Wiring Diagram: Custom Carvin mods 02 and 03

Classification

Guitar Moded

Carvin Custom HH


Description

• HH pickup layout
• 2 humbuckers (Seymour Duncan)
• 1 volume pot
• 1 tone pot
• 1 Schaller Megaswitch E (regular 5-way) or 1 Fender 5-way switch

Difficulty Level

Easy


Features

• Provides full humbuckers and split combinations
• Simple treble bleed mod (just a cap)

Wiring Diagram

Two diagrams, this time. Both are designed for Seymour Duncan pickups.
First one is the solution with a Schaller Megaswitch E (regular 5-way), that will work also with any cheap Asian importation switch.
Second one is same wiring with a regular and trustful Fender 5-way blade switch.
Remember to click on the images for full size.

Comments

To adapt the Custom Charvel Wiring Mod 01 to Seymour Duncan pickups it's even trickier than the original mod was. While Charvel pickups split by default (grounding the link) to TOP pickup, Seymour Duncan split by default to inner coil (usually slug coil), except for some tricky pickups, like the P-Rails.

That means that while in Charvel, with regular split, with achieve the outer coil of the neck and the inner coil of the bridge (they are both their respective "top" pickups in their position), in standard SD' split, we achieve inner coil in neck (or bottom pickup for Charvel) and inner coil in bridge (or top pickup for charvel).

A direct remapping of wires, from Mod 01, doesn't give us the right combinations. When I split humbuckers to single coils, I prefer to favor the inside (or top) coil of the bridge and the outer coil (or top) of the neck, so we achieve two things at same time: first to get the louder coil for each position and, second to get hum cancelling positions if both pickups are being selected together.

So, I redesigned mod 01 for Seymour Duncan pickups, to achieve following combos:

1. Neck humbucker
2. Neck split to outer coil (screw)
3. Bridge split to inner coil (slug) in series with Neck split to outer coil (screw)
4. Bridge split to inner coil (Slug)
5. Bridge humbucker.

To achieve those results, I had to totally reverse the way both coils are being put in series in both pickups.

Guitars: Prestige Heritage Elite and Standard

Introduction

Note: this entry was already published during September 2009, in my old Spanish version of this blog. I am revisiting this entry an mixing the information about two Prestige Heritage models: the Elite, that I bought first time, and the Standard, that I actually own. The entry has been updated with additional information derived of experience.

Ah, yes, Les Paul, Les Paul!.
Same thing that happens with Jimi Hendrix and Stratocasters, happens with Les Pauls and Jimmy Page.
If you even saw Led Zeppelin's film called "The song remains the same", the images of that Page's guitar doing anything you can imagine will be still alive in your mind.
Yes, I wanted a Stratocaster (because of Hendrix) but, I wanted a Les Paul, also!.

The main issue with all Gibson' stuff is the price tag. Incredible high. You see their building facilities in some videos, where the most of process is highly mechanized and you wonder why that price!.
Fender' stuff is always more affordable, in my opinion rightly priced but, that's how life goes: do you want a Gibson? pay it!.

Nowadays, I would probably save money for a real Gibson but, when I retook the guitar (2008 - 2009), I knew less than I new when I played my first guitar and, this is close to Zero knowledge. I didn't wanted to break my pocket buying an expensive guitar that could be my second one.

For sure, the best alternative to a real Gibson LP is a Tokai but, the good ones (by example the equivalent to a R9) are reaching high price tags, close to the price of a Gibson Standard and, they don't have the same resell price. Other good clones are in the same price level (or even expensiver if they are Japanese clones of around 80-90's).
Then, we have the little brother of Gibson, Epiphone. I currently thing that Epiphone has increased his quality level since those years. Two Epiphones I bought are really convincing, specially on wood work. But, people was claiming about fret work, cheap hardware and weak electronics those days so, I turned my head in other directions.

What I wanted is to get some LP type of guitar with good wood work and, with the possibility to be upgraded during the time. If wood is ok, you can always enhance the guitar.
Following the rule that says: "cheaper often means expensiver" (because you end buying same thing several times), I went first for the "Chinese way".

Those years, a lot of Ebay activity was happening (no Crisis!) and was really easy to buy, resell and sell again. I bought first a couple of Chinese LP's, really cheap, from a couple of European traders on Ebay.
What can I say!. They could serve as a table for your workshop but, as guitars, had a lot to grow.
Bad woods, bad work, bad settings, weak necks, bad pickups, cheap electronics... you know, everything that makes a guitar to sound and play simply horrible.
I saw a friend of mine buying a couple of Chinese "exact" clones of a Fender Stratocaster and a Gibson LP Custom that played and sounded simply bad. They are even putting there the name of brand and models that they are cloning, without shame and with total impunity. Nobody can stop that people?. It's a shame for the real Brands and a trap were many unknowledgable people caught!.

Well, still under the rule "cheaper often means expensiver", I did resold both guitars practically the same month I had them and went an step higher: this time, I wanted to try Korean stuff and stay away of Chinese Stuff.
This time, I did a more careful search and, I wanted a cheap Korean guitar but, having good electronics loaded, to avoid the extra expense of upgrading electronics, what makes the guitar to cost more or less double than when you bought it.

That search leaded me to Prestige Heritage guitars.
As per their page's information. They seem to send Canadian wood to Korea, let the Korean people to do what they do really well (woodwork) and finish the guitar with American hardware and pickups, setting up the guitar finally in Canada.
Prestige Heritage models were loaded with real CTS pots and Seymour Duncan pickups ('59 at neck and JB at bridge) so, I had to try it.

I bought first the Elite model, that sounded absolutely magic. I sold it because it had that kind of gorgeous "Tree of Life" inlay, that I love to see but, that makes me to be lost when walking the neck (just a personal limitation) and, because they hadn't same model with regular inlays, I had to go for an Standard.
This entry will talk simultaneously of both guitars.


Presentation


Both guitars come in a thin hard case, with good look but, the walls of the case are so thin that cannot protect the guitar enough. The hard case is shaped with the shape of the guitar, as usual for LP like guitars.
Inside, just the warranty (for life!), the thrussrod key and, that's all.

The Elite model has stunning finishes. It's sexy as hell. The body top is made of quilted maple of quality AAAA, absolutely gorgeous. The paint work on the back, neck and headstock shine like a mirror and, the whole frontal shape (body, fretboard and headstock) are surrounded with a mother-of-pearl inlay that makes this guitar incredible sexy.
The fretboard is inlayed with some variant of the "Tree of Life", with mother-of-pearl inlays. This work is way more beautiful that the "Tree of Life" that you can see in a JEM7VWH, that disappointed me a bit.
If you see the two pictures in the header of this blog, this is the guitar I am talking about!.

The woodwork is perfect. No flaws, everything was done to the perfection.
The joint neck and body is completely different of any standard LP. It has some kind of shape in form of an S that makes really comfortable to reach the last frets (one of the things I don't like of LPs).
The neck is thin, closer to the '60s neck style but, maybe, even thinner.

Paint isn't nitro but, I hate nitro necks, in fact, because it's some kind of brake when walking on the neck.
So, the high gloss finish of this guitar made it easy to walk the fingerboard.
Tuning keys are typical Korean, oil-sealed Die Cast. Not a great thing but, they do their job. The guitar remains in tune more time than my 3 Gibsons (now, I just have one).
The electronics work is perfect, using CTS pots, Swiftcraft jack and switch and, the guitar comes stock with a couple of Seymour Duncan's pickups, a '59 on neck and a JB on bridge.
You really don't need to upgrade the electronics. The guitar is already completed in this area.
The above details are related to the Elite model.
The Standard model is more standard. It lacks the incredible mother-of-pearl inlays that follow the guitar' shape and, even the typical block inlays on frets are made of abalone, instead of mother-of-pearl.
The joint neck-body is the same as in a LP so, worst to reach the lower frets.
Even mounting the same electronics and hardware that the Elite model, woods seem an step down in quality and, this is something that immediately is transferred to the resulting sound.
While the Elite model sounded and played just perfect, the Standard model sounds and plays a bit looser.

I did always regret selling the Elite one. It was lately stolen to the guy I've sold it and, I am wondering if one who has her on his hands would even appreciate that guitar!.


Playing it
In the Elite, the shape of the neck, the inlays of the fretboard (that increase the speed) and the kind of paint used for the neck, make it easier to play than a regular Gibson. Unplugged, its woods resonate round, with complex harmonics and a lot of sustain.The wood is of quality and give a good body to the sound.
The guitar weights exactly 4 KG! (and the case, other 4 KG!).
The sound is simply magical. They choosed a nice pair of classical SD pickups that help to enhance the natural sound of this guitar.
The '59 sounds warm, very vocal, with some kind of wah effect, rich overtones, harmonically rich and complex. Really nice. Can go a bit dirt and undefined under high gain.
The JB cuts the mix in any situation. More modern voiced, cuts as a blade and, very specially, under high distortion.
To get a good EQ in your amp, can be more tricky than usual because both pickups are EQ'd in a very different way so, you should go for a compromised in-between EQ. But, once you achieve it, the guitar starts to sing like a bird (a fat one) and, thanks to the very different nature of both pickups, the guitar is actually very versatile.

