Hand crafted labs products

[Tom H]

Originally Posted by azzzy

I haven't tried the DI box but I use the DI on my Affinity pre all the time and it's awesome. I believe the circuits are identical (or at least close). I use mine mainly for bass and it kills everything else I've tried (including the DI in my Manley Mono pre, which is quite nice actually but I prefer the HCL DI). I tried running a piano from my Korg Triton through it once and it was cool (but then I started using sampled pianos and they sounded great on their own). I don't do any electronic stuff and tend to record everything through mics (and for that the Affinity is just killer!). Granted my DI experience is limited but based on the bass I'd say go for it. I don't know how much it costs but considering it's 4 channels and the sound/bulit quality, whatever HCL is asking for it will make it the most cost-effective high-end solution. E-mail Albert, he will tell you all about the options and the prices.

Cheers for the info. thumbsup

I bet that Affinity is nice.

[RobJB06]

Hi Tommy,

Yes i have a possessed unit.
Its great for synths.
Fattens them up and makes them sound punchier. Made my MS20 and Minimoog sound fat as hell.
I wouldnt run everything through it, but its certainly a useful box to have around..

Originally Posted by Tommylicious

Anyone?

[Tom H]

Originally Posted by RobJB06

Hi Tommy,

Yes i have a possessed unit.
Its great for synths.
Fattens them up and makes them sound punchier. Made my MS20 and Minimoog sound fat as hell.
I wouldnt run everything through it, but its certainly a useful box to have around..

Thanks Rob, thumbsup

It also seems handy to me that I can have a couple of synths plugged in while writing and progamming, so i can just record on the fly with the right sound.

[fez]

Well. I have made a track with those three drum parts. I want to upload another two clips but this time properly mixed and arranged. Again one bypassed, the other with the S2 on the mixbus.

I've got a problem with my mixer which gives me a enormous hum. To fix it I must wait till Tuesday for receiving the replacement parts. Eight out of ten times this hum appears and stays there all day. But when lucky no hum and faster upload of the files.

In the meantime. Albert can you tell us something about a new unit? Like a Vari-Mu.

[GYang]

blah, blah, blah...


PEACE

[HandCrafted Lab]

blah, blah, blah...


PEACE

Thanks big brother. It seems to me that you can not to admit any nonwestern manufacturers? besides of it - ukranian manufacturers :-)

We observe your statements sometimes with smile, but can`t understand never what you wanna say yet.... A big brother try to ban any nonwestern brands? From guru position since it`s main sense of his life - owning a huge amount of devices and endless discussing about it?

I don`t know are you electronical expert with deep knowledge of tube modes, circuitry design and devices creation? Not sure. But always, a device market is shared between two parts - people who just own a stacks of nice boxes (and it`s all, powering ON is not necessary), and people which have deep knowledge in what way circuitries of these boxes are working really, in what way it can be really applied, and difference between all balanced, SE, SRPP, Push-Pull, parafeed, long-tail, etc-etc.

First people discuss in categories - "good/bad box, clean/muddy/sparkle", asks -"what is better - ITB/OTB? 44/48 or 192KHz", etc-etc, an other people (and we also) know - how and why all it work. Without idols created by first people for itself and far from friendship with solderiron, true analog LeCroy/Tektronix spectranalyzer/scope, second people just know - WHY this tube or transformer has SUCH sound, another - have other sounding. It relieve their from necessity for paying many cash for idols (which are important for collectors).

So... be honest agree, it funny, a man who never listened devices but try to argue with folk which own our devices (LA, west coast studios is enough level?) and use a long time, with good results, and make orders for 2,3, 4 devices. Your posts across forum are professional enough, so.... be professional here also.... in other case it alike a history with statements regarding famous book of A.Soltjenicyn - "I do not read, but I condemn!"

We sure that some russian manufacturer someday will have same tread here, with more THAN 30000 views of blah, blah here and many customers worldwide. And promise, we will not knock out russian colleagues by strange attacks, we have not snob viewing of it, and glad always for successes of colleagues, friends and know many excellent russian hand crafters & engineers.

