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blawrie
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 Posted: Tue Aug 26, 2008 10:21 am Post subject: Aphex 230 users? |
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Hey there! New to the board, but looks like a great place to hang out.
Question: Anybody using the Aphex 230 Voice channel? Saw the unit at Voice2008 recently, and curious to know how it works in the real world. Currently looking at UA M610 (or 6176), and others but interested by lower cost of 230. My lady partner wants to warm up her voice to "that ballsy radio sound". Trying to accomodate that without compressing her flat like they do. Rig is Digi002, TLM49. |
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Frank F
Fat, Old, and Sassy
Joined: 10 Nov 2004
Posts: 4421
Location: Park City, Utah
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| Posted: Tue Aug 26, 2008 10:44 am Post subject: |
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Just a little food for thought: warming up your lady's voice should not be a process (using effects), rather; it should be a technique.
This "warming" can be accomplished easily with the right microphone and technique with the microphone. Using a large diaphragm (or even a ribbon) microphone with a smooth presentation and; working in the proximity zone of the said microphone will be more successful than using the pre-amp to get an effect.
Clean, clear, well presented audio can be reproduced. Effected audio may turn out different on different systems. Likening to the K.I.S.S. system there is another acronym for VO, it is: K.I.C.K.'ing - "Keep It Clean and Kick'ing".
Toodles
F2
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blawrie
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| Posted: Tue Aug 26, 2008 10:52 am Post subject: |
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| Thanks Frank. Should have mentioned we've done all of that already, Just looking for that last little tweak. She sounds great already (plan to put up our demo's in the critique section as soon as we get version 9.1 finished), but what she really wants for Christmas is Don's voice... |
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Frank F
Fat, Old, and Sassy
Joined: 10 Nov 2004
Posts: 4421
Location: Park City, Utah
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| Posted: Tue Aug 26, 2008 11:49 am Post subject: |
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Good luck, as "under-the-weather" as DLF is, I do not believe he will be giving it up soon.
Work the proximity effect with you Lady, and if you have an opportunity to try a C-12 - do so. MKH 416's may give her a unique sound, but is usually too "tight" for a female voice. A Schopes or even more inexpensive Axden SGM-2X will be great for promos with a female voice but shotgun microphones can be overpowering for everyday commercial or narration work.
Presence and proximity are the keys to warmth. Work the zone.
Toodles
F2
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Be thankful for the bad things in life. They opened your eyes to the good things you weren't paying attention to before. email: thevoice@usa.com |
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Scott Paxton
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| Posted: Tue Aug 26, 2008 4:35 pm Post subject: |
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I absolutely love my 230. I am using it with the Rode NT1-A. It is a little tough to learn the controls right out of the box, but after some tweaking it can go from in your face ballsy to warm and fuzzy. I like the option of using the Big Bottom and aural exciter on some projects. The logic assisted gate is extremely smooth if needed. I was using a Valley 400 with a Shure SM-7B previously as well as a symetrix before that.
I give the Aphex 230 a "10" out of 10
Thanks for letting me share. |
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Charles Nove
Contributor III
Joined: 26 Jan 2007
Posts: 98
Location: London, England
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| Posted: Wed Aug 27, 2008 1:48 am Post subject: |
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I liked the sound and feel of it enough to order one for evaluation here at A1 VOX. Just waiting for the nice folks at B.H> in NY to get it into stock and send it over. I also bagged one of Aphex's neat little headphone amps, which made it to London very quickly. Full marks for that one: lots of oomph in a titchy box, with a ridiculously bright LED on the front!
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Charles Nove
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Yoda117
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Joined: 20 Dec 2006
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Location: Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
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Jowillie
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Joined: 20 Aug 2006
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Location: North Carolina
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LavaShark
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| Posted: Fri Aug 29, 2008 12:18 pm Post subject: |
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| I just replaced my DBX 286A with a 230, I love it! Warmer, less of a machine feel. I've only been using it for two days, (I, too, saw it at Voice), so I am nowhere near up to speed, but initial impression? Great! (I'm running a TLM103 through it.) |
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georgethetech
The Gates of Troy
Joined: 18 Mar 2007
Posts: 1878
Location: Topanga, CA
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| Posted: Sun Aug 31, 2008 1:07 am Post subject: |
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| LavaShark wrote: | | I just replaced my DBX 286A with a 230, I love it! Warmer, less of a machine feel. I've only been using it for two days, (I, too, saw it at Voice), so I am nowhere near up to speed, but initial impression? Great! (I'm running a TLM103 through it.) |
Funny, I had a client go the OTHER way for the same reasons using a 416. Interesting how them mics and pres interact, ain't it?
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LavaShark
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| Posted: Sun Aug 31, 2008 9:07 pm Post subject: |
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There are 4 elements in every mic/pre combo.
Mic
Pre
Voice
Ears
If someone is looking for a 286, mine is on Ebay with 4 days left. |
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Charles Nove
Contributor III
Joined: 26 Jan 2007
Posts: 98
Location: London, England
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| Posted: Fri Sep 12, 2008 2:21 am Post subject: |
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After a period of evaluation, our Aphex 230 is about to be evicted from the studio rack on the grounds of excessive noise. There's a major league hiss level which we don't like at all.
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Charles Nove
Scottish voice-artist, to the world ... and beyond!
www.charlesnove.com |
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Edo
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| Posted: Fri Sep 12, 2008 5:59 pm Post subject: |
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Charles, at the risk of "barging through already paved roads", have you checked whether the Aphex 230 is fed with balanced input cables? I had a similar problem the other day at a client's studio... when we checked the problem, it turned out to be accidentally hooked up with a mono (therefore unbalanced) jack-jack cable. The hiss was gone instantly when we used a balanced jack-jack cable with 'stereo' plugs on either end...
Hope it helps...  |
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Charles Nove
Contributor III
Joined: 26 Jan 2007
Posts: 98
Location: London, England
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| Posted: Sat Sep 13, 2008 1:11 am Post subject: |
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| Edo wrote: | | have you checked whether the Aphex 230 is fed with balanced input cables? |
Thanks, but yes we are balanced. Mics come straight to the preamps, then from the preamps balanced outs via balanced cables to the line level inputs on the mixer. We've whipped out the 230 and returned the usual Focusrite unit to service and the hiss is gone. (Phew!) Further testing to follow...
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Charles Nove
Scottish voice-artist, to the world ... and beyond!
www.charlesnove.com |
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Yoda117
M&M
Joined: 20 Dec 2006
Posts: 2362
Location: Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
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| Posted: Sat Sep 13, 2008 12:00 pm Post subject: |
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| soundgun wrote: |
Interesting how them mics and pres interact, ain't it? |
I think that's the best part about the gear. You can come up with such wonderful sounds by playing around with the equipment. In the hands of a true master, there's precious little one cannot do with the sound.
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