Hands On Session

We had CAP students (Certificate on Audio Production) from ICOM (International College Of Music) for their vocal recording class recently. Everyone gets their hands on the Audient Zen console, moreover have the opportunity to mix and match microphones and mic pres just to AB the differences. 

Students were also exposed to the new Quested V2108 monitor speakers in the studio. We had Natasha Humera Ejaz on vocals, singing to a backing track of Norah Jones "Sunrise". The students were taking turns operating ProTools and working to get the vocals sounding good on the outboards. 

We paired up JZ V12 microphone with Chandler Limited TGII mic pre, and MXL990 with Universal Audio LA 610MK II. 

The first pair produced a lush, solid and punchy vocals. We tried different gain settings with low gain to cranking the gain almost to the limit. The students were amazed by the tone changes by playing with just two knows : gain and output level. 

JZ V12 was also paired with  LA 610MKII. Here we get to try out a beautiful engineered microphone through UA's channel strip. The dynamic range and transients are much broader and faster on this combination. We were able to get different tone, from clean to over gained and hard compressed vocals from the LA 610 MKII. It gave a vintage feeling, However, the mic pre was not as punchy and thick sounding compared to the TGII. 

MXL with LA610MK II has some interesting sounds as well. The mic pre definitely helped the microphone for a nice mid tone, fuller bodied sound. It was sounding thinner compared to the V12 pair. It could be a nice effect applied on backing vocals as the texture was crispy and thin.

It was a pleasure having CAP students over. its a great experience for all and we look forward for more!

Ali, Alex, Natasha, Kangkan and Alex@StarMount Studio.