Neumann TLM-103 And DaviSound TB-3 Combo (2 Recordings)

  • Thread starter Thread starter Recording Engineer
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Hey RE,

Man that sounds good, is the whole song done with Neumann, or just the vocals.

Get this my monitor speakers are in disrepair, so I'm listening through a Mitsubishi 35" tv that my computer is S-cabled to.

So critical listening is out of the question.

The Neumann TLM-103 is my dream mic, my only mic being an AKG D-190E. Would I notice a big difference, and what would it be?

Man them guys can play, hope they're making some money.

Great work!
 
Hey man! Great sound - both songs, but "Make 'Em Bounce"appealed to me more than "Put Out The Dog". I thought the vocals in POTD were too low, or to put it the other way, the guitar(s) were too loud... (on my crummy JBL monitors...) ah, just got to the dog-barking bits/fade...

Nice stuff...

- Wil
 
hot damn

make 'em bounce is what i downlaoded... and it was very TIGHT. and that is good. I was impressed by the vocals, and the kick drum sample. im not a fan of that snare. But those vocals are PRO, the effects, the dynamic panning, and just their sound.

BUT!! what happened to the end of the song?!!! it just cuts off at 4:39 waaayyyy too abrupt.
 
Damn

Those are definately damn nice vocals!

But I gotta say that drum loop could definately use some low end...

SirRiff
 
All I can say is that you have THE sound. THE sound is what I hear on so many pro recordings, and I think you just comfinrmed it that I must get a tlm103. I tested it at GC yesterday and it was THE sound that I have always been searching for.

SO how much would you say that the davisound influenced the sound. THe test I did was going through a mackie and it was still unbelievable.

peace
 
BTW,

Put out the dog is a very fine sounding song. YOur brother has a great talent.
 
RE, you piss me off. You really, really piss me off. Now I'm pissed off...

Present, clear, attractive vocal and guitar. Both right up front and pretty.

Put Out the Dog pisses me off too. What a very good song.

I was gonna buy a preamp tomorrow, maybe write a song. I thought I was getting somewhere. I think I'll get drunk instead. You prick. :D

Those background vocals do interesting right/left things.

That harmonica's just that little stroke of genius. Who's been listening to Toots Thielman then?

Sigh.

Great piece of work, dude.
 
I was a bit discouraged last night hearing this (it was late and I was tired), but the upside of this is that although I'm one, maybe two lights years behind the sound on this take, I now fully understand the meaning of the word 'transparent' when applied to recorded music. That's the word that comes to mind - transparent.
 
Ahhh... Shux....

GT:

Glad you liked it. Yes, on both songs, anything that was miked was the Neumann TLM-103 and DaviSound TB-3 combo.

About a difference... Well, you'd notice an unbelieveable difference; I promise! What would it be? Let me just say, what wouldn't it be? :)

Yeah, my band sure can play, but that was actually just my older brother... The song writer. Actually, that song really doesn't have an ending yet. Also, every single one of those electric guitar parts were made-up on the spot; our electric/lead guitarist would actually write and play something in place of those electric parts.

About making money, no, we really don't actually, our lead guitarist JUST quite... Well, we'll be playing 2 last gigs at the end of this month and finishing-up the 2nd album (hopefully in the next few months), and that'll be the end of the band!

Wil:

Make Em Bounce was a fun song to do. Also, POTD, funny how you mentioned the vocals being too low... I've it on damn near EVERY system I can get my hands-on and didn't find that... Then, I played them on these nasty computer speakers at work... What do you know, the vocals are too quiet!

kristian:

Happy you liked it. That mix took me about 2 hours to get; because I was by myself... No one to bug me; more this, more that! It'd probably one of my favorites for use of FX.

And it stopped so quickly because on the album, it's suppose to jump to the next song on the next track... Or they'll fade it... Depending-on what song they choose to come next.

SirRiff:

Thank You. I like the vocals too. About the low-end on the drums, well, I thought it needing more, but then again, I haven't compared it to any other Rap songs. Thank You for the tip.

CyanJaguar:

Well Thank You for the nice comments. You know, you'd be amazed he easy it is to get "THE sound" when you're working with good talent; of course, given decent enough gear.

You know, I REALLY love my 103s. Of course, with SO many budget mics out now days, a lot of people will recommend something else, but I still like my 103s for a transformerless large diaphragm budget mic; the BLUE Dragonfly is nice too!

How much did the DaviSound pre influence the sound? How about a damn significant?! To tell you the truth, I think THAT is what crossed me over to "THE sound"; having REAL professional pres... And at the budget price as you know!

