ADDICTED TO OUTBOARD PROCESSING..one for the geeks Toys ive been messing with lately.. I love toys and have a massive collection back in my original birthplace of Sydney Australia…. give me vintage Star Wars, Transformers and Masters of the Universe all day long. But lately ive been enjoy much more expensive toys such as valve or solid state EQs, compressors, preamps and channel strips. much to the dismay of my bank account but hey, you gotta spend money to make money i figure so f%*^ it. So as some of you may know already i have also been working at another studio location outside of The Submarine as an engineer called Uptime Studios in Hells Kitchen, Manhattan. And as a result i now have direct access to a new bounty of outboard processing i have not had the chance to mess with before. Today was a minefield just checking out new tones, shapes and flavours getting aquainted with that awesome analogue gut feeling that for me personelly brings mixes and music to life. As per the website there is a healthy collection of high quality outboard at The Submarine but its always great to be able to sample new units i havent had the chance to mess with for any decent stretch of time. Today's fun included..  Tube Tech CL 1A (opto cell w/tube amp) - This beast is a general industry standard for pop/RnB vocals. Sounds amazing, super smooth and buttery.  Empirical Labs EL8X "Distressor" (stereo pair) - Another studio mainstay that you'll find in almost every professional setup. A pair of these guys across a drum buss absolutely destroys.  Gates Sta Level "Compressor" - This is a real vintage piece, classic valve distortion when pushed. I ran a female vocal through this thing bumped the input and instant "mojo".  Kultube stereo Compressor - I have only ever messed with SPL software. But this hardware compressor has a smooth action. Touchy though, like you had to work at it to find the sweet spot, and once there sounded ok but not mind blowing.  Manley Massive Passive (stereo tube 4-band EQ) - Again another industry standard common in most high end studios. Id always wanted to try this piece and was psyched. Super versatile with this warm gooey sound. Awesome  Neve 2254 (limiter/compressor) - Another vintage classic. This piece sounds absolutely amazing. Loved it across the drum buss. You can totally rinse it without over-cooking and still sounds bonkers. A true industry heavy weight.  Purple MC77 (FET compressor) - This comp is a faithful recreation of the 1176. Even down to the "all ratio buttons in" option. This piece sounded really sweet across female vocals.
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