JJ Audio Microphones Visits Studio E

[phillysoulman]

Originally Posted by illacov

The entire weekend saw some cool moments go down. I have alot of respect for Storyville and Bob. I felt that respect back in spades as well!

I'll be the first guy to admit it was eye opening as far as certain things that Storyville does for tracking drums vs what I do for tracking drums. I'm a mono all day guy and Matt is much better versed at stereo drum miking than I am. Because of what Matt taught me I definitely will be trying stereo drums more often.

I also appreciated the openness that Story showed me when I would make some of my oddball suggestions for tracking Philadelphia Slick's stuff. One situation in particular involved when I recommended running the band's keyboardist through a vintage Fender Vibrolux. This amp (like the actual physical unit we had) was used on Chubby Checker's "Twist." It had that vintage Jensen speaker in there and sounded FABULOUS on keys, from grand piano to Rhodes. We miked it up with our Taho mic (U67 inspired) on the front of the amp and put our tube pencil condenser the Daschund on overhead. Absolutely gorgeous and lush, when blended with the DI it was absolutely mind blowing how good the keyboard sounded. Taking the keyboard mics out was an instant letdown, so in they stayed!

Now in this particular situation I was well out of bounds, I was a visitor, a sales rep at that and despite my engineering experience, it wasn't my place to call shots on another person's work. But Matt (Story) and I became instant friends and besides wanting to make a good impression on the Studio E staff, I wanted Philly Slick (a band I have a ton of love for!) to have great sounding recordings. So this 3 day session turned into a collaborative effort as much as it was a mic demo

I remember coming back from dinner my last day in Philly (Tony Lukes!!) and seeing the lowly ART Tubepac patched into one of the kick mic channels. Story and I had a friendly running debate during my stay about compression during tracking. I love it, do it all the time, advocate for it. I would put a sign on my front yard if it wasn't for city zoning rules lol.

Well long story short, here was yet again another one of my intrusions at work. Previously I patched the Tubepac on room mic (Mutt) while Story was on dinner break (very sneaky indeed) and that little compressor became an instant stun gun toy that we were completely in love with. It gets pretty effin warm too!LOL.

Story is actually a pretty humble dude and unlike some younger guys who like to flatly shoot down outside suggestions, it was cool to see him putting something to use that obviously worked to the client's benefit, regardless of how it reads on paper. Philly Slick benefited because of Story's vision and willingness to try things to obtain the perfect tone. AMEN!

Again my undying thanks to Bob, Matt and Joe for helping us to make this happen.

Story I miss you already dude. You're definitely not a weekend friend. Call me whenever. Tell my boy Rick the bartender I said much love!

Peace
Illumination

[Reggmail]

Originally Posted by phillysoulman

Focasrite 828s on the drums.
Story can fill in the rest.

regg,the kick and bass are thumpin,man.
It was a live session....no vsts...alllive.

Thanks for the info Bobby.
I will be listening for the new clips, I can't wait.
& blessings.

[lpuma]

I have to admit that mp3 sound real nice, is there some reverb on the vocals or is it the room? (sounds like the room), what mic preamps been used?

[Storyville]

Vocal reverb is altiverb. The preamp on the vocal was a custom built Studio E preamp we have nicknamed "The Electronic Scrotum."

[illacov]

BTW I have been messing around with my own personal collection of JJ Audio Mics.

The Chihuahua Durango sounds absolutely nuts on my voice.

The Chocolate Lab sounds really really nice, I preferred it on my voice through a cleaner preamp.

The Doberman Eastlake is freaking gorgeous sounding on my voice, now I see why Bobby kept asking me to sing into it! It sounds crazy on r and b and hip hop!! It has a really nice smokey kind of tone, not overly bright, but with a very PHAT sound. I gave it a 2 db boost at 12K on a scratch hip hop vocal and it was right in the pocket.

My Schnauzer headed back to Maryland to get a CK12 capsule installed and then he's coming home to Crumbson 12 Beta!

BTW the Daschund sounded absolutely freakish on bottom snare, so much low end and flavor.

