, just a marvel of coding. It's the anywhere/everywhere/always EQ for me. You could also check out Toneboosters EQ4 for more features/modes, and Waves F6 for another simple EQ that does static/dynamic, although F6 is a little higher on CPU than these other I'm recommending. For a simple, crusty, old school EQ like Cambridge maybe the Waves Q10 would do the trick, or the Rennaisance EQ, both of these, sort of "vintage digital." The Massenburg is the Ferrari version of these, and old-school enough to somehow seem cool still, with the ugly GUI and lack of whiz-bang Stephen Hawking features. You could buy Sonnox but dang that thing is a bit expensive for a plugin.
Harrison: not sure, but Analog Obesssion has one you can A/B to see if it stacks up or not.
Fairchild: definitely a good UAD, you could check the IK Multimedia one, it's a little dirtier sounding, but good. The Analog Obession EAR 660 is also cool, and free.
Neve 1081: I really like the UAD Neves, too. The Analog Obession neve channel is very good (free), Plugin Alliance Lindell 80 is an option, Black Rooster V Pre 73 if you only need the high shelf and the preamp overdrive. I can also recommend the Aturia 1973 Pre, and the Waves VEQ4 as strong options that I use happily. Between all of these surely there would be something to stand in for the UAD. I'm shopping the Noise Ash Neve channel but haven't demo'd it yet, another one to look at.
If you do decide to go with the UAD satellite, find a good deal on a used one, and maybe it won't be such a pain. If you search around long enough, you might find one that's tolerable to buy. I have a Firewire Quad that I think was $350 or so, which I'm OK with. $800 for a brand new Quad is not an option for me, couldn't do it.
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Post by Guitar on Jul 10, 2021 1:39:15 GMT -6
It was eye opening for me when I recorded in bigger rooms back in the day. My home studio setup was pretty decent circa mid 2000’s but that hf stuff, yeah...always fought it. Tried tube mics, better preamps, room treatment, etc. When I finally got into some rooms with some good sounding space, and the mics could be placed with a little distance...whoa. +1 I've had similar experiences, either going from a crap room to a professionally built out studio. Or also, starting in a crap room and adding significant, heavy acoustic treatment (massive fiberglass panels, etc.) That's the first thing you notice that goes away, all that HF stuff that makes you scared and lonely. Plus the weird reflections and so on.
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Post by Guitar on Jul 9, 2021 16:13:20 GMT -6
Just got this guitar. Not the color I ordered, but oh well, it has a good top on it, and a nice dark fingerboard, so I'll probably hang onto it. Some of the others I've seen online are not quite as handsome, so I got lucky. Getting to know it a bit today, will take some time. Probably going to put the Slash pickups in it once I'm committed to owning it. Completely different guitar to my Agile AL-3100, it's amazing how different they are. This one has a very airy quality to it. View AttachmentNot the color you ordered? That's kind of lame. Although that finish looks great in my opinion. Yeah I've never wanted to be "that guy" with the cherry burst les paul, but hey, I can get over myself, haha! If it bothers me enough I'll refinish it to a natural color, just a plain clear coat. But it is a nicely done burst, especially for a guitar in this price range with this name on the headstock.
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Post by Guitar on Jul 9, 2021 15:16:18 GMT -6
Just got this guitar. Not the color I ordered, but oh well, it has a good top on it, and a nice dark fingerboard, so I'll probably hang onto it. Some of the others I've seen online are not quite as handsome, so I got lucky. Getting to know it a bit today, will take some time. Probably going to put the Slash pickups in it once I'm committed to owning it. Completely different guitar to my Agile AL-3100, it's amazing how different they are. This one has a very airy quality to it.
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