HELP FROM MY FRIENDS

At this point I’d like to share some anecdotal information about mic/preamp combinations that you might find useful.

At Audiomasters in Washington, DC, Jeff Kidwell favors Focusrite Red preamps and Neumann U 87 mics. To me the resulting tracks sound extremely accurate and natural. During the mix, adding this and that results in a finished product that takes on a whole new sonic identity.

Focusrite Red preamp (click on image for full size)

Those changes are often due to the edge added by various compressors, limiters, EQ, summing amps and who knows what. The edge is not the prime function of these devices, it’s usually a by-product.

Louis Mills and Mark Patey at Flite Three in Baltimore swear by API mic preamps; using [Neumann] U 87s, C 414s, U 89, Schoeps CMC6 with MK 41 hyper capsule, Sennheiser 416 and a long list of other mics. They like the sound of the API preamps because the resultant tracks have a certain character. I hear that character as distortion. The point is, of course, that there’s good distortion and bad distortion.

Recently I was at Invisible Sound Studios in Baltimore to record a series of children’s radio programs. Engineer Dave Nachodsky had eight large diameter condenser mics up. In addition to a Neumann M 147 through an Amek/Neve 9098, he had two Neumann KM 105, an Audix CX101 and two AKG C 414 BULS all through a 1987 Neve 5432 “Drop Thro” eight channel mixer. The mixer contains eight Neve 34128 channel strips. Though the C 414 has been much maligned over the last few years, through the Neve preamps, these two sounded great: not spitty or boomy at all, but very present, smooth and clear. I had to look twice to make sure what I was hearing.

A quick check with other friends around the country turned up some other favorites. For Jay Kahrs at Mad Moose Recording Inc. in Morris Plains, NJ things are always changing. “Back in the budget days I cut a fair amount of vocals with the Audio Technica 4047 and a Presonus MP20 and most of that stuff still sounds good.”

Some of Kahr’s other typical chains are:
Neumann TLM 103 > Peavey VMP2 > 1176
Audio Technica AT4047 > Daking Pre/EQ > and usually a Demeter VTCL-2a
Shure SM57 > JoeMeek VC6 Channel strip
AKG 414B/ULS > Daking > Summit DCL-200

Audix CX-101/111

Kahrs says, “Last week I was working with a singer who sounded too chesty and muddy with the Neumann TLM 103 and Peavey VMP2 so I swapped the VMP-2 to the Daking and 1176. For snare I'm in love with an SM57> Daking> dbx 160VU (the original one). It's one of those things that just seems to work and always generates positive comments from the band. I've been using Telefunken V672's with either an SM57 or 421 on electric guitar. I've also switched them out for a TLM 103 or 414BULS if I need a different tone. For overdubs I'll use the Daking preamps to help separate the tones.” Kahrs says he usually uses the Daking pre with an AKG 451, Oktava MC012 or TLM103 on acoustic guitar.

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