Favorite Signal Chains

caz · Post by **caz** » Wed Nov 02, 2005 10:20 am

Hola TapeOpperos,

How does your sound flow? What is your favorite path for snappy snares? Acoustic guitar? Loud electric fuzzy guitars? Beat boxing? Soft lilting vocals? Do you throw a compressor or EQ in the chain or go straight to tape/disk?

{csmr}

Red Rockets Glare · Post by **Red Rockets Glare** » Wed Nov 02, 2005 10:35 am

caz wrote:Hola TapeOpperos,

How does your sound flow? What is your favorite path for snappy snares? Acoustic guitar? Loud electric fuzzy guitars? Beat boxing? Soft lilting vocals? Do you throw a compressor or EQ in the chain or go straight to tape/disk?

{csmr}

snappy snares = 57 (shell-micing) - Grace 101 mic amp - apogee MiniMe - PT
I've heard good things about the Shure KSM141 on a snare too....saving up

acoustic guitar bright - C12 clone (pointing where neck meets guitar) - Ampex 351 mic amp - TLA comp on fast attack and release

acoustic guitar dark - Modified Oktava ML52 ribbon (near players head) - Grace 101 - TLA medium attack fast release

I almost always throw the Summit TLA 50 on the chain in overdub mode, it simulates tape compression when used sparingly.

One other thing I like to do is put a tiny TapeOp omni mic about a credit cards distance above the drum riser and delay it 50miliseconds 100% wet. This is by no means my trick.

I'm Painting Again · Post by **I'm Painting Again** » Wed Nov 02, 2005 11:31 am

what I have come to realize is that the arrangement (whats actually happening sonically in the room and who plays what where) is almost everything in approaching what to use and how to use it..a lot of arrangements don't support a good recording period..but we as engineers have to deal with them every day anyway..so you have to really know your stuff to handle, for example, a dense thickly arranged hardcore band in a medio-core space..

no solution or chain will work 100% of the time in different studios..

This(your signal chain question) was one of the first question I ever asked back on v2 of TOMB and I did find it helpful to see what others were using for specific things..but after a while I realized you can only answer the really specific things by trying and doing till you are able to produce that sound, not once but everytime, that sound you hear in your head..

caz · Post by **caz** » Wed Nov 02, 2005 11:36 am

I'm down with all that...I just love surveying the approaches of others. I wasn't asking a question as much as I was simply making a request for people to share a little of their experience.

{csmr}

penrithmatt · Post by **penrithmatt** » Wed Nov 02, 2005 12:21 pm

BEARD_OF_BEES wrote:what I have come to realize is that the arrangement (whats actually happening sonically in the room and who plays what where) is almost everything in approaching what to use and how to use it..a lot of arrangements don't support a good recording period..but we as engineers have to deal with them every day anyway..so you have to really know your stuff to handle, for example, a dense thickly arranged hardcore band in a medio-core space..

no solution or chain will work 100% of the time in different studios..

This(your signal chain question) was one of the first question I ever asked back on v2 of TOMB and I did find it helpful to see what others were using for specific things..but after a while I realized you can only answer the really specific things by trying and doing till you are able to produce that sound, not once but everytime, that sound you hear in your head..

totes

Evergreen · Post by **Evergreen** » Wed Nov 02, 2005 12:48 pm

Right now I just record myself...mostly acoustic guitar based with lot of other instruments around it.

This is my most typical acoustic set up:

mic (Beyer m160 or Neumann/Gefell umt70s)------>great river me-1nv---->distressor----->speck eq------>tascam

I do print EQ and compression most of the time....but I do so very lightly.

Ya know what, that also kind of looks like my electric guitar set up to exept it is almost always the Beyer m160.

It all depends on what day it is, what I had for breakfast, and what sound I'm looking for...sometimes it it could be:

Copperphone--->RNP----->RNC---->Tascam

Tim

MoreSpaceEcho · Post by **MoreSpaceEcho** » Wed Nov 02, 2005 12:54 pm

lately its sennheiser 409 and beyer m160 on guitars
sm7 or d112 on kick. same for bass, m160 and tc30 as well
at4040 on side of snare
ksm141s for overheads
earthworks tc30ks on the floor for room mics

both the m160 and tc30 are awesome for tamborine, and sound completely different

tc30s have been winning on anything acoustic

all of those mics have been used on vocals at one time or another.

pres are generally syteks. no eq on tracking ever, except hipass filters. no compression on tracking except vocals usually go through the distressor at 2:1...not hitting it terribly hard.

everything ends up on the computer. drums and loud guitars and bass hit the otari 5050 on the way in. quieter stuff i just track straight to digital.

