Peluso P28: Your Acoustic's New Best Friend

I recently had the opportunity to record a mid-tempo track for Austin songwriter Paul Whitney, consisting of acoustic guitar, mandolin, brushed snare, hand percussion, and vocals. The goal here was to sound natural and close, with an intimate sense of space and a degree of polish without harsh brightness. So I set out to find some gear.

I've always felt frustrated recording acoustic guitar - it has to have warmth and body and transient crispness - all without sounding boomy or thin. I think we're all familiar with "cardboard box with strings" recordings of acoustic instruments, or worse, the god-awful "ice-pick on strings" sound often achieved by incorrectly chasing "sheen" and "polish".

Worse still, these problems can't be corrected with compression without very obvious artifacts - fine in a layered rock mix, but murderous to the vibe of a quiet acoustic song. My quest then, was to find a flat, natural microphone, one that could pleasantly squish some transients, and provide a warm tone while keeping a "woofs" and "booms" at bay.

Enter the Peluso P28 pencil tube microphone.

The Mic:
A small diaphragm condenser modeled after the classic AKG C28 (but at a fraction of the cost!) this condenser imparts the warmth and body so sought after with large diaphragm condensers (which would ordinarily "boom" and "scrape" on an acoustic guitar recording), with the accuracy and transient response of a small diaphragm condenser. Though listed as a small diaphragm condenser, at 18mm, it's larger than expected compared to something like a Rode NT5 (13mm).
What attracted me to this microphone was the tube, however - not because tubes are "rad" or "vintage" (although, they totally are), but because tubes are known for their natural compression characteristics, which seemed promising for handling pick noise and harshness.

The Setup:
Peluso p28, Rode Nt5, SM-57 Kel Audio HM7U
FMR RNP
Tascam USB 1641

I setup with a commonly used mic setup - SM-57 on the 12th fret of the acoustic, Peluso p28 on the soundhole, both mics about a foot away from the instrument, and the Kel Audio Large Diaphragm condenser capturing some room ambience. This yielded a nice sound, though not really resembling what i was hearing in the room. The 57 over-emphasized the upper mids, and the p28 was a little too "warm" and close sounding. I was pleased, however, to find that even with vigorous strumming it was immune to the boom and random resonances you often hear from other mics.

So I changed my approach, using a technique more often found in bluegrass and country settings - the Peluso over the player's  shoulder, pointed down at the soundhole where the pick hits the strings (about a foot away), and given the p28's warmth, the nt5 on the 12th fret a foot away (in case i needed to mix in additional brightness). This position really hit the spot - yielding a warm, natural sound with a little bit of roominess to it, with a smooth high end, that, due to the tube and careful positioning, avoided the terrible ice pick scrape sound. After a little tweaking, we were off to tracking. See clips 1-4 on the player below.

P28 Review by Colin Laflin

Next was the Mandolin - I used a similar position (why change what's already working?) to great results - see clips 5 and 6 - the p28 providing more warmth and body to the mandolin than what was actually present in the room! It really made a $300 dollar mandolin sound alot more expensive than it was. I added a little LA-2A compression to smooth out the high notes, and boosted a little 500-600hz to emphasize the "throatiness" of the instrument.

Next was the brushed snare part - a driving rhythm that runs through the song, we needed airiness without harshness or too much snap. I can't say enough about how well suited the p28 was for under the snare - 4 inches away from the bottom head, 45 degree angle, just slightly short of where the snares hit the head, taming what can often be a terribly NASTY snap of snares into a palatable "pit pat". Add a 57 on top for some body, and I had my snare sound. The clips you hear below have no compression or eq...the squish and gush you hear is all that beautiful little tube!

Just for fun, I tracked some shaker with the p28 as well - again, accurate transient response with the right amount of gush and swish, smooth, present highs.

I was thoroughly impressed with this mic - I will never, ever record another snare without trying one of these underneath. And the same goes for the acoustic guitar - unless I'm layering on top of a massive rock mix, I plan on having a pair of these around anytime I need to track acoustic instruments. Natural, warm, smooth high end, and immune to booms and harsh, scrapy highs. Nicely done, Peluso. The c451b's should be shaking in their shockmounts.

I should probably also mention that everything used in the recording - including the guitar and mandolin (with the exception of the Kel HM7U room mic) - can be rented at Rock n Roll Rentals!

