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Re: Small questions that don't fit anywhere

1431 by biscuitdough
thecr4ne wrote: Wed Jul 26, 2023 10:31 am -Recap (electrolytics) as preventative maintenance. Made in China~20 years ago doesn't instill confidence in quality control.
-Replace input jack with shorting switchcraft, and add the 68k grid stopper to V1A
20 years ago was the time of cap-itis. I submitted many a Dell desktop PC for warranty replacement in those times.

Conventional wisdom says, solder the grid stopper to the pin of the tube socket, not on the board.
speaker speaker speaker
I cannot stand the sound of a middy speaker (Celesion 25, 30, 65 watt) in an open-backed cab, personally.

Re: Small questions that don't fit anywhere

1433 by llllllllllllllllllll
Ok… using a Midas Venice to monitor out from the DAW. I’m experimenting with gain staging. Apologies in advance if this is a crazy question

All DAW faders are at zero and stay that way. I generally only automate if I want to mute a part or fix something… my working rough mixes are just however the console is set and I ride faders manually. All mono signals. Stuff is generally played and recorded with care, or the best I can do at the time

If I go out from the Ferrofish convertor to the line ins on the mixer… the Midas line in gain knob goes from -20 to + 40.

Am I better off keeping mixer line gain at 0 and keeping faders nearer to the bottom, or keeping the line gain at nearer to -20 and the fader at nearer to 0? The later just needs small adjustments to gain or fader to make the track sit where you want.

I’ve been experimenting with either and its tough to tell which is better, though I don’t think the inserts like keeping the line gain that low and the fader at zero? When I a/b either method its like listening to an alternate rough mix.

Re: Small questions that don't fit anywhere

1434 by Kniferide
llllllllllllllllllll wrote: Sun Jul 30, 2023 1:16 pm Ok… using a Midas Venice to monitor out from the DAW. I’m experimenting with gain staging. Apologies in advance if this is a crazy question

All DAW faders are at zero and stay that way. I generally only automate if I want to mute a part or fix something… my working rough mixes are just however the console is set and I ride faders manually. All mono signals. Stuff is generally played and recorded with care, or the best I can do at the time

If I go out from the Ferrofish convertor to the line ins on the mixer… the Midas line in gain knob goes from -20 to + 40.

Am I better off keeping mixer line gain at 0 and keeping faders nearer to the bottom, or keeping the line gain at nearer to -20 and the fader at nearer to 0? The later just needs small adjustments to gain or fader to make the track sit where you want.

I’ve been experimenting with either and its tough to tell which is better, though I don’t think the inserts like keeping the line gain that low and the fader at zero? When I a/b either method its like listening to an alternate rough mix.

Dont know if i'm following, but I mix out of a DAW into a Allen Heath Console all the time. I generally will put a tone generator on every DAW track with a 1K tone at -18dB FS, which is 0dBVU, which should be 1.23 ish volts AC (all this at 24bit). I take this tone into the Balanced Line input of the console and with the console fader at unity, will ride the line input gain of the board until this tone reads 0dB on the VU meters of the console. This gives you a very generic calibration between the DAW and Console and your faders on the console will actually behave similar to how they do on screen. I Always try to gainstage so Unity kinda means a predictable thing. Meters will act as expected, all your inserts will see good signal so your comps will be efficient... etc. Maybe I'm doing it wrong, but it is how I've always done it.
Was Japmn.

New OST project: https://japmn.bandcamp.com/album/flight-ost
https://japmn.bandcamp.com/album/numberwitch
https://boneandbell.com/site/music.html

Re: Small questions that don't fit anywhere

1437 by llllllllllllllllllll
I need to setup a compressor inline after the mic preamp as a safety to catch nasty peaks while tracking pedal steel. It’s difficult to set up outboard gear and play this instrument at the same time. I can’t get situated with a long cord before tracking like I can with guitar and bass.

