Stereo tube goodness
Douglas as Electronics, Recording
Mar|15|2009
I have the stereo tube compressor working now. This was by far the hardest build I’ve tried but it is mastering studio worthy. Toroidal transformer, DC on the tube heaters, no hiss because of all the metal film resistors. Sowter iron. One channel has a kink in dual mode for now, but this thing is made for 2buss apps.
The best description I can come up with is subtle but dense. transparent and warm. You really have to sit down and try different things. I took me several hours to discover how the attack and release can have a big impact on the gain reduction. The VU meters don’t tell the full story though. My RNC’s LED meter runs circles around these meters but the VU meters are more instinctive for voice, guitar, and program material. Listen to the sample to form your own opinion, but a warning, the differences are subtle. You can’t slam something with this like a 1176 can.
The whole collection of compressors is in the first picture. varimu, VCA, and opto all represented.
piano with about 4db of compression
bass with fast attack and slow release, 5db compression
drums with highpass sidechain slow attack 2db of compression
Oboe Recital
Douglas as Recording
Mar|8|2009
Recorded an oboe recital today. Used a Decca tree config with three omni mics. I had an older gentleman ask, “Is the big one for picking up the low frequencies?” A sample will be added in time.