Recent content by Jeppo

Yes it does make sense. Mics will make a bigger difference than preamps, but there's a whole lot of other stuff you can do that doesn't cost money - just time. A couple of years ago I got sucked into the whole gearlust thing thinking that I could become a better engineer by throwing more money...

Thanks for the suggestions. Not sure where to find 'the mackie forum' if you could give me some directions that would be great. I'm based in the UK, so getting stuff repaired might not be as straightforward/cheap as it would in the states. A further note: I recorded a band today & had the mixer...

My Mackie VLZ "pro" 1642 mixer has started to mess me around. Here's the problem: whenever I use the mixer one (or more) of the channels craps out on me. It's not even a consistent fault. It's as though a channel will stop working & only come to life when a sufficient amount of signal comes...

Wrong end of the stick Actually, I suspect the lack of room treatment is, in fact, the source of the flabbiness. No amount of Westlake monitors or dedicated tube amps can fix this. Todzilla - a polite notice: please read the actual posts before chiming in with something that is irrelevant...

I don't dispute that there's probably more midrange (from the amp + speaker) getting onto the bass track when it's mic'ed rather than D.I.'d. (and yes I have used compression on D.I.'d tracks & I have done the old 800hz boost, which can help). Stuff below 50-60hz is not very helpful anyway so...

Most of the rooms I work in are not designed for recording & that's not a bad thing. I know absolutely nothing about room treatment, except that it's fairly costly to do properly. Did they have bass traps at Abbey Road when the Beatles were there? I don't know what the perfect recording...

I run a part-time recording business. Nothing fancy, I go out to record bands, choirs, orchestras etc... every month. It's great experience, makes a bit of money & gets me a decent tax break on my gear lust. I have some reasonable gear for a project studio - couple of Neumanns, AKG, Sennheiser...

You've got it way wrong..... I think you will find that Ringo Starr is rated as a great drummer by many professional stick men. I haven't got time to go into this but if you take time to really listen to the style of his playing & the sounds he gets out of his kit you'll have to change your...

Fart Recording Out of sheer boredom I once recorded one of my brother's farts. I used an SM-58. A dynamic would always be my first choice as there's not much need for top end clarity.

Mackie vs. Meek I have a Joemeek TwinQcs, a VC1Qcs and a Mackie VLZ 1642 (the XDR preamps). Also a Dbx 386. When I am tracking bands live I tend to use the Mackie for the less essential parts (toms, cymbals, hi-hats) and the Meeks, Dbx for bass guitar, guitars, vocals etc. To be honest I do...

This talk of price is interesting. Didn't Neumann recently put up prices across all it's products? A couple of years ago I bought my TMM 103s for £460 each. Now they are retailing at £650. Not good value for money IMO. However, in some cases when the price is raised a supplier can sell more...

I use TLM 103's. They sound fine to me. Mics are important in getting a decent drum sound, but there are other variables too - I'd start with a good room & a decent player. Sadly, I seem to get neither.

Hey Shaggy, why not do both? A few years ago I was in a job that was killing me. I worked really hard and got promoted, but the pay rises barely covered the substance abuse. I needed to get out to completely to save my sanity. I handed in my resignation, found somewhere else to work on...

Well folks, just to fill you in with the outcome. We ended up using an auto-wah effect with some reverb. The funny thing was it didn't sound like the singer was underwater, but it gave the voice a pulsating effect (not unlike the leslie speaker effect that others have mentioned). Personally I...

You know, there is one really obvious way to achieve the desired effect I read that Geoff Emerick, the famous Beatles engineer, almost got sacked by EMI for trying to record sounds underwater. He ruined a Neumann mic. I'm not that eager to try that one though. I do have concerns about...