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 Today almost everyone is recording
music digitally, whether it is on hard disk or tape.
Digital recording is here to stay, but many people
are missing the sound quality and the warmth of
older recordings that were tracked through vintage
outboard gear, tube-based outboard gear and/or to
analog tape. Tube outboard gear imprints sonic characteristics
to audio signals that are extremely pleasing to
the human ear. Even when recording and mixing from
analog tape, tube equipment has traditionally been
used and is still used to warm or thicken audio
tracks. To re-vitalize digital recordings, professional
and home engineer/producers often enhance their
audio with tube-based outboard gear.
So What’s Missing
in My Digital Recordings?
The majority of us grew up
listening to analog-based recordings. Sometimes
digital recordings seem lacking in general body
or warmth. While each recording has its own set
of characteristics and problems, most digital recordings
can be improved through use of high-quality tube
outboard equipment. Tube-based outboard gear is
not for everyone, but plays an integral part in
the everyday life of professional and home recording
studios alike. There are some general rules to follow
in selecting which piece of tube gear to use and
where to use it.
General Rules for Using Tubes:
Start with a Channel Strip
A channel strip containing
a tube microphone pre-amplifier and/or DI (Direct
Injection) for line-level sources will give you
tubes at the outset of your recording process. Channel
strips are available in a variety of configurations,
and commonly include a compressor and equalizer.
Using a high-quality tube channel strip will minimize
the analog signal path and impart pleasing sonic
characteristics to your audio signal. Minimizing
the signal path lowers the noise floor and keeps
your audio signal from being degraded by extraneous
circuitry. A well-designed tube channel strip will
give your recording maximum clarity, depth and warmth.
So what are some examples
of a channel strip? The SPL Channel One and HHB
Radius 40 are great examples of tube channel strips
that have been used in many commercially produced
records.
The main question to ask yourself
before setting up your recording chain is how you
are going to mix down your new song. This will determine
the best place to put tubes in your signal path.
Perhaps you’re already using a tube microphone;
if so you can still benefit from using a tube channel
strip for that extra phatt sound. And there are
other applications for a channel strip! Read on
for more suggestions!
Now I’ve Got ‘Em,
Where Can I Use ‘Em?
By recording using a tube mic-pre,
channel strip, EQ, compressor, or other tube device,
you will find that your tracks sound more full,
real, and often will be easier to mix. With a little
tube action, your final mix will sound more professional,
which is the goal of any home studio.
Tube Mic-Pre’s
If you are planning on mixing
digitally through your host software (bouncing to
disk) after recording acoustic sources, the most
logical place in the path to add tubes is at the
microphone pre-amplifier stage. Your job as a recording
engineer is to record the best possible signal-to-noise
ratio to "tape" (or hard disk, as the
case may be). Plug your microphone into your tube
mic-pre and set the level so that the meters are
reading around 0 -+3 dB (more if you’re crazy).
In addition you will need to make sure the operating
level of your tube mic-pre is set to the same operating
level as your audio card, or AD converter. When
you have your levels set you are ready to record.
Drive It Home
There are a number of tube
mic-pres that feature a drive control. Using this
control, you can dial in the amount of tube warmth
that is recorded. This feature comes in handy for
the home studio owner because you can get a variety
of sounds out of one unit. Using little or no drive
makes the mic-pre sound clean and full, kind of
like a solid state mic-pre. Cranking the drive results
in a thick, heavy, or completely over-the-top saturated
sound, depending on the degree of tube distortion.
So what’s an example
of a mic-pre with drive control? The HHB FatMan
2 gives you control over the amount of tube compression,
which means you can get a variety of sounds using
the same source material:
If you’re serious about
getting the maximum tube groove from a mic-pre,
look no further than the Groove Tubes VIPRE, which
is the first all-tube Variable Impedance PREamplifier.
This is an amazing, classic, pro-studio pre-amp.
This is what tubes are about!
The SPL Charisma 2 and SPL
Charisma 8 are powerful processors with selectable
drive control.
Compressors and Equalizers
Channel strips will often
feature a compressor and EQ, which gives you added
flexibility and tone control during tracking. Many
professional engineers like using compression during
tracking, especially to control the wide dynamics
of vocalists. Normally using a little compression;
around 2—5 dB of gain reduction during tracking
will make your life easier when you are mixing and "phatten" up
your sound. You will also gain the added benefit
of running your signal through an analogue compressor,
which most people still prefer over digital compressors.
Direct Injection!
If you are recording synthesizers,
bass guitars, or acoustic guitars with pick-ups,
you can gain added flexibility by choosing a channel
strip with a DI or instrument input. The same engineering
rules still apply: set your level properly, choose
the desired amount of "tube gain", throw
in a little compression and EQ if you’d like,
and hit record.
A Channel Strip Beats
Your Mixer Inputs!
If you are planning on mixing
down through an analogue console you still have
the flexibility of using tube outboard gear. Use
a channel strip on any track that needs that little
extra something. Once again, you will have the option
of determining how much warmth that track needs.
Normally outboard gear receives its signal from
the insert points of an analogue console. Choose
which track you would like to use your channel strip
on, plug the channel strip into the insert point
of the corresponding channel on the console, and
adjust the input level/drive on the channel strip
to taste. Using an outboard channel strip will be
a vast improvement in quality over the channel input
on your console even if you own a fairly expensive
board. A great place to use a channel strip is during
mixdown on the lead vocals. Some channel strips
even offer de-essers, which will take harshness
out of the "s" and "z" sounds
in a vocal track.
Sweet Tube?
Another common application
for tube outboard gear is to use individual tube
compressors and/or EQ units on drums, guitars, keyboards,
etc. You can turn any lifeless, sterile track into
a track that is huge and begs for attention. You
can also use tube EQ units and compressors off the
main or group insert points. This allows your whole
mix or sub group to be compressed and/or EQ’ed.
Use this to thicken up or tighten your stereo.
For a versatile tube equalizer,
check out the HHB Radius 20, which combines solid
state circuitry and vacuum tube technology. Its
companion compressor, the HHB Radius 30, uses TL
Audio’s proprietary soft-knee compressor that
gives an ultra smooth boost to your sound.
So your mix needs opening
up? Use SPL’s Stereo Vitalizer MK2-T with its
Mid-Hi Tune filter that gives the mid frequencies
even more accurate transparency. Use the Stereo
Expander to add width, depth, and clarity with pleasant
tube harmonics.
SPL’s Tube Vitalizer
takes Vitalizer technology to the top, using a symbiotic
combination of tubes, LC-filters, IC-technology,
multiband compression & Vitalizer-technology.
Need a professional mastering
EQ to add that extra sparkle? The SPL Qure cures
digital harshness, enhances vocals and will increase
the dimensions of your mix. If you need more audio
sweetening, you can purchase the Qure with Lundahl
input and output transformers.
Other Tube Processors
There are also a number of
tube devices that can be used for sound sculpting
or design. These include tube filters, tube waveform
multipliers, tube oscillators, etc. You can use
these devices in any way imaginable to thicken,
phatten, morph, destroy, or demolish your audio
tracks. Or build new sounds for your sampler!
Sound Design Heaven
An outboard tube processor
such as a filterbank or waveshaper module can be
just the monster you need to make your sounds totally
unique.
The TS-21Hellfire Modulator
by Metasonix is a truly unique box that has been
used by experimental electronic producers to create
amazingly weird sounds. Another tasty tube processor
by Metasonix is the TS-22 Pentode Filterbank.
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