In particular, all of this Peluso P28 goodness can be yours from Rock n Roll Rentals for the weekend rate of only 17 bucks!

Reviewed by Colin Laflin

Red is the new White!

I heard that Jack White loves using Ribbon Mics exclusively while recording electric guitar.  Though, I play nothing like he does, I do like his guitar sounds more often than not.  By recommendation, I decided to use a Shure KSM313 Bi-directional 'Roswellite' Ribbon Mic in front of my Vox AC15 the other night while recording a few guitar parts.  Shure hand-makes these mics with a super-elastic paramagnetic material, modeled after Crowley & Tripp's conventional foil ribbon designed to produce 2 distinct impedance gradients on each side of the transducer.  I started out by placing the mic dead-center, about 8-inches away from the grill... and it sounded so good right off the bat, that I didn't move it.  The front 'logo-side' of the KSM313 captured a full, round sound slightly mid-range and on the dark-side.  I recorded some 'jangly' guitar chords this way and it hit the spot!  When I turned the mic around, I recorded a few single-note guitar melodies, slightly overdriven, it seemed to capture a bit more of the higher frequencies, while still retaining alot of the low-end.  I'm going to continue trying out various Ribbon Mics on guitar in the coming months after my positive experience with the KSM313 and I recommend using it on your next electric guitar recording.  Also check out the other 'Red' gear we have in stock at Rock N Roll Rentals. (see also Nord)

by Jared Paul Boulanger

API/ATI 8MX2: Classic Taste, Modern Face

Automated Processes, Inc. (lovingly known as API), has been creating modular '500 series' studio gear since 1968. Their inevitable growth in popularity brought them much success, as well as the opportunity to develop more lines of gear and better circuitry. After their recent aquisition by ATI, API released the 8MX2 8 x 2 x 8 Mixer/ Mic Pre.

 
I was able to use this solidly-assembled tank of pre's in a recent session with Miranda Dawn & The Lucky Break Horns at Werd Recording Suite. The application was for a 3-piece horn ensemble (tenor sax, baritone sax, and trombone) using 3 Royer R-121's, as well as a Peluso 2247LE as a room mic. Ribbon mics are notorious for being able to round of the harshness of a blasting horn - and round, they did. Coupled with the 8MX2, I was able to not only boost my gain enough for the ribbons while adding minimal floor noise, but I was also able to soft limit the horns' raging signals.
The final product? Brilliant.   No, they're not 500 series ATI Pre's, but good-gosh - they will be an awesome addition to your rack (at a meager $170/month at Rock n Roll Rentals.)
 by Ali Ramzanali

Compress your Preamp or Pretend you're on 'Mash'...

One of the perks of working for Rock N Roll Rentals besides 'Pizza-Saturdayzz' is that we get to test all sorts of musical and recording equipment most of us otherwise wouldn't have the opportunity to experiment with...  This luxury comes especially handy when you're a poor musician and can't afford to record in a studio.  So here I am needing to track drums for my band The Sour Notes in my guitar-player's East-side warehouse apartment... Two of the pieces of gear I chose among others was the JDK R20 Dual Channel Mic Preamp and R22 Dual Channel Compressor.

Upon first look at the gear... the rugged, militaristic design and simplistic control panel immediately attracted me to the R20 & R22.  I'm a big fan of machines that don't have too-many buttons to fiddle with and when it comes to audio processing, I'd like to think things tend to sound a bit more 'natural' the less you do to it.  With the R22, you'll notice, unlike most Compressors, that it doesn't feature 'attack' or 'release' functions, but fear not... You can achieve very controlled compression on whatever you run through it, just with a few less knobs to turn.  I've used many similar types of 'rack-compressors' when recording and one thing I appreciated most about the R22 was it's ability to retain most of the original sound's dynamics even when 'hard' compressing.  I ended up running a 'top-snare' mic and kick drum through it and found that with a few flicks of a switch and minor dial adjustments, my kick drum tones varied from big ballon-type roundness to quick, punchy-pops all while retaining alot of what I started with coming out of the preamp.... Which brings me to the JDK R20 Dual Channel Preamp.  It's pretty basic!  1 gain knob really... What I'm gathering is that JDK products are really into processing your sound 'subtly'.  Simple and smooth-sounding... Less is sometimes more!

