Audio Blog

What Does It Sound Like?

As a student at Capital University, I have access to a lot of studios with a lot of gear. To get more comfortable with some of this equipment, I went into Studio E and messed around with some of the rack gear that is in there. Today I’m going to share my findings with you all so that you can get a better understanding of what some of this equipment sounds like. For starters, let us look at a few of the pre-amps that are in Studio E; The Universal Audio 4-710D, Rubert Nerve Designs 5015 Protico Mic Pre/Compressor, and the Chandler Limited TG2.

The Universal Audio 4-710D (the UA), is probably the most used pre-amp in Studio E. This is understandable because it sounds good on just about everything. While I couldn’t find too much about its history, it seems to have come out around 2010 with fantastic reviews. The most popular feature of this pre-amp is that it is “tone-blending”. Allowing the user to blend between a solid-state tone and a tube-amp tone. This feature alone makes it great for super clean vocals AND a crunchy bass. It also has a built-in compressor (either set to fast, slow, or off) that is styled off an 1176, which will also look at later. The compression is very limited, being fixed at 4:1, but it would still work great during tracking. With this setting the blend all the way to trans (solid-state) and enabling the compression can result in some really clean vocals with some transparent compression.

Next is the Rubert Neve Designs 5015 Protico Mic Pre/Compressor. As the name suggests this can be used as either a pre-amp, compressor, or both, but we will only be looking at the pre-amp side of things today. Based on the 5012 and 5043 models this Transformer-Like-Amplifier is relatively simple with its main “feature” being its silk button. Most reviews say this pre-amp has that “classic Neve sound” but this being the only Neve I have ever used I can not really describe what that is other than it is warm and has very little noise and distortions due to its Class A design. The silk button also adds more warmth to the overall sound, which would probably sound good on soft vocals and acoustic guitar. However, it would seem that this model, and the models it is based on, are no longer being manufactured or sold on the rupertneve website.

If you are looking to get that Abbey Road sound then look no further. The Chandler Limited TG2 is completely based on the TGI12428 that was used at Abbey Road from the 60s and 70s (Think The Beatles Abbey Road and Pink Floyds The Dark Side of The Moon). I think Chandler Limited website describes this pre-amp the best by saying it, “features the same discrete transformer balanced amplifiers as the TG series limiter and offers a creamy, smooth tone with a surprisingly open, clear top end. The sound, as explained by many users, has "warmth" and punch, but with a "beautiful" expanded top end.” (Chandler Limited). Notably, this pre-amp does have a little more high-end that is especially noticeable on vocals. The manual for the TG2 says you can also give your mixes a more “vintage” sound by running the input hotter and backing off the output. Another thing I noticed about the TG2 is a mysterious button labeled 300. Looking it up, the button lowers the input impedance from 1200 ohms to 300 ohms to match every sort of microphone.

The next gear I played around within Studio E was the EL8 Distressor, the UA 1176 Limiting Amplifier and Warm Audio Tube EQ. The Distressor is honestly my preferred compressor in the studio (Don’t hate on me 1176 fans). The main reason I like it so much is that it can be used on a variety of things. Have a metal singer who growls a lot, the distressor will make those vocals fit perfectly in the mix. Want that “vintage” sound without having to break the bank on an actual vintage compressor, get a distressor. Want to try out some of the distressor’s tone settings without using the compressor, set the ratio to 1:1. The Distressor also has a NUKE mode for one of its ratios, essentially turning it into a brick wall limiter. My only complaint about this compressor is that sometimes is it really transparent, and other times not so much. Looking up more information on it now, this makes sense because it was built in a way to be more “musical” and add some colors to the signal. Either way, I would highly recommend using it on just about anything.

What is there to be said about the legendary UA 1176 that hasn’t already been said? A lot of newer compressors, like the distressor, were built to mimic the solid-state sound of the 1176. It features an input knob that also acts as a threshold control and output knob for gain. It has four settings: 4:1, 8:1, 12:1, and 20:1, but also another mode when all buttons are pushed in which gives a ratio somewhere between 12:1 and 20:1. I have never used this last mode in an actual recording, but reviews say it sounds the best on drum tracks. What I like most about the 1176 is using it on sources that could benefit from compression and distortion. Pushing the input can add a lot of color and warmth so I always like to use it when trying to get a nice bass tone. Speaking of color, much like the distressor you can run a signal through the 1176 without compressing it by disengaging all the buttons. A lot of reviews also say just running a signal through the 1176 this way makes it sound better.

The last piece of gear I messed around with was the Warm Audio Tube EQ, which is a re-creation of the Pultec EQP-A. “There are three distinct sections of this equalizer comprising low-end shelving Boost and Cut, boost-peaking high-frequencies and high-frequency shelving cut. The Low-Frequency control section offers seven selectable frequency bands at 20, 30, 60, 100, 200, 400 and 800Hz. The old Pultecs, and most other copies feature just four bands from 20 to 100Hz, so this new model has additional control for the lower mid-band.” (MusicTech.net). All around this EQ would be great on just about everything. It is more musical than anything, however. I wouldn’t try to surgical cut or boost anything with this EQ, using it more to add or bring out texture is its strong suit. One thing I found cool about this EQ is that you can boost and cut on the same frequency. I’m not entirely sure how this works or how it would sound, but it is something I’m going to try next time I mess with it.

Needless to say, Studio E has a lot of cool gear and equipment. Some of it might be daunting to use at first, but experimenting and looking up the best purposes for them makes them that more fun to use. Plus, you will seem a lot smarter when you know how to use them during your next session.

As a Bonus my friend Liam and I re-amp a little guitar ditty through a very cheap and small amplifier (pictured below). We captured this signal using a normal SM57 and ran it through all the gear mentioned above. I know this is not the best example audio for this equipment (the amp had a lot of hiss), but it was still a fun experiment non-the-less. If the Audio files dont work here is a YouTube video: