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Palaver

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  1. and find what best suits your sense of aesthetic... any thing else is a fun game but it's nothing more than uneducated conjecture. Peace. Hey Fletcher, Just out of curiosity, from time to time I browse your webpage and look at your stuff. I'm a keyboarder, so the extra 2-3Gs I have sitting around is going to be tossed on a nice instrument... and not on really expensive outboard gear. I'm trying to keep compact/small/multi-purpose components for my DAW. I have come across the Groove Tubes 'Brick' a number of times. I noticed that you guys promote it for guitars and instruments, but how about for vocals? Does anyone in here use it as a Vox preamp?
  2. Does your voice thin out as you go into powerful/screamy or loud & clean type vocals? I ask this because, quite frankly, most people's voices do. And so it's possible that the mic/mic preamp combo may be accurately picking up what you are doing. After all, it's not distorting, right? Are you singing directly into the mic when you do these kinds of vocals, or is it slightly off-axis? What kind of room are you singing these kinds of vocals in? Personally, when I do these screamo-type vocals (I used to do a lot of hardcore), I'd listen to the voice. If there's a lot of "raspy" top-end stuff going on that might sound shrill, I'd choose a slightly darker combination of mic / mic preamp at first, although I'd probably set up several combinations and test each one, just to be sure. I don't believe one has to necessarily a tube mic preamp. For example, the Neve Portico does not have a tube, but it does have a lot of girth. I'd choose a microphone that didn't have a lot of "fizz" on the top end (so possibly the NTK might not be the greatest choice for this kind of thing). I'd also make sure that I put a dynamic mic out there, such as one of the Heils, just to see how that did. Sometimes, there's nothing like a large diaphragm dynamic for really loud screamo or hardcore vocals, and I frequently end up going for one of these. Has some "natural compression" (bear with me, you know what I mean!) when compared to condensers, and sometimes, that's just what's needed. ~~~~~~~ I don't have a huge mic preamp or microphone locker, so these following suggestions are what I would do with what I have, not necessarily saying that it'd be "the best" (not that there's any such thing anyway). When I encounter screamo/super loud/hardcore vocals, I usually set up the Neve Portico and Peavey VMP-2 tube mic preamps and the Lawson L251 (just because everything seems to sound damn good through this) and a Heil P40 or whatever the hell it's called (large diaphragm dynamic) and see if those worked, switching mic preamps to see what would happen. Usually one of those combinations is golden. If not, I've got a 421 and a modified AT4060, both of which would be appropriate choices for the task at hand as well. Great post... and very informative. I appreciate the input! And yes, the voice does thin out as it gets higher... and as I push it. It's definitely not distorting. At high volumes, I tend to sing off axis where the NTK is notorious for the 's' and 'p' sounds. I have a nice pop filter as well. I was just wondering if there are any pres/mics combos specific to the loud volume vox. I'll definitely look into your suggestions, and I greatly appreciated the post!
  3. Hey guys, On my personal DAW, I'm using Ableton Live/Logic Studio with an Apogee Ensemble interface (transparent pres). For my vocals, I've been using the Ensemble's pres with a Rode NTK. I'm totally digging the setup, and I am getting some great demos. I notice that the mic works exceptionally well when I crank the pres and use more of a 'bodied' and breathy vocal. The mic seems to sound a little thin when the pres are set lower during my powerful/screamy & even on loud clean type vox. Are there particular mics/pres that are known for 'powerful' vocal work (whether it be loud and raspy, or loud and clean)? The current pre/mic combo is still fine for the 'powerful' work, but would a coloured tube be more beneficial to loud/powerful/raspy vocals? The current setup sounds gorgeous on my less aggressive vocal takes... I know in the end that this is more of an experimentation thing, but should I experiment with different mics, or should I try something like a UAD pre-amp, or a brick? In my scenario, would it make more sense to try differeing pres with the current mic, or consider a completely different mic and pre? Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. I'm perfectly happy with my vocal performances and the like... I'm just looking for suggestions on future work. I am sure guys like Phil O'Keefe, and Fletcher can probably name genres of music and what mics/pres/etc. they'd use for their clients... Cheers, PB
  4. I use a TC Electronic M300 with my DAW via S/PDIF. Please note that I'm not saying that this is the best, but I also purchased it for less than $200, and it sounds surprisingly good and, obviously, since I use this in place of a reverb plug-in, you don't tax the CPU, if that's a concern to you. I've generally liked Lexicon stuff, although I'm definitely not up on the current bunch of boxes. I've found that their stuff sounds good, although it doesn't sound "realistic". Then again, it's rare that any of these things sound "realistic". EDIT: I missed the bottom part of your post, and this older box does not have USB or Firewire capability. I connect it via S/PDIF. I'll leave the post up in case it helps someone else. You're input is greatly appreciated as always. Keep up the great work... and BTW, do you have a demo page or something like that (ie. Myspace?). I notice that a lot of people here talk about ridiculous gear, but I've always valued your opinion where you have a more realistic (in terms of budget) view-point. Not to bash guys with the high end stuff (I'm jealous!)... I value their input equal to your's... but I can't exactly go to Fletcher's page, and order all that stuff!
  5. our primary concern. Peace. I was curious as to what you'd recommend for a multi-FX or Reverb box. Do you have any experience with the Lexicon MX400? I know that I can use a usb connection for connectivity to my DAW. I also want an outboard box because of some potential analog synths that I want to buy down the road. My needs: 1) A small rack unit 2) USB or FW connectivity for my DAW/Studio application 3) Excellent reverbs and delays for both live/studio use The only box that seems to fit all three of these requests are the Lexicon MX400XL. I know I can run it as a VST/AU thru usb. I've went through the Eventide boxes, Lexicon, Kurzweil and TC Electronic. Those seem to be the only companies that fit the bill. What's your recommendation? BTW, sorry about the thread hijack.
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