My only limitation with that guitar was the fretboard inlay. I am lost when I play any guitar having such a "Tree of Life" inlay, it already happened to me with 4 guitars (that I resold because of the same thing!).
But I am missing her tone everyday, and I always regret selling her!.

If you don't have such a silly issue with that kind of inlays and you are still doubting if Elite or Standard: DON'T DOUBT IT: ELITE ALL THE WAY DOWN!.

Fretwork is also good. Frets are well polished and sanded, nothing that stops your fingers.
The set up was really good, as comes stock.

Overall, even that both guitars are very similar respect of hardware and electronics, the Elite is clearly a plus and, not just esthetically talking but, related to woods quality also. The magical sound that the Elite was delivering isn't the same as the Standard delivers (a bit looser) and, overall, the Standard feels weaker in every sense but, still a good guitar (that's why is still in my arsenal, after 3 years).
The Standard remains for less time in tune than the Elite.

Even that it was unnecessary to upgrade the pickups, I did it. I wanted to explore different coils combinations and found that this guitar is a good platform to do it.
I've swapped the original pickups with a couple of Bareknuckle's: The Mule on neck and, Riff Raff on bridge. A set that is quite similar to the original one but that has a better definition and easier EQ.
I also swapped the original caps with a couple of 0.047 PIO caps (Sprage Vitamin-Q).
The guitar (Standard) is currently wired according to my "LP Exchanger mod #2", that is some kind of enhanced JP wiring mod.


The Videos

I did just a video with the Elite and, it lacks video quality (recorded with a cheap webcam) and the unprocessed sound is a bit weak but, I think from frame to frame, and thru the dark image, you can imagine how the guitar looks and sounds. This video was done for a Seymour Duncan's contest and, I won a Twin Tube pedal with it!. LOL.



The Standard is appearing in more videos. In this one, I am improvising an "on-steroids" free improvisation over Led Zeppelin's "Since I am loving you", that allows you to hear the Standard in a real application.



This two are probably the closer to a "demo" of the different sound of this guitar with the "LP Exchange mod #2" wiring mod and the two Bareknucle's:

Guitars: Fender American Deluxe HSS Stratocaster

Introduction

Note: this entry was originally posted during September 2009, in my old version of this blog, in Spanish. I am revisiting here such an entry and updating it with the tests and changes that I did to this guitar until today.

As happened to many other guitarists, the magical image of Jimi Hendrix creating incredible sounds with the help of that white Stratocaster, while pushing hard his Marshalls, is something that is still alive in my mind.
So, yes, like many other guitarists, I wanted to dead a Stratocaster and a Marshall.

Well, I wasn't able to buy my dreamed guitar until it was very late, when I had to play alone at home. In 1991 I bought my very first guitar of a well known maker: a Fender American Standard Stratocaster.
I was previously owning two cheap guitars: a copy of a Gibson Marauder of a Japanese maker and, some kind of Floyd Rose guitar of some other unknown maker.
I loved my new brand Stratocaster, for sure. I loved even her smell.
Some years later, I went to my first Marshall but, it was a wrong decision, since I've got one Valvetone one, instead of the real deal.

After playing that Strato for years, I started to be uncomfortable with some things. By example, the lack of tuning stability, the weak sound of the pickups, the noise of single coils, etc.
Before knowing absolutely nothing of what I actually know, I tried several things on the guitar: as noiseless pickups (that I hated), single-coil sized humbuckers (that I hated) and many other things.
Then, during 2009 I saw Fender offering some Deluxe models and, after carefully reading their description, I thought this Strato could be the kind of Strato that will make my playing more comfortable.

I sold my old American Standard and bought a new brand American Deluxe HSS Stratocaster.


Presentation

The guitar comes inside a guitar-shaped hard case. Since the case fits to the shape of the guitar, there is less room to store your stuff inside, compared with the rectangular case of my old Standard.
In any case, the case seems harder than the old one and, the locks seem of a better quality (I've brook one after one month in the Standard).
Comes with all the goodies, including a Fender Instrument Cable and a nice leather guitar strap.

Compared to the look of my old Standard, this one seemed to me less sexy but, honestly, none of the Deluxe models had an attractive look to my taste. So, I went for the less ugly one but, still ugly.
Despite of the thick paint that covers the body, all the rest seemed really stunning.

The finishing quality of the neck is incredible good. While in the standard the dots of the fretboard were painted, in the Deluxe the dots are all mother-pearl inlays. The neck profile was a bit thinner and wider than in the Standard and, the radius bigger also. The look of the rosewood fretboard was also gorgeous and, the maple of the neck had a very gorgeous look.

The typical nut is being replaced here with a LRS nut. A nut that provides less friction to the strings, since each one is surrounded by a couple of little bearing balls. This increases the sustain of the strings but, it also adds some metallic high end to the sound.

The headstock mounts staggered locking tuning keys that make unnecessary the use of string trees to modify the angle of the strings 1 to 4. That's helps also to the sustain. Also, since the string is being locked inside the post, you can cut the remaining part of the string and therefore wrap less turns.

Frets are perfectly leveled and don't disturb you when walking the fretboard. The Standard had frets not perfectly sanded that made a bit more difficult to walk the fretboard.

The junction body-neck has some cut that helps to better reach the lower frets. Still not so comfortable as the junction that you can find in some super-stratos, like Ibanez' ones but, way better than the typical Strato junction.

The bridge, apparently looks like the vintage one but, it's a real floating bridge, which blade rests on two little posts (similarly as a Floyd Rose). The material and finishing seems to be a bit better than the typical standard tremolo. The tremolo bar is of pop-up type so, you just push it to insert it in the bridge's hole, instead of having to screw it. Also, the bar is thicker and with a better look. The Standard is thinner and bends when you handle it and, that white tap falls down very often. No tap in the Deluxe's tremolo bar.
The sensibility of this tremolo bar is very similar to the sensibility of a good Floyd Rose.
The bridge, with 5 springs retaining it, stays very stable and, it's very easy to do anything without having to use a great force to play it and, at the same time, is not so easy to accidentally bend the strings if your palm rests over it.
The combined action of the locking  keys and this type of bridge, give to the guitar a great tuning stability and, it comes back to perfect tuning even after hard dive bombing, what is some kind incredible in a Strato.

Pickups are a pair of SCN (Samarian Cobalt Noiseless) and the atom-1 humbucker by Fender.
Neither the SCN neck and middle, neither the humbucker liked me. The humbucker was surprisingly noisy. All them seemed to lack some attitude and, none gave that typical Strato sound.
I would say that, when I bought that guitar, I had just that one so, her should cover all the ground and, even didn't loving those pickups, they did the job. Not a sound that a purist would appreciate but, they were useful to cover everything, from cleans to high gain.

The guitar comes with a push/push S-1 switch, under the volume pot, that allows to get alternate combinations, different of the typical 5 ones that any regular 5-way switch provides. Honestly, just one or two of the alternate one was of interest to me (at least with that set of pickups). In my opinion, the alternate combos available in the Deluxe SSS are more interesting.

The silly thing about that guitar is that it costed just 200 Eur more than the Standard model and, the difference was HUGE, in any single detail. I never understood it but, when I recommended it to a friend, those guitars had increased their price in more than 600 Eur more than when I bought her.
Not sure if I would go for this guitar at that new price, nowadays.
Maybe, I had luck this time!.


Playing it

Compared to the Standard, the Deluxe was comfortable from the very first day and, it's today my number 1.
The nice sensitivity of the floating tremolo, the smoothness of the neck... everything makes me to love this axe to dead (except for the ugly paint of the body).

The fretboard isn't so fast as in the PRS 513 or in a Red Special or in a JEM7VWH but, good enough.
It gives me very few tuning stability issues. Not so stable as the PRS 513 but, even better than in my LP-clone.
The guitar is well balanced and stands stable when you hung her.


Modding it

As soon as I've stocked some other types of guitars, including one with Floyd Rose, the idea of having a guitar for everything disappeared and, the idea of have an Strato that sounded like a Strato started.
My first try was with a set of Bareknuckle pickups: Mother's Milk, an awesome set of pickups with lots of details but, probably a bit trebly for this axe.
After a year of using them, I went for a set of Seymour Duncan Antiquity II Surf and, I think this was a good election but, maybe a set of staggered Sultans of BKP can do the trick, as well. anyway, I am not planning to swap those pickups again.

