We are the music makers - producers?

Does this apply to satellite also? I just bought a the 16a so funds allowing will be adding that in before end of March (as they currently have a deal which includes 2 plugs I would likely have bought anyway)

On that note is anyone in the market for a Focusrite Clarett 8pre USB or Behringer ADA8200? Both VGC + with boxes etc.

It does, as long as you've not yet registered it! (https://www.uaudio.com/refer/)

I'll PM you my email address - if you ping me yours, I'll add you to my list and we'll both get a free plugin.

Unfortunately it's not the 'premium' ones - you can't get a Lexicon or SSL - but there's a decent variety to choose from.

thiis is quite fun

http://errozero.co.uk/acid-machine/

Yes, what are you looking for? PM me!

I'm after some signal path / outboard gear advice if anyone has some wisdom to share...

I have an SM7 that currently goes straight into a Focusrite Clarett2Pre. Signal is v low out of that mic, so I want to give is a boost with as little additional noise as possible. Am I looking for a preamp (despite the supposedly decent inbuilt preamp in the Clarett) to go between mic and interface, or a compressor?

To me it seems that a preamp is the one, but a bandmate is on the other side (Clarett previously his). Also a fair few outboard compressors appear to lack XLR input so would want to run mic>clarett>comp>clarett>DAW? That gives me latency fears, I'm already running Logic on low latency mode at all times

Compressor goes after mic pre. Dynamic mics have lower sensitivity than condensers, but dynamics should also have low self noise. Presumably you are recording in 24bit, have you just tried to increase volume digitally in the DAW?

But if you genuinely need more gain, I'd say you need a mic pre rather than a compressor. I've assumed that any half-decent interface should have enough dynamic range not to need a compressor beforehand.

yeah, I never have tooo much trouble with that – biggest issue is with monitoring if anything. I usually end up turning all the instrument tracks down and pulling my headphone level up.

Part of this is also wanting to invest in a decent recorded sound, since we're doing some lockdown™️ recording and historically we've done all but BVs in a studio. I reckon I can only afford a pre or a comp though. By all accounts the built-in pre the Clarett has is OK, but it means not being able to position a comp correctly in the signal chain

This, dynamic mics for your general loud sound sources - cabs, drums, shouty guide vocals (a tidy SM58 will even do a good shouty take if performance > sound quality as you can handle it)
When you start recording delicate sounds or want more detail then I'd invest in a nice condenser mic for the job. You'll need to start thinking about what details you want to pick out and what frequencies you want rounded off... Each mic is going to have response differences that can really make your source sounds sing, or dive like a led zep. You could opt for a flat-ish all-rounder for your first... Depends how many mics you see yourself having / how many sources you're going to record.

Can anyone recommend some midi drum packs? Something Radiohead to Slint-esque. I picked up a couple of the Kvlt drums in a cheap sale last year and they're OK... I don't mind doing a bit of fiddling but I'm really not a Drummer and don't really get drums enough to make stuff myself from scratch.

https://reverb.com/uk/software/samples-and-loops/reverb/3514-reverb-drum-machines-the-complete-collection

I’ve never actually loaded them into Live but there is a ton for £free

Ta, but is that sample packs? I'm after actual midi files, so midi loops from real drummers ideally. I make my own kits for my Akai so not after the sounds themselves

The addictive drums ones are pretty good but I’m not sure whether you can get the midi out of the VSTI without having to pay for stuff you don’t want.
Not sure about style as I like to use the wrong patterns with the wrong kits.

Yeah, don't think you can get the grooves out the pack without having the whole lot.
Might take a punt on one of these, though reviews seem to be that they're "overplayed"... Maybe I can dumb them down a bit.

https://www.toontrack.com/midi-packs/?gclid=CjwKCAiAmrOBBhA0EiwArn3mfL_wASKa5KLWRZtLqRXlNYyJjPT3S6Dxi73DmCfmcz7qNvhO7C5FmBoC_gkQAvD_BwE

I've found with live mics they all benefit from compression. You can add gain in the compressor and set a limit, so the gain drops off if you get above a certain level. That's pretty much exactly what you are looking for and the structure is used in pretty much every channel strip since forever.