Btw without insults, but many former soviet engineers have more high engineering level how it was realized during our activity, don`t forget, in many cases former soviet engineers were military engineers, so it can explain ability for good or surpassed sound of brands pushed by adv often.

Peace

Originally Posted by fez

Well. I have made a track with those three drum parts. I want to upload another two clips but this time properly mixed and arranged. Again one bypassed, the other with the S2 on the mixbus.

Well Dennis, as always we glad to listen result of an our child :-)))))))))

In the meantime. Albert can you tell us something about a new unit? Like a Vari-Mu.

Yea, Vari Mu creation in final phase. Our main dancing around device touch a side chain, we investigate a possibility to have as vari Mu mode as well as possibility to have mode with more hard, obvious signal limiting :-O

See pic of test platform (with test faceplate of course) >>>>>>

Btw, I would like to note that 670 was built by former soviet engineer Rein Narma, he-he

1959 Rein Narma Fairchild 670 Compressor Limiter-Mix Inducts Fairchild 670 Into 2007 TECnology Hall of Fame

[fez]

Yeah man!

That picture just made me smile. With eight of them Russian tubes you got in combination with, probably, Jensen trafo's and of course your expertise this is going to be great.

Hopefully tonight if that HUM is not present I will upload the files. Worked quite some time making the beats and mixing them properly.

So. We wish you great luck, HCL!

[rehepapp]

Rein Narma soviet engineer?? Oh boy!
Rein Narma is Estonian.
He escape in september 1944 Estonia because it was invaded by the soviet-russians red army .

[HandCrafted Lab]

You know, it was big surprise for us when we were informed in 90-th that second world war was won by USA. he-he, with official soviet peoples losses in 20 mln people. If my grandfather have been alive then in 90-th he died from laugh immediately, I sure, man who run with gun from Crimea to Berlin, through two concentrating camps during this running.

So... I can suppose that it will some surprize for you that areas of Estonian, Latvia were a soviet areas from 38 after finnish war, we can have diverse relation for it in political sense, but it`s a historical fact, in a any case. As well as it was declared in Mix, please attention - " In the post-war years, this refugee from Soviet Russia worked.... "
Thus, you supposed guy escaped in 44 when soviet soldiers just cleared areas which owned from 38-th, from fascists.

I can add another historical facts - "Mister Helicopter" - Igor Sikorsky was ukranian, or Ada Lawlais also-she was first programmer in world in 47, from Kiev also btw.

Well, turn to main top theme -

[karlstudio]

Hi all,Finally, this is my control room with Solution and 2 Velvet.After several months of using these pieces of gear these are my impressions. Solution: great, great gear, very usable, high quality sound and incredible as Leveller in mastering, on mixbus, parallel compression, very cleanear and transparent and the other moments Terririfying…Velvet: Preamp very warm, high gain even with ribbon MICS, very transparent and with a lot of character by forcing the preamp. Preamp + leveller it´s OK.Albert: thank you for doing everything so easy, good people, good people… Conclusion: interesting buy, very, very good value for money and more usable piece of gear. I wish you very luck to your team and your gear. When I can upload samples of productions made with this gear.Sorry but I´m offline a few months.musicrooms.es

[HandCrafted Lab]

Originally Posted by karlstudio

Hi all,Finally, this is my control room

wow Karl.... my God.... a console length... a skate/roller skates needed for console operation it can be demonstrated proudly for invited girl !!

with Solution and 2 Velvet. After several months of using these pieces of gear these are my impressions. Solution: great, great gear, very usable, high quality sound and incredible as Leveller in mastering, on mixbus, parallel compression, very cleanear and transparent and the other moments Terririfying…Velvet: Preamp very warm, high gain even with ribbon MICS, very transparent and with a lot of character by forcing the preamp. Preamp + leveller it´s OK.Albert: thank you for doing everything so easy, good people, good people… Conclusion: interesting buy, very, very good value for money and more usable piece of gear. I wish you very luck to your team and your gear. When I can upload samples of productions made with this gear.Sorry but I´m offline a few months.musicrooms.es

So nice to hear it. To be honest, we had some doubts due to your disappearance/long silence..... may be, devices had not justified your hopes but now we can see that everything OK, so nice. Thanks for kind words and comments/pics.thumbsup

With huge interest we wait your audio now!

