Got probably one of my best recordings of drums tonight at Gallery Acoustics. We spent about 15 minutes trying out different cymbals to find the ones that were in key with the music. Then I spent almost an hour tuning the tops and bottom heads of the toms so they would be in key with the music, but also somewhere within their natural sweet spot. After a quick tuning of the resonant and beater heads of the kick drums we set up to record. I got a super clean recording and we didn't need to use any dampening materials on any drums or even inside the kick. Everything was really well controlled and sounded like one giant instrument instead of a bunch of parts that add up to a drum set... all thanks to a very thorough tuning. It worked tremendously well for the music and is definitely the "right way to do things" from a recording standpoint. I don't need to gate the toms or do any processing really because we didn't get much bleed on the close mics and the drummer (Nick) had impeccable control over his dynamics. Ribbon overheads, beta 57 snare, N/D868 on kick, Floor tom got a Beta 52, Rack tom had a Beyerdynamics MC930, used a Pearlman TM1 set in omni as a room mic. Lots of time was spent with mic placement.

Altec 438c mic preamp & vari mu compressor. Heavily modified by the hands of Dr. Mikenstein. Added a hand made stepped output volume attenuator, line input (bypasses mic preamp), attack time control, line input volume pad, and a meter adjust control.

I'm thinking about building a clean sounding vacuum tube based eq pedal. The idea I have is something simple, but great sounding and based on soul drive sonically and aesthetically. 3 knobs... Bass Treble and Volume. BOLT BENDER. Whatcha think?
 Bolt Bender will have an expansion jack on  which connects via 1/4" balanced (stereo) cable to a smaller pedal box with extra caps and switchies for extra frequency choices. I shall call him Mini Me.

I have spent the last couple of days at Gallery Acoustics. having a lot of fun tracking indie folk somethingorother band, New Township. We recorded a ton of different instruments including something called a Baklama. Got to record the Hammond and I had the unique opportunity to mic up the bottom speaker of the Leslie for the first time while the bass pedal were being played. Tons of sub bass! We also recorded the internal hammond speaker for the few seconds as the organ winds down when you turn off the power. Lots of really cool and different sounds. Recorded my Rogers kick drum being played with a felt mallet by hand. Mandolin, Acoustic Guitar, Piano, Harmonica, and some odd percussion stuff. I'll try to post a sample when we complete the recording process. We still have one more session for vocals.

Wanted to share this with you. Matt Newman, Soul Drive player from Adelaide, South Australia recently had this to say about Soul Drive..."Honestly I have some great overdrives like the Ethos, Tim, Wampler Euphoria, Marshall Bluesbreaker v1, Arc Effect Klone, Fulltone Fulldrive 2, JHS Double Barrel etc.The Soul Drive would have to be my favourite for my Two Rock Studio Pro.... I have made a mini pedal board for it Tuner>Wampler Ego Compressor>Soul Drive>Arc Effect Klone>Deluxe Memory Boy>Two Rock. Honestly it sounds like it's a part of my amp, the dynamics are incredible and it actually sounds like my amp is getting pushed into OD... Unreal...Also Aarons Arc Effect Klone makes the pedal sound even better again, it just fattens up the Soul Drive even more and is an amazing boost for solo's..Anyway guys sorry to ramble on but I feel this is a great pedal and I think this is finally the sound I am after....Hope you give it a go..."

Cheers 

     Matt Newman, Adelaide, South Australia  

I'm racking up some more vintage PM1000 mic preamp/EQ channel strips at the moment. 2 channels in a 2U rack enclosure with built in linear power supply and awesome Jensen output transformers for just $700. Switchable Phantom power, EQ has true bypass, DI input, etc. Get at me if you want one of the 5 that I'm building. Email Mike at [email protected]

NEW GEAR @ GA: Vintage (1960's) Altec 438c vari-mu compressor & mic preamp

The Altec 436 was modified by EMI and used to record the Beatles at Abbey Road studios.  The Altec 438c is basically the same thing with extra controls for threshold and release time and the big difference is the 438c features a built in mic preamp.  This unit is 100% vacuum tube technology. 

Vari-Mu compressors/limiters are a certain breed of compressors, which are held in the highest esteem by some of the greatest engineers and producers in the world.  Compressors and Limiters are both forms of automatic volume control, which also imparts certain tonal characteristics on the audio.  Unlike most other forms of compressors, Vari-Mu compressors adjust volume changes in a very musical/natural way.  Aside from Mastering, the most common use for a vari-mu compressor is vocals.  Typically a singer can have a lot of dynamic range between their softer parts and full on wailing.  If left untouched, this dynamic range can make it difficult for a listener to hear certain lyrics or passages in the vocals.  A compressor can solve that problem.

There are a lot of different compressors out there, which all impart their own sonic signature.  Optical Compressors, FET compressors, and Vari-mu compressors are the 3 main types, with vari-mu comps generally being the most expensive and sought after.  The vari-mu comp has what most consider to be the smoothest compression character of them all, with a sound reminding some engineers of sweet cream.     

The Altec 438c has more color than most vari-mu compressors, which makes it more of a specialty piece of gear, rather than general purpose.  Many people prefer it over all other options for recording bass.  The 438c is a bit different from other vari-mu's because it also has a built in 12AY7 vacuum tube mic preamp. It is possible to bypass the compressor and use the mic preamp standalone.  Its a colorful mic preamp as well and is suitable for anything the engineer/producer wants to make stand out in a mix (ie. vocals).