Any comments on this configuration for vocal and guitar ?

[Chuchi]

Hi, and a special hello to Adam (who was of great help for choosing a microphone)..this is my first post. I've been at several occasions discussing with Adam about the more elegant way to enhance beauty of vocals and guitars (acoustic or archtop). One friend of mine showed me a picture of a combination he used for similar purposes. One vtc rack equipped with one Neumann W495/PE EQ and one U473 comp/lim. The way he spoke about it intrigued me !
Does anyone have comments on this example...Or should I go first towards a Mercury EQP1 or even a Amtec PEQ-10 and push the comp away for the future...
I have to confess that I am a little scare about these vintage equipments for repair services afterwards..
Does anyone have had a experience with these Neuman vintage gears ??

Ciao a tutti and thanks again to Adam who let me discovered this forum

Chris

[Mixwell]

Hey Chris,

Welcome to the forum!

Before we get into any gear talk, lets hear a sample!!! I think that way, we can hear your music, listen to the audio, and give you a recommendation based on that.

At any rate, I think the equalizers you mention are just about the sexiest sounding things on the planet. They shape and sculpt TONE like NO OTHER. The AMTEC PEQ-10 has a special place in my heart because its different than most all other clones, as it is a re-thinking of the original design and seems to vastly out preform others in regard to keeping the source's depth intact and full bodied. Some have suggested that the PEQ-10 is like a Pultec that has married a GML. I agree with that statement. It offers a certain transparency in the audio band, that the original does not. The bottom is ridiculously cool sounding and I really like "saucing" up the top with the HF ATTN band. The Mercury's are like big bowl's of soft serve ice cream smothered in hot chocolate, that melts in your mouth as soon as the spoon touches your tongue. They are silky as a bastard and really very musical. I'd say it has a ton of juice and harmonic love the audio when digging in. Bottom line, you really can't go wrong with either of these equalizers, and its mainly an aesthetic thing between the choices.

[Chuchi]

Hi Adam, like to see that you're the first one who take care of me...what do you mean by hear a sample..you mean the ones I already send ?? I do like the way you explain the EQ or any ear...it give me the feeling that I would buy all....

Look forward to your advice...as again...NB everyone is estonished regarding the MTG UM70S even before listening...my interface will be back on Monday...I am burning of impatience...

Ciao ciao a presto.

Chris

[Mixwell]

Hi Adam, like to see that you're the first one who take care of me...what do you mean by hear a sample..you mean the ones I already send ?? I do like the way you explain the EQ or any ear...it give me the feeling that I would buy all....

Look forward to your advice...as again...NB everyone is estonished regarding the MTG UM70S even before listening...my interface will be back on Monday...I am burning of impatience...

Ciao ciao a presto.

Chris

Hi Chris,

You can upload an MP3 sample, same as you sent me. This way, others can chime in and give you their opinion of your audio, just as I have.

Hopefully, it will yield some constructive critique and help guide you towards bettering your studio and music.

[Chuchi]

OK, I'll do it...be indulgent...Here are two link of samples of a show (1H30) we performed in Parma the sound is not that good as the performance since we had only 2 weeks to prepare it and it was only 18 degrees C ..We couldn’t feel our fingers...In addition the sound has been capture by a video camera...
Here also is an audio file ( SampleChuchi) is improvised with my Blue Blueberry microphone and a UA twin finity 710 when I received it...nothing fancy, it is badly recorded but since I am a newborn in this field...and it was made for checking that everything worked fine....when I ve got my gears...The solo is not right at some time since it was with a new archtop and I discovered that there was no dots on the side of the neck...it added a little bit of confusion..

Ciao

Enjoy or cry...but don't kill me....:-)

http://fr.youtube.com/watch?v=doItJOL4Wyw
http://fr.youtube.com/watch?v=2lHVait565k

Ciao a tutti.

Chris

[Mixwell]

OK, I'll do it...be indulgent...Here are two link of samples of a show (1H30) we performed in Parma the sound is not that good as the performance since we had only 2 weeks to prepare it and it was only 18 degrees C ..We couldn’t feel our fingers...In addition the sound has been capture by a video camera...
Here also is an audio file ( SampleChuchi) is improvised with my Blue Blueberry microphone and a UA twin finity 710 when I received it...nothing fancy, it is badly recorded but since I am a newborn in this field...and it was made for checking that everything worked fine....when I ve got my gears...The solo is not right at some time since it was with a new archtop and I discovered that there was no dots on the side of the neck...it added a little bit of confusion..

Ciao

Enjoy or cry...but don't kill me....:-)

http://fr.youtube.com/watch?v=doItJOL4Wyw
http://fr.youtube.com/watch?v=2lHVait565k

Ciao a tutti.

Chris

Hi Chris,

I really like your music! I find it very relaxing and pleasant to listen to. I wish we had artists like yourself in the good state of MA. I would certainly try to get them down to our studio, as I really enjoy making these kinds of recordings. The Sample you provided was good, but I would lay off the verb a little and maybe try using your MTG UM70 in OMNI, that way the microphone will pickup more of the "room" sound and give you some natural verb. Either that, or dial back your reverb so it sits under the sound [not so much beside it, or on top of it] so as to give it some sustain or decay. There is certainly a fine line with reverb levels.

For this style of music, my aim would be to find the best possible "natural tone" from the placement of the microphones and as little amount of processing for anything, but there are many situations where I might want some cleaver tonal changes from track to track, meaning I would want to overdub [record separately, one track at a time] voice and acoustic/electric tracks with different gain/eq settings to change the way the microphone is heard. This gives you better isolation of each individual texture. Perhaps I would try and reach for a more intimate, closer vocal sound, with a bigger proximity effect. This factor comes for "working" the directionality of the microphone.

A Multi-pattern microphone is like having a built in eq!!! All the patterns have different responses based on where you move it. Hugging the microphone in Cardioid will yield a nicer bass boost or commonly referred to as "bass tip up". This may offer a bolder sound in itself, and it will reject the back side of the microphone. This is known as the "null" point. With the microphone in figure of eight, you will also get a bass tip up when close, but you will be picking up the back side of the microphone as well. With Two figure of eight microphones, you can do some rather useful stereo technique for this kind of recording. Maybe some of the other posters can elaborate on what I am talking about.

Here is a useful video that you might find helpful;

Figure-Eight-Microphones (http://www.methodsandapplicationslaboratory.com/media/Fig8Mics/MethLab-Fig8Mics.m4v)

[Chuchi]

Thanks a lot for your kind words and explanations (as always..) I am going to receive the Interface audio back from the repair center on monday and will put all gears in a rack...and certainly rehearse and try some othe songs or the same with the UM70S..Then I'll send samples on the forum...
Would you really be pleased to make some recording with me, I would be delightful to take a flight for few days in Boston (A city that I do like very much) and visit your studio for all interesting things I would see but also to make an album...this would be more than fun and I do have plenty of songs that usually sing...

Enjoy your weekend

Very firendly

Chris