Harvey has a RNP...

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CarmenC

New member
From RAP...


Well, I put the RNP thru some of its paces yesterday and it's a serious
contender. Lotsa neat little touches. When you hit phantom power, the phantom
power light blinks, the output is muted, and the phantom power is ramped up (or
down, depending on the phantom power switch position). No popping whatsoever.
The polarity invert works on the mic inputs, the DI inputs, and the insert
jacks, so it's easy to do a simple polarity invert, even on unbalanced
equipment.

The sound is making me crazy; how did Mark make it sound like there's lots of
iron in the path, but the top end still sounds sweet and clear, and very
extended? It's big sounding, but it's also transparent; how can that be? Last
night, I tried it with the following mics on my voice for just a few minutes
each:

Behringer ECM8000
Audix TR-40
Beyer M201
Shure SM-57
Coles 4038
RCA 77DX
RCA 44BX

Plenty of gain available with all of them, and the sound was magnificent. The
ribbon mics loved this little box. The Shure SM-57 surprised me (although the
57 is always surprising me). It REALLY sounded good as a vocal mic thru this
box, with almost no proximity buildup or popping, even at point blank range. The
RNP has a character, but it doesn't jump out and hit you in the face with its
sound.

With nothing plugged into the inputs, you could hear a little hiss in the +60
and the +66 dB sections of the 12 position gain switch, but the hiss was very
low level and smooth. Below 60 dB of gain, I couldn't hear any noise, but that
may just be me. It's a lot heavier than the RNC and Mark has used just about
every inch of front panel real estate, but it's laid out thoughtfully, and
everything is easy to get to.

Alex will be here today, so we'll really get a chance to put the RNP thru its
paces.

Harvey Gerst
Indian Trail Recording Studio
http://www.ITRstudio.com/

http://groups.google.com/groups?dq=...ng.com&prev=/groups?hl=en&group=rec.audio.pro

Peace.
Carmen

:)
 
Hey Carmen..Whats up bud? That pre is gonna be out finally..More must have gear.LOL..Maybe I'll get on the waiting list @ Mercenary Audio..Thanks for the heads up



Don
 
The Shure SM-57 surprised me (although the
57 is always surprising me). It REALLY sounded good as a vocal mic thru this box, with almost no proximity buildup or popping, even at point blank range.
Click to expand...

Harvey,

Could you clarify something for me a little? I'm a confused as to how a preamp could change the proximity effect or popping of a microphone. Did you maybe mean something else, or am I missing something? :confused:

Respectfully,

Jay
 
Henri Devill said:
Hey Carmen..Whats up bud? That pre is gonna be out finally..More must have gear.LOL..Maybe I'll get on the waiting list @ Mercenary Audio..Thanks for the heads up



Don
Click to expand...
Hey Don..
These will sell like hotcakes...
can't wait to try one.
Hope you're well.
Carmen
 
Must Know..... more!!!! Head.... hurts, vision... bluring~~~~~~ Talking like ...Captin kirk.

What is this pre? And can I afford it?


F.S.
 
Freudian Slip said:
What is this pre?
Click to expand...

It is the messiah of the audio world. The annointed one. The pre of pres come to save us all from cheap-sounding mix hell.

And can I afford it?

Yea.
 
You tease:) Is this still in R&D or will it be out in the near future?
Who will market it?
Is it a H. G. creation?
or another fantastic find?

Talk to me like the idiot I am! This is the first I have heard.

F.S.
 
Freudian Slip said:
You tease:) Is this still in R&D or will it be out in the near future?
Click to expand...

That question has been echoing in various fora for about a year. "Near future" now appears to be the correct answer.

It is being designed and will be built and sold by the same people who design/build/sell the RNC. www.fmraudio.com

Who will market it?
Click to expand...


They won't need to market it. There will be a waiting list of some length, I suspect. What they need is to build 'em as fast as possible.
 
Freudian,

Just to give you a little history, FMR Audio is a company headed up by a dude named Mark McQuilkin. He's pretty well known in audio circles; Harvey is friends with the guy, and happens to think the world of his design skills.

Mark is the man behind the RNC. If you're not familiar with it, do some searching around on it. It's widely considered one of the best bang-for-buck pieces of anything audio related. A compressor that sells for like $200 and sounds close to others selling for $2,000 as folklore would have it.

