Recording - October 2011 - 28
Grace Design m103
with a decidedly (proudly!) lumpy frequency response; it sounds good on everything from snare drums to guitar cabinets, it’s effectively indestructible, and it can be made to work decently well with almost any mic preamp... but using it with the m103 was a revelation. Grace Design encourages users to try Ribbon mode on dynamic mics; the Ribbon switch not only locks out phantom power (which can destroy vintage ribbon mics) and bypasses the decoupling capacitors for the phantom circuit, but also boosts the m103’s input impedance. Changing the input impedance on a dynamic mic can drastically change its sound, often for the better, and the Ribbon switch on the m103 did just that for my old SM57, making the sound fuller and gutsier with a more balanced low-midrange... effectively a brandnew mic sound.
On the m103, though, the mic’s character shone through—a cheap (as opposed to inexpensive) bad knockoff with ringy peaky response and a painfully brittle high end. Lesson learned: the m103 can make a good mic sound great, but it will make a bad mic sound just as bad as it really is. Instrument DI—from bad to beautiful For the Instrument Input tests, my main focus was on the Schecter A-5X. This is a 5-string baritone instrument tuned in fifths with a 26.5” scale; its highest string is a fairly conventional .011 tuned to C#, while its lowest string is a thundering low A with a .074 gauge that makes conventional guitarists quake with fear. It has the range of an electric guitar plus all but the lowest fourth of a bass’s range, and its Seymour Duncan Hot Rails pickups give it blistering output levels. Even when very carefully set up and intonated, its lower strings tend to
The result was the most beautiful tone I’d ever gotten from my A-5X in nearly ten years of constant playing and recording: clear, vibrant, tonally balanced, and exceptionally smooth in delivery, with no weird honks, squeaks, or thumps, perfect for playing with fingers or plectrum. A very problematic instrument with a shaky player, tamed and made sweet in about 15 minutes of tweaking... in this reviewer’s opinion, worth the price of the m103 with nary a mic in sight. Conclusions If a recording musician with a good basic studio wants to start improving it, he or she looks at the best places to invest money so as to get maximum improvement for the dollar. Some logical places for those targeted investments are: improving the sound of the room itself; adding better-quality mics (inexpensive or not); and installing trustworthy monitors.
The m103’s rear-panel layout lets it operate as either a single channel strip, or as a mic preamp and a separate line-level eq/compressor with makeup gain.
For my “ultimate DJ voice without an SM7B handy” settings, I used: Input Gain 50 dB, Ribbon and HPF on, Low shelf +6 dB at about 200 Hz, Mid +3 dB at about 2 kHz, Q of 0.5 (very broad), High shelf –12 dB at 20 kHz. On the compressor, I had a Threshold of +12 dB with a fast Attack and a Release of just under 1 second with a Ratio of 10:1 or more, just to grab and clamp my loudest peaks, and 0 dB Trim. Lesson learned: a mic with a good solid sound, even if it’s inexpensive, can be made magical with the m103. Further, I would argue that if you need solid proof that dynamic mics aren’t outdated in our era of cheap condensers, you need to run some good dynamics through the m103 with (and without) the Ribbon switch and hear how great they can be. Oh, speaking of cheap condensers: I tried the m103 on a Chinese U87 clone that someone had abandoned in my studio years ago and I hadn’t the heart to throw away. This mic was sort of tolerable on vocals and some string instruments when run through my old analog console’s preamps; you had the feeling that something really wasn’t up to snuff, but couldn’t point at precisely what it was.
28
RECORDING OCTOBER 2011
dominate its output, and getting a good balanced sound out of it rather than a wall of mud isn’t always easy. Well, let me rephrase... it isn’t always easy if you don’t have a Grace m103 in circuit. My recipe for a smooth, even, and powerful tone from the zingiest highs to the growliest lows went something like this: Input Gain at 35 dB, HPF in, Low eq at a –3 dB shelf at about 200 Hz, Mid –3 dB at about 1 kHz with Q of 0.5, and High eq at a +3 dB shelf at about kHz. Compressor Threshold at +2 dB, Attack 3 msec, Release 1 sec, Ratio about 6:1, +2 dB Trim. This eq setup smoothed/tamed the A-5X’s out-of-control lows in a two-stage attack on the bass frequencies, while scooping the overenergetic mids and adding air to the neglected high strings. The compressor’s settings probably seem a bit aggressive to engineers who are used to setting up dynamics control on guitars or basses, but trust me on this—with a full-time job as a magazine editor, another full time job as a husband and father, and nowhere near as much time to practice as I’d like, saying I have problems playing with even dynamics is like saying Jack The Ripper had anger issues!
