VO-BB - 20 YEARS OLD!

Dayo · Cinquecento Joined: 10 Jan 2008 Posts: 544 Location: UK

Hi all

I'm about to dump my TLM 103 and I'm searching for a darker, less sizzly sound.

I'm about 3 inches away from ordering a Lawson L47 MP2 Tube mic.

Anyone had any experience of it, male or female? I'll run it into a Fearn VT1 mic pre, so I'm hoping they'll play nice.

Thanks all

Philip Banks · Posted: Thu Aug 13, 2009 5:43 am Post subject:

I won't be a bore with the details but know of two females, poles apart in terms of voice pitch and tone and one male with similar vocal qualities to yours. No complaints, just glowing reports and during one ISDN connection I heard nothing other than the voice, in other words no distractions. Hope that helps. Emma will sound fabby on it too! No implication that she doesn't already.

Dayo · Cinquecento Joined: 10 Jan 2008 Posts: 544 Location: UK

Thanks Philip - appreciate the input. Sometimes I wish I'd held on to my U87. But these days I'm hankering after a sound that's more like Silk Sound or Angell circa 1982. I think that means a vintage U47, but until the lottery tickets come up, a good clone might satisfy the lust!

Philip Banks · Posted: Thu Aug 13, 2009 7:03 am Post subject:

I find a U47 for sale and exclaim loudly - "YOU WANT HOW MUCH!!"

KaraEdwards · Posted: Thu Aug 13, 2009 7:30 am Post subject:

I have a Lawson L47 FET- and I love it! Lawson makes all of their mics by hand- and you'll even get a phone call from Mr. Lawson asking how everything is going. I've been considering getting one of their other mics to switch out on occasion just for a different sound. I went with the L47FET because if it's clinical sound. I heard myself on one at a studio in NC and asked, "what IS this mic?" Very clean- I haven't had any complaints. One thing the FET won't do though is 'warm up' the vocals- what you voice is what you get.

If you have any questions about the mic, I suggest calling their customer service dept, chances are it will be Mr. Lawson answering all of your questions- and he knows those mics like no other.
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Dayo · Cinquecento Joined: 10 Jan 2008 Posts: 544 Location: UK

Thanks Kara - much appreciated

Lance Blair · M&M Joined: 03 Jun 2007 Posts: 2281 Location: Atlanta

This is also a nice option for a darker read:

http://www.pearlmanmicrophones.com/tm1.html

Or, just take 3-8kHz down about -2 to -3 db?
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Dayo · Cinquecento Joined: 10 Jan 2008 Posts: 544 Location: UK

Lance Blair · M&M Joined: 03 Jun 2007 Posts: 2281 Location: Atlanta

Enjoy the Lawson, that's a great microphone.

As for tweaking the TLM 103, here's a quick take at trying to tube it up while using no tubes in the path:

1.) Engage the -20 pad in my Speck 5.0, then crank the gain to 50 so as to drive the output transformer harder.
2.) Use a little of the Tube Modelled Compressor in AA3
3.) EQ a 1.5 bump at 200Hz, and roll off 2.5db starting at 3kHz.
4.) Have the mic a bit more off axis
5.) Give it a dark read (perhaps this is the most important step)

The result: http://www.lanceblair.net/files/TLM103TubeImpersonation.mp3
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Bill Campbell · DC Joined: 09 Mar 2007 Posts: 621

Lance just turned a $1000 mic into an RE-20!!!

Seriously, for a dark tubey sound, Run an RE-20 or SM7B through a Valley or AirCorp processor. EQ to taste.
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Philip Banks · Posted: Thu Aug 13, 2009 3:57 pm Post subject:

...........and instead of using a voice play a tenor saxophone.

Lance Blair · M&M Joined: 03 Jun 2007 Posts: 2281 Location: Atlanta

...and don't forget the bucket.
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Dayo · Cinquecento Joined: 10 Jan 2008 Posts: 544 Location: UK

Well the L47 is on it's way and should be here next week. I had a long chat with Gene Lawson on the phone and he is certainly enthusiastic about his mics. Hate buying anything without trying first, but sometimes you have to go on a hunch.

The U47 was such a fabulous mic, a tad noisy perhaps, but a mic that you could really work. Time plays tricks, but my memory is that the proximity effect was glorious. It wasn't so much that it made your tone deeper, but somehow wider. (I guess that sentence just proves how difficult it is to describe sound in words.) If the Lawson gets even half way to that kind of magic then it's money well spent.

Maybe I'll post some soundfiles up here when the mic arrives; before and after. I know it won't have the sizzle of the TLM103 - a good thing in my book. In our game it's all about the mid range innit?

Philip Banks · Posted: Fri Aug 14, 2009 4:07 am Post subject:

U47 simply gave me a 380 degree circle. I recorded a VO for national crime prevention week a few years ago and the agency creative described the sound as "****ing terrifying! Thanks Philip, just what we wanted".

Matt the sound engineer added. (In London it's a union rule that as a sound engineer there are 3 Matts to every 1 Nick or Chris)

"Buy a burglar alarm for your house coz Philip knows where you live!"

U47 was noisey as is the M147 which I tried and didn't like. I get the impression the latter would record itself if I wasn't doing anything.

Enjoy the Lawson, I'm sure you will.

Dayo · Cinquecento Joined: 10 Jan 2008 Posts: 544 Location: UK