by Jared Paul Boulanger

Tour without bringing your own gear!... sort of

A few weeks ago I had the opportunity to perform at the CMJ Music Marathon in NYC...  The only problem was that I didn't find out my band The Sour Notes were officially selected until the previous week, meaning the band would have to jump on a plane last minute and travel across the country for a 'one off' show without our gear.  The venue we were playing did have a minimal backline, though not accommodating (speaker cabinets without 'heads')... so, since we couldn't make a tour out of it and drive our gear up there in the van, we had to come up with an alternative to 'checking in' our precious tube amps at the airport.  Luckily, Electro Harmonix has a nifty line of portable guitar amplification that fits in your carry-on bag called the 22-Caliber & the 44-Magnum, which my band-mate Chris and I both used instead of our amps.  We plugged them straight into 4-10 cabs at the venue and were amazed at how great they sounded.  The 22-Caliber & 44-Magnum power amps are easy to use, having just a volume knob and a bright/normal switch that gives you two tone options.  In my opinion, these little boxes of magic sound just as real as a guitar amplifier and can even 'break up' a little when dialed right.  So, if you're already a minimalist pack-er and want to travel even light-er, look into renting the EHX 22-Caliber & 44-Magnum power amp magic boxes from us at Rock N Roll Rentals!!!  They, like us...  are show-savers!!!

by Jared Paul Boulanger

Royer's R-101 Budget Ribbon Studio Mic: An Intro to Royer

Any gear head will tell you that despite the amount of upkeep and special attention they require, ribbon microphones can produce a tone that can not be matched by any small, medium, or large diaphragm condenser, and therefore are worth their minty price tag. The richness and stability of the tone, as well as the ability to withstand outrageous SPL's makes the ribbon mic a must have. Drum overheads, electric guitar amps, and brass instruments are probably the most common applications, but when put in breathing proximity to an acoustic guitar or vocals - a characteristic 'vintage' sound reminiscent of the RCA heydays is produced.

Royer Labs, creators of the studio-staple R-121, have released a ribbon mic at a price almost $500 less than  the 121, making it their most affordable mic. Despite the lower list price -  their infamous 'offset-ribbon transducer' patent was still able to make its appearance in the R-101. Unlike the Californian sister mics of the R-101, the capsule is manufactured overseas (surprise!). However, this does not at all discount the capability of this mics performance.

I was able to try the R-101 earlier this month at Werd Recording Suite to record a piece for the bassoon entitled "Sonata" by Johann Friedrich Fasch, only it was played on a saxophone.

The heavyset mic is set - front side toward the bell for the 'less bright' tone. 

Breathe in, press record, monitor carefully, press stop, exhale. 

Not surprising, that ribbon tone in through my 80's-era Studiomaster pre's and out through a pair of Adam A7s displayed a tone that warmed my blood and almost stopped my heart - almost.

The presence of the saxophone's reedy resonance showed characteristic of a Royer mic, but there was something different - a darker tone. Personally speaking, it was not the best tone for this application. Perhaps the back of the mic would have sufficed.

Overall I was satisfied, but not thrilled about this mic, but for the price - it would be hard to say no to add the R-101 to your mic collection. 

Check it out for yourself at Rock N Roll Rentals for $24 weekly or $48 monthly!

As an added bonus, a clip of the recording:

Written by Audio Engineer/Producer Ali Ramzanali

Boss PS-6 Harmonist Stomp Box

Boss PS-6 Harmonist

By Oscar Reyna

As Boss likes to do, they have taken one of there older pedals and updated it. In this case they have taken the PS-5 Super Shifter and tweaked it a little. The result is the PS-6 which is somewhat of a multi-effects pedal that allows you to harmonize, pitch shift, detune, and super bend. This pedal allows you to do 3 voice guitar harmonies with the option select the key. A variety of intelligent pitch shift modes recall the Digitech Whammy pedal. Boss’s new technology, the Super Bend, lets you make up to four octaves of pitch bending by stepping on the pedal as if you were engaging it, which is also a feature of the Digitech Whammy pedal. You can also control pitch with the use of an optional expression pedal. The detune function is capable of creating a lush chorus sound without sounding totally cheesy. The PS-6 is a great and versatile pedal for the price (about $189 street price) all in one small stomp box. Guitarists who are fans of the Whammy pedal and bands like Radiohead, Failure, and locally Exeter will definitely want to pick this up.

The BOSS Harmonist is available for rental and sale at Rock n Roll Rentals