Anyway, Mark is known for being a perfectionist on anything he designs. He's also known for being extemely innovative in finding ways to make great sounding things that are affordable.

Why this is, I don't know, as the guy only has one piece of gear to his credit to date. But it's a good one, so many are hoping / praying / expecting the RNP (stands for Really Nice Mic Pre) to do for mic pres what the RNC did for compressors.

Most of us are guessing it will be a hit, but we could be wrong, of course. Mark has been such a perfectionist over it . . . dalaying it's release time and time again . . . making us all more than a little impatient. For this reason alone, I can't imagine it failing. No one with his ear and skills could spend that much time and effort on something and not have it sound great.

But we shall see. Will sophomore jinx prove FMR Audio to be a one-hit wonder?

To make things even more interesting, we may even already have our savior budget preamp right here: www.summitaudio.com
 
Sorry to keep on babbling . . .

But here's Part II of Harvey & Alex's test. Enjoy ! (BTW: the NV is in reference to the Great River, I assume?) :

"Last night, Alex and I had a chance to continue testing the RNP, this time in the big studio, comparing it to the NV and the SST-1. We started with the TLM-103 as our basic reference mic. With me talking point blank into the mic (slightly off axis to avoid popping), the RNP seemed a little fuller in the lower midrange than the NV and the Millennia Media SST-1. Kicking in the transformer on the SST-1 got it a little closer. The RNP had a little more "air" in the top end as well. Alex described the RNP as 'rich-sounding', almost "scooped", although it wasn't.

We switched to the SM-7 and got similar results in the high end - more 'air' and 'detail' than the NV or the SST-1. We both loved the output muting and phantom voltage ramping feature on the RNP.

We moved on to the DI section and that's another area where the RNP really shines. Alex has been using the NV and the SST-1 as his primary DI boxes. We plugged a cheap Fender Squire bass (w/flatwounds) into it and a wonderful tone came out. Rather than the low, punchy 'whump' sound we got from the other
preamps, this sound was more of a 'bap' sound with the front end of each note more articulated, and the sound seemed to sustain better, and it still had the low end of the other preamps. Definitely a very different tone and very useful.

One of my favorite bass tests is a 'walkup' and a 'walkdown' at the 12th fret of the low E string, walking down to the Db and then walking up to the E again, listening for the differences in pitch. Some preamps will blur the tone so badly, you can't tell the difference between an Eb and a D. No problem with the RNP, although the NV was a little more defined on this test. The tone was very different between the two preamps; one 'bapped', one 'whumped'. IF the bass line needed a lot of definition, the RNP's "bap" sound is definitely a great new
tool in our audio arsenal.

Once my eye is back to normal (I had eye surgery Monday), I hope to actually run some measurements on this puppy."

Harvey Gerst
Indian Trail Recording Studio
http://www.ITRstudio.com/
 
LooneyTunez said:

Harvey,

Could you clarify something for me a little? I'm a confused as to how a preamp could change the proximity effect or popping of a microphone. Did you maybe mean something else, or am I missing something? :confused:

Respectfully,

Jay
Click to expand...
I got into a fight on George Massenburg's forum about this one. It was a badly constructed sentence on my part. Here's their less than nice response to my statement, and my response to their's:


Originally posted by Allan Speers:
"The Shure SM-57 surprised me ...It REALLY sounded good as a vocal mic thru this box, with almost no proximity buildup or popping, even at point blank range. "

Reality check: No "box" of any kind is going to change a mic's proximity effect or tendency to pop. That is utterly absurd. Such a statement calls into question the entire "review."

With all defference to Mr Gerst, of whom I know very little, such statements also call into question the reviewer himself.
Click to expand...

"Please note that I said the sound of the SM-57 itself surprised me, in that there was far less proximity effect and susceptability to plosives than I expected to hear. I never said or meant to imply that the RNP reduced the proximity effect and plosives.

For me, it was rediscovering that the SM-57 is often overlooked as a good vocal mic. I agree that the statement could be construed to imply that the RNP was reducing those two effects, but I simply meant that the Shure SM-57 sounded very good thru this preamp, AND I was surprised that there was less of those two effects than I was expecting from getting in close on a 57, regardless of the preamp used."
 
