I know, it doesn't always make logical sense! But sometimes it does, even to an accountant: I can build tube amps and some "boutique" guitar effects pedals for much less than the cost of buying the retail equivalent.And yet we build our own guitar amps and pedals when we can simply buy one that works.
With guitar amps, I eventually realized that the trade-off wasn't just cost, it was also time; the hours spent tinkering with tubes were also hours that slowed down my development as a musician. That was harder to quantify, especially for a hobby musician like myself, who makes no money through my music. But in the end, I shelled out the money for a Boss Katana 50, which leaves me with no excuse not to play or practice guitar.
I used to build my own power supplies and Hi-Fi power amplifiers, but I stopped doing that a long time ago - I can buy a cheaper, safer, more reliable, lighter, smaller power supply than I can build, and a good Hi-Fi receiver can be found in the thrift store for $25 - $50, much less than I could build it for.
The ART Tube MP/C I mentioned above costs $129 (USD). I could definitely build some sort of crude compressor on my breadboard for much less money.
But the ART Tube MP/C is a really good little device - up to 60 dB of clean microphone preamp, phantom power, LED signal level monitoring, balanced and unbalanced inputs and outputs, a tube stage that claims to offer magic music mojo, an opto-compressor / leveller that works surprisingly well, all in a sturdy little metal die-cast enclosure not much bigger than a hardbound novel. I've used it as a mic preamp, I've used it to play bass guitar through, I've used it as a compressor for home recordings, I've used it as a leveller to cope with a whisper/shout singer live, I've used it to match signal levels between guitar equipment and pro-audio equipment, et cetera, et cetera.
I'm pretty sure I couldn't come close to building something that offers all that, for anywhere near the same price. Which is why I now own three of them!
The MP/C is actually the only compressor I consider worth the price - most hardware compressors seem to start at about four times the price, and go up from there.
-Gnobuddy
Thats a great deal for a tube mic pre! Cant believe theres other pedals for $28. I started a diy comp pedal for my bass using a THAT (dozens of papers and designs on comp/limiters on there site) analog engine IC, VCAs seem to be the most flexible, parts under $15 (the most expensive was the SMD to DIP adapter). Most of the VCA pedals are over $200. The hard part is the box, probably try to find a dead pedal to use.
I agree!
IMO that's true whether or not you buy into the "tube mojo" belief - that little box is a bit of an audio Swiss Army Knive, a useful tool to have around.
I'm more put off by making PCBs than making boxes, though I don't enjoy the painting part of making a box.
-Gnobuddy
Hamm, Russel 0., 1973 "Tubes Versus Transistors-Is There an Audible Difference" 21(4) JAES explains exactly what's going on in various types of microphone preamps.
Now, if you really do have a ADC with 24bits of dynamic range, this sort of thing isn't important any more, theoretically. If you're confident in your ability to set levels perfectly.
It is a bit ironic that the ART r.r.p. is about the same as prices for NOS 7025 (low noise 12AX7 equivalents) which would be the ideal upgrade.
I've read lots of praise for the "tube" part of the Tube MP/C, but my own ears tell me something else; I hear no audible distortion until I turn up the levels to the point where there is a fairly sudden onset of clipping, and when that does occur, I don't like the sound of it at all, not even for guitar or bass, never mind vocals.
Fortunately, if I turn down the signal level into the tube several decibels below that point, I don't hear any unwanted artifacts. The manual specifies "THD < 0.1% @ 1 kHz" with no other details, which would certainly be inaudible.
To me, the low THD and abrupt onset of audible distortion both suggest the use of a good dose of negative feedback around the tube stage; so there's too little THD to hear until outright clipping occurs, and when it does occur, it's abrupt.
To me, the tube in this doohickey is not a useful feature, but it also doesn't detract from the utility of this very handy little box.
-Gnobuddy
Use it as a mike preamp on clean live performances (maybe not this summer). Bypass the tube. While it does not scream "TUBE!", taking it out cleans-up the sound enough for ME to hear.
I've read Hamm's white paper (which, I may add, is nearly fifty years old) a few times over the years; to my possibly jaundiced eyes, all he's saying is "systems with lots of negative feedback overload more abruptly than systems without", which really should not come as a surprise to anybody twisting knobs in a control room. Perhaps I'm overestimating the technical knowledge of the average recording "engineer"?
There was a very similar issue when it came to recording on tape versus digital recording. Push tape a bit too hard and it distorts progressively and adds some compression, which defect some recording engineers apparently thought was a wonderful thing. Push an A/D converter a bit too hard and you get absolutely horrific noises that not even a mother could love. Circa early 1980s, this deeply disturbed recording engineers who had not bothered to respect their recording level meters previously.
Am I oversimplifying this if I conclude that the moral of both lessons is really very simple? If you're using recording equipment made after, say, 1945, don't turn the @!%&* levels above 0 dB!
-Gnobuddy
Am I oversimplifying this if I conclude that the moral of both lessons is really very simple? If you're using recording equipment made after, say, 1945, don't turn the @!%&* levels above 0 dB!
-Gnobuddy
Over simplified. 0db what? Full scale and refrence level (used to be +4dbu) can be 20db apart. There has been pro gear with clean 20db of headroom ( above +4dbu) for 40 years, Studer tape machines come to mind. The problem happens when missaligning the machines for different tape. Or setting a reference level to high. ( not enough headroom). And tape compression is a great tool, if used correctly.
My point exactly. It's time to get over it, and live with today's reality, not 1960s reality. A person who applies 1960 recording techniques to 2020 recording gear will get bad results.
Let me try oversimplifying again, this time via a parable:
In 1920, my great-great-grandfather used to whip his horse to make it go faster. I keep whipping my 2020 Toyota Corolla, but it refuses to go any faster no matter how much I whip it. My spurs don't work on the Corolla either. Dang new-fangled motor-cars are useless! Nowhere as good as a horse!
Recording "deep into the red" started out because the signal to noise ratio from tape was inadequate, particularly once you'd bounced a few tracks a few times to free up more tracks for recording. The hotter the signal, the less severe the hiss problem, even though THD went through the roof, particularly at high frequencies. Better smeared sibilants than a continual annoying "hisssss!", so turn up that recording level knob!
We don't have that problem today. Hiss is inaudible. There's 80 - 90 dB of clean dynamic range available even with very ordinary equipment, frequently over 100 dB. There is no need to record 20 dB beyond the overload point because there's no "hisss!" hiding at -40 dB to try to cover up. And if you want compression, there are better ways to get it than by overloading tape.
The moral of the story: Stop flogging the darn Corolla!
-Gnobuddy
I've not been in a recording studio since the '90s but some of the talk suggests that education is still lacking (thanks to Mr Slipperman's missives).
I concur with your observation for the 80s and early 90s : some truly awful recordings made around then. Perfect sound forever!
Those who got recordings right (e.g. John Marks) produced some absolute wonders. Certainly the top end of town (e.g. .au ABC Classic or Sony Classic EU) have got the process nailed today.
For what I'm doing right now I have a little Tascam 96/24 wonder which auto-configures itself so well that I've not even RTFM yet. One day...
Still it's an incredibly rare day when I go to a event mixed by "professionals" where there's not at least one microphone clipping badly and/or the overall mix is badly flawed (screeching highs or all bass) :-(
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