of mics and men

[D.J.Moore]

Hi all i,ve laid down drums using a sebatron mic pre....now i,m trying to decide how to record acoustic guitars .with my km84,s they sound a little thick through the sebatron although i like the warmth the seb gives going onto pro tools.So my question is do i change the pre for something cleaner or go for a more detailed mic like a dpa4011.I don,t really like super clean sounding guitars,i thought maybe to try the great river mnv.Any experience of these two pre,s together?

[DanV]

Hey DJ Moore,

Thought I should throw this info in just incase you were unaware.

You may want to kick in those pads on your Seb first before you take any drastic measures. It changes the sound enormously, typically the more attenuation you use the cleaner and less compressed the sound becomes - the eq also reacts very differently depending on the attenuation level so don't be afraid to experiment around.
If you have a free channel of your Seb available you may want to daisy-chain from the 1/4 outs into the free channel's di - this will open up a new range of colors and give you that extra bit of gain if you are recording conversation level sources.
Cheers!

[D.J.Moore]

thanks Dan i,m aware of the pad situation on the sebatron ....in a way i would like to stick with the it on everything.It gives a kind of 70,s feel to the sound would something like a dpa4011 give a bit more transparency to the sound on ac.guitars for instance?

[DanV]

Originally posted by D.J.Moore
would something like a dpa4011 give a bit more transparency to the sound on ac.guitars for instance?

Yes it would bring you a less saturated sound.

The km84 is surely "thicker" than any of the dpa stuff which is all touted for being very flat and accurate. The Sebatron VMP preamps are capable of keeping cleanly but when coupled with an already ballsy mic things can sometimes get a little too "70's".

I guess it comes down to whether you feel like having more mics or more preamps around.

New pre or new mic you can't really go wrong either way.
That DPA could meet the right balance for that sound you are aiming at. At the same time the GR m**nv series would form a dynamic duo with the Seb and would be cleaner on your km84. The Sebatron can keep clean with acoustic stuff but a quiet room and a pretty transparent mic are musts if you want to be less 70's and more 2k.

[DanV]

Originally posted by D.J.Moore
Any experience of these two pre,s together?

I know that Bowisc an MIA Gearslut has some Gr**NV + Seb.
He would be a good guy to talk to.
Another slut who may have some good pointers is Kevinc - last I heard from him he was getting a GR-mp2nv - he was also actually the lucky winner of the vmp2000e giveaway I ran not long ago.

Cheers!

[kevinc]

I`m here for you Dan.


Seriously though.

I toyed around with the Sebatron quite a bit while tracking a recent project.
I used it among other pres on vocals, drums, and acoustic gt for a very talented songwriter I know.
When I was tracking I played around with the eq and pad settings quite a bit and got completely different sounds for everything. The only thing is I can`t remember what the hell I did for settings on various tracks.
On some of the acoustic tracks it definately sounds a little more hi fi then on others but not necesserily better.
I definately noticed the "thickness" your talking about especially on vocals but on some of the tracks I got rid of it somehow.
I think using the bright eq setting with one of the pad settings made a pretty huge difference.

I was using a Soundelux U99 for the vox and acoustic.


The MP2-NV is an amazing preamp and you really can`t go wrong with it. It`s definately a lot more Hi Fi sounding then the Sebatron at any setting but that doesn`t neceserily mean it`s better in every situation.
The two with my API/BrentAverill 312 make a great set of pres.

But as Dan was saying a great mic will make as much or more difference as a great pre.

I`d play around with the Sebatron with the bright switch on for acoustic and I bet you could get it pretty clean sounding.

[deft_bonz]

hi

i own a brauner valvet and like to upgrade my pre!!! i mostly track vocals. so at the moment i'm wondering if the sebatron units would be something for me. or should i go with v76 or api?

regards deft:::

[kevinc]

That`s a tough one Dude.

I really like the Sebatron for a lot of stuff and it`s priced great but it`s a little bit of a strong flavor for everything.

I`d say get both.

[lucey]

Originally posted by deft_bonz
hi

i own a brauner valvet and like to upgrade my pre!!! i mostly track vocals. so at the moment i'm wondering if the sebatron units would be something for me. or should i go with v76 or api?

regards deft:::

what pre do you have?
how do you want the sound you get "upgraded"?



add these to your list. in order of ascending cost:

X Vision MP-2 (a great tube mic pre, warm, clean, detailed top, slight scoop)

Aurora GTQ2 (a brighter and ballsy neve 1073 sound with a great little 3 band eq)

Vipre (still have yet to hear it but seems worth a mention for what it might do for the brauner)

[deft_bonz]

Originally posted by lucey
what pre do you have?
how do you want the sound you get "upgraded"?



add these to your list. in order of ascending cost:

X Vision MP-2 (a great tube mic pre, warm, clean, detailed top, slight scoop)

Aurora GTQ2 (a brighter and ballsy neve 1073 sound with a great little 3 band eq)

Vipre (still have yet to hear it but seems worth a mention for what it might do for the brauner)

i own a channel one from spl.

the vipre is already on my wish list

[Brad Lunde]

Originally posted by lucey
what pre do you have?
how do you want the sound you get "upgraded"?



add these to your list. in order of ascending cost:

X Vision MP-2 (a great tube mic pre, warm, clean, detailed top, slight scoop)
<SNIP>

You mean the A Designs MP2, right? X Vision is the distributor.
Brad

[lucey]

Originally posted by Brad Lunde
You mean the A Designs MP2, right? X Vision is the distributor.
Brad

duh

A Designs MP-2

[D.J.Moore]

okay i,m going to hire a few mics and then decide if i need to change pre.Mics on hire
1.schoeps mk4
2.km184
3.dpa4011
4.u47
5.u67

thanks for thef feedback
julian