I've decided to have a separate tone control for the bridge pickup since, this is the one that usually needs some roll off of the high end. I've also shielded the electronics cavity, swapped pots and caps (actually, a couple of .0047 PIO caps).
Some day, I would do some other wiring design to provide it with more options but, I am playing it practically all the sessions so... I have to wait until my interest turns over other axe. LOL.


I went for 0.10" strings, because I feel that the LRS nut adds some metallic character to the sound, some sparkle and excessive high end that can sound a bit thin. The bigger gauge adds body and helps me to achieve more stable chords (were you don't accidentally bend one or the other string with some finger pushing hard). This made necessary to setup again the guitar but, did worth it.


Video

The videos I had about this guitar mounting the original HSS pickguard were removed, since they lacked sound quality. This guitar is present in most of my videos but, I think I am not demoing it specifically but, using it to demo another thing.

Maybe this one represents its current status and, can be heard clean and with several pedal effects:

Wiring Diagram: Carvin Custom HH 01

Classification

Guitar Moded

Carvin Custom HH


Description

• HH pickup layout
• 2 humbuckers
• 1 volume pot
• 1 tone pot
• 1 Schaller Megaswitch E (regular 5-way)

Difficulty Level

Easy


Features

• Provides full humbuckers and split combinations
• Simple treble bleed mod (just a cap)

Wiring Diagram

Comments

This design was guest from some pictures and descriptions of a Charvel Custom.
Pickups are Carvin and follow a different color schema than Seymour Duncan's ones. Additionally, while in SD usually the lead wire is always attached to the slug coil (inner coil), in Carvin it's related to the "top" coil.
This is a tricky design that gave me some headache to figure it out. Tricky but interesting, indeed.

Following combos occur:

1. Neck humbucker
2. Neck split to outer coil (screw)
3. Bridge split to inner coil (slug) in series with Neck split to outer coil (screw)
4. Bridge split to outer coil (screw)
5. Bridge humbucker.

Guitars: PRS 513 Rosewood

Introduction

This entry was already published during September 2009 in my old Spanish version of this blog. I am just revisiting it here.


Presentation

The guitar comes in a hardcase, well designed with a lot of storage space. All the typical goodies are inside (manual, tools, stickers, certificates...).
You open the hardcase and the guitar smells to quality by all sides. I've had Fenders' and Gibson's but, this PRS seems to be one or two steps higher in finish.

The luthiery work is impressive. Frets are well leveled and sanded, nothing messing you were walking the fretboard.
The Rosewood neck and fretboard are gorgeous, really beautiful.
The locking tuning keys are very easy to use. You lock and unlock them with the help of a coin.
The tuning stability is impressive. This guitar stays in tune for long long time.
It has a fat neck profile, some kind of "baseball" one but, it's easier to play than any LP or Strato, to my taste.
The golden hardware is something I usually don't like on guitars, because it usually make them to look like toy guitars but, at least, this gold plated hardware is of quality.
Neck and fretboard aren't covered with any kind of paint or clear lack, they need a bit of oil from time to time to restore their gorgeus look.

Controls are the tricky side of this guitar. It loads 5 single-coil pickups, in some kind of HSH layout.
Each "virtual" humbucker can be arranged in 3 different ways: full humbucker, half humbucker and single coil split. To do that, the 513 loads two blade switches, the typical 5-way that any strato has and one more 3-way switch to select the humbucker modes.
One master volume and tone knobs complete the electronics layout.

Currently, this guitar is out of production. PRS is offering the PRS 513 Mahogany where every wooden part is made of Mahogany. The PRS 513 Rosewood is the model with neck and fretboard made of Brazilian Rosewood. A wood that Brazil forbidden to export to USA and, that PRS is currently using just from their own stock only for their high end guitars (Private Stock).
This model was produced only during the years 2004 to 2006 (were it was discontinued) and, I bought her second hand.


Playing it

I would say that this guitar has the faster fretboard of all my guitars. The first month was a bit hard to play, since I had all my guitars loaded with strings of 0.09" gauge, while the 513 comes stock with 0.10". Some pain on my left hand, after hard bending the strings but, where I was familiar and comfortable with 0.10" strings, I have changed the strings in the rest of my guitars to 0.10" (except for the Floyd Rose one, where I still have 0.09").

So, first warning for you is strings gauge. If you aren't used to 0.10" you will probably suffer a bit at the beginning, since strings seem to maintain a big tension, making hard extreme bendings (currently, it's easier than in my 0.10" loaded strato!).

Second thing that worried me at the beginning was the profile of the neck, that seemed to me really fat. But, while to be used to 0.10" strings took a while, to comfortably play this fretboard was instantly easy.
I was surprised to feel how nice the fretboard can be walked up and down, taking into account the fat profile of the neck. After the Ibanez JEM7VWH and the Red Special, this is probably the fastest fretboard I ever played. Probably, the fretboard radius, together with the neck profile and nice fretting work do the trick.

Third thing that called my attention was that additional 3-way blade switch to select the humbucker mode, until I went familiar with it.
Up, you are selecting full humbucker mode for neck or bridge pickup, depending on which position is involved in the classic 5-way switch. Full humbucker mode is some kind of high gain humbucker, delivering a creamy, thick, compressed and high gain sound.
Middle, you are selecting half humbucker. I think, both single pickups are tapered so, you are putting both pickups in series but, using their tappers. The resulting sound is more PAF-alike, very useful for classic rock and hard rock tones.
Single mode is selecting just one of those pickups (and probably tapered) and, delivers real "Strato" tones, because we are having here a real single coil pickup, with their vertical magnetic rods. Despite of the warmer coloration that the woods give, the sound as close as you can imagine to an Strato sound.

Unplugged, the wood resonates with warm, gorgeous and round (perfect?) sound, full of harmonics content, full body and silky warm.

Plugged and paired with a good amp, the guitar is so versatile that can cover practically any territory. You can deal with high gain stuff, classic rock and even the chime and bells of an strato, just switching the coils selector. Probably, the most versatile guitar I know and, the most versatile I have.

The tremolo bridge is vintage alike so, don't expect to be able to do extreme bombings or high pitches. It's more close to an strato bridge than to a floyd rose bridge. But, for what is was designed to do, it's doing it well, with good stability and without detuning the guitar (the locking keys help to achieve it, as well).


Video

I really never did an in depth video around this guitar but, the one I did more close to a review / demo is the next one:



And, this one was a recording (with Amplitube) for a contest (just for fun):




Conclusion

Probably the most versatile guitar I know and, the most versatile I have. A pleasure to play and, delivering good tones in each mode, from strato-like chime bells to high gain thick and compressed stuff.
If it had a Floyd Rose tremolo (while delivering same tones) would be simply perfect.
The drawback is the price. PRS stuff is always expensive and, a model loading Rosewood neck and fretboard is even more expensive. I broke my credit card for this one and took me two years to balance it but, I am now poor and happy.

I would not recommend it to everyone. Honestly, I think this guitar can be of great help to an Studio Professional Player (not my case). I went crazy with her. What else can I say!.

Wiring Diagram: Super Strato HSH mod 11

Classification

Guitar moded

Super strato HSH type, with 1 volume and 1 tone, Fender's 5-way switch.

Description

• HSH pickup layout
• 2 humbuckers (2 P-Rails, in this case)
• 1 single coil
• 1 volume
• 1 tone
• 2 pull/push DPDT on/on switches (under each potentiometer)

Difficulty Level

Medium-hard


Features

• Allows to split to one or other coil or put coils in series or parallel to both humbuckers at same time. Which one is active depends on the 5-way switch.
• Allows typical 5-way positions but, mixing coils in series, cois in parallel, rail coil, P90 coil for each position where the humbucker is active.

Wiring Diagram

Click on the diagram to watch it full sized.

Comments

As ever, color code schema for pickup's wires is Seymour Duncan's one but, the white wire is being represented here as light blue, for better reading.
That pair of pull / pushes work together to determine which coils do you want to select on both humbuckers at same time. Since each humbucker is just working on their own positions, whatever is being selected in the other humbucker has no effect on its natural selected position in 5-way switch.

So, what you have is as follows:

Pos 1: Neck pickup
Pos 2: Neck pickup in parallel with middle pickup
Pos 3: Middle pickup
Pos 4: Middle pickup in parallel with bridge pickup
Pos 5: Bridge pickup

But, Neck or Bridge pickup can have the following coils arrangement, depending on the combined work of the Volume and Tone pull/pushes:

VPP  / TPP  -> COMBO
Down / Down -> Coils in series (humbucker mode)
Up   / Up   -> Coils in parallel
Up   / Down ->  Rail coil
Down / Up   -> P90 coil

So, you can always select which of those 4 combinations to use for Pos 1 and 2 (for neck pickup) in the blade switch and, for Pos 4 and 5 (for bridgie pickup).
This gives you 4 + 4 + 1 + 4 + 4 = 21 different combinations of pickups.