Peace
Illumination

[lpuma]

Originally Posted by Storyville

Vocal reverb is altiverb. The preamp on the vocal was a custom built Studio E preamp we have nicknamed "The Electronic Scrotum."

cool thanks.

[Storyville]

Ok, here's the JJ Files. I couldn't post them directly to GS, so there connected to this link. All sorts of great stuff.

http://www.divshare.com/download/10422807-0c5

[Storyville]

Originally Posted by Reggmail

Bobby, it sounds like you had lots of fun last weekend inspite of the snow here in Philly.
I can't wait to hear the recordings.

Nice sound, mid's highs are very clean although the bottom I can't feel the bass & bass drum.

Overall it's a nice clean sound, are you going through any mike pre's or are we listening to a direct input of the mic to board recording?
What mic is being used on what?
Thanks for posting storyville.

& blessings.

It's unmixed, the bass and kick are a little light at the moment. Here's the break down:

Drums:
Mono OH - Husky into Focusrite ISA
Snare top - Sm57 into Focusrite ISA
Snare Bottom - Doctsung SDC into ISA
Kick In - D112 into "Electronic Scrotum"
Kick out - Daisy into "Electronic Scrotum"
Hi Hat - Nt5 SDC into ISA
Room Mic A - Wolfgang into ISA
Room Mic B - Mxl2001 modd into ISA
----------
Bass:
Cab - Wolfgang into Electronic Scrotum
Bass DI - Blue Robbie
----------
Keys:
DI Left - ADK Ap-1
DI Right - ADK Ap-1
Amp Close - Taho into "Electronic Scrotum"
Amp OH - Docstung into Robbie
-----------
Sax:
Close mic - V67G into Ap-1
Room - Chihuaha into Ap-1
-----------
Vocals:
Taho into "Electronic Scrotum" into Lang PEQ-2
-----------
other instruments were brought to session.

[The Dutch Master]

Thanks for the info, Story

[5StarProject]

Originally Posted by Storyville

That was a u67 variant called "Taho." Also, please note that you are listening to pretty much raw tracks. I put altiverb on the vocals. I don't believe I did anything else besides pan and levels. And I did those really half assed.

Just to give an idea of how it sounded going in. Don't ask why the reverb ended up on there for this. I haven't seen sunlight in four days.

PS - your location says Philly. Stop through some time.

Thanks for the reply. I understand JJ likes reverb .

I am searching for a new mic and would love some insight on either the Akita and/or the 47ish mic (don't know the dog name) on vocals. L and I have been conversing and I am ready to make my final decision. I took some advice from PSM a while ago and have a beautiful mic b/c of it (Thanks again).

Thanks for the invite, I definitely will.

[Haz-Mat-Strat]

Got in late last night after a wonderful weekend in Philly. As most of you know we were hit with 28+ inches of snow in the Pilly area. The snow did
keep some R&B players away from Studio E and made travel difficult. That was a shame because these are Bobby's regular " In the House" musicians.

When we first arrived at Studio E, I came with 15 unique microphones. it was difficult to decide what mic to set up first. Matt was tracking Bass guitar and was wanting to hear the U47 inspired Wolfgang (EF14) and the Husky (6ak5). The Wolfgang had a Neumann K47 capsule and the Husky had a M7 capsule from Dale in Canada. Both mics have the silky top end and the rich low-mids that come from the U47 type mics. The Wolfgang has the Cinemag NiCo transformer and the Husky has a custom wound transformer from Marik at Samar Audio. Both mics have slightly differnt sonic qualities and still maintain the 47 vibe.

The whole weekend was filled with critical listening and putting each mic through its paces in a studio enviornment. I was very pleased at the reactions from Bobby, Matt, and the artists involved in this project. Both Bobby and Matt have very critical listening skills and both want to hear a mic perform in a specific way. The end results speak for themselves.

Bobby and Matt, Thanks agiain for hosting this event and all of the hard work you put into making this happen.

This was a weekend we will not forget!!

We have amazing video!!

[Stitch333]

Great stuff, gents!

-Cheers-

[Lawrence]

Originally Posted by Stitch333

Great stuff, gents!

-Cheers-

Cosigned.