Thanx, Harvey

Harvey Gerst said:
I got into a fight on George Massenburg's forum about this one. It was a badly constructed sentence on my part. Here's their less than nice response to my statement, and my response to their's:



"Please note that I said the sound of the SM-57 itself surprised me, in that there was far less proximity effect and susceptability to plosives than I expected to hear. I never said or meant to imply that the RNP reduced the proximity effect and plosives.

For me, it was rediscovering that the SM-57 is often overlooked as a good vocal mic. I agree that the statement could be construed to imply that the RNP was reducing those two effects, but I simply meant that the Shure SM-57 sounded very good thru this preamp, AND I was surprised that there was less of those two effects than I was expecting from getting in close on a 57, regardless of the preamp used."
Click to expand...

Thanx for contributing your valuable time reviewing the RNP for the many of us who are interested.
Not everyone wants to rip apart your every sentence for it's deepest meaning.
I for one am just happy to get ANY info on this product, especially from a source I trust.
Please just keep the info coming!
What would a mix sound like through this thing?
How 'bout a drum submix?( I love a transformer sound on drums...)
Would love to know what a SP C1 sounds like .
Keep up the GOOD WORK!!!

Peace.
Carmen

:)
 
Thanks for clearing that up Harvey! :)

I think I understand what you were trying to say now.

Thanks again!:D
 
Thanks Chess, I have been checking out the rnc so I wondered if it was by the same company or if you guys were just using rnp to make a comparison as to quality.

I wonder if maybe Alex would consider making a rackmount combo unit? But I guess if it would cost more what is the point. Would be cool though. It would give Joemeek a run. You could even make it so you had to patch the units with a cord from the back. Then if you wanted to only use one function you could just run in and out of it. Retroooooooooooo. I want one!

I need to sleep bad... Been laying tracks.



F.S.
 
Rack

The RNC is a 1/3 rack unit, and I understand the RNP is the same size. I believe that ultimately the concept is there will also be an EQ unit, so you can mount all three side-by-side in a single rack space.

The RNC can easily be fastened to a standard "universal" rack shelf: it has a hole in the bottom tapped to fit a standard rack screw: it lines up perfectly with a hole in a universal shelf.

If you don't want to use boring universal rack shelves, a company called Funk Logic makes a kind of wacky shelf/face-plate that holds 2 RNCs. I would expect they'd come out with something similar for the whole trilogy, if it eventually is completed.
 
Just to clarify, Alex is Harvey's son, Alex Gerst. He is himself an accomplished engineer and award-winning producer. Mark McQuilken of FMR is the designer of the RNC compressor, and the RNP which is currently in beta testing. Whoever said he is a perfectionist wins the understatement of the year award, but of course we cheap bastids are the prime beneficiaries.

Harvey is posting his impressions on r.a.p. Thanks to Carmen for bringing them over. He does the testing as time allows, because he is also running a studio. Hair-splitting and misunderstandings like what you read about above are just the kind of thing which could cause him to retire from the gear-reviewing business. I'll just say da Pope has more patience than ever will.
-kent
 
No, Freudian, I didn't mean you and your innocent mistake about his son's name. I meant the person on Massenburg's board who took Harvey to task after misunderstanding a statement, albeit understandably. Harvey has been in the music business longer than most of us have been alive. When he posts a free review which took time away from his work to do and receives no compensation for that time, I hate to see him badgered. He deserves better from the people who benefit most from his advice.
-kent
 
knownuttin

Ahhh. Well I was not taking any offence anyway:) I just realized I had goofed earlier and thought maybe you were just claifying for me. I know Alex is Harveys son and I just wasn't thinking at the time.

Any who. I totaly agree with you on Harveys great contributions to this board and others. If some one has a problem with a persons statement (the whole 57 prox effect) it would be much better if they would just ask what do you mean:) With the explanation Harvey gave you would only need to read about half of it to say ohhhh.
After all the 57 was made to have less proximity effect than a 58 and it has always been a pretty good sounding vocal mic. Just a little picky on position when trying to have a good steady signal on vocals, there for IMHO making it difficult to work with. If this pre expands the workable range of proximity for using the 57 on vocals it would be great. It would also make it easier to make an observation, as harvey did (about the mic). I have tested 57's for vocals and really liked the sound, just never could get my self to maintain the proper distance to really be able to use it.
Guess I twich too much.

There's a place I know where the hipsters go called Bedrock..Twitch Twitch.

Fred rules!!!

Later
F.S.
 
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