Note: all grounds (represented here with the inverted triangel) should be soldered together to any grounding spot (a claw in your shielding, backside of any pot, etc.). Grounds not represented here (as the bridge wire ground, or the shielding ground, by example) should be also grounded together.

Home Studio: 112dB Red Monitor plugin

Introduction

This entry was already published during September 2009, in my old Spanish version of this blog. I am just revisiting the entry here.

One of the issues I've got with mixing is that, when I can work in my mixes is just at the end of the day or, during the night and, therefore, I cannot use monitors often.


Some time ago, I bought some headphones with plain frequential response for mixing (Sony MDR-7509HD). With those, you can hear any discrete detail but, what usually happens when you mix with headphones is that the stereo image that is being heard thru the headphones doesn't match the stereo image being reproduced in your monitors.

With headphones, everything sounds as if it was inside your head and, after checking same mix with monitors, you can discover that the depth of the mix clearly changed.

I've accidentally discovered this plugin, while searching for RTAS and VST plugins to include in my toolbox. I checked then their demo version and liked it so, I finally bought it.

Testing the plugin
This plugin allows you to indicate the real distance between your monitors and, between those and your sweet spot (were you hear the mix), even the degrees of separation and the amount of reduction of the loudness of the phantom center so, checking carefully the sound in your headphones against the sound of your monitors, you can get a very close stereo image in your headphones.
And that's what makes this plugin so interesting for silent mixing.

Therefore, this plugin is a wonderful tool to mix during the night. The corrections that you will have to apply to the mix when going back to the sound of your monitors will be way few than if you try the mix just with your headphones and without the help of this tool.

The drawback of this plugin is that is being increasing the volume (gain) in any way. Maybe, instead of pushing down the phantom center is increasing side levels?. I dunno but, it increases the loudness so, If you use it after a Limiters, you can get peaks and overs and therefore to give the final loudness and dynamics to the mix becomes more complex.
The plugins has one option to lower the output down to -3.0dB but, in that case, you are also unbalancing the levels of your mix and, any other plugin inserted after (Limiter, by example) will be affected by those levels.
In the first version that I've installed (the one I bought!), the button Dim worked even with the plugin switched off!.
Fortunately 112dB released a new version that fixed that issue.

I made my questions to 112dB's technical department and, they answered that there is no patch that can solve the issue related to the change of volume whitin the plugin, because to include a knob to be able to regulate the output volume (to match the input volume) was technically impossible without totally change the technical design of the program. But, they said that they wanted to program a new version of this plugin that will include some autoleveling volume but, not a knob in its interface that the user could use.
Till today, I don't know of an alternative plugin so, I should live with those "dings", until I can find a better alternative. I just know one more alternative and, it's hardware (the SPL headphone monitor).

Home Studio: Pro Tools Music Production Toolkit 2

Introduction

Note: this entry was already posted during September 2009. I am just revisiting the entry here.

As soon as I've started to use EZDrummer for sequencing the drums parts, I've realized that the number of available buses and auxiliary channels to route the sound is really poor.
Pro Toos Factory comes with 16 stereo buses (or 32 mono). They can seem enough but, if you wanted to record each instrument of EZDrummer in a separate track (for a better control), you need:

• 1 mono for Kick A
• 1 mono for Kick B
• 1 mono for Snare Top
• 1 mono for Snare Bottom
• 1 mono for Hi Hat
• 1 mono for Tom1
• 1 mono for Tom2
• 1 mono for Tom3
• 1 mono for Tom4
• 1 mono for Tom5
• 1 stereo for Overheads
• 1 stereo for Compressor
• 1 stereo for Drums Ambience

That means a total of 10 mono buses (5 stereo) and two more stereo buses, therefore a total of 8 stereo buses. If you wanted to use 3 stereo buses for reverberation effects, 1 more for delays, you need 12 stereo buses.
If you wanted to route all the drums and plates to a Drums bus, you need the 13th and, if you want to use parallel compression in your drums, you need the 14th. So, if add what you need for the bass guitar, electric guitar, vocals, etc. you wil run out of buses quickly.
Of course, you can always reuse the buses you already used to record the individual instruments of your EZDrummer drums, because you only need those when recording the output of EZD in audio format. But, it's a real mess to de-assign and re-assign buses between tracks. It can be done but, It obliges me to loose still more time with things that aren't directly related to musical production.

So, I checked with Pro Tools pre-sale department and, they confirmed me that the Music Production Toolkit 2 will double the number of available audio tracks and buses. So, I've ordered it!.

Testing it

Installation

After installing it I was surprised because, I didn't saw the new additional buses. Where my buses are?. WTF?.
I've opened previous projects, trying to re-assign the sends to those new additional buses but, I wasn't able to see any new bus in the list. WTF?.

The next day, mi PC totally crashed (not because Pro Tools) and, I've lost my Operating System disk, with all programs. After 3 days of hard work, I was able to bring to life my old PC.
This time, I've started a brand new installation of Pro Tools 8.0 LE, without installing version 7.4 first and then upgrade, with the updated version downloaded from Digidesign's web. My current version is just 8.0.1, while the previous one was 8cs3.
Once again, surprises:

In my previous installation, I wasn't able to select the Digi Rack 003 as my PC's audio card, in Windows XP Control Panel. Now, surprisingly, the card is populated there and I can use any Windows program thru the monitors.
I've lost also some plugins. By example, EQII plugins were removed but, I've still have the EQIII ones. No idea how many others disappeared.
Well, that new installation was really good so, I've also installed again the MPT-2 upgraded but, those additional buses were still missing and, that made me really nervous: I just bought that MPT-2 because pre-sales people ensured me that I will get the double the number of buses!.

In my honest opinion, Digidesign MUST hung useful instructions in their web, talking about how to install their products, from scratch and, how to leave the last version of each piece of software. There are a lot of spread links to upgrade each part and, it's not clear what to install and in which order.


Well, after fighting long time with the program, I had my lovely buses. I was really lucky. By casuality, I've reviewed the menu option I/O Settings, since I was interested on to rename the Inputs and Outputs to make them to match my studio gear, to easily know what is connected to what and... surprise!, the buses appeared!.
I've saved the I/O parameters and then, inside each old project, I recalled those I/O parameters and the new buses were available!.
This is the kind of things that drives me crazy with Pro Tools.

Smack!

After so many time wasted, I was able to test the included compressor named Smack!. It's a good compressor that can work in three different modes: opto, electric and warm, with filters to cut lows and, with the possibility to add some distortion, in three different ways.
It works really good, without issues but, I still prefer compressors that can add their own taste to any track, except for voices.

MP3
This is one more of the things that comes with the MPT-2 pack. This option allows you to directly bounce your mix to an MP3 file of quality.
Up  to now, I had to bounce to a WAV file and, to convert it later with other tool (Total Audio Converter) and, this process was introducing overs and clipping, even if the original audio file was ok.
The MP3 option works way better, leaving a higher quality file and, without altering the peaks of the mix.


Other options
I am still pending on testing other additions included in MPT-2 but, I am not in a hurry. Everything I needed of this pack was those additional buses and the MP3 option. And both, satisfied me.

Home Studio: IK Multimedia ARC System

Introduction

Note: this entry was already published during September 2009. I am just revisiting it here.

Still trying to get a good mix at home but, I am working in a very small room, with weird shape (more or less triangular) and, with both monitors heading to a square behind my head. So, you can imagine how hard is to achieve a mix that can be transported to other environments.
For sure, the best option is always to acoustically treat the room and, probably of the hand of a specialist but, this will cost me a lot of money in one side and, in the other side, the room is so small that to add any kind of isolant, bass traps or acoustic panels will reduce the room so much to be completely unusable.
I have not either knowledge enough to treat the room myself and, I don't want to do such a thing until I get some really comfortable room to record, in a future (not in this flat!).

So, the only economical and not permanent alternative that I've found has been the Advanced Room Correction system (ARC) by IK Multimedia.
Since I already had several plugins from IK Multimeda, I could benefit of the lower prices of their cross grade version.
I've read a lot of literature about this system and, that's clear, the most expert the people was in Acoustics Treatments, the more exceptic and critic they were about such a solution but, I've also read some positive articles about it.
What made me to decide for this solution (apart of what was mentioned above) where the comments of those experts that said that the system works specially well in already treated rooms. Even if the system cannot get rid of all room's problems, it can do a good job, overall.

So... can it?