[Storyville]

Originally Posted by 5StarProject

Thanks for the reply. I understand JJ likes reverb .

I am searching for a new mic and would love some insight on either the Akita and/or the 47ish mic (don't know the dog name) on vocals. L and I have been conversing and I am ready to make my final decision. I took some advice from PSM a while ago and have a beautiful mic b/c of it (Thanks again).

Thanks for the invite, I definitely will.

There were a few mics that absolutely blew me out of the water. The Akita was definitely one of them. That's one that hopefully I'll have the bank to purchase for myself. It belongs next to the Neumanns, Sound Deluxes, and Royers in the mic closet. We tested it out on Langston's singing vocals - again I didn't man the helm for the RnB stuff so I don't know if it's recorded.

The Akita is not a predictable mic - it actually requires a little bit of consciousness to use. It grabs transients from the low mids a little harder and faster than it grabs them from the highs, which is uncommon in a microphone. It's excellent for grabbing vocals at farther distances like two feet or more - you don't loose body or top end and you still get all the openness. Which is fantastic - it's a void in utilization that has now been filled. Up close it takes much better to the "crooner" style - the action of the mic performs much more like an RCA ribbon at this distance (with no roll off and higher fidelity). Next time Jim and/or Langston come through we'll experiment more with it.

I used the Taho to track Noesis' voice (rapper from Philly Slick). It's not completely transparent, it has a bit of that vintagy vibe to it, which you can hear in the samples. But the capture was great, and the mic really helped to bring out some "chest" sound.

Anyway, I did attach another session I snuck in. This is a rapper named Wendell Holland using the Akita. I like it a lot for rap vocals because it has a very present, very "hard" sound, and has a nice low mid and low pickup without feeling pushed.

[Haz-Mat-Strat]

Originally Posted by Storyville

There were a few mics that absolutely blew me out of the water. The Akita was definitely one of them. That's one that hopefully I'll have the bank to purchase for myself. It belongs next to the Neumanns, Sound Deluxes, and Royers in the mic closet. We tested it out on Langston's singing vocals - again I didn't man the helm for the RnB stuff so I don't know if it's recorded.

The Akita is not a predictable mic - it actually requires a little bit of consciousness to use. It grabs transients from the low mids a little harder and faster than it grabs them from the highs, which is uncommon in a microphone. It's excellent for grabbing vocals at farther distances like two feet or more - you don't loose body or top end and you still get all the openness. Which is fantastic - it's a void in utilization that has now been filled. Up close it takes much better to the "crooner" style - the action of the mic performs much more like an RCA ribbon at this distance (with no roll off and higher fidelity). Next time Jim and/or Langston come through we'll experiment more with it.

I used the Taho to track Noesis' voice (rapper from Philly Slick). It's not completely transparent, it has a bit of that vintagy vibe to it, which you can hear in the samples. But the capture was great, and the mic really helped to bring out some "chest" sound.

Anyway, I did attach another session I snuck in. This is a rapper named Wendell Holland using the Akita. I like it a lot for rap vocals because it has a very present, very "hard" sound, and has a nice low mid and low pickup without feeling pushed.

Hey Matt

Looks like you pulled an all nighter! WOW

I think you have done wonders with posting all of the tracks. I really enjoyed all of your extremely detailed input about how each mic sounded to you. That information will help me in the development of better microphones.

I just received some JJ12 capsules for the Dutch C12/251 circuit. I will be installing them into some mics today for testing.

Thanks again for your hard work!!

[Chris Lago]

Does GS members get a discount? Just wondering, in case I sell my new mic I just bought

[illacov]

Originally Posted by Storyville

There were a few mics that absolutely blew me out of the water. The Akita was definitely one of them. That's one that hopefully I'll have the bank to purchase for myself. It belongs next to the Neumanns, Sound Deluxes, and Royers in the mic closet. We tested it out on Langston's singing vocals - again I didn't man the helm for the RnB stuff so I don't know if it's recorded.

