This could be a long one...it certainly was a long time coming...
So, a couple/few months ago I was plodding around on Reverb(I had recently switched jobs, and done better than I had expected during the transition, so I had a few bucks kicking around) when I chose to search some old preamp models that I had always wanted.(thanks @BFT Gibson
) I stumbled across a pretty sweet deal on a very minty Universal Audio 6176 channel strip...
www.uaudio.com
This is the one I received a few days later...
In short, it is a classic design tube preamp(also acts as a DI), and an 1176 compressor/limiter in one two space rack mount box. The pre, and compressor, can be run independently or in tandem(linked).
I tried it out....it was fantastic! Great on bass, vocals, drums!!!...I was totally digging it! It worked wonderfully with the Soundcraft MTK board I had picked up this past year...that got me fiddling around with recording again.
The compressor was awesome!...but...only one channel/mono... This presented a problem...stereo bus compression/limiting is difficult with even a stellar mono unit.
So a couple/few weeks go by...and....low and behold!....another minty unit pops up at a steal of a price!
Done....and...Done!
I still hadn’t even mounted the first one in the old homebrew “rack of misfit toys”!
Holy shi-WOW! Stereo!(I did buy a link unit/tool-a little un-sexy box-looks like a small stomp box- that keeps the compressors calibrated together)
Frikken cool!
I had already started a project with the first unit, and EZDrummer....an old original. My band has been doing it since I wrote it way back...it started as a twisted campfire tune, many years ago.
I get so little time in the studio, these days, that it’s kinda difficult to get a lot done in a single sitting. Usually I’d get a track done, find something that I didn’t like about it upon review, a few days later I’d have time to address that...and I took a whole lot of time picking everything apart, seemingly never to call it done....(thanks @RVA , @BFT Gibson , and @chilipeppermaniac for living through the previews
)
Well, I’m tired of that now...so, I’ll call this “good enough” for my first solo project with this rig...
Instruments used:
No overdubs. All tracks are played/sung continuously. Clean, and dirt, guitars are their own tracks(no channel switching).
Clean guitars were recorded before I received the first 6176, using the preamps on the Soundcraft.
Bass was the first thing I recorded with the 6176. Bass was recorded direct, with a little compression.
Dirt guitars were all recorded with multiple mic’s. Nothing fancy...an Audix I5 close, an Apex 210 ribbon a few inches out, and a Samson C3 multipattern LDC, set to figure 8, out in the room.
For the vocals, I changed things up from my usual single Shure SM7b...I added a room mic...about 12 feet out...catching room reflections from a corner, as well as louder passages. This was a fun thing to try, but proved to bother me a bit with the final result. I’m pretty sure that it’s the mic that I don’t like, and my handling of the technique to try to pull it off...all I hear is clumsy mic work from a singer, and a 6kHz spike I dislike...but I’m overexposed at this point. Next time, I may just dual track it, back to back; close mic in control, and then a room mic track for emphasis. I dunno.
Anywho....what’s done is done.
If you’ve made it this far, thanks for reading, and/or listening.
So, a couple/few months ago I was plodding around on Reverb(I had recently switched jobs, and done better than I had expected during the transition, so I had a few bucks kicking around) when I chose to search some old preamp models that I had always wanted.(thanks @BFT Gibson
) I stumbled across a pretty sweet deal on a very minty Universal Audio 6176 channel strip...
6176 Vintage Channel Strip
Get a classic tube mic preamp and 1176LN compressor in a single unit. Record through the all-tube mic preamp derived from legendary Bill Putnam-designed 610 modular console Compress signals with the 1176LN Class A FET compressor section — heard on countless hit records for more than 40 years Use...
www.uaudio.com
In short, it is a classic design tube preamp(also acts as a DI), and an 1176 compressor/limiter in one two space rack mount box. The pre, and compressor, can be run independently or in tandem(linked).
I tried it out....it was fantastic! Great on bass, vocals, drums!!!...I was totally digging it! It worked wonderfully with the Soundcraft MTK board I had picked up this past year...that got me fiddling around with recording again.
The compressor was awesome!...but...only one channel/mono... This presented a problem...stereo bus compression/limiting is difficult with even a stellar mono unit.
So a couple/few weeks go by...and....low and behold!....another minty unit pops up at a steal of a price!
Done....and...Done!
I still hadn’t even mounted the first one in the old homebrew “rack of misfit toys”!
Holy shi-WOW! Stereo!(I did buy a link unit/tool-a little un-sexy box-looks like a small stomp box- that keeps the compressors calibrated together)
Frikken cool!
I had already started a project with the first unit, and EZDrummer....an old original. My band has been doing it since I wrote it way back...it started as a twisted campfire tune, many years ago.
I get so little time in the studio, these days, that it’s kinda difficult to get a lot done in a single sitting. Usually I’d get a track done, find something that I didn’t like about it upon review, a few days later I’d have time to address that...and I took a whole lot of time picking everything apart, seemingly never to call it done....(thanks @RVA , @BFT Gibson , and @chilipeppermaniac for living through the previews
)Well, I’m tired of that now...so, I’ll call this “good enough” for my first solo project with this rig...
Instruments used:
No overdubs. All tracks are played/sung continuously. Clean, and dirt, guitars are their own tracks(no channel switching).
Clean guitars were recorded before I received the first 6176, using the preamps on the Soundcraft.
Bass was the first thing I recorded with the 6176. Bass was recorded direct, with a little compression.
Dirt guitars were all recorded with multiple mic’s. Nothing fancy...an Audix I5 close, an Apex 210 ribbon a few inches out, and a Samson C3 multipattern LDC, set to figure 8, out in the room.
For the vocals, I changed things up from my usual single Shure SM7b...I added a room mic...about 12 feet out...catching room reflections from a corner, as well as louder passages. This was a fun thing to try, but proved to bother me a bit with the final result. I’m pretty sure that it’s the mic that I don’t like, and my handling of the technique to try to pull it off...all I hear is clumsy mic work from a singer, and a 6kHz spike I dislike...but I’m overexposed at this point. Next time, I may just dual track it, back to back; close mic in control, and then a room mic track for emphasis. I dunno.
Anywho....what’s done is done.
If you’ve made it this far, thanks for reading, and/or listening.
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