Groove Tubes MB1

My M1b:
GT M1b_1 by mike lake, on Flickr
GT M1b_2 by mike lake, on Flickr

Diaphragm measures about .9″.

bandcamp; vlayman;
THD; blog.
I mix with olive juice.

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RE320

Posted at TOMB

 

I’ll out-poverty you and mention the RE320 which I understand is basically a transformerless RE20.

Surprisingly nice, clear-sounding and un-hyped mic – it really sounds like what you put it on.

The bad part, like the RE20, is the form factor; my total guess is the size creates a tuned chamber?

My typical use, I’m afraid, is rack or floor toms, mostly because of its size.

And as you said of it’s predecessor, it takes EQ really well.

Also, in a pinch, it can be used as a softball bat, just not for Chicago-stylee 16″.

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THD; blog.
I mix with olive juice.

Let’s talk guitar-amp simulators

Posted at TOMB:

I’m sure I’ve posted about this before, but it’s been sometime and things change and I’m killing time …

I cain’ afford no Kahktails or Frempers and I dislike Line 6 fizz (“Pods are for puds”), but I do have some cheaper ones. I only use ’em DI, and often inna supporting role with mic’d amps where I need to throw down a quick add’l supporting guitar track, or I want a lead to really stand out.

The Tech21 “Character” pedals are interesting, and quite usable with a little work in mixdown. The VT is particularly good for a quick bass DI and sounds quite convincing with it’s switchable cabinets – the EQ is excellent, and because of that it is usable on guitar, also.

I have the California, also and it gives good Boogie.

I have a Joyo American Sound what is said to be (without the switchable cabinet effect which is always on) a copy of the Tech21 “Blonde”. It does a good job for clean rhythms where you might want, say, a Twin.

All of the above pedals are nicely stackable with other gains and drives – I keep a Duncan booster in front of them (itself a usable boost/drive pedal with the ability to get a single-coil sound from buckers).

I really like the Vox Stomplab for ridiculous effected, shoe-gazey sounds, but it is also usable in general, altho’ I do feel it is overly bright and kinda digital in sound – you know, at the top end.

I have some Zoom options and the 505II and 606 are fun to mess with, particularly (like the Vox) in their presets, if only as a quick way to inspire sounds that I might re-do with better pedals. I also have the Zoom MSB bass pedal but while I find it fun, I don’t dig it much on DI, tho’ I can’t really explain … it’s digital-sounding and requires much tweaking, altho’, after tweaks, it’s quite usable with an amp – but too many options and I bog down getting a sound.

Perhaps my fave simulator set-up is a Hafler T2 into a MicrocabII (the latter of what I just fixed after a monitor fell on it and jammed the push buttons). It’s not necessarily very flexible, but gives a couple good sounds, including a really nice earlier (pre-900, altho’ not Jubilee) Marshall set.

Finally, there’s something to be said for just DI’ing straight into a tube (even starved-tube) pre amp – think, “Black Dog”.

Yooze?

bandcamp; vlayman;
THD; blog.
I mix with olive juice.

Vlayman: *Her Sweet Fingertips*

1. The Place Between 02:19
2. Coulda Told You 03:49
3. Strapped 03:25
4. Mary’s Thing 04:39
5. Her Sweet Fingertips 03:34
6. Penalizer 03:36
7. Peeping Tom 04:04
8. With Feeling 03:25
9. Cannon Smoke 04:06

released May 23, 2018

Drums was found, them jes’ downloaded theyselves, I swearit.
Everything else including the belches is yo.
Recorded and shite at Feta Central Recording, DDL
Fartwerk: Jose Jones
Recommended playback level 10dB
Recommended ETOH level 110

c.’18 Vlayman

Dedicatered the memory of someone I’m tryna forgot, and the guy was gonna do guitar on #9 but apparently forgoted.
all rights reserved

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I mix with olive juice.

Drum mixing

In answer to the TOMB question, “Does anyone use overheads?”, I said:

 

I’m-a give the old man answer, it

Kidding aside, I prefer the OH’s with close mic support model, but sometimes the OHs are a single OH, or they suck and I only use the close mic’s.

Then there are times that the close mics for whatever reason are unavailable (if they are clipping, or I only have OHs, etc.) and then I use gates and compression and EQ to make a fake close mic track, ex,. a kick track, to use in the mix after appropriate processing and sometimes alignment. You can augment the thump or or body the click, etc., this way. And if ya do it onna snare or toms, you can use compression and reverb to stereoize or augment those …

And if for some reason the OH(s) suck)s), I’ll often reamp the close mics by blasting the submix into the room and recording that – I have been known to just nuke (compress) a submix for such a result, also, sometimes using a room reverb on the submix before I re-mic. Typically doing this, I high-pass heavily.

That said, I never use just close or OH’s, and almost always including when I get a complete two-mix of the drums, because that mix down will need to be adjusted in the song’s mix.

Finally, obviously it’s material-dependent, because a Bonham kick ain’t usually gonna work onna double-pedal thrash tune.

bandcamp; vlayman;
THD; blog.
I mix with olive juice.

Geronimo Cowboys: some (lotsa) older stuffs

1. 

   Radio Coconuts

2. 

   Do It or Don’t

3. 

   Beware

4. 

   CABO

Vlay M/S, revisited

Answering an M/S-related inquiry at TOMB, I said:

I’ve done drums many times with a condensor for the mid and a ribbon for the 8- works well on stereo playback, and different mics give different results. I’m not much of one to mix for mono – my operative theory being that most mono listening is done because of compromised or inferior playback devices, not by choice (leaving out us, as the recordist/mixers). I’ve never noticed any problems re the decode.

I do the below frequently, taking it a step weirder:

I do this most often as an effect on guitars and percussion. I’ll pan everything I want in mono, and set up a dynamic mid and a ribbon 8; you needn’t even have the mic’s equidistant from the playback source – I usually use an Auratone because I want the limited frequency range. Often, I’ll skip the mid and just record the 8, then process the original mono track (typically a guitar) as tho’ it’s the mid.

To the extent I’ve tried it on drums, it’s only been on the kit submix, and so it gives a big stereo picture, but not necessarily one where anything is more right than left.

Is it actually resulting in M/S? No, but it is giving a ambient stereo effect that you adjust as if it were M/S. And of course, if you place the 8 further from the sound source, you get that much more room …

Does it break down to well to stereo? Who cares – but it’s not horrible.

I mix with olive juice.

bandcamp; vlayman;
THD; blog.
I mix with olive juice.