Recording - October 2009 - 29

above the standard professional operating level, I couldn’t measure any distortion at all. None. I checked for hum susceptibility, and found that the Wall Wart from Hell couldn’t induce any detectable noise, even when I pressed it directly against the empty input jack. [Benchmark tells us the interior is heavily magnetically shielded to protect the signal from the internal power transformer, and its resistance to external fields is a beneficial side effect.—Ed.] Based on that, I’d say there are no constraints about mounting the MPA1 in a rack with other gear. I did find one anomaly: when the LEDs on the front panel read +24 dBu output, my own meters measured 6 dB lower, or +18 dBu. I exchanged e-mails with Benchmark; as it turned out, one batch of MPA1 preamps was built with incorrect resistors in the metering circuit, and they read exactly 6 dB high. Most of the erroneous batch was still in the warehouse, but a few had been shipped, and of course one of them came to me. Benchmark’s people are thoroughly professional; by the time you read this, the ones which got sold will have been recalled and fixed at the factory, with Benchmark paying the shipping both ways. So what did it sound like? Before I did formal comparisons against a reference preamp, I got a clue what the Benchmark was about. I needed to do several takes of a guitar piece to give my students practice material for tape editing, so I set up a Microtech Gefell M930 in front of the old Martin and recorded a few quickies through the Benchmark into the DAW, to be dubbed onto analog later. And I noticed something: the recording sounded exceptionally good. Now, I’ve made a lot of nice remarks about the M930 over the years; it’s my go-to microphone for a lot of things. But I’d never heard it sound quite as good as this; in particular, the clarity, from the bottom of the audio spectrum to the top, was exceptional. Time for some more testing. I brought the MPA1 to class; one of my colleagues, Bill Schulenburg, was nice enough to lend us an old RCA ribbon microphone, as I wanted to see how the Benchmark dealt with ribbons. All the preamps we tried in comparison were transformerless, so that was a constant; we matched levels to within 0.1 dB, and we tested the microphone on a very nice Baldwin concert grand piano (thanks to our uki, Matt Nichols, for the good playing). Well, the result was unequivocal: the MPA1 smoked a whole roomful of well-regarded (and expensive) preamps. The main difference was clarity: the Benchmark preamp was cleaner, more RECORDING OCTOBER 2009 29

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Recording - October 2009

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Recording - October 2009

Recording - October 2009
Fade In
Contents
Talkback
Fast Forward
Joe Chiccarelli And The Perfect Mix
Zoom R16
The Mixing Workshop
Lauten ST-221 Torch Microphones
Mastering Engineer Bob Katz—The Voice of Experience
Benchmark MPA1 Preamplifier
What The Heck IS Mastering?
Reviewed and Revisited: M-Audio ProFire 610
Universal Audio 710 Twin-Finity
Recording’s Drum Column
Plug-In Outlet
Readers' Tapes
Chameleon Labs 7802 Tube Compressor
Recording’s Showcase of Sounds
Advertiser Index
Fade Out
Recording - October 2009 - Recording - October 2009
Recording - October 2009 - Cover2
Recording - October 2009 - 1
Recording - October 2009 - Fade In
Recording - October 2009 - 3
Recording - October 2009 - Contents
Recording - October 2009 - 5
Recording - October 2009 - Talkback
Recording - October 2009 - 7
Recording - October 2009 - Fast Forward
Recording - October 2009 - 9
Recording - October 2009 - 10
Recording - October 2009 - 11
Recording - October 2009 - Joe Chiccarelli And The Perfect Mix
Recording - October 2009 - 13
Recording - October 2009 - Zoom R16
Recording - October 2009 - 15
Recording - October 2009 - 16
Recording - October 2009 - 17
Recording - October 2009 - The Mixing Workshop
Recording - October 2009 - 19
Recording - October 2009 - 20
Recording - October 2009 - 21
Recording - October 2009 - Lauten ST-221 Torch Microphones
Recording - October 2009 - 23
Recording - October 2009 - Mastering Engineer Bob Katz—The Voice of Experience
Recording - October 2009 - 25
Recording - October 2009 - 26
Recording - October 2009 - 27
Recording - October 2009 - Benchmark MPA1 Preamplifier
Recording - October 2009 - 29
Recording - October 2009 - 30
Recording - October 2009 - 31
Recording - October 2009 - What The Heck IS Mastering?
Recording - October 2009 - 33
Recording - October 2009 - 34
Recording - October 2009 - 35
Recording - October 2009 - Reviewed and Revisited: M-Audio ProFire 610
Recording - October 2009 - 37
Recording - October 2009 - Universal Audio 710 Twin-Finity
Recording - October 2009 - 39
Recording - October 2009 - 40
Recording - October 2009 - 41
Recording - October 2009 - 42
Recording - October 2009 - 43
Recording - October 2009 - 44
Recording - October 2009 - 45
Recording - October 2009 - Recording’s Drum Column
Recording - October 2009 - 47
Recording - October 2009 - Plug-In Outlet
Recording - October 2009 - 49
Recording - October 2009 - 50
Recording - October 2009 - 51
Recording - October 2009 - Readers' Tapes
Recording - October 2009 - 53
Recording - October 2009 - Chameleon Labs 7802 Tube Compressor
Recording - October 2009 - 55
Recording - October 2009 - Recording’s Showcase of Sounds
Recording - October 2009 - Advertiser Index
Recording - October 2009 - 58
Recording - October 2009 - 59
Recording - October 2009 - 60
Recording - October 2009 - 61
Recording - October 2009 - 62
Recording - October 2009 - 63
Recording - October 2009 - Fade Out
Recording - October 2009 - Cover3
Recording - October 2009 - Cover4
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