Any ideas on how a compressor might be used here? It’s an instrument that is all swells and needs some headroom that’s easy to blow past. I don’t necessarily want a vintage color thing, I just want to clamp down on really big peaks when I get too excited with my right foot. There isn’t a stereotypical attack and decay like with an acoustic or bass or something and tracking with compression is kind of iffy anyways

Just hoping someone who has experience recording this stuff can help with a starting point. I’ve been experimenting a lot and so far the best option is to play a perfect take that doesn’t require compression but jfc. you try and do that!!

Re: Small questions that don't fit anywhere

1438 by losthighway
llllllllllllllllllll wrote: Tue Aug 08, 2023 7:55 pm I need to setup a compressor inline after the mic preamp as a safety to catch nasty peaks while tracking pedal steel. It’s difficult to set up outboard gear and play this instrument at the same time. I can’t get situated with a long cord before tracking like I can with guitar and bass.

Any ideas on how a compressor might be used here? It’s an instrument that is all swells and needs some headroom that’s easy to blow past. I don’t necessarily want a vintage color thing, I just want to clamp down on really big peaks when I get too excited with my right foot. There isn’t a stereotypical attack and decay like with an acoustic or bass or something and tracking with compression is kind of iffy anyways

Just hoping someone who has experience recording this stuff can help with a starting point. I’ve been experimenting a lot and so far the best option is to play a perfect take that doesn’t require compression but jfc. you try and do that!!
The best kind of compressor for this kind of work is the tube based Vari MU, or Sta level type of thing because they actually change the ratio as the source pushes beyond the threshold which creates a more musical response to longer notes that can really change volume within a performance.

Those compressors are really expensive. The humble Dbx 160x/a has an Overeasy setting that has a similarly flattering curve. Generally low ratios and slow attacks can do this better. You want to see it doing a little work a lot of the time, as opposed to some kind of limiter with a ceiling set kind of high to catch your loudest moment. That kind of sudden brick wall can draw more attention to itself IMHO. You want to find a compressor that sounds good doing a db of reduction or ten db of reduction so it can kind of surf the waves of the performance (excuse the metaphor).

Re: Small questions that don't fit anywhere

1439 by llllllllllllllllllll
losthighway wrote: Tue Aug 08, 2023 8:31 pm
The best kind of compressor for this kind of work is the tube based Vari MU, or Sta level type of thing because they actually change the ratio as the source pushes beyond the threshold which creates a more musical response to longer notes that can really change volume within a performance.

Those compressors are really expensive. The humble Dbx 160x/a has an Overeasy setting that has a similarly flattering curve. Generally low ratios and slow attacks can do this better. You want to see it doing a little work a lot of the time, as opposed to some kind of limiter with a ceiling set kind of high to catch your loudest moment. That kind of sudden brick wall can draw more attention to itself IMHO. You want to find a compressor that sounds good doing a db of reduction or ten db of reduction so it can kind of surf the waves of the performance (excuse the metaphor).
Thanks! I’ll do some experimenting with that in mind.

Those vari-mu jobs look really cool, but I don’t have one. I have been reading manuals since your post and maybe I can get something close to something like that with a LA-22 (cleaner) or the (dirtier) FMR PBC-6A - it’s much more of a character piece but it has it has an adjustable knee.

Good call on the DBX - it wouldn’t hurt to have feelers out if one comes up for pretty cheap

Re: Small questions that don't fit anywhere

1440 by tommy
llllllllllllllllllll wrote: Tue Aug 08, 2023 7:55 pm I need to setup a compressor inline after the mic preamp as a safety to catch nasty peaks while tracking pedal steel. It’s difficult to set up outboard gear and play this instrument at the same time. I can’t get situated with a long cord before tracking like I can with guitar and bass.
Have you considered just using a compressor between the pedal steel and the amp so you don’t ever have the peaks to begin with before it hits the mic? One could also do this with a tube amp or tube preamp (going into the amp) that doesn’t have a ton of headroom left.
self: https://tommiles.bandcamp.com/
old: https://shiiin.bandcamp.com/
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