The Akita is not a predictable mic - it actually requires a little bit of consciousness to use. It grabs transients from the low mids a little harder and faster than it grabs them from the highs, which is uncommon in a microphone. It's excellent for grabbing vocals at farther distances like two feet or more - you don't loose body or top end and you still get all the openness. Which is fantastic - it's a void in utilization that has now been filled. Up close it takes much better to the "crooner" style - the action of the mic performs much more like an RCA ribbon at this distance (with no roll off and higher fidelity). Next time Jim and/or Langston come through we'll experiment more with it.

I used the Taho to track Noesis' voice (rapper from Philly Slick). It's not completely transparent, it has a bit of that vintagy vibe to it, which you can hear in the samples. But the capture was great, and the mic really helped to bring out some "chest" sound.

Anyway, I did attach another session I snuck in. This is a rapper named Wendell Holland using the Akita. I like it a lot for rap vocals because it has a very present, very "hard" sound, and has a nice low mid and low pickup without feeling pushed.

PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE post the clip with Dame's voice on the modded MXL 2001 aka the Chocolate Lab.

The Akita sounded crazy on my boy Wendell's voice. He was floored....I remember the fact that he had a very controlled dynamic was the reason we choice the Akita vs the Chocolate Lab on his voice.

I noticed that the Chocolate Lab can take some signal and gain a nice taste of edge and that it fairs very well thru really nice pristine pres on my voice. I remember that the Blue Robbie was used on these guys right?? I love how the Akita has a nice natural dose of built in compression. Listen to that TOP END!

Dame (his partner) was absolutely freakish on the Chocolate Lab (U87 modded MXL 2001).


Peace
Illumination

[phillysoulman]

Originally Posted by illacov

PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE post the clip with Dame's voice on the modded MXL 2001 aka the Chocolate Lab.

The Akita sounded crazy on my boy Wendell's voice. He was floored....I remember the fact that he had a very controlled dynamic was the reason we choice the Akita vs the Chocolate Lab on his voice.

I noticed that the Chocolate Lab can take some signal and gain a nice taste of edge and that it fairs very well thru really nice pristine pres on my voice. I remember that the Blue Robbie was used on these guys right?? I love how the Akita has a nice natural dose of built in compression. Listen to that TOP END!

Dame (his partner) was absolutely freakish on the Chocolate Lab (U87 modded MXL 2001).


Peace
Illumination

[illacov]

Originally Posted by chrislago

Does GS members get a discount? Just wondering, in case I sell my new mic I just bought

So you ready for an Akita??

BTW there's a cool little song we recorded on Saturday night that has me singing/functioning on 5 hours of sleep and the nerves of a 12 year old (you don't get to perform for a platinum record holder every day ya know! I'm just a guy from good ole Upstate NY!).

It features:
Myself on vocals (Chihuahua Studio E version)
Jeff on drums (Chihuahua Studio E stereo spaced pair, Mutt on room (to an ART Tubepac), Husky on mono overhead, Daschund on top snare?, SM57 on bottom snare, Wolfgang on out kick, AKG D112 on in kick)
Peter Cappelli (Clam Weezy from The Goonies) on Bob's gold Strat/Tele/nstein, doing rhythms thru the Vibrolux, Mutt on front cab.
Jim Jacobsen doing leads (same guitar/amp) Daisy on front cab.
Bobby Muthafunkin Eli on Boogie bass and Rhodes piano!

here's the SAFE version!!!

There's another version where I freestyle rap on it, Storyville has a verse on it too I think, which takes on the mic industry. I may be the first rapper to ever make a battle rap about microphones from China! However that version will never see the LIGHT OF DAY!! We both used the Studio E Chihuahua, it sounds DOPE on our voices! I believe the vocals went thru the Blue Robbie and the Mutt on guitar cab as well.

I put it up there with the Buddy Rich bus tapes!

BTW I don't know if the room mic was pulled out or not in the mix. It sounds crazy though!

Good job to all.

PPS I also want to say thanks to all the folks at Studio E and the extended ever growing client list there for humoring The Goonies (me and Peter). It was a pleasure to get together with a bunch of fellow musicians who let us just be us!

