New Baby Bottle in Family

D

dogn4u

New member
Good morning all. My wife and I got a small windfall a few weeks ago, and my wife, long used to my chronic G.A.S., allowed me a new microphone to add to my small but growing collection - A BLUE Baby Bottle large diaphragm condenser, to add to: Rode NTK (tube) and NT-1; Shure SM57; Rode M1 (love those Rodes), and a pair of Audio-Technica 4041s (SD condensers).

I'm very happy with my microphone array. There is one more mike I'd like to add at some point: I keep hearing great things about the Mojave MA-200. But, I'm pretty well covered with the large diaphragm condensers: the NTK is warm and smooth; great for female vox, and my new Baby Blue sounds terrific, especially tracking through my Langevin DVC preamp and ART Pro VLA II. Crisp, tight, and very present; exactly what I was hoping for


The standout sounds so far with the BB are tracking acoustic guitars and my own voice, which is helped greatly by the crispness/clarity of the Blue and what sounds like a few DBs bump in the mids/upper mids. Perhaps the hottest mike I've owned, but very transparent overall. This mike would be a positive addition to any collection. It's amazing - the quality of mikes you can get these days for under a grand.

Okay - I'm gonna get back to work. I'm re-recording one of my best originals from a couple years back: "Gas Station Coffee" is the title. Sort of country-rock, the song bemoans all the BS that has gradually become attached to getting a simple cup of good, strong coffee these days. And it's always the dork right in front of me that's getting the "Grande nonfat sugar free decaffeinated with sucralose and sprinkled with dried shredded monkey turds, soy whipped cream, and blown through 1.356 meters of 8mm surgical rubber tubing and stirred with a petrified aboriginal Cockatoo feather. Twice". GOOD LORD! Just get a damn cuppa coffee and get the hell out of my way!

Anyway, the song was/is inspired, and I'll drop y'all a link to an mp3 copy when I'm done. Pics are of my new mike and "work-in-progress" recording rig. Brain of system is a Sweetwater Creation Station tower; basically an Intel PC with all the extraneous crap removed (and with internet connections unplugged). I'm very happy with this computer - much more than I was with a $3000 MacBook Pro. Live and learn. (I just wish the "learning" part wasn't so costly!).
 

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Hey Dog whats up?
Just last week there was a used MA 200 for sale in the free ads here on HR.com and sold for half price!! You should keep an eye out for such deals around the web.

What is the racked unit (red) with vu meters in your pics? I can't make it out.

If I was going to expand on your microphone collection I would probably go for the EV re-20.... to add some different flavor. ;)

Sounds to me dog that you need an espresso coffee machine at home.







:cool:
 
I've got a BB - gotta agree about vox and acoustic. Even IMEO (that's "exalted opinion") I have a crap unusable voice, but I had a couple of keeper takes with it, and that says a lot.

You know what's bumming me out about my Mac Book Pro? It's hot here in Houston, and the thing heats up and the aluminum expands and locks the glass trackpad/single button in place so that you can't click the mouse. That sucks! I can take a ziplock full of ice cubes and rub it around the track pad, and that'll cool it enough to let go of the pad, but only temporarily. Nice design :rolleyes:
 
Clit Torres said:
Sexy mic, but love those yellow walls :)
Click to expand...
Sweet, huh? Chose the color myself - it cheers me up. But I'm colorblind and sometimes make brutal (alleged) mistakes when choosing my ensemble for the day. Hard to go wrong sticking with jeans & t-shirt. I remember once, tho, picking my girlfriend Natalie up on my motorcycle back in the eighties (1983 Suzuki GS1100E), and she took one look at me and refused to get on behind me. She actually made me go home and change. She was so hot, it was worth it, tho. I guess I had some terrible combination of brown, red and blue. Some of it checkered (much like my past).
 
moresound said:
What is the racked unit (red) with vu meters in your pics? I can't make it out.

:cool:
Click to expand...

It's a Langevin preamp with limiter & para EQ, so basically a limited-function channel strip. Langevin is Manley's solid-state line. I specifically wanted a pre with a ton of clean headroom and no coloration, which is why I went solid state rather than tube. For tube pre's, I've had great luck with ART. Even their sub-$50 tube MP preamps sound pretty good. Certainly better than straight into the board...unless you're using an old Neve, SSL, Triton, etc. My guess is that most of us are not.
Just to have a slightly better tube pre, though, and also to free up a couple of analog inputs on my board, I just ordered an ART Digital MPA II. Had a Gold years ago, and it worked just fine.
The other pre that's supposed to have headroom galore is the Grace 101. Anyone using a Grace? Curious about their sound. They sure look nice.
 
Blue makes some nice mics...and all very cool looking! :cool:

I'm interested in their Woodpecker, phantom powered ribbon mic (yes, a phantom powered ribbon).

I have a couple of Cascade Fat Head II ribbons, which I really like for guitars, Hammond organ...but they are not the best ribbons for vocals (even by Cascade's standards)...
...so I'm looking for on higher end ribbon...but not really wanting to drop $1200-$1500. The Woodpecker can be had for about $600.

Then there are the Groove Tubes Velo-8 Ribbon and Velo-8 Tube Ribbon mics that look interesting...though honestly, I'm not sure who if they are still in production since Fender bought GT (there are no GT mics on Fender's site that I could find)...so I think the newer GT mics I see for sale might be just the leftover stock...???
One seller has them listed as “limited to existing stock – discontinued item”…???

Anyway...has anyone ever tried either of the Woodpecker or the GT ribbons?
Anyone have a better suggestion for a ribbon to be used for vocals (and other stuff too) that's a cut above the Fat Head and in the sub-$800 range?
I know Cascade makes other ribbons...but I thought maybe a different brand might be more interesting.
 
Nice looking mic. I've always wanted to try a Baby Bottle. The freq response is pretty unique looking, I'm curious to hear what that sounds like.

I have a Bluebird. Pretty bright/scooped sounding mic, but can be useful sometimes. Looks like they upgraded the shockmount. The one on mine is terrible. :/ Oh well, nice sounding mic for $300.

Does yours take high SPLs well? My Bluebird can't handle drums/loud guitar amps. It just distorts on the peaks, even with a pad placed after the mic, which is disappointing because I think it would make a killer tom mic otherwise.
 
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