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Post by Martin John Butler on Jun 1, 2021 7:28:29 GMT -6
I once corresponded with producer/engineer Nathaniel Kunkel regarding the recording of Lyle' Lovette's "Road to Ensenada". He told me they used a black U67 for vocals and a Tele C24 on guitar. There was bleed of course. He clearly chose them to work as a pair, and I believe that won the album of the year Grammy. Here's Ryan Adams tracking with a U-47 and I think a 414. The mics seem close to me, but it obviously works beautifully if you know his recordings well. I think it's just a matter of getting the sound you like first and then forget about bleed, get a good sound in the cans and focus on performance. Thinking of Adams, have a listen here, I think it's a dynamic on vocal and a 414 on guitar, live. I'd take that performance even if it could be technically recorded better. I find it difficult to get the playing and vocal I want simultaneously, so I usually end up recording acoustic separately. I hope to do more solo acoustic tracks soon and will try some mic combos just to see.
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Post by Martin John Butler on May 30, 2021 8:24:44 GMT -6
Get the Ampex ATR-102. It's been on my 2 Bus since 2012. You could do an album with just that plug-in alone, it's that good. I'd say it the most useful plug I've ever found.
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Post by Martin John Butler on May 29, 2021 16:43:00 GMT -6
Love that kcat!
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Post by Martin John Butler on May 28, 2021 19:49:15 GMT -6
"That's actually a fantastic idea. If they could make a Reverb plugin to integrate your other instruments in the same space as the drums. I've struggled with the same problem many times". That would be very cool Hakan. That's kind of the way I try using UAD's Ocean Way plug-in. I dial in different amounts using a bus to try simulating all the instruments being played at the same time. Integrating the drums that have a lot of room sound is difficult.
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Post by Martin John Butler on May 28, 2021 19:44:03 GMT -6
In my experience, subtle differences can often reveal themselves over time. An A-B test is only one way to test something and is inherently limited, but often useful. I've discovered audio nuances I didn't like when listening to something for a month regularly. But once noticed, that's all I hear and have to change it. It's like a spot on a tie, it just stands out too much once noticed. I would expect the same with converters.
I heard some things kcat did with the Lynx Aurora and I definitely felt it was an improvement over his Apollo and his Symphony Mk II.
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Post by Martin John Butler on May 27, 2021 19:17:21 GMT -6
Haven't used SD 3 at all yet, I keep going back to SD2.
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Post by Martin John Butler on May 26, 2021 17:20:32 GMT -6
I too find the UAD Plate to be a little heavy. It works beautifully on solo guitar and vocal, but gets a bit crowded in a multi-track situation.
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Post by Martin John Butler on May 26, 2021 14:53:20 GMT -6
monkeyxx, I thought that room sound was really good. I have so many other options though, I hesitate to get yet another one. Ocean Way has been working well for me, as well as the 7th Heaven studio verbs. I might by UAD's Capitol Chambers next time it's on sale.
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Post by Martin John Butler on May 25, 2021 16:11:23 GMT -6
I'll be watching this, I always wanted a dedicated Mac Mini.
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Post by Martin John Butler on May 25, 2021 7:36:05 GMT -6
The Stam just sounds frickin' great. I've been fantasizing lately about having some hardware again.. ugh..
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Post by Martin John Butler on May 24, 2021 13:38:33 GMT -6
That "problematic "space is way better than the tight corner in my living room where I have a desk squeezed in with gear on it ! My "space" will definitely help you all appreciate what you have it's so minimal, to put it nicely ;-) Attachments:
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Post by Martin John Butler on May 24, 2021 7:52:52 GMT -6
I've seen rooms with lots of wooden diffusors, but this one's different. Instead of the usual small blocks of wood, just looking at all those sticks pointing made me uncomfortable. It looks like thousands of swords in a way.
Think about this, sometimes you walk into a space and just feel good. There are reasons for this. Some people may think it's superstition, but I've found many of the Feng Shui principles I've studied hold some truth. I don't care how good that room may sound, I wouldn't want to be in it.
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Post by Martin John Butler on May 19, 2021 14:03:13 GMT -6
Whoa! That is impressive.
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Post by Martin John Butler on May 18, 2021 15:20:11 GMT -6
Guitfiddler, I was just chatting with a friend about the Dangerous Music converters vs. the Aurora. I'm really looking forward to your comparison. It's not so easy to get two pieces like that in the same room.
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Post by Martin John Butler on May 18, 2021 7:09:38 GMT -6
I have all my reverbs on a bus and dial in different amounts to create a soundstage. First I use the UAD Ocean Way plug-in, but only as a room sound. It makes tracks sound like the players were all in the same room. Then I use Liquid Sonics 7th Heaven as my main reverb. . Strangely enough, I use one of the studio sounds, often the London preset. I tweak pre-delay by ear to work with the track. Then I put the Relab XL480 on a medium hall. That expands the track and the widening aspect makes you feel the space is more 3D than just one reverb. Again, pre-delay depends. I then use a third reverb sparingly, if at all. I've just started using the Phoenix Verb for that, it's the cleanest sound yet. I also keep Sound Toys Little Plate on another bus, just in case I want to be a little creative. Funny, I track with UAD's EMT-140 but don't print it. It sounds great, but I prefer it for solo acoustic guitars in a singer/songwriter context. In that use, it's amazingly rich. Do you do these all on the same bus? No, I put each verb on a separate bus of its own. This way I dial in slightly different amounts of the Ocean Way plug to place the players in a room, as much like a soundstage as I can. Varying the position with the Ocean Way doesn't do much, but the little it does adds up in the end. I never make the OW obvious. I don't want it to be a reverb, I want an improvement on the overall room sound. There's always an amount of Ocean Way that when you dial it in, the space I recorded in vanishes and the players begin to sound like they're playing together. I stop right there. Then I put the Seventh Heaven on bus 2. That's my main reverb sound, usually the London Studio or a Plate, depending. On bus 3, the Relab XL480, this is to widen the space. The reverb bounces of "the walls" farther left and right than other reverbs, giving pianos and guitars a slight stereo effect. My next verb is an optional one, depending on the track.
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Post by Martin John Butler on May 17, 2021 7:50:51 GMT -6
So, I just followed a link from an email UAD sent. It sent me to a "5 minute tips" demo of their Helios plug-in. After tweaking every drum individually, they played the track without and with the Helios. The "with" track was so much louder than the "without" it was ridiculous. It rendered the demo mostly useless. I can't believe UAD doesn't know that, so they're clearly hyping the plug-in artificially. Whenever I want to see what a particular plug is doing, I do a basic volume match. Often just raising the volume can trick you into thinking it's better. Also, unless you track with the plug-in, for mixing it's basically just an EQ, so what the big deal about that?
Gripe #2: Why does every other music engineering tutorial have to begin with a way too loud heavy metal intro?
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Post by Martin John Butler on May 16, 2021 21:24:51 GMT -6
I have all my reverbs on a bus and dial in different amounts to create a soundstage. First I use the UAD Ocean Way plug-in, but only as a room sound. It makes tracks sound like the players were all in the same room. Then I use Liquid Sonics 7th Heaven as my main reverb. . Strangely enough, I use one of the studio sounds, often the London preset. I tweak pre-delay by ear to work with the track. Then I put the Relab XL480 on a medium hall. That expands the track and the widening aspect makes you feel the space is more 3D than just one reverb. Again, pre-delay depends. I then use a third reverb sparingly, if at all. I've just started using the Phoenix Verb for that, it's the cleanest sound yet. I also keep Sound Toys Little Plate on another bus, just in case I want to be a little creative.
Funny, I track with UAD's EMT-140 but don't print it. It sounds great, but I prefer it for solo acoustic guitars in a singer/songwriter context. In that use, it's amazingly rich.
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Post by Martin John Butler on May 13, 2021 17:32:43 GMT -6
I don't know anything about Hansa. What is that all about?
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Post by Martin John Butler on May 12, 2021 15:33:49 GMT -6
Great demo, thanks for posting Joshua. I think it sounds great.
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Post by Martin John Butler on May 11, 2021 21:34:41 GMT -6
Soundtoys has a sale on the Echoboy and Echoboy Jr. $49, $29. I wonder if it's worth even bothering with. I do like my other Soundtoys plugs a lot.
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Post by Martin John Butler on May 11, 2021 9:19:29 GMT -6
Why not get a second hand U87?
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Post by Martin John Butler on May 11, 2021 7:19:53 GMT -6
I've struggled with getting a delay I found easy to get a setting I liked. Yesterday, I used Logic's built in "Tape Delay", and it was just about perfect. I might figure out how to EQ that delay a bit, but it did the job quickly.
I may not bother looking for another delay plug now. I used H Delay for a long time, but all my Waves plugs GUI's has gone bye bye, and I don't want t bother with Waves anymore anyway.
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Post by Martin John Butler on May 9, 2021 17:57:23 GMT -6
Their high end mics are really good.I've never heard their bargain gear.
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Post by Martin John Butler on May 8, 2021 8:02:56 GMT -6
javamad, "what matters"? For heaven's sake, just take 5 seconds, open it up, turn hiss off and save. You'll never hear the hiss again.
I've used the ATR-102 permanently on my 2 bus since the first day of the first Apollo, and I don't love plug-ins. That thing might as well be call the Betterizer.
I think it's simply the most useful plug-in ever made. I can do an album with the ATR-102 alone and sound great.
I've tried every preset, before watching long tutorials, try this, compare the 30 ips mastering preset to the Smooth Vocal preset on the 2 bus. Pick one, tweak levels to taste, save, and you'll have a great sound instantly.
Good luck!
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Post by Martin John Butler on May 7, 2021 7:21:03 GMT -6
I'd love to hear some of the guys here picking a classic song or two that are benchmarks of great sound, and analyzing them for low frequencies and phase shift. It would be interesting to know. It's over my head to measure that for myself.
The best recorded album in the 21st century I can think of is Beck's "Sea Change", but I'd really love to know where Chris Stapleton's "Broken Halos" stands frequency wise too.
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