SvenArne
Dave, sincere question:
Do you spend time trying to match different pairs of mic and pre for every instrument/voice you record hoping to strike gold, or do you just go by a notion of what the combinations should sound like? Do you find there's a lot to gain from experimenting?
Sven
I love the quest for tone. Sometimes it's wonderful accidents that occur with a mic, an instrument and a pre. Up until recently, I only had the pres in my Soundcraft M12 and the SP VTB1 to use. The M12 pres sound very close to the UA 710 and the Avalon 737 if you take the extra features of the more expensive units out of the equation. I loved just moving mics around on cabinets or trying amp/cabinet combinations with different mics and combinations of mics. When you hit something that works it's glorius.
Now that I have some different mic pres, I'm enjoying the experimentation again. Yes, I think there is a lot to gain with the experimentation. I'm discovering that it (what you gain) isn't always apparent and immediate to you though. When you start adding the different takes and tracks together that's when the magic happens. You're not layering the same characteristic mic pre sound over and over again so where my M12 pres had a good sound but a touch of hardness (kind of metallic) to them, that characteristic compounded with each successive track. It's something that you don't always notice when it's happening. It's nice to use different pres for different instruments
But home studios are about compromise and versatility, IMHO. Limited time and budget have to factor in. A cook may have an extensive collection of spices and sauces but if he never bought a pot to cook in, he's be in trouble so that's where I'm at with my post. I've got to balance things out. I've got a few nice pres (for a home studio) now, so I think I'm switching fetishes to mics.
I think it's time to stick my toe in the water in the Neumann pool with a TLM 102 followed by a 103. (Wish I could spend the dough for a U87 but that will be a while.)