In comparision to a Mackie, yeah, I'd say my TB-3 is a lot more transparent, but what I think that really think separates the two is, for the lack of a better term, clarity!

Glad you liked Put Out The Dog. I agree, I've always thought my brother to be SO talented! Just imagine coming-up with drum parts to go with his songs and playing them; though we've been doing quite a few years no (what... 10 year now? Gees!). Actually, this song was one of those VERY rare cases that HE wrote the song around a "drum riff" I had!

dobro:

I love the vocal and electric guitar sounds, but the acoustic guitar isn't my favorite! It definitely has a more natural sound to it, but just a bit too raw for me. It was just quickly set-up though and the take was simply the first-time through the entire song.

But I'm glad you liked it! As far as the song writing and such, I'm just lucky enough for having such a talented brother and him wanting me to be the drummer for anything he does!

Hey, and funny you bring-up the word "transparent" as THAT is was pretty much the point of this! Actually, it was just to show what sort of results I get with DaviSound and how they're NOT too good to be true! I just find it GREAT news you used the word "transparent" as that's pretty much DaviSound's whole reason of business!

By the way, dobro, and all, I have been listening undercover... You guys got some GREAT stuff out there too!
 
$1250 = budget price? Ohhhh, dude, yer breaking my poor heart. $1250 would buy two of my mics and one channel strip. The recording of that song plus this thread has been more of a revelation to me than anything I've seen or heard here recently. I actually have love for my best pieces of gear. You must love that mic/pre combination very much...

I'm gonna listen to the other song now.
 
Clean, clear sound.

You didn't do any drumming on this one, right? The whole rhythm thing's software, right?

It's the background/reverb vocals that intrigue on this one - is it a singing technique that quickly fades out, or quick level cutting by the engineer? It's really engaging and effective.

Good lyrics. Pretty dirty and straight ahead, though. Good black idiom. Good song, too. Damn, you're up to some good, good stuff these days.

Is that a pop on 'champagne'? :D

This one's ready for some money, dude.
 
You Are Correct, Sir

I understand what you mean about $1250 not nearly being "budget gear" to you as THAT'S how I feel when simply thinking how I can afford a 2-channel Brent Averill 1272 or a Great River MP-2NV, or even a 2-channel Brent Averill 312; let alone something like an API 4312 or a Urei 1176 Blackface!

But also realize the TB-3 is 2-channels of preamp AND compression; unlike what I mentioned above. Now, to compare apples to apples and oranges to oranges... The 4-channel DaviSound TB-6 is $650USD and the 4-channel Great River MP-4M is $3000USD!

Anyhow, that's right, not me drumming. That's all MIDI stuff that was brought to me on a Red Book CD-R.

About the background/reverb vocals, I'll assume you're not talking about the obvious delay w/ feedback and then into a reverb, on them... So you must be talking about the "deep reverb"? It's simply a preset in the LXP-1. I think it's a med-large room algorithm with a very quick, but smooth decay I put on it. This is a good effect to give the vocals depth in the mix.

And no, that was a "Auhuh Auhuh Auhuh Auhuh Auhuh Auhuh Auhuh Whoa!"
 
WOW!

2 awesome recordings....that mic and preamp is the shit.....your brother has an awesome voice.....isnt there gonna be a Hand Merchants tune on the CompCD?...
 
Those do sound good, although on the non-rap one I found the vocals a tad too loud. As far as the pre's go, how much color to they impart? I have a habit of layering the living hell out of guitars and even the bass at times, and I wonder if I'd start getting too much buildup with those pres? I'm thinking the price is really nice.
The truth is that you really do start hearing a difference when you move up. I;ve been preaching it for awhile. What converters are you using? I'd like to hear how much difference a top notch converter would make.
Sjokos vocal sound drives me nuts. He's using a $3000 mic into a $3000 single channel preamp into a lucid A/D straight to disk, and it sounds positively magical on vocals. Almost like someones in the room with ya. Kills me how good it sounds. Kills me. Makes me wanna rob a bank or do something crazy. Really.
Can't wait to hear how your Steven Paul mod is gonna sound with those preamps. Make sure you get something posted quickly after you get it. By the way, are you getting a 3 micron, or something like a 1.5? Or the elite 0.9 micron? You;d shit if he hooked you up with that, wouldnt ya? Ahhh dreamy....
Good work man, gotta let me borrow some stuff sometimes! ;)
Peace,
Paul
BTW, the gangstas... did they try to carjack you or anything after the session? ;) Pull out thier gap and make you mix with a gun to your head? lol....
 
hey RE,
I noticed that you went to tape before going to lynx.
IS there a sound related reason?

