//
Author Archive
Every effect manufacturer, from tiny boutique companies to huge multinational conglomerates, makes at least one distortion pedal. So when Fulltone announced the GT500, my first question was: “why?” Why are they competing with their own product line–which already contains some great distortions, overdrives, and fuzzes–in a market that could already be described as saturated? I did a little research and decided to try it out. Essentially, the GT500 is two effects combined in one sturdy steel enclosure: an overdrive/boost and a distortion. The unit’s controls are simply laid out, and even a novice user should be able to plug it in and start without even glancing at the manual. The really ingenious feature of the GT500 is a tiny toggle switch that allows you to decide the signal path—whether it goes from overdrive to distortion, or vice-versa. But enough about design. What does it sound like? The overdrive section is fairly transparent; it can give you everything from a gentle push for your preamp tubes to an absolutely alarming amount of volume, without drastically changing your tone. The EQ controls are effective, without being extreme. I was able to find a setting that I liked pretty quickly. The distortion side […]... Click on the title for more
There are Beatles fans and there are Beatles fans, but there’s a particular kind of Beatles fan that is unique – that is, the recording engineer geek Beatles fan. Many people (almost everybody) loves the songs, but few of us actually worship the way the songs sound. And even fewer of us really dig into how those songs were recorded and why the results come across as so special even today. Fewer still are moved to spend their time, indeed their lives, trying to create those special kinds of sonic footprints for themselves. But as big of a recording engineer geek Beatles fan as you may have thought you were, Kevin Ryan and Bryan Kehew have completely outdone you. They have spent years of their lives compiling an AMAZINGLY detailed book, appropriately titled “Recording The Beatles.” I absolutely love this book. It starts off with the background stories of Abbey Road Studios itself, the staff, the culture, the gear (piece by piece, mic by mic), the instruments, etc. Basically every detail you could want to know. You might imagine that such details could come across as dry, but Ryan and Kehew make this book read like a narrative. This book […]... Click on the title for more
I’ve been getting a lot of pressure from the singer in my band to hook him up with effects for his vocals lately. I’ve been reluctant to put together a vocal effects system for him because of the usually kludgey nature of adding effects to live vocals: running a mic straight into a guitar stomp box, then into a mic preamp. This tends to translate into anemic sound, noisy signal and angry live sound engineers. Enter the Boss VE-20 vocal processor, a dedicated microphone level, voice processing stomp box. The VE-20 is typical Boss, and I say that in a complimentary way: Boss effects tend to do what their box says they’re going to do, and are built solidly. The VE-20 is no exception: sturdy metal construction in a twin pedal housing (the left pedal controls global bypass and loop recording, the right pedal controls harmony bypass and patch selection, or can be assigned to several other functions as well. On the back panel, the input is a combo jack accepting either an XLR (with a full +48vdc phantom available) or 1/4” input. Outputs are a stereo pair of XLRs running at mic level, and a 1/4” stereo line / […]... Click on the title for more
The latest addition to the Abbey Road Plugins lineup is the RS124 compressor. The RS124 was a compressor that Abbey Road was known to make great use of throughout the 60’s, and it was considered to be an integral part of their drum sound on many famous recordings. Many of the custom pieces of gear from Abbey Road were actually modified versions of existing units. For example, the preamps in their famous REDD consoles, also used throughout the 60’s, were in-house modified Telefunken pres. In the case of the RS124, the EMI engineering team at Abbey Road took the American-made Altec 436B tube compressor and made it their own. Mainly, they took steps to make it work more efficiently with their gear and added a few important features – an output level knob and a “recovery” knob, which controls the release time. So, the RS124 units are basically pieces of gear to die for. Although I haven’t used the real units myself, I can safely say that this is a really great sounding compressor with its own unique sonic footprint: very smooth and slightly punchy with a lot of character. I found it very usable on everything, but for me […]... Click on the title for more
Though not as popular as compressors, maximizers (sometimes called exciters or enhancers) are many engineers’ “secret weapon” for adding extra pop and sizzle or smoothing out rough-edged tracks. For those familiar with studio compressors, BBE is to maximizers as DBX is to compressors: affordable and dependable. BBE’s D82 Sonic Maximizer plugin, a faithful emulation of their hardware unit, is a flexible addition to any recordist’s arsenal. Using two simple controls, Lo Contour and Process, the D82 adjusts phase irregularities in low and high frequencies. Overall, I found the plugin most useful at rounding out the boomy bass and low-mid frequencies found in acoustic recordings. As a test, I applied it to an overly muted kick drum recording and it brought clarity and definition back to the track. The D82’s preset settings are too generalized to rely on, but it doesn’t take long to become comfortable tweaking the controls. I found that the plugin sounds best placed at the front of the signal chain and applied in moderation. High end companies offer similar plugins to tackle multi-band dynamics, such as Sonalksis’ CQ1 Multi-Band Compander. However, no one offers a plugin that functions quite like the D82 at a low price. BBE […]... Click on the title for more
What do you need to look for in a recording studio? In this article you'll find all the advice you need about equipment, engineers, rooms, rates, and ways of approaching the recording experience. - 
Creative
Delay
Dirt
Dynamics
Filter+EQ
Lo-fi
Modulation
pitch
Reverb
Synth
Shopping Guides
Stompbox Exhibit
The now discontinued
