Dr. Dre Chain Alternate?

[Shobiz]

Instead of Neve 1073 into Avalon 737, how about the Great River ME-1NV into the LA-610 ? any thoughts! this is for an all around Hip Hop and R&B vocal chain. The Blue Blueberry is the main vocal mic. (I will get a better mic later)

OR should I get

GR ME 1-NV into DBX 160a (then just upgrade to a CS Trakker)

OR

ISA 220

OR

just the Avalon 737

OR

the LA-610

I don't know, I've been confused for months. I ready to buy. need something now I'm becoming a gear junkie !$3000 is my range. I also use the 002Rack for now, after chain is purchased, the rosetta 200 will be purchased.

[moeses]

i don't know why you have to get a better mic
the blueberry is pretty damn good
a little sterile for my taste, and i don't mean that in the warmths sense...it just sounds over compressed, which isn't too bad for rap vocals
actually, i cut a few tracks on a blueberry , they came out pretty effin nice
great river is an awesome mic, i talked a cuddie of mine into getting one, and he's loving it...he's doing all rap vocals, and people love it...

what is an LA-610, is that a la-2a with a 610 mic pre?
why would you go from mic pre, to mic pre
that question goes for the avalon too
why don't you just get a compressor?

[moeses]

why don't you get a channel strip?
Scarface is messing with an API lunchbox right now...
might be the way to go for you?

[RyanR]

Originally posted by moeses
great river is an awesome mic

You mean mic pre?

Originally posted by Shobiz
Instead of Neve 1073 into Avalon 737, how about the Great River ME-1NV into the LA-610 ? any thoughts!

A 1073 into a 737? Err, what are you going to do - use the 1073 as the pre and the avalon just for the compression (considering the 1073 has EQ)? That doesn't make much sense . . . same for the great river into a LA-610 - why would you run a pre into another pre? Now, I'm sure this has been done before for creative use, but for someone like yourself who is just starting to acquire gear, this doesn't make any sense.

Originally posted by Shobiz
I'm becoming a gear junkie !$3000 is my range.

Perhaps you could try to strike a deal with a high end audio pimp? Say, you have them send you $6000 worth of gear for you to demo (with them knowing you will send back about half of it), and you make the promise that you will spend your $3000 with them for giving you that chance. It's good for you because you can actually try a lot of the gear you're thinking about, which is the best way to answer your question. It's good for the seller because the seller knows they will get your business, and hopefully, a future long term customer.

[moeses]

yes i meant mic pre...
the great river sounds awesome on rap vocals...
and it's an amazing price for what you get...
just rap vocals, i wouldn't go all out on buying a 1300 dollar eq...
i'd go with a channel strip

quartet, buzz audio, api, manley, langevin...all make good ones

maybe a vintech x37i, comes with a small eq on it, great pre...then go ahead and get a compressor

[Shobiz]

I looking into the API stuff now. 512c and a lunchbox, I could add the compressor and EQ later.

[Shobiz]

Signal Path: Tracking

"I like my vocals to sound 'crystal,'" says Dre. "I use the Sony C800-G for vocals because it has a clean sound and about 85% of the people that get behind it sound great. My main objective is that the vocal sound is present and clean and ultimately does not distort. I get the sound I want out of the EQ on the SSL. We've used it forever and have made many hits on it, including 50's 'In Da Club.'"

"We come from the Sony C800-G and out of that into the Neve 1073 mic pre," explains Vito. "We don't use the EQ, because most of the time it sounds good flat. If there's a need for it we'll engage it, but for 50 Cent on 'In Da Club' we didn't use any EQ. Then we took it out of the Neve mic pre into the Avalon 737-SP compressor. It's a mic pre with EQ, and it actually has a compressor, but we're not using any of the mic pre on the Avalon - we're just going straight into the line input. From the output of the Neve it goes into the line input of the Avalon, which allows you to use the compressor alone. We set the compression ratio around 7:1 and the threshold usually hovers at around 0. I set it at a medium attack and fast release. I'd say we're using around 3 or 4 dB of compression, sometimes up to 7 dB. On 'In Da Club' it was about 4 or 5. Then it comes back into the SSL 4000 G with E modules (at Encore Studio) and we bring it back on the insert.

