hey slutz,
i am the guy you can hear play and sing on the shootout at the beginning of this thread.
since then a lot has happened. first i lost the terrible cold i had at the day of the shootout that still makes me shiver every time i hear the vocal files.
then, two years ago, i built myself a studio. besides my usual work as guitar player, singer and composer i am now also producing and recording bands, commercials, my own songs and guitars for movies and records.
after the great experiences with hand crafted labs gear we all had during the shootout i contacted albert from hcl and ordered myself an affinity preamp, a solution compressor and a faust mic.
besides all the hcl gear i have some other top notch and well discussed stuff in my rack (among others avedis ma-5 -pair-, a-designs p-1 -pair-, chandler germanium 500, shadow hills mono gama, universal audio ua 610 solo, anamod am 660 and purple action (pair)).
after having worked with all of these devices for a longer period of time i am still positively thrilled by the quality and sound of the affinity preamp and solution compressor:
most of the time the affinity preamp has been my first choice on overheads, acoustic guitar, bass, clean electric guitar and basically every other source that sounds good by itself and should remain sounding natural.
if it was not the preamp i chose in the end it is pretty sure that the affinity scored a good second place, which i can not say about any other pre i own.
it has a very natural and musical way of amplifing the source, staying true but making it sound rich and expensive nonetheless. the more intimate and natural things have to sound, the more i can be sure that the affinity will be the pre i choose in the end. the d.i. input is also superb and the price is just simply amazing.
the hcl solution is my go-to tracking compressor. i may switch to a vari-mu or fet-sound if i want some other color for a change, but nine out of ten times the solution is in my recording chain, set to very light peak reduction and just making things sound "better". note that the solution comp has been improved since the shootout (among others the attack time can be set to being faster now). and added to that the guys at hcl made me a special modification in comparison to the regular models: i have a switcheable sidechain filter on the front which i use extensively during recording. thumbs up!
a few days after the faust microphone arrived at my studio i had to lend it to siger that also is a very good friend of mine. she loved it so much that i never got it back since, which is a good sign in terms of the quality of this mic, i suppose...
all i can say is that it suits her voice very good indeed and that its fabrication is top notch, not even considering the great price point.
some soundfiles:
here is a live recording of one of my songs the above mentioned singer friend and me did together (first song of the examples). one room, three mikes, nearly no afterwards-treatment. faust as vocal mike, affinity pre and solution comp on guitar.
nude . zwei sitztänzer
this is my new record, it has hcl written all over it, especially on overheads, acoustic instruments and bass.
the first song on the playlist (same song as in the link above) uses the affinity pre on acoustic guitar, overheads, cellos, toypiano and glockenspiel and the solution comp on just about everything while being tracked.
FICUS & THE DEVICE | Berlin, DE | Alternative / Singer/Songwriter / Pop | Music, Lyrics, Songs, and Videos | ReverbNation
i also want to mention that i have experienced an amazing costumer service at hcl.
albert is a great guy to deal with and does all he can to satisfy his clients.
greetings,
johannes