I am a geek. It’s official. Not that there was ever any doubt.This is a
post for geeky folk. If you are not one, I will write one next week that
is way more sexy. Promise.
I am, and always have been, very into groovy
audio gear. I had no difficulty memorizing microphone models- and can still
identify almost anything. I got practice and a young nipper with all the audio equipment I bought in
the 70’s. Ask me anything about the SX-series Pioneer
receivers. I spent hours reading and memorizing the specs.
Part of being into audio and recording is gear. Toys. Anyone
into it is automatically a gear slut. It's inevitable. You take great
delight in discussing microphone
pre-amps and compressors. It’s very tedious for the non-audio-inclined.
But to
the audio geek, it’s like porn. Better, even. And being old enough to
remember the good ol' days, I can even go on about Old Gear. Tape
machines. Tape. Dolby-A units, which I am sure I could still align. If
there is a more useless skill to have, I'd like to know what it is.
Anyway, I was discussing such matters with my friend and
colleague Tony Murphy, who had just bought himself a groovy new pre-amp for Christmas. It’s a
Chinese-made version of the delicious, vintage Neve 1073. If you have ever used one of
those, it’s hard to forget the experience. Sort of like your first government audit. There are software emulations like
the one made by UA (I have that, naturally) but the Neve hardware is hard to
come by. And if you do, you’ll need a 2nd mortgage on the house to
buy it. But it's worth it. I know your wife will agree.
Tony’s new toy piece of equipment was about $300. The price was still on the box. Not bad. Amid much tire- kicking, he
asked me if I wanted to take it home and give it a spin. After careful
deliberation about 1 second I said, “Ya. Sure.”
I compared it briefly with my Focusrite 428 and my tube-driven
Drawmer 1960. The mic: a Neumann TLM- 103. Not getting to use it in a full
session, I still tried the combinations recording some caterwauling vocals and
some staggeringly inept guitar.
The results? Well, as I said to Tony, the Focusrite was more
transparent. So was the Drawmer. But the 1073 knockoff was not bad either- “record-y”,
as you might say. A little furry, but plenty of gain and remarkably low noise. Sometime
you want a little “warmth”. Wish I could have used it on a snare drum. And doesn't every studio need some variety and choice in equipment? Of course it does.
Considering the price differential (The Focusrite and
Drawmer are both about 11 times the price…) it stood up quite well. The
same guy who designed this is also putting out a U67 knockoff (yes, I
know there are a bunch of
those already…but this might be a good one) also for about $300. I will
be
making room on my corporate Visa for it. You can never have too many
microphones. Or compressors. Or signal processors. Or software.
Here is a picture of the beast in question. It’s pretty:
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