Recording - February 2017 - 50

BY ALEX HAWLEY

Grace
Design

m108

A multichannel Grace preamp for every studio
Over the past several years, the Grace Design sound is something I have become very familiar with; the m201 preamp has been
a studio workhorse for me, day in and day out. Grace preamps are
widely recognized for having high headroom, a clean and detailed
response, and extremely accurate reproduction. Based in Lyons,
Colorado, Grace Design also features a line of monitor controllers,
optical compressors and instrument preamplifiers.
With Grace microphone preamps already a part of my everyday workflow, I was very excited to explore what the m108 has
to offer. It's hard to believe that Grace continues to improve on
their exceptional m801 preamp. To build on that design,
Grace released the m802, which adds the capability to control the
preamps remotely. Now, Grace has taken this idea one step further
by introducing the m108, which comes packed with eight of Grace's
transformerless, "transimpedance" mic preamps, A/D conversion,
local and remote control, and a range of output formats. This is a ton
of utility built into an extremely cost-effective Grace product, with the
ability to operate in just about any configuration imaginable.

Overview
The m108 falls in line with the elegant aesthetic that can be
expected from Grace products. Coming in the form of a 1U chassis
design, the layout and basic operation on the black faceplate is
very easy to follow straight out of the box. The OLED display has
three main modes: preamplifier mode, mixer, and setup menu. The
front panel also includes two balanced 1/4" Hi-Z inputs, a 1/4"
headphone amplifier output and reference D/A converter, and
multipurpose pots and buttons to control the unit.
The eight XLR inputs are on the rear panel. Rear-panel outputs
include analog out, AES3 out (both via DB25), and two ADAT
optical outputs (S/MUX). Also on the back panel: a USB 2.0
connection for using the m108 as an interface, two BNC connectors
for word clock in and out, DB9 in and out, Dante Network option,
an Ethernet control port, and an IEC power input.

Display modes
The default display mode is the preamplifier screen. This menu
shows all eight input meters, with individual channel icons for
gain level, 48V, Hi-Z input, phase reverse, ribbon mode (locking
out phantom power), and a meter peak indicator. A list on the
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RECORDING FEBRUARY 2017

right side of the preamplifier screen displays the A/D converter
sample rate, clock source, and clock out information. This default
screen can also be customized in the setup menu.
The mixer display is accessed by pushing and holding the
Vol/Mute pot. This view is used to monitor and mix the preamp
channels, as well as two incoming aux channels from the USB
interface or Dante network. Beside level and panning adjustments for the eight channels, you can also select the monitor
source or headphone source in this menu. Because there are
no monitor outputs on the back panel, this will usually be set
to USB. Grace does offer a Control Room Output Module that
adds balanced TRS outputs to the m108 if desired.
The final menu screen is the setup window. This is accessed
by holding the Peak Clr button. The setup menu is where you
will need to adjust the output settings depending on the network configuration, as well as set the sample rate (the m108
supports 44.1 kHz to 192 kHz), save presets and load recall
settings, name channels, choose the clock source, and more.

Getting sounds
The power of the m108 lies in its unique ability to be operated
seamlessly, even when the unit itself is nowhere in sight. The network
and remote features of the m108 are very forward-thinking; with
all of the control capability built in, the m108 is futureproof-sure
to grow with your studio or live rig for years to come. The m108
is also backward-compatible and expandable with previous Grace
preamp systems; if you already have an m802, its hardware remote
can be connected using the DB9 ports on the rear panel of the m108.
But if remote setups aren't your thing, the m108 can seamlessly
integrate with home studio setups. You can either use the USB output
into a computer to use the m108 as an interface, or use one of the
other output methods into an existing interface for use as a standalone
preamp. The headphone D/A for use as an interface sounds very
warm and clean. However, for my initial testing, I used the ADAT
outputs and paired the m108 with a Universal Audio Apollo 8p.
The sound of the Grace m108 stays very true to the source. I
am constantly impressed by the transient response, detail and
clarity. Guitar parts recorded in the box have never sounded so
natural. The tone I dial in on my pedalboard is precisely the tone
that gets recorded to the DAW through the Grace. I also love
recording vocals on this preamp-it captures all of the depth and
brilliance in the voice to make it stand out in a mix.

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Recording - February 2017