MIC CHAINs that werk ril goood

[brian beattie]

jeff robinson said something at the end of the "selectable input impedance" thread that's been echoing in my tiny brain. He talked about "mic chains" as opposed to just mics or preamps. I've always dealt with this phenom, but It got me thinking, what ARE some of those good chains?
the first one I can think of is my EV 664 (big chrome buck rogers cardioid dynamic.) into my drawmer 1960 on vocals. When I plug that mic into my daking, it's tiny and thin and has no gain. When I plug it into the 1960, you still have to gain it up, but it has this thick, midrangey tone with the illusion of HUGE bass, because the bottom is rolled off at such a pleasant place that the proximity effect is just so... musicy.
anyway, what ARE some of those mic chains that y'all return to again and again?... I'll try to think of some more as well......
brian

[AstroDan]

One of the reasons I love the SM57 is the way it sounds though a 1272. If Steve Albini would just give that combo a chance, I think he would see the proverbial light. Please come home, Steve. Come home to the 57.

My favorite vocal chain is a LD condenser into a 1272 into a dbx 160 v.u. in a nice, big sounding room. Maybe a Memory Man at the end for some slapback or additional noise. I haven't yet found the perfect microphone for that particular chain, but an AT 4050 does a respectable job for me.

[jspartz]

I love a TLM-103 into my Peavey VMP-2 tube mic pre. For smooth and full sounding vocals.

The MXL 2001 with Royer/tapeOp mod into my HV-3 sounds great as well.

Another combo I have been playing with is an SM-7 or M-88 into my Sytek. I have two channels with Burr Browns and two stock. I have had really good luck with electric guitar using this combination.

I have had fun using a green bullet into the VMP-2 and a 4050 into the HV-3 at the same time for vocals. You can mix the two together for a little extra edge/grit. Very cool sound.

I also love the green bullet into my Fender Blues Jr. and mic it with the baby bottle. dial in spring reverb to taste and use the mic location to add a little room sound. Great for harmonica!

I use one of my RNC's for light compression while tracking. It works for me.

jason

[cgarges]

I've generally found that I don't like tube mics into tube mic pres. In fact, in general, I'm not nuts about tube mics pres, but for the most part, I hear WAY too much 2nd harmonic going on with a chain like that. I've also found that gain staging is critical. An old Altec mic pre, for instance, won't give you much of the pre's character with a newer, high-output mic. They were designed to work with older ribbon and other low-output mics, so you'll wind up using them with the gain knob all the way down if you're using a higher output mic. And many people really like using older Neves and APIs (my personal favorite) with the input set rather high. This is where those pres just start their soft clipping and really add character to the signal. They have fairly high headroom, but you can still effectively "drive" the signal. Hope this helps.

[Flight Feathers]

One of the reasons I love the SM57 is the way it sounds though a 1272. If Steve Albini would just give that combo a chance, I think he would see the proverbial light. Please come home, Steve. Come home to the 57.

yes! i love the 57 through tim ryan's n72 for snare. i had pretty much given up on the 57 for snare, but through the n72, it rocks.\]

ayan

[cgarges]

Try the new Shure KSM 141 in cardioid on snare. Hopefully, it'll change your opinion of the 57.

[soundguy]

for shits and giggles, I threw up a sm57 on snare on the last record I did. I havent used a 57 on a snare in a long time. positioned it maybe 8 inches off the snare head, ran it into a UA 1109 and got maybe the best snare sound I ever got. I happened to be recording the best drummer I ever recorded, which undoubtedly had to account for %98 of it, but 57 to 1109 was at least a solid %2 of my success... we wound up doing almost the entire record like that, same set up on three different snares. Always good. The 1109 was the A/B output amp on I think the F or G revision 1176.

The N72 of course RULES on a snare drum, but I usually use N72's and 1272's on the entire kit and kick and like to get something snappier happening on the snare drum. If you've never tried that combo, its a good one, at least 1272 on kick and api-ish something on the snare drum.

dave

[cgarges]

C'mon, you know the drummer was at least 99% of it.

Chris

[Meriphew]

My vocal chain = Soundelux ELUX 251 > GT Vipre > tape. Nice sound.

[clodock]

recently I discovered the dragonfly->langevin dual vocal combo. On a martin OO that is all mahogany and quite dark, it sound amazing about 2 feet from the guitar pointed at the neck joint. It can sound amazing on banjo, and vocals were fun, if a little proximity bumpish when too close. But on my week-ass voice, that's great!