so here are the gory, and not so gory, details.
the b2 bomber is a custom transformer input, 2 channel a/d, all discrete, class a, with no caps or op-amps in the signal path. it does everything from 44.1 to 192, and it supports dual wire aes for those pt rigs that require such things. it has a stepped, post-input attenuator, the idea being that you can hit the input trafo's as hard as you want (and they sound good when spanked), and dial back the attenuator to restore the digital headroom that your system is calibrated for. it has rms and peak hold meters, with a peak reset button. on the back it has 2 x word clock in and out, 2x aes out, and s/pdif out.
in practice, what i heard is that the burl's transformers lend a not-so-subtle kind of glue to the tracks, which, coupled with the tone and detail of the conversion, allowed me to build a mix with 2, count 'em, 2 eq points (one gentle goose on bass, one generous cut on melodica) and precious little compression. things just kind of fell together in the way that i'm accustomed to with analog tape. i think you'll find this to be true as well, it's kind of silly how effortlessly this song mixes, and how good the results sound.
this is my 90-minute late night super low volume mix, minimal track compression, almost non-existant eq, zero fx, and no mix compression at all. this is the kind of mix that begs to be turned up loud, because it stays sweet and just feels like music when cranked. in all the following links, the first is the mp3, the second is the full bandwidth file.
did i mention this song was written, arranged, performed, and recorded in under 6 hours? i think i mentioned that...
http://www.wavedistribution.com/burl...BKBurlyMix.mp3 http://www.wavedistribution.com/burl...BKBurlyMix.aif
here are the rough mixes we did at the end of the session, these have zero eq or compression, they're just bone dry tracks and faders. one mix went thru the burls, one thru the apogees. the apogee mix, to my ears, sounds scooped in tone with typically peaky digital transients, the burl is fuller and rounder in tone and has more musical transients; it's punchy rather than spiky. this makes the vocals sound more seated in the mix, the drums sound more coherent, the bass is richer in harmonics, the top is silky rather thaan hyped, and in general it just vibes more like a record to me... a big, black lacquer record from 1978 with perhaps a double gatefold, which is just the way i like it.
http://www.wavedistribution.com/burl...fmixapogee.mp3 http://www.wavedistribution.com/burl...fmixapogee.aif http://www.wavedistribution.com/burl...uffmixburl.mp3 http://www.wavedistribution.com/burl...uffmixburl.aif
next post will have all the files for ya'll to play with in your rooms, which imho is where the fun lives. it'll also have track sheets, and at some point i may get adventurous and post some pix of the session.
gregoire
del
ubk
.