PS. but size of console blow away indeed

[fez]

Hey Albert,

Just letting you know I am sick and tired of the Topaz "repair". I can have it fixed by a tech next year January. And when it is fixed I am going to SELL the Topaz. And when it is sold, the summing mixer is a "Reality" if you know what I mean. I started to really think about my setup and the Topaz is a great mixer, but that hum is just annoying. So selling the Topaz and having a more reliable solution is more than welcome.

My track is finally done. So the updated HCL-demo will be uploaded in the coming days. Mind you. There's a little bit of hum audible. But you can still hear the music.

[Soundpro]

Hi everyone!

Faust and Affinity2 are the best!! I never heard such a natural, transparent sound before. It sounds just right! No EQ or compression is needed. That's the way to go. I am very happy with it and use it every day!

Cheers and respect
Lorenz

SoundPro Tonstudio, Bern, Kehrsatz ...Ton ab!

[audibell]

Originally Posted by George Necola

??? what?

3rd world culture values who you know rather than what you know - Louis XIV France - overlapping circles of acquaintance and loyalty

1st world culture values what you know over who you know - 1970s USA - highly pluralistic and rule of law

2nd world culture doesn't give a fxxx who or what you know, just do as you're told, right now - 1970s Russia/Cuba - homogenous rule of one man/idea.

Got it?
WT

[fez]

Hey,

Here are clips featuring the drums from a earlier post. Only now they are used in a real track. Drums only, melodies muted.

The settings are : Hard knee, little input gain, cathode driver, minimal peak reduction but quite a lot of the ratio function. I would like to note that the S2 used outputs are transformer balanced, those are optional. I really recommend the output transformers.

Enjoy. Can you hear the difference?

[HandCrafted Lab]

Originally Posted by Soundpro

....Faust and Affinity2 are the best!! I never heard such a natural, transparent sound before. It sounds just right! No EQ or compression is needed. That's the way to go. I am very happy with it and use it every day!

Well, Lorenz, we glad that our sound feelings not contradicting yours thumbsup Though right sounding is just result of right engineering, without audiocraziness, on base of solutions which are well known many years, the usual tube stages running in correct modes. But, how it`s known - ''the simple things are much harder for understanding" and way to simple solutions is not simplest. So... we glad for our right way again

Originally Posted by fez

....Just letting you know I am sick and tired of the Topaz "repair".....

Hehhh

.....I can have it fixed by a tech next year January. And when it is fixed I am going to SELL the Topaz. And when it is sold, the summing mixer is a "Reality" if you know what I mean. I started to really think about my setup and the Topaz is a great mixer, but that hum is just annoying. So selling the Topaz and having a more reliable solution is more than welcome....

A small amount of knobs is short way to big sound.
If seriously I think that passive summing in junction with good control surface for control of DAW automatization lets to give more good and exact mixes than mixing on consoles like FOH and similar, without automatization and with longest sound path and noisy also. As well as it`s good solution/reasonable money investments in studios with small/middle budgets. Active channels (incl. automatization in analog domain) at mixing is another story.... much more expensive. Not think that it could be performed in simple and nonexpensive way. I mean technically, with all our reasonable ascetism at devices developing.

..... The settings are : Hard knee, little input gain, cathode driver, minimal peak reduction but quite a lot of the ratio function.....

OK, thanks Dennis thumbsup this mode alike limiter, high Ratio degree and high level of threshold. Also (though with another effect), settings can be - Ratio <=12PM and Peak Reduction 11AM-1PM for instance. In this case drums would be pumped up with another energy type, though it depend from drums type and creative idea, of course. But I mention for acoustic drums in more degree, with wide dynamical & freq. range.

[RobJB06]

Hello Albert,

Any news on the HCL Vari-mu? What is the expected price for it?
Am interested..

[HandCrafted Lab]

Process is going. However, we have thought up so many variants, he-he, side chain mostly, so... we not always able to check out all them , with count amount of checkings, and current orders (before christmas!).

