PlanetZ forums - scopeusers.com

Disclaimer: I am on a serious low budget here, the most expensive thing I have purchased is my 3 Scope cards(Best thing I ever bought since I started in music circa 1985), so before you throw tomatoes at me, let me set the Stage

...

Grabs mic and puts it on the the stand...

...

...

Ducks behind workstation.


OK, for several years now me and my production company has used 2 mics the CAD Equitech E200 and a Octava 219. No preamps, other than a cheap Behringer whatever the name was, also the preamp on the MBox 2, recently the Preamp on the Tascam DM-4800 and currently a Focusrite Trackmaster Pro(Got it for 90 bucks ebay!).

Nothing spectacular, I know, and the results generally showed that, albeit without really trying things to the limit. I did have strangely enough had a certain liking for the Cad Mic patched into the MBOX2 and then ran though the Antares Mic Modeller plugin with the API 560 plugin tailored for a sweeting of a client that I recorded some years ago, but since then have been out of the Studio Session Rental-Booking business, in exchange for working with writers and artist in an attempt to sell records to the buying industry, whatever that means.

...

Any way the stage is set so here we go...



I sold my Akai sampler and various other diddy's to buy a 14 dsp card, but some of that money went to the city for traffic tickets , so to ease my gearlust I took what I had and bought some more cheap gear .

This time I did some research before I pressed the pay button. Again keep in my I'm on a seriously low budget here, I work 12 hour a day shifts(nothing to do with music) to pay my bills and bye gear.

I bought:

1 Studio Projects B1 Large Condenser Mic $119 usd
1 Electro Harmonix 12ay7 High Voltage Tube Mic Preamp $189 usd
1 Art Pro Channel - Tube Preamp/Compressor/Eq (High Volt) $179 usd

Now on to my reasoning...

I bought the B1 mic after hearing a shootout of mics and this one struck me with a sound that I was looking for in vocals, then I discovered that it can be modded to sound even better, I snagged it quick!!

I bought the EH 12ay7 preamp after reading what I thought was knowledge that I knew but did not thoroughly research it until now, and that was there's a difference between a starved tube and a High Voltage tube preamp, and then the fact that I could change the tubes with ease to get different colors as well as have some of the inner components modded.

and finally The ART Pro Channel was impulse and a result of learning about the High Voltage Tube preamps and the fact that it can be modded and the tubes swapped, as well as the fact it had compression and eq for vocal and instrument recording.

So as you can see, this will be alot like owning a Stock model automobile and swapping components in and out to find just the right taste. It might cost just as much as by the really high gear when all is said and done, but at least I can do it in steps rather than all at once.


Your kind or Nasty words are invited

One more thing as these three will be stock for a while, what are you thoughts on running the B1 mic into the Electro to bring it to line level and then into the Art Pro, kind of a makeshift Tube Mic to Preamp chain?

ok, you asked to be criticised, so i'm doing it. if at any point you start thinking that i'm being negative, you can skip to the last paragraph...there he goes again, blah, blah, blah.

the B1 is servicable. i don't really think it's better than the CAD, but it's cool.

the mic pres, ehh...tubes are cool, solid state is cool. a good sounding box is better.
both should be servicable. they're certainly better than what you had, so that's a win. yes, the ART can be modded and can be a much better piece if you do so properly. the best mods are just about putting better quality parts in there, but then, you could've just bought one with good parts to begin with. personally, i'd have gone with something honest over something with color, because if you don't have a lot of great mic and mic pre choices, having one high quality, honest pre to go with the mics you do have will help you get through more situations than several mediocre choices. i would have spent the money on an FMR RNP and had one REAL studio quality pre to go with the mic you had, instead of having a couple of semi-pro quality pieces.

the RNP is like $475 for two channels new. there's nothing fancy about it, just two CLEAN channels with gain control, phase switches, 48vlt phanton and hiz and loz inputs. it sounds like $1500 though. clean gain is what you want in most cases. how do you know what a mic sounds like otherwise? you have plenty of things to tweak and color a recording with later, and the mics are certainly colored, all of them. cheap tubes won't make a recording sound any better than running a track through an overdrive, something i do sometimes anyway. the best tube gear is super clean, but still nice sounding. tube compression can add fatness without getting fuzzy. bad tubes are just fuzzy and murky. on the other hand, bad solid state is brittle and harsh, where good solid state is clean and fresh. with a little compression, it's as nice as tubes. neither tubes nor solid state are good or bad, just by the method of amplification.

i always think that a few really good tools are better that a box full of second rate tools. if you record some cool performances though, that's more important. i'm sure that what you purchased will do you well. since you got all that stuff used, you should be able to have fun with it, and then get your money back should you decide to sell it. that sounds like a win.

Thanks for the feedback Gary, and for the record I thrive on both positive and negative criticism, they're all good in the end.

Eventually we will get some of the higher end preamps and mics, but my partners have been less than wanting to spend any real money on vocal recording gear, despite my suggestions of the High End Stuff, but the tables have turned in the financing arena at the moment, it used to be me working on just music without a real job and trying to break into the industry and my partners where the 9-5ers, now I'm working and one of them is doing the studio bit, so I figured I would take it upon myself to at least upgrade something if not for the experience of taking us one step up, at least my contribution should shed more light on a serious weak link in our business and sound at hand.

FMR RNP... Ive been hearing alot of good things about that pre, as well as the Golden Age 73 and the Groove tubes Brick. I may eventually grab one of these, but not before I get either another 14-15 dsp card or the Xite.

This will be our first delving into High Voltage tube gear within the confines of our studio and with comparison to the Oktava into the aforementioned pres that we currently have, I expect and eye opener and maybe a hair raising experience.

I actually liked the CAD for what it was but the battery issue kinda rendered the the mic useless with a need to repair. I haven't plug that thing up in 3 or 4 years.

p.s. Sadly the only thing used was the Mic(Ebay), after I committed to buy, I realized I didn't check the new price...which was ..uhhmm... ...$3 more than the used one...okay you can start the tomatoes now.

yes, and you spent the same money that you would've spent on an RNP, so you can afford better.

you know that CAD is still in business and that that is a REALLY good mic and that you can have it working for very little, right? the battery is backup power. it's supposed to be run on phantom, not battery. the battery allows it to handle extreme transients without the power supply sagging. it's one of the most accurate, but still smooth condensor mics ever made. the B1 is not in the same league...the E200 is Pro, the B1 is cheap.

FMR RNP's are also excellent Line inputs for synths.
They are non coloring and very accurate for the price.
Sonce you won't be doing voicovers in an animation I;d say their the best bang for a buck.
GaryBs' advice has always prooved to be perfect for my needs with one exception, the nasy Hummus he eats, It tastes like Clay or silly Puddy...

dude, on a sandwich it's just mayonaise.

It sucks, I'd rather die a death from Monsanto GM poisoning than to eat that again, other than that, your advice is always 100%..........

For voice, I like anything from Joemeek, they are great units, but rather colored I have to say: http://www.joemeek.com/

I second the idea of something simple but good, instate of having several functions that amount to nothing special.

I have this simple unit: http://www.joemeek.com/pdf/vc3hb.pdf
and it sounds really good for anything voice related: singing, speech, etc., but it is also very good with instruments. If you like the Phil Collings sound, you'll like this one.