Presentation

The ARC System comes with the typical box of any consumer electronic device and, includes a CD with the software, documentation and a hard plastic box, with a foamed inside that holds the high quality condenser mic, used to measure the room.
The mic is of high quality and weights considerably.

Installation

Installation is really easy. You execute the installer from the CD and, you leave the installer to search for VST and DAE (Pro Tools) folders, where the plugin will be installed, in their modes VST and RTAS.
The Measurement Utility will be available in your programs list.


Measuring the Room

Very easy.
I've choosed to run the mic thru my pre amp SPL Track One, to have a better control over input and output levels, to be sure that I am getting a good signal.
I've opened the program and, followed, step by step the instructions (easy and clear).

But, be aware that you need to force your audio interface to work at 48.2 KHz, before starting your program!.
If your interface has not an ASIO driver or has no way to change the resolution level, DON'T BUY THIS SOFTWARE!. 
After setting the audio interface to 48.2 KHz, you have to calibrate the mic, setting the volume controls of your monitors to zero and, increasing step by step the mic gain until the signal that is shown in the screen reaches the are where it's read OK.
Then, it's time to start to increase the volume of your monitor (while testing the signal), until you reach the volume that you usually use to mix.

Important note: this mic needs 48V phantom power!.
After those two steps, you can start the measurement.
You will need to take between 12 to 32 measurements, starting in the sweet spot (where you sit to mix) and, taking some measurements in near and far spots from that sweet spot, to left and right hand, until you cover all the audition area (your sweet spot and, eventually, your customer's coach).
In my case, 24 takes were enough for my little room.
When you finish the takes, you press the button Next and the system starts to calculate the EQ Correction Curve, that you will have available in the plugin later.
You choose one of the pictures that more or less looks like your monitor and save the results with whatever name you liked.
Important note: after installing ARC, go immediately to the User Area of IK Multimedia and download the last version of such a software or you are in danger of not being able to save your measurements!.

My CD's version is 1.0.1 and, it was impossible to save the changes. This issue is already solved beginning with version 1.1.1 but, this version is incompatible with T-Racks 3 version 3.1.1.
Version 1.2.1 solves also the problem but requires a T-Racks 3 version 3.1.1 or higher to work so, you would potentially need to upgrade T-Racks also.

The Plugin
Well, after upgrading ARC to the last version, as well as after upgrading T-Racks 3 to the last version, I was able to save the correction curve and to use it without further issues.
Opening Pro Tools, I've inserted the ARC plugins (RTAS -> Others) in the Main bus.
Here, a picture of the pluging working on.

In Orange, there is the curve resulting of the measurements (how your room responds to each frequential range). In White, the calculated Correction Curve and, in Green, the Target Curves (usually, plain response but, there are three more options that you can select).

The first thing that is evident is that my little room has a lot of Low frequencies; the main peaks are of +6dB and +9dB but, also, the right side has this effect more noticeable than the left side.
That made really difficult to achieve good mixes, specially when working with drums and bass guitar. That was a real fight. When I brought my mix to other external players, mi drums and basses lacked punch or were excessively dark and rumble.
Other bands that seem in the bad side are, the typical band for the snare and, the typical band for vocals and guitar presence but, they are less dramatic.

Does it work?

Certainly, YES. At least in MY case. The sound enhanced a lot and, now I can see easier where to push or dim some frequencies to give more definition to the mix. The mix sounds quite well the same in the sweet spot and around all the area where the measures were taken.

Even, this system worth it just to analyze the issues inside your mixing room (even if acoustically treated). It can help you to determine what is still missing to enhance the acoustics in your room.
Finally, you have a quality condenser mic that can be used for any of your recordings.
  Therefore, in my case, it worthed every euro I spent on it!.

Home Studio: SPL Track One MKI pre amp

Introduction

Note: this entry was already published during August 2009, in my old Spanish version of this blog. I am just revisiting it here, with added information.

After visiting for some time the studio of a friend of mine, I've realized about the difference that makes a good pre-amp for recording stuff (and, if you already read my article "The Cost of Cup of Tone", you will easily understand why).

Possibly, I could obtain acceptable results for my mixes using some quality plugins but, I will never get good mixes if the recording hasn't quality.
Once more, I am just a guitarist, not an audio engineer in the search of mythical outboard gear. I've just needed some acceptable pre-amp, versatile enough to be used with vocals, bass guitars and, eventually, acoustic guitars.

After searching and filtering information in Internet, I've decided to go for the SPL Track One, that seemed to suit my needs whitin my limited budget. And, I've ordered one.


Presentation

The Track One comes in a 1U rack format and, seems well made and, with quality components.
More than just a pre-amp, is a Channel-strip, with 5 differentiated sections.
In the front panel, we can see the following sections:

• Pre-amp
• De-Esser
• Compressor/Limiter
• Equalizer
• Output & Metering

Of those, the only two sections that are always working are the pre-amp and the Output & Metering sections. Rest of sections are switchable on or off.


Pre amp section

The pre-amp section has:

• Microphone Gain Knob
• Line/Instrument push/push switch
• 48V push/push switch
• 90Hz cut-off push/push switch

The Rear panel has two different inputs, one balanced XLR input for Microphone levels and, one more unbalanced TS input for Line/Instrument levels and, a push/push switch to select which input do you want to use if the Mic or the Line/Instrument one.
If you choose Mic then, the frontal switch Line/Instrument makes nothing.
If you choose Line/Instrument then, you can decide if that unbalanced input comes with Line or Instrument levels, in order to adapt the gain of the preamp to the right signal level and impedances.

For Mic input (XLR), we can decide to switch on the 48V switch, that will feed a mic needing phantom-power.

Finally, the cut-off filter can be used with any input and, will give a good roll out of frequencies below 90 Hz (as typically seen in lots of mixing board pre amps).


De-Esser section

SPL pre amps are famous for having one of the most efficient hardware de-essers.
This section has just an S-Reduction knob, that allows you to select the amount of reduction for that narrow band where the "S" sound happens and, an On switch to switch the effect on or off.


Compressor / Limiter section

This dynamics processor can be used as a compressor or a limiter but, not both at same time.
The Compression knob allows you to fix the compression ratio, while the Make-up knob allows you to increase the average level of the sound before compressing it.
The switch Limit changes the behaviour to Compression or Limiter and, the switch On allows you to switch the processor on or off.


Equalizer section

Allows you to work in three separate bands, Lows, Mids and Air.
For Low Band and Mid-Hi Band, there are two knobs. The first one allows you to choose the center band where the equalization takes place (from 33 Hz to 720 Hz in Low Band and from 740 Hz to 15 KHz in Mid-Hi Band) and, the second knob allows you to cut or boost the EQ around this center band (in up to 14 dB plus or minus).
The Air Band is over 15 Hz and, has a single control, the dB for that cut  or boost.
The switch On, allows to switch the equalization on or off.


Output & Metering section

A single knob gives you control over the output in decibels and, two meters report you about what's happening inside the unit. The PPM Output turns to red when the output it is being saturated and producing overs. But, this same meter is used to show the "S" level detection if the de-esser section is on.
The Lower Meter gives you the information about the gain reduction, for Compressor, or Limiter or De-Esser.


Rear Panel

Together with the two inputs already mentioned above, it has two balanced TRS outputs (at Line level), 1 TRS jack for linking this unit to one more Compressor (in Master or Slave modes), and an additional input 2.


Using it

I've compared recording in three different ways: inputs direct to Rack-003 pre-amp, inputs thru a DI box, as the Radial J48 and, inputs thru the pre amp of SPL Track One (an article to come in a future, already published in my old Spanish blog, has some sound bits to compare results).
Clearly, the results achieved with the Track One are better than with the other two methods, even that you cannot expect same quality level as you will find using a high quality (and expensive) pre-amp, as seen in Studios. But results are good enough and, the pre amp is versatile enough to handle any kind of sound source.

I thought that the output level of this unit should be Studio level (+4dBu) but, after trying several things, I've found that the output is delivered at Line levels (-10dB). This information isn't included in the user's manual.
So, I had to change the input (without pre-amp!) in Rack 003, from one at +4dBu to other at -10dB.
This made the unit to work with a clear and loud sound.
(One article to come in a future, already published in my old Spanish blog, will talk about how I've routed my Home Studio gear).

Guitars: Testing G&L JB-2 Tribute Bass Guitar

Introduction

This entry was already published during August 2009, in my old Spanish version of this blog. Just revisiting the entry here.

I am a guitarist not a bassist so, I just wanted some not so expensive bass guitar that could do the job while recording bass guitar tracks.