"There's a patch on the patch bay that says 'insert return,'" he continues, "and that's where we bring the vocal back into the insert return, because it's the shortest patch before you actually hear the vocal. It has the least amount of circuitry of anything in the channel, so you're bypassing the EQ, the dynamics. You could use it all, but if you really want the shortest, cleanest signal, that's the way to go. Then we bus it out to Pro Tools HD and we use the small fader to send it to PT. That's about it."

P.S.

I bought the Great River ME-1NV

[paterno]

Originally posted by Shobiz
Signal Path: Tracking

"There's a patch on the patch bay that says 'insert return,'" he continues, "and that's where we bring the vocal back into the insert return, because it's the shortest patch before you actually hear the vocal. It has the least amount of circuitry of anything in the channel, so you're bypassing the EQ, the dynamics. You could use it all, but if you really want the shortest, cleanest signal, that's the way to go. Then we bus it out to Pro Tools HD and we use the small fader to send it to PT. That's about it."

Now, why doesn't he go directly into Prtools instead of using the SSL routing, if he wants the shortest, cleanest signal path?? maybe that's the 'real' secret of the sound...

John

[Charlie-O]

Originally posted by paterno
Now, why doesn't he go directly into Prtools instead of using the SSL routing, if he wants the shortest, cleanest signal path?? maybe that's the 'real' secret of the sound...

John

This may also give a final chance to turn the gain down befor going in, without having to turn down the pres.

just a thoought.

Charlie-O

[paterno]

Originally posted by charlieo3601
This may also give a final chance to turn the gain down befor going in, without having to turn down the pres.

just a thoought.

Charlie-O

If I am not mistaken, there is a master output gain control on that Avalon box...

John

[Charlie-O]

Originally posted by paterno
If I am not mistaken, there is a master output gain control on that Avalon box...

John

But what effect does that have on the sound? Is there any? Honestly Im not sure?

[RyanR]

I see what you were talking about now - I hadn't read that quote, where did you get it from? If you're going for the Dre sound, don't forget the mic and the console, they add a lot to the sound. If you search the forum you'll find some very insightful information on the gear used for hip hop.

If you really wanted the neve 1073 without the EQ, you should of just got the Neve 1290, that's exactly what it is. A used one just sold for $1225 on ebay (one channel).

But hey, the Great River ain't too shabby either.

[paterno]

Originally posted by charlieo3601
But what effect does that have on the sound? Is there any? Honestly Im not sure?

what do you mean, the effect of the SSL bussing on the sound or the volume pot on the 737? If you mean the ssL, you are going through the buss amps to get back out of the console, so you have whatever effects those buss amps impart on the signal. That's why the 'straightest signal path' comment struck me funny in the first place. The straightest path would be to bypass the console all together. Given the fact that the 737 has an output pot to make up/turn down the output, it doesn't make any sense to run it back into the console...

And keep in mind, anything you run audio through will impart some kind of sonic signature, on the audio signal. Sometimes it is subtle, sometimes it is quite apparent. But that is the nature of gear...

John

[Basketball]

Hi,
You might want to think about the real deal. Little pricey, but will work on any rap artist, in any situation, in my opinion. Nuemann U-47 tube, through a John Hardy M-1 mic pre. Even if you cant afford the Neumann, the John Hardy M-1 will work on everything. I've got 8 channels of then, and have been using it since 1989. It's a really nice piece. It has all the functions you would expect, high gain, phase reverse, and phantom power. It also has a great led bar metering system, complete with peak and VU ballistics. I rarely use any eq when mixing, it comes across really nice. It has options for transformer or transformerless output. The ones I own are transformerless, really fast mic pre. Not too expensive, either. Great packaging, you can buy the power supply and frame with one channel, and add up to 3 additional channels if you need to. If you have trouble finding it, just get in touch with me. As far as compression or limiting goes, since you will surely need it, try the distresstor ( english mod version). It's awesome. Cheers.