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Post by ragan on Apr 2, 2024 0:27:27 GMT -6
For many many years, I used an original LA3A to track vocals. Set to limiter, 50dB gain (so clean preamp barely-cracked-open), input and peak reduction between 4 and 5, occasionally up to 6. Could never do any wrong and was always absolutely amazing; plus could go from whisper to full-belting without stepping-back and it didn’t care. Sold in a moment of weakness (has happened way too many times). Now have a pair of SA3As (changed the resistor on the 50dB gain setting). Have a love/hate - works great/doesn’t work at all - relationship with them while tracking. I seem to like them much much better and consistently, inserted on console channels at mix. With all the above in mind, what should be my new vocal tracking compressor? Sta-Level? Something else? I have one open 500-slot too. SA3A = Serpent Audio or Stam Audio?
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Post by ragan on Mar 27, 2024 13:20:16 GMT -6
notneeson thank you sir! I had kind of forgotten about this comparison. This has the QPP back on my mind, especially since going back to doing live drums. I didn’t really have the need for more good pres before. I’ve got two channels of Great River and two channels of Stam 1073. The QPP would be a really nice alternate flavor. I did session guitar work on one record through a Quad Eight desk and I really loved that thing. You had to send it back? Yeah it was a demo unit, just to check out. I think it was pretty early on in Matt’s development of it.
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Post by ragan on Mar 27, 2024 13:07:13 GMT -6
notneeson thank you sir! I had kind of forgotten about this comparison. This has the QPP back on my mind, especially since going back to doing live drums. I didn’t really have the need for more good pres before. I’ve got two channels of Great River and two channels of Stam 1073. The QPP would be a really nice alternate flavor. I did session guitar work on one record through a Quad Eight desk and I really loved that thing. I mean, easy for me to say, but go for it! My main pres in my personal studio are actually AM10 based Quad Eights that I had racked up long ago. Love 'em. Funny enough I have been hankering for the 500 series Great River pre even though I don't really need it. Hankering for things I don’t really need is one of my specialties
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Post by ragan on Mar 27, 2024 12:11:24 GMT -6
notneeson thank you sir! I had kind of forgotten about this comparison. This has the QPP back on my mind, especially since going back to doing live drums. I didn’t really have the need for more good pres before. I’ve got two channels of Great River and two channels of Stam 1073. The QPP would be a really nice alternate flavor. I did session guitar work on one record through a Quad Eight desk and I really loved that thing.
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Post by ragan on Mar 26, 2024 22:17:21 GMT -6
I'm gonna try that thing one of these days.
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Post by ragan on Mar 26, 2024 22:16:20 GMT -6
I'm still a total 58 dude for live vocals (I also really like them for tracking vocals). I recently did a fresh comparison between SM58/Beta58 and I slightly preferred the standard SM58 this time. I think the difference between them is overblown.
But either one, I just find to sound really flattering and natural, with nothing weird poking out.
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Post by ragan on Mar 26, 2024 22:04:10 GMT -6
The Wing Upright in Keyscape is a go-to for me. A quick search didn't find any great demos of just playing with the Keyscape, but this comparison is good. And the other one (Session Keys Upright, which I've only just become aware of now) also sounds really good in the sort of 'the piano in your friend's basement' upright way. I like it. But I think the Keyscape is special.
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Post by ragan on Mar 26, 2024 11:19:37 GMT -6
Man, I still want one of these.
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Post by ragan on Mar 25, 2024 21:39:46 GMT -6
The Stam AD[F/G] units are also a good option for multiple 1176 iterations in one unit.
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Post by ragan on Mar 25, 2024 20:00:05 GMT -6
Although I don’t know if I have any available discounts. But I’m still generally interested if people feel like the upgrade is worth it. I feel like when it first came out, there was stuff people didn’t like about it. But that was quite awhile ago.
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Post by ragan on Mar 25, 2024 19:59:09 GMT -6
I guess I’ll second this question.
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Post by ragan on Mar 23, 2024 12:28:01 GMT -6
441 or SM7b.
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Post by ragan on Mar 22, 2024 13:14:40 GMT -6
I just did a fresh round of vocal mic comparisons on my voice with everything from SM57 to U67, and I landed back on preferring the SM7b. It’s always been my favorite mic to sing through, but now it’s actually my favorite sonically too (for my voice). Also high up in my comparisons was the trusty SM58. Also a dirt cheap Monoprice active ribbon (which really excels on drums and amps). And the 441 too.
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Post by ragan on Mar 22, 2024 11:22:16 GMT -6
I’d also second the SM7(b). I just kinda love that mic.
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Post by ragan on Mar 22, 2024 9:45:05 GMT -6
I think I’d second the ADK T-FET mics (on sale).
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Post by ragan on Mar 21, 2024 22:26:04 GMT -6
I’ve never had any trouble with any specific type of compression and drum imaging. That said, whenever I try compressing overheads, I usually end up removing it. Yeah usually it sounds like crap or vacuum pumped like ringo but limiting the overheads to kill the snare in them can sound cool The Ringo vacuum swoosh is something I've tried to achieve a million times. Never really have. Those are pinnacle sonic vibes in my world.
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Post by ragan on Mar 21, 2024 21:30:36 GMT -6
I’ve never had any trouble with any specific type of compression and drum imaging. That said, whenever I try compressing overheads, I usually end up removing it.