Mi first try was with a Peavey Zodiac. This one was made in China and, even that its overall look is good, the knob of its potentiometer was loose and, still is.
I've recorded bass tracks with the Zodiac and, quickly I knew the truth: this bass guitar has a lot of dead spots, there is a big level difference between notes, some seem to fall into a dark hole, some seem to explode in my face so, the material was inconsistent, with high peaks and an low average level.
All that made really complex to suit the bass to the mix. Additionally, lots of "bings", "plincks" sounding behind the notes made the recording really dirty.
The 24 frets of such a bass give an strong tension to the strings, making the bass difficult to play.
After that experience, I searched info in Internet, always keeping in mind to get a nice bass guitar whitin a reasonable budget and, finally I've decided myself to go for a G&L bass. Since I was more interested in some Jazzbass type and, I don't like active pickups, I've ordered a model JB-2, that came today.

Presentation

Heavens!. It came in a carton box, without soft or hard case, just an ugly carton box.
So, I've opened the box with some excepticism about what I would find inside.
Removed the protective plastics and, hold the bass on my hands.
Hmmm... the woodwork seems good. Well, not the quality levels you can see in a Fender USA Deluxe or Ibanez Prestige but, at least it seems to have same finishing level as a Fender USA Standard. So far, so good.
Let see the backside... Damn!. Made in Indonesia!. Can be anything worst than a Made in China? Made in Indonesia, maybe?.

The guitar was well protected inside the carton box, with some polyspan seats to hold the neck and body so, it came with any single flaw or ding and, perfectly tuned!.
It comes with a cheap instrument cable (of those that last a week) and a key for the thrussrod.

Overall, disappointed with the box but, satisfied with the look of the instrument, for this price level.


Playing it

After seeing that "Made in Indonesia" I was really scared!.
So, I plugged the bass guitar with the cheap cable to my preamp SPL Track One, without compressor neither EQ, just adjusting the input and output levels and, started a Pro Tools session to test the bass.

Alleluia!. That's what I wanted. No dead spots. Every note sounds clear and defined and has a nice attack. Its pickups are designed in USA and have an overall good sound.
The G&L bridge gives a good sustain to this bass guitar.
The neck is well finished, easy to play and, the settings were perfect for me.

I've inserted the plugin SVX then, and tested the sound thru a virtual bass amplifier and... I liked what I heard!.

Conclusion

Well built, goo sound and cheap... what else do you want?.
If it came with a soft or hard case I would be even more happy with the purchase but, at the end, it's the sound what really matters.
I recommend you this bass guitar, if you are in a similar situation as mine.

Home Studio: Testing Wizoo Wizooverb W2 and Massey Plugins

Introduction

This entry was already posted during August 2009, in my old Spanish version of this blog. I am just revisiting the entry here.


Wizoo Wizooverb W2


One of the weaker points in my mixes has been ever the reverberation effect. After watching those DVDs named "Internal Mixing" by Tischmeyer, this plugin called my attention so, I wanted to test it in my mixes.
Unfortunately there is no demo version (or I wasn't able to find one) and, this product seems to be out-of-catalog.
Finally, I've found this product in an Spanish online store and, it was a sale, since it was out-of-catalog so, I bought it and, today I was able to check it.
Easy to install, already authorized and tested in very few minutes.
I've substituted three reverberation effects in my mix with three different reverberation models of W2.
I am sending each track to one or more auxiliary channels and, each one has one W2 reverberation model.
First one corresponds to a short reverberation, usually to be used with the kick box and bass and, any other thing that needs just a bit of a very controlled reverb.
Second one corresponds to a medium reverberation, of type Room, a bit more opened and with more ambience sound.
Last one is a big reverberation, of type Hall.

I had to retouch the sending levels for each track, to get the wanted results for each reverberation channel but, after doing it, the music sounded wider and way clearer than with those plugins that come with Pro Tools.
W2 is easy to use. I didn't put my attention on preset names but, I was just trying one by one for each channel until I got what I was looking for, mainly searching reverberations by reverberation time. By example, about 0.5 s for the short one, 1.5s for the medium one and 1.8 for the long one. In each case, I've just choosed the one that better sounded in the mix between that range of times.
W2 can work both, with High Definition Impulses (HDIR) or with digital models (AIR). I've set up its parameters to the highest resolution, with maximum CPU consumption, to check high definition results and efficiency of algorithms. Surprisingly, with two of the three reverberations working in HDIR, everything worked flawless. I hadn't any dropout or any evident delay.
Very happy to have this tool.
I was previously checking other free reverberations, as Modern plugins, Khaerjus, 112dB Redline Reverb, etc, and some demos, as SIR, IRL, IR1, Perfect Space...
None of those satisfied me. Perfect Space, that comes included in Sonar, is the best of those mentioned above but, with W2 I am quite sure I will restore the mix ambience in a better way.
I think, this reverberation plugin, together with the Sonnox' one can be enough for my own projects.
I am very conscious that nothing can be better than the TC Electronics Reverb for their System 6000 (according to all expert people) but, a System 6000 is absolutely out of my budget.

Massey Plugins


Massey L2007 master limiter


I've inserted this plugin at the end of the Master Bus, and bounced the audio file to disk. Then, I've converted the audio format to MP3 and, analyzed it with the help of TT DR Offline Meter, searching for overs. I saw that the mix was producing some overs in a channel, even with the ceil of the limiter set to -0.3dB.
Further investigations clarified this. The bouncing is preserving the limit below -0.3dB but, the tool I am currently using to convert the WAV file into MP3 is generating the overs. Therefore, the Limiter is working properly and, I have to change the MP3 conversion tool.

Massey Tape Head

I had to buy this one!. This plugin has some special magic that I cannot describe.
After reading how a real drummer was preparing his mixes, I wanted to check this plugin.
The Drummer was routing their mics across a tape recorder, with different levels of input (depending on the drum), only just to get more or less tape saturation that, at the end, made the drums to sound warmer.
So, I've decided to emulate such a way with the help of the Tape Head plugin.
It's really easy to use. You set up the button Trim to zero and, you increases the button Drive until you make the drum to sound to your taste. Then, you move the button Trim to balance the input and output levels (you can compare levels switching on/off the plugin).
I had tested it with the hi-hat and plates, warming the sound and removing some digital taste to it (I am using it with midi loops built with EZDrummer).
I've substituted the chain LA-2A / 1176 with this plugin and, removed the Pulteq EQP-1A from the drums bus. The work that the Tape Head makes is good enough.
I've only had to add the Massey L2007 limiter to the snare, in clean mode (without gain makeup), just to control the excessive peaks (I still have not some kind of Transient Designer for this, until I don't get the Sonnox bundle).

I've tested it also with the guitar panoramized to the right hand and, obtained some interesting results. I bet that it will also work with vocals and other cases.
But, anyway, I prefer the "1dB Magic" setting of the Fairchild 670 in the guitar bus (left hand) to have a different taste.


Massey CT4

Not satisfied with he work of the tandem 1176 / LA-2A on the bass track, I wanted to check this other plugin there. I liked how it worked and, to my ears, it preserved better the "air", without darkening the bass sound.
As the rest of Massey's plugins, easy to use and very effective.
Vocals were sounding very dark also, due to the results of the IK Multimedia Optocompressor. I've swapped this late with the CT4 and voilà!, vocals started to sound more defined.

I think it can be used in more tracks but, since I've already achieved the sound I was looking for with other plugins in the reminder ones, I haven't checked it, by now.

I bought this plugin because I think it will be of help for some particular things and, Massey's prices are reasonably cheap (compared to other makers!).


Massey De:Esser

Another great plugin, very easy to use and highly efficient. I will not purchase this plugin since, I've already bought a preamp that includes a good de-esser so, I am not planning to use Massey's one, once the voices are being recorded thru the pre-amp.

You can choose to hear what is happening inside the side-chain so, you can always know what is being "removed" by the plugin.

Home Studio: Testing IK Multimedia T-Racks 3 Singles

Introduction

This entry was already published during August 2009, in my old Spanish version of this blog, I am just revisiting it here.

I am still learning to mix but, while I was viewing the DVDs named "Internal Mixing" of Tischmeyer, I've realized that he was using some plugins very often (with an UAD card): Pulteq EQ-1A, Fairchild 670, LA-2A and 1170.
So, I started to search for information related to such a UAD plugins and, what I've read in several forum is that every DSP card (as UAD or Powercore ones) introduce some important delay, during their processing.

Unfortunately, Pro Tools 8.0 LE is one of the few modern high level DAW (Digital Audio Workstation) software that hasn't automatic compensation of that delay introduced by other devices (as others do, like Nuendo or Sonar, by example). To solve this issue, you should insert one more UAD plugin that allows such a compensation but, Pro Tools users with UAD cards claim about the effectivity of such a solution.