There was a moment where I was playing guitar (Bob's gold beauty) out of the Vibrolux and Peter was on the drum kit. I'm better at drums than guitar (I'm still learnin ya know?) and I was kind of zoning out, doing my bar chord trick I do for playing guitar and turned around to see Bobzilla himself FEELIN IT. LOL

I was embarrassed and kind of emboldened as well. Bob's got ears of gold. It was cool to hear that my talents were appreciated from somebody as accomplished as he.

Again I'm still aglow and I will now hop on the phone and harass Jim about my CK12 capsule!!


Here's the song!

JJ Audio Mics Jam!

Peace
Illumination

[excLOUsiv]

For Hit Song Drums.Wav, was there any kind of additional processing on those drums? I really liked the sound of the kick. The mics got the "boom" pretty nice and clean. How much of that warmth did the Tube Pac contribute?

[phillysoulman]

Originally Posted by illacov

So you ready for an Akita??

BTW there's a cool little song we recorded on Saturday night that has me singing/functioning on 5 hours of sleep and the nerves of a 12 year old (you don't get to perform for a platinum record holder every day ya know! I'm just a guy from good ole Upstate NY!).

It features:
Myself on vocals (Chihuahua Studio E version)
Jeff on drums (Chihuahua Studio E stereo spaced pair, Mutt on room (to an ART Tubepac), Husky on mono overhead, Daschund on top snare?, SM57 on bottom snare, Wolfgang on out kick, AKG D112 on in kick)
Peter Cappelli (Clam Weezy from The Goonies) on Bob's gold Strat/Tele/nstein, doing rhythms thru the Vibrolux, Mutt on front cab.
Jim Jacobsen doing leads (same guitar/amp) Daisy on front cab.
Bobby Muthafunkin Eli on Boogie bass and Rhodes piano!

here's the SAFE version!!!

There's another version where I freestyle rap on it, Storyville has a verse on it too I think, which takes on the mic industry. I may be the first rapper to ever make a battle rap about microphones from China! However that version will never see the LIGHT OF DAY!! We both used the Studio E Chihuahua, it sounds DOPE on our voices! I believe the vocals went thru the Blue Robbie and the Mutt on guitar cab as well.

I put it up there with the Buddy Rich bus tapes!

BTW I don't know if the room mic was pulled out or not in the mix. It sounds crazy though!

Good job to all.

PPS I also want to say thanks to all the folks at Studio E and the extended ever growing client list there for humoring The Goonies (me and Peter). It was a pleasure to get together with a bunch of fellow musicians who let us just be us!

There was a moment where I was playing guitar (Bob's gold beauty) out of the Vibrolux and Peter was on the drum kit. I'm better at drums than guitar (I'm still learnin ya know?) and I was kind of zoning out, doing my bar chord trick I do for playing guitar and turned around to see Bobzilla himself FEELIN IT. LOL

I was embarrassed and kind of emboldened as well. Bob's got ears of gold. It was cool to hear that my talents were appreciated from somebody as accomplished as he.

Again I'm still aglow and I will now hop on the phone and harass Jim about my CK12 capsule!!


Here's the song!

JJ Audio Mics Jam!

Peace
Illumination

Yo,L man..where can I cop that hot joint,son??
Dat shit right there be bangin on the real tip,yo!!!!!
Right now im "tickled brown",home slice!!

[5StarProject]

Originally Posted by Storyville

There were a few mics that absolutely blew me out of the water. The Akita was definitely one of them. That's one that hopefully I'll have the bank to purchase for myself. It belongs next to the Neumanns, Sound Deluxes, and Royers in the mic closet. We tested it out on Langston's singing vocals - again I didn't man the helm for the RnB stuff so I don't know if it's recorded.

The Akita is not a predictable mic - it actually requires a little bit of consciousness to use. It grabs transients from the low mids a little harder and faster than it grabs them from the highs, which is uncommon in a microphone. It's excellent for grabbing vocals at farther distances like two feet or more - you don't loose body or top end and you still get all the openness. Which is fantastic - it's a void in utilization that has now been filled. Up close it takes much better to the "crooner" style - the action of the mic performs much more like an RCA ribbon at this distance (with no roll off and higher fidelity). Next time Jim and/or Langston come through we'll experiment more with it.

