LA3A and SA3A Vocal-Tracking Replacement

SA3A = Serpent Audio or Stam Audio?

I track vocals with a Retro STA (sometimes a Phoenix MP) and it’s a big sound - big low end girth that’s suits my light tenor voice.

But you gotta be careful - you can knock off 20db without noticing!

It’s like an automated fader in a colour box.

I use a 47 > Coil CA-70 > Retro STA and it is the smoothest vocal sound I have ever had. I can just talk into it never mind sing and it sounds so darn sexy and euphoric.

Not a combo for a punk singer or a rapper but if you want musical sounding, pro, slick, sexy sounding vocals it’s a great unit.

Some people prefer to keep the STA for mixing and use something less “wow” or even nothing at the tracking stage and I totally get that too.

I just like to commit and capture the magic sauce at the source.

At least, that’s this weeks approach

stam is probably not binning the light dependent resistor in the same way as teletronix and urei did back in the 60s. all of those are going away anyway because cadmium sulfide is a target of the eu nanny state. all optical compressors respond differently anyway and your unit has aged so it will not have the same response as a new unit.

the truly long term solution is to buy and learn to use a modern design optical compressor or to not use a compressor where the dynamic movement will radically change with age. There are several of each and you can always use a VCA compressor with sped up attack and release for the peaks versus the body such as the various daking compressor's auto releases, drawmer dl241 and dl251 auto compressors, aphex 661, crane song stc-8 peak modification or peak stop, the dangerous compressor's smart dynamics, or in the box: waves renaissance compressor on opto, oxford dynamics utilizing both the compressor and limiter, tdr kotelnikov and molot ge, mdwdrc2.

Many of these will give you full control over where the compressor speeds up and slows down. You do not have to fit the material into where the limited range of where a compressor behaves well, you can fit the compressor onto the material without worrying if the manufacturer of your ersatz of 1960s equipment binned the optical detector similarly to how your decades old one sounded when you used it.

They use one of the Keneteks apparently. Yeah, I must have liked the old tired and worn-out one I had.

I’m definitely not set on any particular type of compression, away from the old LA3A sound is absolutely fine. But the old LA3A definitely had a sound, one that I was blown away with every time, on all styles of vocals I did, so I’m definitely looking for something I will always be just as blown away with, but in its own way. It seems the Retro Sta-Level fits that bill. I am just curious of what else I need to be considering, as my expectations are high! Doesn’t necessarily have to be super-costly either. I’m always floored with my pair of old blue face Ashly SC-50s on vocals, but definitely gritty and noisy.

I have really liked my Stam 3A (it's in the SA-23A+). It's my go to for tracking vocals. That said, I've never owned an original. And anytime I may have used them in the past, I was on the other side of the glass and not the one twiddling the knobs.

If it's using the Kenetek module, you can get different "style" or speed modules from Kenetek.  Maybe have a chat with Bill and see if he can suggest a different module for you (in the Stam)?

Their website says they build their own T4B and that they have compared it to originals, Kenetek, and Drip, so I’d imagine it would be.

Yeah, I’ve thought I should talk to Bill, but first I have to pull it out of the rack to make sure I know what Kenetek is in there exactly.

Hmmm…. Less you sell me one of yours, finding an original Serpent seems to be rough. I’d try the Chimera, but no mention of the 50dB input gain, so I wonder how it’s setup. Like not using the input pad on an API preamp, it’s a big part of the sound.

I get what you’re talking about with the overshoot, program dependency, and middy transistor type distortion but getting it for tracking is difficult.

You need something middy distortion wise that overshoots like the old detector with the program dependent attack release. I don’t know if any current optical or optical like compressor will give you want you want but you can always try.

Honestly for mixing I’d just use Ren Axx if I am currently being bled for wup by waves but I refuse that now so I would just tweak Oxford dynamics or Molot GE to just do what I want by ear knowing more or less how they work and what the knobs do and then shove some distortion on it before or after. Those are what I tend to use on vocals itb and Molot ge you can change the curve of the attack without slowing down the rate.

Tracking Hardware wise a lot of styles with in your face vocals used the typical rms vca compressor that overshoots but has a different behavior with deeper gain reduction than what you want: instead of attack and release speeding up with greater gain reduction from hitting an optical cell harder, the rms detector speeds up attack and slows down release with greater gain reduction. There are a few “auto” compressors that can get a similar type of action with sped up attack and release in greater gain reduction with various degrees of transistor distortion and fidelity but it’s generally faster attack and release for the initial portion of gain reduction than most optical compressors. Some of these are cheap like the symetrix 501, Drawmers, or Aphex 661 but others can be expensive for a tracking compressor like the distressor opto settings, kush tweaker, or dangerous compressor. You can always try different la3a recreations or modern optical compressor designs but they might not give you what you want behavior and sound wise from memory.

Never used an original LA3A, but I love my 3A from Stam. The 500 version SA3A5. I don't know if it has the same insides as your Stam version. It could be worth sending an email to Josh to know if there has been changes to the circuitry between the SA3A and the current model. I find it agressive and forward sounding, really useful as a tonal shaper, and of course a compressor.

I knew I've had to use 0.775VAC before... when I built the HB FET compressor.  Anyway, Hairball explains it pretty well (probably better than I could).  0 dBu is equal to 0.775 VAC (or 0.7746 to be more accurate).  A tone generator is best, but I think you could use a DAW sine wave generator to output a 1KHz signal at 0dBu, and use that for calibration too (if you don't have a tone generator lying around).  Just measure with a digital multi-meter to ensure you are getting 0.775VAC output.  It takes some time, but it's not really as difficult as it might look. Of course you'll need to create a cable with some bare leads (or at least make them accessible to clip on the DMM).

www.hairballaudio.com/blog/resources/build-guides/fetrack-v2-buildbrstep-4-calibration

I thought the TG Opto was pretty great too.