Seeing how expensive those DSP system are, together with their compatible plugins, I've decided to give up this idea. I don't want to put my few money in something so expensive and that seems to create more problems that I currently have.
So, I've resumed my search for other options, cheaper and compatible with Pro Tools and, after reading lots of forums and specialized press, the list of candidates was narrowed to the following:

• McDSP Plugins, that doesn't accurately model such an outboard gear but, they deliver convincing results.
• URS Plugins, that are considered as excelent reproducing vintage equipment
• IK Multimedia T-Racks, surprinsinly having good inputs from relevant people. 

While most of the people had a similar opinion about McDSP or URS plugins, the opinion over T-Racks was more variated.

Previously, I already downloaded some demo versions of T-Racks, even before knowing that they were including emulations of the Pulteq EQP-1A and the Fairchild 670. But, while reading some forums, I knew that there was some interesting offer for this Summer (2009), in a way that you just had to pay for a single T-Racks plugin and you could obtain up to 5 more free plugins and, the price was really interesting: just paying 80$, I could have 5 interesting plugins and, the CSR Hall Reverb plugin as a gift.
  So, I bought the Pulteq EQP-1A plugin and downloaded for free the following ones:

• Fairchild 670
• Optocompressor
• 4-bands compressor-limiter
• Metering suite
• CSR Hall Reverb

I have a first impression about each one but, I've concentrated myself more over the Pulteq EQP-1A, the Metering suite and the CSR Hall Reverb.


Metering


If you don't have any other plugins with meters, it's a good tool but, it lacks some accuracy. Every meter is easily visible, whitin a compact view (average and peak levels, correlation, stereo image, spectrogram...).
I am missing here the K-System meter (as implemented in RNDigital XL Inspector) but, I can compensate it with the TTL Dynamic Range Meter that, includes also a Mono button that allows you to test the Mono compatibility of your mix.
Well, at least, if was for free!.

Update (August 2009):

Finally, I bought the RNDigital Inspector XL and, it's very clear that the IK Multimedia meter lacks precision. RNDigital Inspector XL can seem very expensive, just being a plugin that the only thing that does is to provide some meters, not processing the sound but, in my opinion, is of great help.
A good plugin with quality meters makes easier the mix, with a better control over the dynamic range and stereo image.


CSR Hall Reverb

Is the typical digital reverberation but, behind the button Advanced, there are a lot of parameters to heavily modify the behavior of the algorithm. You can work with this plugin in a very simple way or as complex as you like. Not a bad reverberation. I still have to go deeper with this one.
A reverberation plugin for FREE!. Welcome!.

Update (August 2009):

After testing several convoluted and digital reverberations, my election is the Reverberation plugin of the Sonnox suite. For me, it covers any kind of reverberation and sounds very natural, much more than any other plugin I've tested till now. For other time-effects, the plugins of Sound Toys work with a high quality sound and, are very efficient CPU-wise.     Pulteq EQP-1!!!

I really don't know how the real outboard unit sounds, since I had never the opportunity to use it but, what I can say is that, for the very first time, I smiled after buying or analyzing a demo plugin.
What came to my mind was: "Pal, this is the kind of things that makes music to sound really professional!".
The Pulteq EQP-1A plugin worked fine in every part where I've tested it. In the master bus, it allows you to get that punch and presence for the drums and, it helps to open the overheads sound, giving a very musical color to the mix.
"This starts to sound like a real disk!", was my sensation, while using it.

In my honest opinion, just this single plugin worthed the purchase but... wait... there is something else there... the Fairchild 670!.

Update (August 2009):

Where I like more this plugin is in the drums bus, if I need to give to it more punch or open the overheads; or in the bass guitar bus, if it sounds muddy or weak and; mainly, in the masterizing chain, to give some warm color to the mix and enhance some frequencies and add some air to the mix.

It works really good cutting unwanted frequencies. By example, I was trying to cut those frequencies below 30 Hz, specially in the bass track, since I had too much energy below 30 Hz, what creates some rumble and weaks the representation of more interesting frequential range. I tested first the Digidesign EQ III (the three, with 1, 3 or 7 bands) and, the cut wasn't so good as I wanted. Finally, I've found that the Pulteq worked way better for this function so, I've inserted it at the beginning of the track to remove the excess of energy below 30Hz and, also at the end, to enhance other fundamental frequencies of the bass guitar.


Fairchild 670


"Do I really need it?". Pro Tools already comes with two plugins called Fairchild 660 and 670 so, I just got the IK Multimedia's one because it was for free so, I wanted to compare it to the Pro Tool's one.
I remember myself testing Pro Tool's Fairchild and, it never convinced me so, I've opened this new plugin with very low expectatives.
Man, once again, I don't know how the real outboard gear sounds but, what I can say is that this plugin is simply awesome!. Is as good as the Pulteq one!.

The combination of the Fairchild and the Pulteq in the main bus is just incredible!. And, for free!.

Update (August 2009):

Still one of my preferred plugins. The Fairchild 670 works really well in guitar tracks, where I like to use it with just an slight compression, without killing the tracks' dynamics, since it adds a nice color and a signature sound that enhances the guitar' sound.

I can use it also in the Master bus, where it helps to "glue" the mix and, where it helps to increase the level to the quietest parts, working overall as some kind of "musical glue".
The Digidesign BF670 plugin destroys a bit the stereo image. By example, I had the guitar panoramized to the left but, after applying the BF670 the guitar sounded very centered and, if I raised the left channel then, some unwanted frequencies appear.
The T-Racks 3 Fairchild 670 has not such a problem and, particularly, the preset "1 dB 670 magic" is really magic inserted at the beginning of the Master chain. The Stereo Image is preserved in way better way.


Optocompressor


I've choosed this free plugin because I recalled that it was delivering a good sound, specially on voices, while I was trying the demo version. Late tests confirm it. Is a plugin that adds some color to the sound but, in a very musical way, tasty as the Pulteq and Fairchild do.
Other nice FREE plugin!. I still have to spend more time in this one.
Update (August 2009):

Since I've bought the Sonnox suite, practically every work on dynamics I do, it's being made with Sonnox Dynamics plugin but, that doesn't means that the Optocompressor is useless. I still love this late and, I think it works very well in vocal tracks, where it can add some nice warm.     Classic Multiband Compressor and Limiter

I've choosed this plugin because I have no other Multiband Limiter.
As any Multiband compressor I've tested, it still remains a cryptic mystery to myself. I really don't know how or when to use a Multiband compressor and, every time I try to use them to enhance the mix, I end ruining it.
But, ok. I hope that some day I will be able to valuate what this plugin is able to do. Until then, I have no a firm opinion over this plugin.
But, it was for free, anyway!.

Late, I've realized that there was other compressor that I liked more, during my demo tests but, I wasn't able to remember it: the Classic Compressor.

Home Studio: Plugins for Mixing and Mastering, the soap

Introduction

This entry was already published during July 2009, in my old Spanish version of this blog and, I am just revisiting it here in English.

Missing seems a child's game but, it isn't, absolutely not!. I am still trying to get a good mix in my own songs, without success.
I've bought some videos to learn some basics about Mixing and Mastering and, some book, with the goal to understand which tasks correspond to each etage.
Bob Katz' book "Mastering Audio: the art and the science" has a lot of useful information but, there are not concrete examples, neither instructions, parameter settings, list of steps, etc. So, you can have an overall idea of what is behind and get some basis information but, nothing that can help me to masterize, if I have no idea still.

I bought also a couple of sets of DVD (Internal Mixing and Mastering Audio) to Friedmann Tischmeyer.
Those are more detailed and, are well organized and structured, in a way that you can start to work in your mix with more confidence. It also includes sample files and exercises to understand some key concepts, as the use of tools for dynamics, like compressors and gates.

Bob Katz seems more focused to obtain results by using outboard gear, extremely expensive and sophisticated, while Tischmeyer thinks that you can obtain professional results using some plugins, supported with some DSP hardware (as Powercore or UAD units) and, to limit the outboard gear to input and output sections.
Being a guitarist, with not big resources, I need some efficient and reasonablely cheap solution so, I want to try Tishmeyer's way.

As output gear, I have planned to buy a preamp SPL Track One to record voices, bass guitars and, eventually some acoustic guitar.
Electric guitars I am currently recording them with the help of a Palmer PDI-03 Speaker Simulator, that helps me to get a direct sound from the amp routing it to some DI input in the Digidesign Rack 003. In fact, I am using two inputs. The first one for the filtered output (speaker simulation) and the other for the unfiltered output, to be recabed with the help of some plugin, as Pod Farm, Revalver or Amplitube (still to decide).