But anyway, we are going to first samples soon. It hard to say about cost now, with count of world finance crisis a twice, many things and components in respect of device producing have a changes many times. Anyway, it will reasonable level, though in more high studio budget...... vari mu is complex task demanding many efforts, point-to-point wiring, laborious labor which take many working time, all by hands. I have assumption we shall able to present first audio samples around New Year


Another greatest news we start installing awesome Cinemag mic transformers into our preamps and channels strips, hurahhh!!!! who have knowledge, what is this small magic metal canister with red letters, can understand our exciting I think.

[HandCrafted Lab]

Happy New Year!!!!

We congratulate all GS members as well as of all our customers!!!!

thumbsup

Make cool music, bring gladness for all everywhere and don`t forget a life is short, a music is endless - if your music bring pleasure for people!

[RobJB06]

Bump for the Vari Mu ! Albert...

[HandCrafted Lab]

Originally Posted by RobJB06

Bump for the Vari Mu ! Albert...

A bit of patience Rob.... we shall present variable Mu (or Vari S ?) compressor a bit later since we have dances around of it still, more exactly with side chain of compressor since it have many variants which we wanna try, sound path is OK.

Meanwhile, on many requests we present half-officially Mirror preamp which is ready but has not description on the our web-site still, meanwhile many customers send us questions for it, so we picture it for them.

So, device has all balanced sound path with input and output transformers, of course. All balanced circuit supress even harmonics as known, has better noise/hum rejection, high headroom, wide dynamical and frequency range. Key words - tight, speed, linearity, power. Many old and rare preamps RCA, WE, Altec, Collins etc-etc-etc had all balanced circuits.

Thus, Mirror has headroom up to 26-28 dbu@ ~ 1,5-2,0% THD with powerfull 10W output transformers and up to +23dbu at the input, noise floor ~ - 87-90dB, in "white field". Cinemag input transformers also (though in this sample Jensen were installed, but Cinemag will be installed further).

Oh, sorry. Mirror is tube preamp, of course
Device has "point-to-point" internal wiring.

Many people ask: "- what is difference between Mirror and our Affinity?"
Affinity has single end circuit topology (SE) with own charm as well as SE circuits overall.... more vintage, lazy sounding. Mirror is more tight and high-speed (due to balanced circuit with twice voltage).
It could be comparison like a Bentley (as Affnity) and BMW (as Mirror), or Fender (as Affinity) and Gibson (as Mirror).

You can see more pictures on device page and listen first audio samples (drums, voices, bass guitar individually) -

Mirror fully balanced tube preamp

May be, we shall involve some customers (if they will have free time from work in studios) for additional comments here who owned first prototypes of Mirror (and Affinity also) year ago and tracked line of material during this time.

[magibatalla]

I'm a proud owner of a Mirror prototype. I just can say it's my favourite HCL piece of gear, and it stands up in a great manner against my API and Pacifica preamps.

Albert, the new look you and your team have given to the Mirror preamp is absolutelly gorgeous, you're making me want another one!

[Vertigo2006]

Hi!


I´have also Mirror prototype and Affinity preams (and of course Faust and Solution).
Mainly I use Mirror with male rap vocals and Affinity with clean female voice.
As Albert said, one is Fender and other is Gibson. Both are good.


Good work HCL!!!

Any price for Vari-MU??

-V

[HandCrafted Lab]

Nice to hear you here guys with good feels in respect of Mirror

Always, when send something new we have an excitement and when send very respectable users have excitement a twice. So, we glad that our ideas and embodiment was right and pre taken not last place in your racks fairly

For Vari mu prices - it would be prematurely a bit though device conception has a place already of course as well as sounding device. A bit of impatience.

Anyway it will reasonable price - as always

[Vertigo2006]

I love my Solution and I would love to see Your favorite settings
for different kind of compressing.

-V

ps. I think I saw this kind of treat at somewhere but I did´t found it.

[mrbasslo]

Just thought i would chuck my hat In and say that I have no doubts about the incredible sound and headroom as well as low noise for the HCL GEar I have bought So far the Faust and Velvet - really wonderful - in normal terms on a dynamic acoustic recording session you need stuff that is your friend - has head room and compressors that work without you really feeling the sound change - low noise also for the spaces and stops - I am in the process of selling all my old studio stuff compressors etc so i can buy more HCL simple as that - I trained at Lansdowne Studios in London as an Engineer in the days of the Cadac console so I am used to recording acoustic - real stuff [ Madredeus have sold over 3 million albums worldwide ] and I have to say the HCL offers real sound not processed nonsense . Well done you guys - and by the way the last album I recorded with Madredeus has just gone Gold after 2 months on sale only in PT - so there is a lot to be recommended . Just thought i owuld give a heads up

If you are a serious audio engineer give this stuff a go its possibly the best you will hear /use

jonathan Miller

jonathan@dawgrecords.co.uk

[HandCrafted Lab]

Originally Posted by mrbasslo

Just thought i would chuck my hat In and say that I have no doubts about the incredible sound and headroom as well as low noise for the HCL GEar

Jonathan thumbsup nice to hear you

I have bought So far the Faust and Velvet - really wonderful - in normal terms on a dynamic acoustic recording session you need stuff that is your friend - has head room and compressors that work without you really feeling the sound change - low noise also for the spaces and stops -

Yes, we profess an ideology: "you can feel anxiety, deep absence and emptiness after bypassing of device only, when device operate - you are happy because you not notice device operating".
He-he... "we not emulate tubes, producing of true good tube sound is much more simple task of tube emulating by any other ways" Ha-ha.... not bad slogan, btw. Easy.... HCL (C) 2009

May be, it`s not commercial, at obvious understanding of customer "where is cool FX for which I`ve paid money?" but we are not be able for producing devices in other ways. And we not produce "special effects or FX-es" for market pushing.

I am in the process of selling all my old studio stuff compressors etc so i can buy more HCL simple as that - I trained at Lansdowne Studios in London as an Engineer in the days of the Cadac console so I am used to recording acoustic - real stuff [ Madredeus have sold over 3 million albums worldwide]

Ouch my God...

and I have to say the HCL offers real sound not processed nonsense . Well done you guys - and by the way the last album I recorded with Madredeus has just gone Gold after 2 months on sale only in PT - so there is a lot to be recommended . Just thought i owuld give a heads up

Look, send us those files please, we were excited

If you are a serious audio engineer give this stuff a go its possibly the best you will hear /use

jonathan Miller

jonathan@dawgrecords.co.uk

Like I mentioned I was surprized a lot for necessity of choosing of different mics for different languages, so.... portugal language is not simplest for capturing by mics - as I can understand?

[flute player]

Wel hello everyone,
I guess someone asked himself where on earth is flute player since he started this thread.
Busy as allways but unfortunately not as much music as I want to be.
But I found some time to record through the HCL A2 pre with a modded MK319.
I recorded it in Logic 8 with a Lynx aurora8 converter with AES16e clocked by a Antelope audio OCX.
It is a cover from Paul Carrack called Eyes of Blue ( karaoke backing track )
I only used UAD-2 Neve eq on the flute.
On the 2-bus I used a PSP vintage warmer and no further compresion
Enjoy with this short but nice sound sample.

Greetz,

Paul

Eyes of blue.mp3

[copiapoa]

Gentle Beast or Cream of Tubes.

