Two budget Re-ampers fight to the death! Ryan compares the $50 Line2Amp re-amp kit from DIYRecordingEquipment with the $99 Radial ProRMP.
In Rapid fire we answer: Reverb in every mix?; should we always speak in absolute terms?; and protecting your mixes from dine & dash clients.
Our guest host is Björgvin Benediktsson from Audio Issues.
Thanks again to Peterson Goodwyn for sending us the Lind2Amp to try!
LINKS
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The Line2Amp at DIYRecordingEquipment.com If you’re listening to this in 2013, the discount code has expired.
Don’t like to solder? Order a pre-built Line2Amp
Radial ProRMP (Radial website) (Amazon affiliate link)
Audio Issues
On the “reverb” question, there should always be reverb in a recording for anything that is not experimental. But if you’re not close miking in an anechoic chamber, there WILL be natural reverb in the recording. And depending on how your tracking is set up (and the genre) it might be perfect without adding any additional reverb. But I almost always add some reverb somewhere.
Hey guys, great show; my donation is on the way. Just think, after 3 more years of my donations, you’ll be able to get a line2amp DIY kit for Jon! You’re welcome.
Best line of the show…
Björgvin: Because of the mic’s cardioid pattern, I usually try to absorb sound behind the singer.
Ryan: Yeah, me too. I think that’s what the box is trying to accomplish.
Björgvin: No, behind the singer…
Ryan: right, be-HIND the singer…
Björgvin: not behind the MIC, behind the SINGER!
Ryan: Right… wait…
Jon: or you could put the box over your head.
This show is such a ray of sunshine in my corporately bleak work-week. You’re like the Mother’s Finest of the pod-casting world.
Ride the Lightning,
-James
Another great show guys. I am a big fan of the DIY and Peterson’s website has sucked up a ton of my time as well lately(as anyone who knows me will attest, I need to spend less time playing and building widgets, more time learning to record/mix/everything). His idea for the Rev 3 is very similar to a project I have been working on. No so much reamping, but re-preamping to color sound. So far so good, I think with the right preamps it can add something different to a mix.
I thought the unit sounded like a pretty good bang for your buck, and like anything else DIY: when you build it yourself, it always seems to have a little something special in the sound — even if you are the only person hearing it. lol
As to the reverb – I think maytwentyfourth said what I was thinking – if there is enough reverb in the space and/or instruments, I don’t think it’s necessarily a must have. But what do I know?
Hey guys, thanks a lot for devoting a segment to my reamping box! It was great to hear your thoughts on the sound. Just a quick note: while I wait for everything to come together for rev. C, I’m offering the remaining rev. B kits on sale at http://www.diyrecordingequipment.com/shop-2/
As a thanks to you guys & your listeners, you can use the coupon “ilovehrs” for 15% off the entire order.
Again, thanks for taking the time to review the LINE2AMP and for the kind words on my website!
I just wanted to let future listeners know that the “ilovehrs” discount code was specific to the LINE2AMP Rev B way back in ’11 as is no longer valid.
Thanks again for everyone’s interest in and support for the LINE2AMP.
Gentlemen!
What a great pod cast! Love the format, topic selection, humor and smart discussion. I listen every week and look forward to each episode.
I was wondering if you might consider discussing blind testing in a future episode? I am always struck by how passionate folks become differences in “the sound” of audio gear. Many times, for many types of gear, these differences are miniscule or non-existent. I am reminded of a recent thread in popular music production forum. The poster challenged readers to conduct a blind test comparing two audio files recorded through different digital audio converters. After the results suggested that the less expensive unit was prefered. Not surprisingly, the board exploded with all sorts of finger pointing and upset. People dissed the blind test protocol and let their emotions run their ear drums rather than their good judgement. They forgot, as I sometimes do, that if it sounds good, it probably is. A solid understanding of what blind testing is, how it can be useful, and how it’s properly done could go a long way to encouraging artists to use, and trust, their ears, rather than self generated, or industry generated, hype.
Rock On
Mike
Question for everyone: Do you ever re-amp drum samples, and if so, how often do you to it? From experience, do you find that it helps making the sound more realistic? If you do reamp, do you typically try running the sounds through guitar pedals?
Hey guys,
Thanks for the reamp coverage. How do you typically choose to capture the initial “naked” track? Do you run an amp modeler in your DAW so the guitarist doesn’t just hear “plink, plink, plank”?
FWIW I could hear a drastic difference when it came to the bass samples. I had a pretty good pair of Ultimate Ears on when I listened and the clarity and punchiness of the ProRMP really stood out. Guitar was pretty close – which is where I’d probably use it the most.
You barely touched on the subject of reverb, but I’m curious – how often do you add reverb to the master bus of a mix? Typically I have several instances of reverbs and delays setup as different sends, and I’ll try to share a send with groups/stems. For example, all bg vocals will share the same reverb send, while the main vocal gets its own. What’s your typical method?
Do you have any guidelines for how you choose which reverb to use and when? There are so many different variations that it can be daunting to determine what will fit best. Convolution, plate, hall, echo, dark, bright, etc. Oftentimes I’ll start with a preset that somewhat describes the track I’m working on (“Warm Vocal Plate” on Waves RVerb for example) and begin tweaking settings from there.
I find that reverbs take up a lot of “real estate” in the mix so I try to be careful about that. Do you ever automate your reverb sends throughout a mix?
Lots of questions guys, I appreciate the feedback. Love the show and am constantly recommending it to friends. Keep up the good work!
I do live sound for a couple of festivals a year and have done choirs and bluegrass band among others. I have found that you can insert a 31 band EQ into the channel of the condenser mic(s) and ring out the feedback in the channel without messing up the main EQ. You can get the sound a lot louder before feedback this way.
I know this episode is SUPER old, but I’m wondering if you’ve tried the Line2Amp paired with the Passive Pickup Emulator from DIY recording?