Fact is that, whichever the way (Tyschmeyer or Katz), it seems of vital importance to have a good set of plugins that allow you to do the right job for each situation.
From Katz' book, I would like to enphatize the use of the K-System, as a nice way to calibrate monitors and as a natural way to achieve a good loudness in your mix while preserving a good dynamic range. Also, its discussions about dynamics tools (compressors, expanders, limiters, gates...) is absolutely a must for everyone.
From Tischmeyer's Internal Mixing DVD, I think that everything there is useful and practical. But, even being more structured and detailed that Katz' book, I am still missing some clear examples about how to work but, at least, these DVDs make me clear about what to do and what I need.

K-System meter

I have searched for measurement plugins that include the K-System meters but, unfortunately, the few I found are expensive. Tischmeyer recommends Pinguin (about 400 Eur), Katz recommends Algorithmix' meters (even more expensive). I've found myself the plugin named XL Inspector by RNDigital (around 300 Eur) and, had the opportunity to use it during 15 days.
While testing XL Inspector, I've realized about the importance of have good meters whitin your set of plugins. To control the frequential content, the stereo wide, phase correlation and dynamic range, helps a lot to your mix.

XL Inspector gives all the same plugins that Pinguin gives to you, maybe Piguin's ones are of best quality, I don't know since there is no free demo to test. But, to get the same meters with Algorithmix, you need to buy several plugins. So, definitively, XL Inspector is the most reasonable solution I've found.


Searching a set of plugins

I've checked a bunch of plugins, free and demo versions. Here follows my impressions with some of them.


Waves plugins

Waves plugins disappointed me a lot. I find them excessively expensive and, I don't find anything in them that I can see as spectacular.
I've installed the demo version of the Gold Bundle and, just trying the first one I've got a.... BLUE SCREEN!, killing the PC!.

I look some info in their support page and, oh surprise!, if you want to use Waves' plugins in a PC with an Operative System in a language different of English, you will be forced to change Windows User Preferences to setup the dot (.) as comma decimal and, the comma (,) as thousands separator.

HOW IN THE HELL A SET OF PLUGINS SO EXPENSIVE HAVE THIS KIND OF BASIC ISSUES?

BIAS

BIAS plugins seemed to me very interesting but, I wasn't able to check them. The installation tool assumes that you are using an English version of the Operating System and then, the installer changes the default folder where you have your VST plugins installed and, install RTAS plugins where it thinks should be in an English environment so, at the end, nothing works, at least that you manually move those plugins to the right folders.

I am not going to spend a lot of money in a set of plugins that have basic installation issues so, bye bye BIAS.

Sonox

I wasn't able to check Sonnox plugins, since the demo period expired before I was able to check a single one so, I have not a formed opinion about them, still.


Massey

Let be clear: there is no cheap plugin. Said that, Massey plugins are a bargain for their money. Massey plugins are really good, high quality (maybe not top notch but good enough). The peak limiter L200 is one of the best Limiters that I've ever testes (and I checked Voxengo Elephant, Izotope Ozone 3, Waves L1 y L2, the standard coming with Pro Tools and a bunch more of free ones).
One of the good things of those plugins is that you can download and use for free, without time limitation. The only limitation is that you cannot store the settings so, every time you open your project, you need to reset the parameters, until you buy the plugin.
I hope that Massey can some day do a K-System meter!.


RNDigital

These plugins are of very high quality. XL Inspector is an useful tool to clearly understand what is happening to your mix. D1 and D4 compressors are really interesting.
RNDigital is using a different approach to the typical Multiband-compressor. Instead of split horizontally, by frequency bands, it splits the sound horizontally, by loudness levels so, you can differently compress the sounds of each loudness level.
The use of D1 and D4 is really easy, very graphical and user-friendly.
Its Equalizer is more complex, instead but, it includes any kind of EQ filter you can ever need, even harmonics filter.
Rest of their tools are interesting as well but, more cryptic and you need a lot of time to be spent there to get some interesting results and, the demo period ends so fast that there is no time enough to analyze them in depth.

Waves Art
I was mainly interested in their Master Restoration Suite, because in the reviews I've read in SOS and other specialized publications, that suite was highly considered and, after discarding Waves, this was the natural election.
Surprisingly, Waves Art' Suite is incredible good. I have compared it to he Waves bundle and to the Sony bundle included with Sound Forge 9.
I ever left a declicker as a plugin by default in the bass track, to clean the floor noise and, it works without overloading the CPU (having Equalizers, Compressors, Delays, etc in other tracks). So, I think they are so friendly and efficient with the CPU as they ads say.
Even more, they are cheaper than Waves or Sonnox equivalents.
So, I am planning to buy them as soon as possible.

I am not interested in their Mastering Suite, since same tools are already in Sonnox plugins and, I know that Sonnox tools work better in that area.


Modern free plugins

Those plugins try to emulate outboard gear and they are completely free.
Well, they have a quality clearly below all the plugins mentioned above but, they can work for some tracks so, it's good to have them at hand.


Arts Acoustic Reverb

I don't find nothing interesting in this reverberation plugin (well, in fact, I even don't like the IR reverberation by Waves). I think that I can achieve better results with the convolutive reverberation Perfect Space included in Cakewalk Sonar 7.


Camel Audio

They have that CamelCrusher and CamelPath plugins that seem to excite a lot of people. To me, they sound excesivelly distorted and, I don't find for what to use them.

Nomad Factory D82 Sonic Max (BBE)

I cannot compare the plugin to the real outboard gear but, what I can say is that to insert it at the end of the chain is like night and day. It cleans the mix and details the bass lines in a very musical way.
I have to save money to buy this plugin or the outboard hardware some of these days.


Nugen Audio

None of the plugins I've tested say me anything. They aren't bad, they aren't good. Anodyne.

Peavey Revalver MKIII

I don't see this plugin as being superior to POD Amp Farm or to IK Multimedia Amplitube. The available amp models are very few (compared to POD) and, I cannot see that great advance in sound that users seem to find. The only interesting thing is, maybe, to play with the program to design your own amplifier but, for plug and play, I am still preferring Amplitube (the bad thing is that consumes lots of CPU) or POD Amp Farm.


IK Multimedia T-Racks 3.

This suite is overloading my CPU in a way that it's impossible to use their high resolution modes in real time (specially reverberation). But, they sound really good and, are a bargain for its price.
Note: this was my vision on July 2009. Nowadays, I am using T-Racks practically for every project and, I love them and, very specially the Fairchild, Pulteq, 1179 and L2-2A emulations but, also their Breakwall Limiter and the Classic Compressor.


112dB

Two plugins here, the Redline Monitor and Redline Reverb.
The reverberation is very common but, the Redline Monitor is an awesome tool!.
This little plugin allows me to hear the mix thru my headphones as if I were hearing them thru my monitors.
The plugin shifts the stereo image, specially the phantom center, in a way that what you hear thru your headphones is very close to what you would hear thru your monitors.
Very useful for silent mixing tasks.
The only thing I don't like of this plugin is that adds some color to the mix and, alters the loudness level so, if you insert a Limiter before, the mix will be saturated. So, insert it just before the Brickwall Limiter.


Sound Toys Native Effects

This bundle has more or less the same thing spread into several modulation tools. They are very useful when you are looking for reverberation, echo and extreme delays. Very CPU efficient, even with the complexer effects with lots of feedback.
They work smoothly and have lots of available presets and it's very user friendly.
Probably not the reverberation you want for you mix, overall but, it can be exactly what you needed for that wanted FX.


Flux

I've checked the BitterSweet and the Stereo Tool.
The Stereo Tool is useful when you hanven't any better tool to check your stereo image and your phase correlation. Stereo Tools is coloring the mix.
The BitterSweet seems somewhat similat to BBE or some kind of exciter but, it doesn't results exciting to me. BBE works way best.

Kjaerhus free plugins

It's classic series of plugins is of medium quality and some can be useful just for certain tracks. Nothing wrong, nothing good.


KR free series

Their Reverberation and Delay work in the same league as Kjaerhus ones.

Other plugins

I've test a bunch of other free and demo plugins but, I've deleted most of them so, I don't even remember their name or maker.

One of the most interesting plugins I bought is FXpansion VST to RAS Addapter. It allows you to search in your disk for VST plugins and to convert them to RTAS plugins, to be used directly inside Pro Tools. So, now I am able to include good VST plugins in my Pro Tools sessions.
I've tested the tools over 200 VST plugins and, the plugins was able to convert around 95% of them. Awesome. Therefore, this tool worths what it costs and opens a lot of possibilities for Pro Tools.
To masterize, I am evaluating  if to purchase a TC Powercore unit (but is a lot of money) but, I have concerns about how good will work with Pro Tools. I've read that it has VST plugins that can be used inside Pro Tools after being converted to RTAS but, that those include a lot of Latency and they consume lots of CPU resources. So, if the goal was to use outboard gear to reduce the CPU load and, I am achieving the contrary, it doesn't seem the best solution.
Same happens to UAD cards.