I’m proud to present you one the latest products from Handcrafted Laboratories, Ukraine’s leading tube gear manufacturer, the TubeSCream. So what it is apart from being great vintage-looking 3U rack beast with lots of knobs? Here’s the story.
Originally developed by the request and in collaboration with Britrecords Kiev Studio staff the device was intended to be modern producer’s “pandora’s box” for creative sound design as well as everyday recording tool. The idea was simple: take the best out of tubes. And by that I mean not only taking class A tube pre with opto compressor/limiter but also the fun stuff for the cold digital sound – the distortion module. So after combining all these ideas and more then a year of developing and testing one grate and versatile studio device was born – the TubeSCream.
Let’s take a closer look. The design of the TubeSCream is modular, so user is given a vast choice on how to deal with the signal. On the input stage signal goes through extremely transparent sounding tube preamplifier where you’re already given a choice of further routing (there is an additional “after pre” split output on the rear) as well as “-20db” , phase conversion and a high pass filter. Also to mention a high Z instrument input on the front panel. Then goes a compression module with smooth opto compressor and a limiter, which is also a new feature. Within the compression module you have hard/soft knee switch, low pass/full range compression switch (a great feature on wide spectrum signals where you want your lows to be deeper and the rest of the spectrum more structured) and pre/post distortion switch which brings to the corner stone of this device – the distortion module.
The distortion module is one creative playground for a passionate producer or sound designer. Firstly it offers a switch that routs the signal which engineers at HCL called vertical/horizontal modes. One routs the signal directly through the distortion module while the other gives an ability to “blend” the distorted sound to the clear one, giving it a nice tube punch. Main turn knobs of the distortion module are “Drive” which I really think I should not explain and “Bias” which controls, well, the bias. But there’s more! There are 3 distortion modes you get to choose from and in each mode you get to choose between fixed dist and bias controlled. And you also get to choose between triode and pentode that are two different characters of the distorted sound. The character of sound is also largely influenced by the pre/post distortion switch of the compressor/limiter module that I have mentioned before.
The output module incorporates “Master” volume control with a Class A/Drive switch. In this case it is a choice between transparent Class A tube signal and slightly spiced tube sound with some tube harmonics in it. And again, after all the creative stage the signal’s been through you’re given this choice. How cool is that! There’s also a great feature called “Brilliance” on the output stage which is there to compensate the highs after a heavy distortion or just to give an extra presence and brilliance to the sound.
And last but not least the device has an insert switch. It gives an extra two ways to work with: first – to use the TubeSCream on the insert of your consol (you can use compressor and distortion modules separately or combined), and second – to use external device (like EQ) inserted in the TubeSCream.
With all that choice you are given a great creative tool to express your musical and sound design ideas and talents in a fast, convenient and greatly sounding way. In fact these are three high quality devices all under the same hood – preamplifier, opto compressor/limiter and a creative distortion module. So you get really good value for you money. And speaking of that, the price is extremely competitive while the quality is uncompromised.

Tips on the use of the TubeSCream.

So how do you use this beast? Well, apart of it’s wild nature it is still a great Class A tube preamp with very smooth opto compressor. So it’s a great instrument in everyday tracking already. It’s remarkable on vocals, very good sounding on almost any acoustic instrument, can give a warm touch to the keyboard sound. I’ve had good experiences on percussive instruments, snare drum, toms. But in a push of a button the TubeSCream is ready to blow you away with creative distortion.
From my experience, and I use two devices in stereo mode, the TubeSCream can give life to most anything where some distortion may do good. I really love to put some on synth organs (B3, VOX etc.) and Rhodes. Also I’ve had good results on tracking backing vocals and even a lead vocal on alternative rock band’s song. On one project it had a huge affect on the sound of acoustic guitar in the mix (I’ve actually built the mix with that sound!). Another huge playground is the drums sound. One of my greatest experiences with the sound of the live kit was routing it to the pair of TubeSCreams, adding some punchy distortion, then routing it to the pair of 1176’s to squeeze it to death and then blending it to the clear sound of the kit. Same thing I’ve done to bass track recorded through the DI, giving it a good distortion and using TubeSCreams limiter placed post distortion.
And another great thing about TubeSCream that saves me a lot of time and nerves as a producer is it’s instrument input. I simply plug electric guitar in, warm it up, add a gentle compression and then rout a signal to ProTools where I use software emulated guitar amps. Trust me, its pretty hard to tell that the sound you get there wasn’t recorded on an actual amp.
Well, the TubeSCream from Handcrafted Laboratories is quite a new device so many tips are yet to come. But I’m sure that creative possibilities and the quality of the sound that this device has will earn the trust of many engineers and producers around the globe.

Yuriy Smalius,
Chief Engineer, Britrecords Kiev.

[HandCrafted Lab]

Yuriy

biggest thanks from us for such extensive reviewing, just operating manual for users of distortion box...... a lot of work.....

It`s pity we never have possibility for discussion in real world due to employment by your studio as well as we sit in our laboratory days by days in turn, so we are forced for interacting through web mostly... but not often - as all people who have a huge work, and in real.... hardware world, not in virtual worlds

We suppose we should create something unbelievable evidently for our meeting in real world, though you have five our units already, .... . our brains explode............. well we shall create again, he-he......