Use your mic pre first because that lifts your mic output without adding a lot of noise to the signal.

That's just like, my opinion though :)

Just got one if these in the post this morning, I've bought it to hopefully use as a wireless controller for a bit of fun when playing live but straight out of the box it's a fun toy to play with, sounds remarkably good from the inbuilt speaker.

https://youtu.be/3htiW4Z_C9M

I wonder if mostly I'm missing the unlimited access to a U87 and TLA comp haha

the SM7 works nicely for me most of the time as I can be a pretty loud vocalist but our stuff is pretty dynamic too and I've been struggling to strike the right balance. I have this aversion to switching mics between sections as well, I prefer to do use a main vocal made up of as few takes as possible. I imagine that in the end I'm just making a rod for my own back and since nobody will listen to the results anyway I probably shouldn't worry about it so much

If you're not having issues with clipping and can still get a clean enough recording, then isn't this something you could deal with in the DAW with level automation and compression? Or are you unhappy with the results? I guess I'm mostly curious, as opposed to offering advice. My only HW compressor is a 1176 derivative and it's easy to mess up the signal with wrong settings, and on the other hand I've been impressed with the u-he presswerk plugin I recently purchased.

The name escapes me but those XLR in-line booster preamps are meant to be excellent. FET head or something similar?

Apols if I’m teaching you to suck eggs but given a dynamic vocalist and a quiet mic, I’d push the gain up on the way in, reduce the record level in the interface mixer (not sure if possible with Claret) to stop peaks clipping the converter then use a software compressor to even things out when mixing. Bear in mind there’s no noise penalty to recording low levels at 24 bit depth and there’s also no rules to say you can’t do what you’re already doing and alter relative levels for tracking vs playback.
It helps if the interface driver has monitor mixes but you should be able to set something up in the recording software too (possibly longwinded).

While going through the writing process, I pull back from the mic to avoid clipping because I have to set it up appropriately for the lowest signal level, but this means there's some pretty noticeable roominess on those phrases. I'm also running a compression plugin to bring the monitoring level up/even things out a little. I'm not crushing it, but it's there to give me some margin for error. I guess I basically end up with takes that have such quiet bits pulling them up in the DAW sounds a little shit, or the loud bits are so off mic that they also sound a little shit.

One scenario that could work would be to have someone adjusting the gain while I'm tracking, which is how I would do it for someone else based on arrangement notes/a guide vocal so I know where the loud bits are. If only I could wire up an expression pedal to the Clarett...

Yeah there's the Fethead thing, and the CloudLifter, and some others – I'm just afraid of going halfway with something like that and regretting it!

The Clarett software has decent functionality I think, but it makes so much less sense to me than the MixControl stuff my previous Focusrite interface used. Embarrassingly, given my pretty clear lack of knowledge here, I did work as a studio engineer for several years including building a studio from scratch, right down to soldering the patch bay set up and stuff. Somehow over the last 8 years I've managed to just delete everything from my head and I'm getting a proper mental block going on

That makes sense. I'd assume the monitor/cue mix in the Clarett is digital, so at least I think running signal from the interface to an external compressor and back again wouldn't really improve the situation. If you set the mic pre gain for the loud parts at close range and the quiet parts get too noisy as a result, then maybe a quieter mic pre could help? I might be wrong but I'd imagine the limiting factor is mic pre s/n rather than dynamic range of the conversion.

It's always hard to give singers the mix they want while getting the balance in the mix. When you're working live with 4 or 5 singers there's a lot deal with. Still harder to mix yourself in my experience.

I like a compressor on my mic and I kind of sing into it. I had pretty consistent volume and could get pretty loud. One day I realised an SM58 could have 32db of gain and my life changed.

I stopped signing with bands though, noisy guitarists and drummers going full on in rehearsals, getting deaf after 30 minutes.

I hear that (for now at least, loool)

Back in the days of sweaty rehearsal rooms I wouldn’t give it the beans until the last couple of hours or I’d blow my voice out trying to compete