DOes the tape make things sound different that if you went direct to disk , and how?

thanks
 
hey RE,
I noticed that you went to tape before going to lynx.
IS there a sound related reason?

DOes the tape make things sound different that if you went direct to disk , and how?

thanks

one more thing. You mentioned the blue dragonfly as being nice. I tested it against the tlm103, and at first I preffered the dragonfly, then I started liking the 103, when we left the fader at the same position.

Which do you prefer? Does the tlm103 have more output than the dragonfly?
 
I think it was Atlas, they have the Dragonfly, buy one for $799 get the second one for $399. Not bad.
Alot of people go to tape either during tracking or mastering to get that tape sound. Its pretty popular to go to 2 inch from digital back to digital again, ususally running it through a high quality board or Neve line preamps or something tube to fatten the sound up at the same time. Another good use for good preamps.... mixdown.
Peace,
Paul
 
hey re, great work on put out the dog . just gave it another dl today. just got a great deal on a 103 a couple of weeks ago. i agree with your enthusiasm for this mike. very clean and detailed. only used it on some acoustic guitar and vocal roughs so far, thru a presonus mp20 and lucid ad. needless to say ,your brother has talent too. look forward to hearing more of his/your stuff. btw that davisound stuff looks real interesting, may be my next mic pre once the gov't pays out. haf to sneak it in so my wife doesn't catch me.
 
Gidge:

Thank You. I'm pretty pleased, but every session I learn some way to improve. And yeah, a Hand Merchants tune is suppose to be on the CompCD, but it's not my favorite from that album. I only wanted that one if there was enough room to show two different proction styles of the same song.

By the way, does that it hasn't been done yet? I mean I got word to send my $20 bucks, but like everything else, I meant to, but before I knew it, months had passed-by! When I finally did get around to it, I tried to find-out what the staus was and whether or not to still send it, but never found-out anything, so...

tubedude:

Thank You. I didn't spent much time on either of those. They were both tracked and mixed all in about 6 hours each; probably more like 5 for the rap one.

The pres didn't add color. Remember, the "Mic-All" pres are the transparent type.

Also, I agree with you that you don't hear a dramatic difference until you move-up to the Grace Design, Great River, Earthworks, etc. range. THAT is one of MY biggest complaints in the industry! BUT, THAT is HOW I found DaviSound in the first place! AND WHY I love them so much! I FINALLY found that dramatic difference WITHOUT the price of the others!

As far as converters, remember I tracked to a Tascam TSR-8 w/ dbx. So, the only converters I used was during mixdown into my computer. I used a Lynx One. I haven't compared it to any other converters, BUT, Ed (sonusman) is the one who recommended is and uses one himself. I remember him telling me he had hard time telling the difference between it and Apogee converters sometimes. And if anything, Apogee's was only slightly better. But, ALL I used could have been found under each song.

Truth is, I COULD easily buy Lucid converters, BUT, I haven't found the critical need yet!

Yeah, I sure WILL post something real quick with the 797 Audio CR998 SPA Mod! Actually, I don't know what the diaphragm will be. BUT, you know, it's already a 3-micron stock.

CyanJaguar:

Actually, the I tracked to a reel-to-reel and during mixdown, I used the Lynx One into my computer @ 24-bit, 48k.

Does the tape make it sound different? Fo Sho! So does the dbx (depending on who you talk to, people will say the dbx is a "good" different or a "bad" different)!

How? Well, you mostly hear it on a 2" @ 15ips w/ Dolby SR. I remember I used to say it was like it was already mixed because it sounded SO smooth, warm, full, big, and 3-dimentional simply playing it back after a take and actually doing a mix was simply giving it that extra "wow factor" by adding sparkle with EQ and FX and for "clean-up"!

As far as the Dragonfly, well I wouldn't say I like one better over the other! I'd take a Dragonfly ANYDAY! BUT, I DO find it funny how I'd take a Dragonfly over a Mouse ANYDAY too!

And the outputs are pretty much the same; you probably won't hear a difference in output. The Dragonfly's sensitivity is 20mV and the 103's is 21mV.

Keith:

Thank You. I'm glad you liked it! Yeah, the 103s are GREAT mics! They're my "large diaphragm work-horse" mics! With a Davisound pre, you'll love your 103 even more! Just write a good song about how wonderful your wife is and lay it down with your new pre and she'll forgive-ya...
 
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