Empirical Labs Mike-E

Empirical Labs Mike-E

The Mike-E, by Empirical Labs, is a transformer coupled mic preamp together with a compressor/saturator circuit. The mic preamp has super low noise floor and features stepped gain switching. Your instruments can also be plugged directly into the “Inst In” serving as a high quality direct box. The Comp/Sat section of the Mike-E features compression based on the world famous Distressor as well as a tape-like saturation circuit. The Mike-E allows you to mix the compressed signal with the dry signal.

Este Vato recently recorded at Werd’s recording studio with engineer Joel Chalwick. We had the opportunity to use the Mike-E on vocals, acoustic and electric guitars. Personally, I was impressed with the
clarity and presence of the vocals and guitars and would definitely recommend the Mike-E to anyone. Here’s a short video of what Werd engineer, Joel Chalwick, had to say about the Empirical Labs Mike.

You can swing by Rock N Roll Rentals before your next recording project and pick up some sweet recording toys including the Mike-E. The Mike-E rents for $45 a weekend or $104 a month.  We are also your local source for Empirical Labs, so let us know when you want to buy!

Hail, "Heil!"

If you haven't noticed, which I'm sure you have - Rock N Roll Rentals is now carrying Heil microphones. The creator, Bob Heil, is really giving the big brands a run for their money with the release of his extraordinary line of dynamic microphones. I was able to experiment with the PR-40 while tracking local punk-alternative band, "Cannibal Barbie" at Werd Recording Suite.
At first feel, the mic's build and weight gave claim of an undeniably great product. The solid capsule coupled with a dense grille could even make certain GmbH microphone manufacturers jealous of it's resilience. Now, where to put it?

First came the drums. The large diaphragm, and the likeness to the Electro-Voice RE-20 begged for me to put it on the kick drum, but I did not.  I was already very content with my Audix D6/Shure SM7b combination - and, let's be honest, we all know where we like that huge pickup; the snare. But why? I always enjoy capturing a full sound of the snare drum, moving away from things like SM57s, MD421s, or similar products. This is not to discount the awesomeness engrained in the workhorse dynamic mics, but we as engineers seem to always feel the craving to have our own "sound" for future generations to use the "[your name here] miking technique." In a bluegrass, jazz, or soft rock situation, I would be tempted to even use a large diaphragm condenser such as the Neumann TLM 103, but with a piccolo snare being whipped like a racehorse, no amount of padding on my signal chain would bear the intensity of the cracks - not to mention the intense bleed of the accompanying noisemakers. The resulting recording of the snare was actually not surprising at all. This is NOT a bad thing - it sounded like a dynamic mic should on a drum. The big plus was the addition of some low end - thickening the snappy sound of the snare. The lateral rejection capability of this mic was a little weak, but not disappointing. I was pleasantly satisfied with the track - but not done yet.

The following day, we tracked vocals. Again, I had to steer away from the large diaphragm condenser because of their susceptibility to harshness on loud or screaming vocals. Furthermore, we have all seen Thom Yorke's shrill mouth literally eating the end-cap of the RE-20, so I felt the need to try the dynamics on these vocals. Just in case, I put alongside the Shure SM7b as a safety precaution. I realized while setting up, the PR-40 would be much more diverse in its capabilities had it high-pass and/or 'presense' options on it (as the SM7b has). After review of the 'game tape,' I actually ended up sticking with the SM7 for these vocals. My reasoning was - the vocalist's nasally lyrics did not play well with the frequency response of the PR-40. It was a VERY close call. I even considered using both and blending the two, but in the end, the PR-40 did not make the cut for these tracks.

In the end, had I not another mic to compare to, I would have easily kept and been highly satisfied with the sound of the PR-40. At a $21/month rental rate though - really - you MUST use this mic.


Written by Audio Engineer/Producer Ali Ramzanali

Universal Audio 1176LN Leveling Amplifier

In a recent mixing session I had a vocal track recorded through a Shure green bullet mic live. Inherently, the mic had a great over-driven sound but also picked up a lot of ambient drums and guitar. I used UA's 1176LN to compress the track. I used a 12:1 ratio and right away could hear the vocals more in the foreground of the track and substantially decreased the ambient noise. Just what I wanted. The compression was very smooth and didn't really suck the tone out. I highly recommend this unit for bringing up weak or over-driven signals to tape or in the mix.

reviewed by Matt Puryear.

Unit available for Rent or Sale at Rock n Roll Rentals

Api 500 series

I brought one of these home a few weeks back. Hearing for years about how great the eq and pre's were, I was exited to hear what everyone was talking about. Part of me wanted to think it was over priced hype. Within minutes, I was trying to imagine how I could buy one. You know, like what could I sell and do I really need a car or a kidney..etc.
Even at full gain the mic pre's were super quiet and sounded great. I'm kind of a compression junkie and I got a great fix. Its the most transparent sounding compressor I've heard. Not at all "effecty" - even at full squish.
Api eq is legendary. Its easy to see why. I found myself reamping older tracks like kick drums and vocals just to get some of that sugar. Really amazing stuff, so musical.
In the end, its so inexpensive to rent that its really ideal for any recording project. Its so portable too. I'm sold. Anybody need a third kidney?
Gary

available for rental @ Rock n Roll Rentals (only in Austin, TX!)

Peluso P28 pencil tube condenser mic

I got bored with my mics and my same old setup for my little room jams that I write and record, so I rented the Peluso P28 from RnR Rentals to try and kick up the warmth action a bit. I chose a small diaphragm so I could get the the clarity of a condenser but also the the focus of a pencil mic as I record primarily within thinly blanketed square walls. I found that the mic was great on the octave off axis of an acoustic (an old fender, and new gibson). It delivered nice warmth from the tube and was largely flat in response. Then I stuck a tambourine on it, and to me, that's where the mic shined (I know, tambourine). It gave me a nice fat darker tone, kinda reminiscent of a ribbon but using half the gain. Worked well with the tune at hand. Finally, I got curious and cut a couple of vocal takes with it and to my surprise it sounded really good. I was in my living room about 4.5 feet back from the mic and it let in just enough of the room to flatter without giving away that I have no rug on the tile floor and that my old furnace wouldn't shut up. Very warm. I'm curious to see how a couple of these would sound as drum OH's or on an electric cab. Maybe next time... -Rene