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Post by ragan on Mar 21, 2024 14:48:25 GMT -6
But as to the topic at hand (how can you monitor through plugs while circumventing the DAW buffer), those need to run on Apollo DSP.
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Post by ragan on Mar 21, 2024 11:30:49 GMT -6
The buffer doesn't affect latency when you're direct monitoring. You can set it to the highest setting to get the most processing power and best stability, and still get 1.1ms of total audio latency for recording. That's the great thing about the Apollo, for me at least. So it takes the audio from the streams before the DAW? How do you monitor through the plugs in the DAW then? I think that's what wiz was asking about, right? The plug-ins you monitor through aren’t in the DAW, they’re in the UA Console app. You can monitor them or print them if you want.
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Post by ragan on Mar 21, 2024 9:27:58 GMT -6
It was some prior but very recent update. I think ~two updates ago.
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Post by ragan on Mar 21, 2024 8:49:25 GMT -6
I'm right there with you, Wiz. The Apollo system works great for me and I think it sounds great too. I often pull up a "finished" mix session with 50-60 full of plugs, including on the mix bus, and track an overdub with 1.1 ms latency, even with a really nice reverb or delay being monitored. I can have my buffer set to 2048 and it's rock solid with 1.1 ms latency. I actually was able to do that with a 2012 Macbook Pro too and it was no problem. I've never been able to get that low of latency under that kind of load with native systems, but I haven't tried it with the newer Apple Silicon computers yet. With native systems I always had to disable some plugins, and I couldn't track with reverbs without delay. I think the only thing that can compete latency-wise is HDX, and it costs twice as much money. I put that money into microphones and monitors instead and I'm glad I did. I think the converters sound great. I slightly prefer the sound of the Apogee Symphony AD, but these days when you're buying an interface, you're buying into an ecosystem, and all the other factors still make the Apollo a winner for me. The DA on the Apollo X series blows away a lot of the DACs that top mastering engineers were using 20 years ago. I'm sure a Hilo would be even more transparent, but I work just fine with the Apollo X DAC. I still haven't used Luna. I know I'm in the minority on this, but I find it easy to work with UA Console and Pro Tools. I came up at a time in studios when we were using LFACs as a front end to record into Pro Tools, and this is basically the same workflow but with software. In Pro Tools I'm always switching between the mix and edit windows, this just adds a third window with the same quick keys. I'm super fast with both Pro Tools and Console and it's easy for me. I'm sure Luna is an even better workflow and I'm excited to give it a try when I have time. 2048 samples at 96KHz sampling rate would be about 21ms of buffering time. Not sure how the math works to get you 1.1ms latency. I guess that 1.1ms would be just processing latency, not total audio latency. I think he means DAW buffer is at 2048. But he's monitoring through Apollo Console app, independent of that buffer.
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Post by ragan on Mar 20, 2024 22:52:59 GMT -6
Yeah I used to calculate and enter it, but you'd have to have different values for different sample rates and buffers, and it didn't seem to always be phase coherent.
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Post by ragan on Mar 20, 2024 22:04:15 GMT -6
I've continued having HW insert delay compensation work in PT. I almost can't believe it. It's just working. I don't have any delay values in the I/O settings. Been doing parallel drums, vocals, no phase issues, works across buffer settings...it's aligned.
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Post by ragan on Mar 20, 2024 21:29:09 GMT -6
I'm right there with you, Wiz. The Apollo system works great for me and I think it sounds great too. I often pull up a "finished" mix session with 50-60 full of plugs, including on the mix bus, and track an overdub with 1.1 ms latency, even with a really nice reverb or delay being monitored. I can have my buffer set to 2048 and it's rock solid with 1.1 ms latency. I actually was able to do that with a 2012 Macbook Pro too and it was no problem. I've never been able to get that low of latency under that kind of load with native systems, but I haven't tried it with the newer Apple Silicon computers yet. With native systems I always had to disable some plugins, and I couldn't track with reverbs without delay. I think the only thing that can compete latency-wise is HDX, and it costs twice as much money. I put that money into microphones and monitors instead and I'm glad I did. I think the converters sound great. I slightly prefer the sound of the Apogee Symphony AD, but these days when you're buying an interface, you're buying into an ecosystem, and all the other factors still make the Apollo a winner for me. The DA on the Apollo X series blows away a lot of the DACs that top mastering engineers were using 20 years ago. I'm sure a Hilo would be even more transparent, but I work just fine with the Apollo X DAC. I still haven't used Luna. I know I'm in the minority on this, but I find it easy to work with UA Console and Pro Tools. I came up at a time in studios when we were using LFACs as a front end to record into Pro Tools, and this is basically the same workflow but with software. In Pro Tools I'm always switching between the mix and edit windows, this just adds a third window with the same quick keys. I'm super fast with both Pro Tools and Console and it's easy for me. I'm sure Luna is an even better workflow and I'm excited to give it a try when I have time. UA Console has keystrokes? What can you do with them? Presumably you still have to target the Console window for them to apply.
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Post by ragan on Mar 20, 2024 16:43:36 GMT -6
Testify, Wiz!
I haven’t been on Apollo platform for years, but I had SF and BF and thought they were really great. If I had wanted more of an all-in-one solution, I’d still be using Apollo.
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