Tag Archives: Universal Audio

In The Studio With Bekah Kelso

If you’re not familiar with Bekah Kelso then you haven’t heard one of the most talented performers(real) around. Take natural talent and  drive it with extensive gigging and you get a performer with laser sight acuity. On Bekah’s last recording, “Departures”, I prided the project on the fact that no pitch correction was used. It might seem careless if you believe at least a “safety” tuning pass is the least you can do to a vocal performance. Bends, vibratos, expressive formant tonality, etc. are, to me, what makes a performance. So again we tracked relatively quickly and let the song tell us where to go.

We took that approach further on the 4 out of the 10 possible songs we started with and decided to work on. We had limited time as Bekah was getting ready to make a big move out of Texas to Seattle. We will continue to forge this project through online collaboration and wrap up in May.

First we recorded “demo” takes (Guitar/Vocal/Click) to about 10 ideas Bekah has been looking for the right time and place to bring into this world. We narrowed it down to 4 songs we fastidiously worked, sculpted, rearranged, manipulated and tracked. We started by adding Bass guitar. After the initial “guide” take I decided to lower the click and feel the original acoustic guitar/vocal take. That gave us a fluidity that can easily be lost or edited out of music.We kept throwing around the idea,”This is what we do.” and suddenly most first takes were right where they needed to be. That wasn’t the case for all tracks but it sure made the aggregated tracks jump and move.

I tried to maintain the flow of one song at a time but if at some point the “feeling” was absent we’d listen to another and if that caught our vibe we’d attack and conquer. After the bass was complete we now had a foundation of groove. Bass against guitar. We’d then track “keeper” acoustic takes and replace the guides. There’ was no real plan or list to follow. It was really based on the vibe or feel we were attuned to and inject as much as possible to the recording of the performance. As chaotic as it might seem there was a calmness about what we were doing that led to some magic and confidence in our decisions. Totally worth it.

We then would move on to electric guitars and other instruments.

The Electric guitar was tracked using a Fender Hot Rod Deluxe and a G&L semi-hollow ASAT mic’d with either and AKG C414B or a Samson VR88(same as “Departures”) depending on what the song called for. We layered some percussion tracks also recorded with the 414. by this time the click was muted and they started to feel like complete songs.

We moved on to Vocals using a Neumann TLM 193 through Universal Audio’s 4110. This combo caught the airy, harmonically appealing, breathiness of Bekah’s voice while maintaing a natural tone. On the last day we both decided that one song in particular was not ready for vocals or just wasn’t matching up to the other songs so with ruthless empirical zeal we scrapped it and reworked, arranged and tracked a completely new song. Talk about magic. In a matter of hours 2 counter point Acoustic Guitars, Bass, were ready for final Vocals and with in a few takes the song was now ready to move forward.

We will track drums when all other songs have been pre-produced and rehearsed to the rough mixes. Ryan Kelso will pull drum duties while Marty Barrera will add more percussion. I am excited about the prospects this project holds in store for us. Stay tuned and please check out Bekah Kelso

 

Photos by Sean-Micheal Argo

Preamp Choice for Acoustic Guitar

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Today we’re listening to a few preamps for Acoustic Guitar (Taylor 414 GC). Digi 002 BLA Signature Mod, Universal Audio 4-710d, Universal Audio 4110, and Noetek Series 1E.

Download 16bit/44.1k files (.wav)

Each track is an individual performance of the same 6 bar riff. Levels were matched as close as possible using Waves’ PAZ-Analyzer so there is no post processing.

Signal chain was kept simple to avoid external factors. The Taylor was recorded using it’s Expression System directly in to the mic pres. Then AD was done by DIGI 002 BLA SigMod.

 

 

The Most Transparent(clean) was the 002. The rest have a “heavier” color giving them more weight.
Now, between the Tube and SolidState on the 4-710 there is a tonal change that is noticeable and can help expand the palette helping elements fit in the mix using the same box. The cool thing about this unit is it’s ability to mix both Tube and SS to make perfect blend for your track. The compressor was not engaged.

The 4110 to me, has a more tangible sound and also offers tonal variances by engaging it’s Shape Control Switch
From The Manual:
“Position OFF
This position selects the purest signal path, and is called the Modern position; Clean, clear, full bandwidth that is distortion free.
Position 1
This position selects transformer loading, and is called the Vintage position. This setting changes the loading on the mic/line input transformer to provide more of that “iron” sound popular in vintage transformer-coupled preamps. This could be described as warmer and more present, with increased sensitivity to the microphone’s impedance curve; A bit of harmonic coloration enhancing mid- frequency tone and presence, or a more three dimensional character. Higher Gain settings will increase these characteristics.
Position 2
This position is the same as position 1 with the addition of a soft limiting circuit. We call this position Saturate. This setting uses the same transformer loading as Position 1, but also adds additional loading to the first stage preamp, which is perfect for smoothing out transients without clipping. When using this position the input signal is naturally lowered. Experiment with higher Gain settings to achieve greater “saturation” when using this mode.”

The Neotek sounded full and the closest to the 4110 in Position2.
Please download the files above and give a high quality listen.
I’d like to hear from you!

Universal Audio 4-710D Review

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It’s in my rack now and will not be going anywhere.

The 4-710D blends tube and solid state signals for”tone-blending” 4 channel microphone preamps with 1176-style compression. This unit also has 8 channels of Analog to Digital(A/D) conversion. 4 Channels of Mic Pres. 4 Line Ins. On every mic channel there are insert points that expand routing capabilities. The Inserts can be engaged from the front panel. Visit Universal Audio for specs and more info.

My go to mic pre, lately, has ben the UA 4110. So I am familiar with Universal Audio’s pedigree. My first concern with an all-in-one box was the A/D converters. My current set up is a Black Lion Audio Signature Mod DIGI 002. I recorded bass and vocals into the 4-710 pre and went out ADAT into the BLA 002 and Line out into the BLA converters. Well, there are no bad guys here. The 4-710D’s sound was “punchy”, “more tangible”, “upfront” while the BLA 002 seemed more open on the top end. I could see both getting used for different tasks. My concerns were immediately quelled. I compared the unit with GENEX and Apogee Rosetta 200 converters. The 4-710D sat nicely between the 2 with “punch” and “clarity”. This makes a great front end for any studio, project or professional.

I also ran a couple of recorded tracks through the 4-710D. I normally run track outs of Pro Tools(9) into hardware for that “special” something. In this regard, the 4-710D offers more still. Just running the track through the Tube side gave the track some depth. Being able to blend the Solid State signal in, I was able to “sit” that track in the mix almost immediately.Tip: a little tube saturation goes a long way when you’re stacking tracks. You should of seen the smile on my face when I realized I now had 4 1176-style compressors in my arsenal for mix-down. Listen To Audio Samples

This is an investment that will serve me well into retirement.

It’s not Neve or API, but nothing else is. It is 100% Universal Audio

Thanks for listening