OneZero · Post by **OneZero** » Wed Nov 02, 2005 3:17 pm

I just want to shout out that the one signal chain I'm so in love with right now is

Alice mic -> RNP ->RNC - Tape. (for acoustic)

I can not get enough of this sound!!!

Evergreen · Post by **Evergreen** » Wed Nov 02, 2005 3:40 pm

OneZero wrote:I just want to shout out that the one signal chain I'm so in love with right now is

Alice mic -> RNP ->RNC - Tape. (for acoustic)

I can not get enough of this sound!!!

whats an Alice mic?

xpulsar · Post by **xpulsar** » Thu Nov 03, 2005 1:20 am

I like to use 441 on snare top and a AKG 414 on bottom in figure 8 pointing directly at the snare rim so the hat is in the null of the figure 8 and then summing those together to Tape or PT.

R84 (pop filter) on the outside of the Kick drum -Distressor 3:1 slow attack fast release 6db gain reduction to tape.

Vocals Korby kat4 with the 251 capsule - Manley Vari-MU sending the output of channel 1 to in of channel 2. Channel 1 on limit with a faster attack and fast release and channel 2 on compress slower attack and slower release. This to me gets the vocals sounding really good.

Guitar -Altec 671b ribbon about 3 feet away and aiming at the center of the cabinet.

Collin

Mark · Post by **Mark** » Thu Nov 03, 2005 2:33 am

Let's see

Lead vocal: Beyerdynamic M99
Backing vocals: Beyerdynamic M400 and/or AKG D321
Lead guitar: Sennheiser MD421
Rhythm guitar: Electro-Voice 635a
Acoustic guitar: Beyerdynamic M101 or M201
Bass guitar: Audio-Technica ATM25
Hand percussion: Beyerdynamic M201

All through my 388 with a 3630 (

) plugged into the access send/receive points.

tubejay · Post by **tubejay** » Thu Nov 03, 2005 5:43 am

Snare top get's a 57, to a PM1000 bussed together with bottom snare to DBX 160 compressor to protools

Bottom snare gets a 57, to a pm1000 mixed in until it's got a nice snap bussed together with top, to 160 to pt.

Acoustic guitar...is never the same for me. I usually do some far away mic technique because I like a natural sound. I tend to like darker acoustic guitars, and that seems to be the most important thing in the chain. I like the Avalon VT737sp for the mic pre on guitars and vocals.

Vocals - Elam 251 (which I don't own) to Avalon VT737sp (or substitute any bright, high quality transformer balanced mic pre, also I skip the eq and the compressor on this bad boy) to Fatso (great desser with the warmth control) to ProTools.

Actually, I suppose I would substitute tape for ProTools in all of these chains if I had a nice Studer.

JASIII · Post by **JASIII** » Thu Nov 03, 2005 8:27 am

Kick drum: D112 (way inside, close the the beater head, aimed at the shell)>bellari mp105 w/black lion mod>dbx 163x>tape

I'm Painting Again · Post by **I'm Painting Again** » Thu Nov 03, 2005 9:58 am

just to add to the uses list:

the soundelux u195 mic is great on kick drums..like the best i ever heard(which is not saying much, i dont know anything)..with an api512c or audix 35102 module as the preamp into a distressor or right to the lavry conversion..

drum room sounds cool with and omni or S/M/LDC into the audix 35102 pre and eq and into the Orban 418a Stereo limiter in to the lavry..

kakumei47 · Post by **kakumei47** » Thu Nov 03, 2005 10:16 am

Yesterday we got maybe the best snare sound I've ever gotten. Bright snare + bright room.

top: 421-->sytek-->dbx160 (4:1)
bottom: 451b-->grace 101-->1176 (8:1 very fast and distorted)

more bottom mic in the mix. perfect for this situation (sitting in but cutting through w/ drum machine in dense arrangement). maybe not for others.

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