This month we heard from Tony Roe, of the band Room Eleven
“We're signed at Universal Records and our first record went gold a while ago. We recently had a video clip shot in Buenos Aires for a tune that was used in a TV commercial for a Dutch clothing brand. I have a home studio and do most of the pre-recordings for our new CD, as well some remixes. Currently I'm using a G5 running Logic.”

Tony continues, “I really love the Neve 1073 EQ. When you're used to the controls it's very straightforward, and it gives good results without much effort. I mainly use it on guitar and vocals. I also tried it on a stereo piano recording, and with very little adjustments the Neve 1073 EQ made it sound bigger and smoother at the same time. It's one of the best EQs I've ever heard in a plug-in! I also like the Neve 33609 bus compressor--a very nice tool. When compared to the Duende SSL bus compressor, I found the Neve 33609 to be more flexible and I really like the character of the sound.

"The DreamVerb plug-in I fell in love with instantly when I first opened it. I didn't expect that, since I nowadays always use a native convolution reverb which works fine in most situations. Although to my taste, convolution reverbs often sound too realistic, which doesn't work in all situations--like for example a hip-hop beat. With DreamVerb I can be much more creative and shape the reverb the way I want it to sound.”

Props from Ulrich Wild on the Precision De-Esser and Precision Maximizer
Ulrich Wild, our featured interview in July, dropped us a line that he is rockin’ the v4.8 update. “I have been looking for a great de-esser plug-in for the longest time. Until now, de-essers left my tracks worse off than they were without a plug-in. Finally, UA has come to the rescue. The new Precision De-Esser sounds very smooth and is very effective. I love its simplicity and versatility. Once again, the guys at UA have outdone themselves. Definitely worth the wait.

"The Maximizer is an awesome plug-in. It warms up the track while simultaneously getting the mix to pop right out of the speakers. The way it glues everything together and smoothes out the track is reminiscent of analog tape,” said Ulrich.

Michael Bongiorno records Ani DiFranco shows through UA preamps
Michael Bongiorno sent us a photo showing his rack for the Ani DiFranco tour, including an 8110 8-channel preamp and two 6176s. “I'm using the 8110 in conjunction with a Pro Tools LE Digi002 rack for live recording with Ani. I send the 8110 through an Apogee AD 8000. So far I've been using it to record drums and it sounds amazing. Vocals too. Real clean. Everything is real transparent. With the alternate trans options I get plenty of punch and a little dirt sound when I need. I love overdriving the drum overheads. Lots of head room, never craps out, it's never muddy. Dual gain staging is key too. Sooooo much more flexibility with that. It's good to finally have an 8-channel strip with high quality pre's.

"Regarding the 6176s, I use one for Ani's vocal, the other for the upright bass DI. With bass, having the tube mic pre with the 1176 allows me to fatten up what can otherwise be a lifeless DI signal into something with some real meat without having the dynamics be out of control. I can get it so it doesn't attack the bass too hard, because in this case with an acoustic upright bass, I don't want it to sound compressed.

"The vocal is a more interesting choice. I like having the 6176 EQ, which I find subtle, to bump her voice at the 4.5k area. Because we're live I don't get the choice of vocal mic."