But there’s a special magic about the idea of getting a really good channel strip to supplement what’s in your console or audio interface—a really good clean clear mic preamp/DI that will get your miked sources and guitars to sound their best, a musical and easy-to-set eq that lets you remove problems or mold your source’s tone for character and sweetness, and a smooth, clean compressor that can be used to tame dynamics problems or to give sustain and power to sources that need it. With the m103, Grace Design provides an elegant, simple, and beautiful-sounding entry into the big leagues for the small studio owner, at a price that’s very reasonable for what you’re getting. There are other channel strips out there, some offering more features for way less money... but if you’re buying with your ears, the m103 is something truly special. (And I’ve made it to the end of this review without a single pun about accomplishing its tasks with Grace!... wait. Dang.) Price: $1575 street More from: Grace Design, www.gracedesign.com
http://www.gracedesign.com
Recording - October 2011
Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Recording - October 2011
Recording - October 2011
Fade In
Contents
Talkback
Fast Forward
Postcards From The World Of Recording
Grace Design m103
Adobe Audition CS5.5
Radial Engineering Workhorse and 500-Series Modules: JDV-Pre, Shuttle, EXTC, and PhazeQ
Blue Reactor Multi-Pattern Condenser Mic
Great River Electronics / Harrison 32EQ 500-Series Equalizer Module
Millennia Media HV-35 500-Series Mic Preamp
Telefunken Elektroakustik AK-47 MkII Tube Condenser Mic
Pulse Techniques EQP-1A3
Audix CX212B Multi-Pattern Condenser Mic
A-Designs HM2 Compressor “The Nail”
It’s Your Music—Know Your Rights. Chapter 19: Album Release Checklist
Electro-Voice RE320 Dynamic Mic
Alesis iO Dock
Putting Together The Pieces
Reviewed & Revisited: Fable Sounds Broadway Big Band Kontakt Edition and Broadway Lites
Readers’ Tapes
Advertiser Index
Fade Out
Recording - October 2011 - Recording - October 2011
Recording - October 2011 - Cover2
Recording - October 2011 - 1
Recording - October 2011 - Fade In
Recording - October 2011 - 3
Recording - October 2011 - Contents
Recording - October 2011 - 5
Recording - October 2011 - Talkback
Recording - October 2011 - 7
Recording - October 2011 - Fast Forward
Recording - October 2011 - 9
Recording - October 2011 - 10
Recording - October 2011 - 11
Recording - October 2011 - Postcards From The World Of Recording
Recording - October 2011 - 13
Recording - October 2011 - 14
Recording - October 2011 - 15
Recording - October 2011 - 16
Recording - October 2011 - 17
Recording - October 2011 - 18
Recording - October 2011 - 19
Recording - October 2011 - 20
Recording - October 2011 - 21
Recording - October 2011 - 22
Recording - October 2011 - 23
Recording - October 2011 - 24
Recording - October 2011 - 25
Recording - October 2011 - Grace Design m103
Recording - October 2011 - 27
Recording - October 2011 - 28
Recording - October 2011 - 29
Recording - October 2011 - Adobe Audition CS5.5
Recording - October 2011 - 31
Recording - October 2011 - 32
Recording - October 2011 - 33
Recording - October 2011 - 34
Recording - October 2011 - 35
Recording - October 2011 - 36
Recording - October 2011 - 37
Recording - October 2011 - Radial Engineering Workhorse and 500-Series Modules: JDV-Pre, Shuttle, EXTC, and PhazeQ
Recording - October 2011 - 39
Recording - October 2011 - 40
Recording - October 2011 - 41
Recording - October 2011 - 42
Recording - October 2011 - 43
Recording - October 2011 - 44
Recording - October 2011 - 45
Recording - October 2011 - Blue Reactor Multi-Pattern Condenser Mic
Recording - October 2011 - 47
Recording - October 2011 - Great River Electronics / Harrison 32EQ 500-Series Equalizer Module
Recording - October 2011 - 49
Recording - October 2011 - 50
Recording - October 2011 - 51
Recording - October 2011 - Millennia Media HV-35 500-Series Mic Preamp
Recording - October 2011 - 53
Recording - October 2011 - Telefunken Elektroakustik AK-47 MkII Tube Condenser Mic
Recording - October 2011 - 55
Recording - October 2011 - Pulse Techniques EQP-1A3
Recording - October 2011 - 57
Recording - October 2011 - Audix CX212B Multi-Pattern Condenser Mic
Recording - October 2011 - 59
Recording - October 2011 - A-Designs HM2 Compressor “The Nail”
Recording - October 2011 - 61
Recording - October 2011 - It’s Your Music—Know Your Rights. Chapter 19: Album Release Checklist
Recording - October 2011 - 63
Recording - October 2011 - 64
Recording - October 2011 - 65
Recording - October 2011 - Electro-Voice RE320 Dynamic Mic
Recording - October 2011 - 67
Recording - October 2011 - 68
Recording - October 2011 - 69
Recording - October 2011 - 70
Recording - October 2011 - 71
Recording - October 2011 - 72
Recording - October 2011 - 73
Recording - October 2011 - Alesis iO Dock
Recording - October 2011 - 75
Recording - October 2011 - Putting Together The Pieces
Recording - October 2011 - 77
Recording - October 2011 - Reviewed & Revisited: Fable Sounds Broadway Big Band Kontakt Edition and Broadway Lites
Recording - October 2011 - 79
Recording - October 2011 - Readers’ Tapes
Recording - October 2011 - Advertiser Index
Recording - October 2011 - 82
Recording - October 2011 - 83
Recording - October 2011 - 84
Recording - October 2011 - 85
Recording - October 2011 - 86
Recording - October 2011 - 87
Recording - October 2011 - Fade Out
Recording - October 2011 - Cover3
Recording - October 2011 - Cover4
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