I used the Taho to track Noesis' voice (rapper from Philly Slick). It's not completely transparent, it has a bit of that vintagy vibe to it, which you can hear in the samples. But the capture was great, and the mic really helped to bring out some "chest" sound.

Anyway, I did attach another session I snuck in. This is a rapper named Wendell Holland using the Akita. I like it a lot for rap vocals because it has a very present, very "hard" sound, and has a nice low mid and low pickup without feeling pushed.

Storyville you are the best. Thanks for taking the time out to give that description and the samples. This definitely helps my decision, it's good to have a reference point. Thanks again.

[tresperros]

[QUOTE=illacov;5087429]
[/URL]

such a lovely hairy hands....

[Lawrence]

Originally Posted by illacov

JJ Audio Mics Jam!
Peace
Illumination

No 808

Nice...

[illacov]

Originally Posted by Lawrence

No 808

Nice...

Slowly but surely we will find a way to put it in there lol!

Actually for an 808 kind of sound on kick, our modded MK319 sounds awesome for that particular use. However its not as snappy as our Wolfgang or the Daisy (same as the Mutt, but with a Jensen, instead of a Cinemag and a Neumann K87 capsule) on out kick (SOUNDED SICK!).

Story what song did you wind up putting the Daisy on out kick?

BTW I have been messing with your drum clips that you posted up Story. Not for nothing but try a nice Fairchild 670 plugin on drums set to stun (~28db of gr) for that nice breakbeat sound that Philly Slick used as their reference. Try it in parallel or serial, both have cool results that remind me of the breakbeat they used! Drums sound DOPE!

Man we didn't get to try the subminis out enough! The Chihuahua Durango and the Doberman are rather sick mics!

What was cool is that when I got home and fired up my gear in Crumbson 12 Beta, the mics had a really nice vibe to them once I turned them on. I ran my mics thru the racked PM700 I had here, plus my Voicematics to see how the mics sounded with pretty fast but colored pres. DOPE.

I really preferred how the Chocolate Lab sounded through the Blue Robbie. Once I get back my modded DMP3, I'm gonna pair him up with the DMP3 and see how that fairs. I'm starting to really dig the cleaner pres for certain mics. Clean is a flavor!

Oh yeah just to let you know. The Chihuahua Durango will be using our new JJ12 capsule in it. I predict if you get your hands on one, you won't miss the tube 414 we brought with us!

Very soon I will post my own clips up!

Peace
Illumination

[IBE]

No vocals done with the V67g/U87 mod????

[illacov]

Originally Posted by IBE

No vocals done with the V67g/U87 mod????

Ummmmm....

There's a vocal we tracked on Noesis (Ben) from Philly Slick with a U87/V67G (Greyhound), but I think that was a demo, Matt did you keep it somewhere??

We definitely tracked Dame (Wendell's partner) on an U87/2001 (Chocolate Lab) which sounded grossly good!

I will post up some of my vocals with the Chocolate Lab but they are from my studio.

Peace
Illumination

[IBE]

Originally Posted by illacov

Ummmmm....
We definitely tracked Dame (Wendell's partner) on an U87/2001 (Chocolate Lab) which sounded grossly good!

I will post up some of my vocals with the Chocolate Lab but they are from my studio.

Well how similar are those outcomes mxl2001 vs v67g because I already ordered the V67g

[guitarsfrommars]

Originally Posted by phillysoulman

its AWESOME..you will love it,I promise!

Thanks PSM, just got off the phone with JJ and got a brief blow-by-blow and descriptive about the session, sounds like all the goodness was off the chain. I have a V67/U87 mod, due back this week if the snow plows are working in Maryland. I hear the cheesesteaks were awesome too...

[guitarsfrommars]

Originally Posted by Audio Hombre

that quote right there did anything but pique my interest.i wish people could actually hear what they're typing in their heads sometimes before they type. this hyperbole non-sense is getting way out of hand

Bobby's recording cred is large enough to allow for a little hyperbole. Have you used any JJ Audio mics?

I was expecting this kind of appreciation.

I was also expecting these products, to surpass what has been acceptable to this point.