New year, new gear; 2022 edition

Welcome to 2022. Kind of like 2020 and 2021, but with a little more hope that the pandemic will turn endemic despite the insane surge of Covid right at this moment. I hope you are well! I have made it through thus far, unscathed, but not without some close calls. I'll spare you the details because we have things much more uplifting to talk about- like new gear! I typically make a few year end purchases depending on how things went and 2021 was decent enough to add a few nice things. I'm also lucky enough to receive some generous gifts from my lovely family. So let's see what we got!

First up is the Black Box HG-2, a tube saturator. I've been using the plug-in version of this hardware for some time on my mixes. It can add a lot of body and weight to the sound of a mix. I like it so much I figured I'd give the real thing a go. So far so good. The unit lets you choose where you want to focus the harmonic thickening- lows, highs, or all frequencies. You can dial in some fuzzy Pentode energy or some bombastic Triode energy in various amounts. A separate parallel saturation knob adds in some additional girth with two tube type options. Finally, the Air button lets you add some top end sheen if you'd like. What's great about having this unit in hardware is I also can use it during tracking to liven up anything that feels a bit dull. Guitars? check. Vocals? check. If you like tube distortion this thing is amazing.

The studio has some pretty nice electric guitars, but there's never been anything that great in the acoustic department. I've been thinking of getting something for some time now and finally decided to pull the trigger on this Martin D-18. I've recorded a fair amount of acoustic guitar at this point and whenever someone brings in a Martin it sounds great. Even the cheapest Martin they make has sounded great to my ear. So I read about a few of the models and took a chance on the D-18. Like many Martins these have been in production for a long time. There are 1950's versions of these that go for a pretty penny. But a knowledgeable guitar friend assured me that Martin's quality today is still top notch so I just went for a new one here. I have yet to use it, but another engineer used it today and sang its praises. So I think I lucked out. What's great about an acoustic like this is it can sit nicely in a track with other instruments without getting boomy or unwieldy.  Being smaller than some acoustics, the low end is nicely contained and to my ear it has a very well rounded sound with nothing poking out in any one spot. I look forward to putting it in the hands of various players to see what they can do with it.

What mic do you think I get asked if I have the most? If you said the Neumann U87 you would be right! Well I can finally say, yes. Rarefied does indeed have a Neumann U87. A vintage one at that. By all accounts the newer "ai" models just aren't quite as sonically pleasing as the old (isn't that always the case?). So here she is. Battle scarred and all. Who knows what this mic recorded. The good folks at Vintage King made sure it was in good health for me. Don't be confused with the similarity in look to the U67. The U87 is not a tube mic. It has a standard XLR connector at the bottom and is powered by good old phantom power. Funny enough, though, phantom power wasn't really a thing when this mic came out so there is a spot inside the mic for a battery! Complete with a little battery power meter! But an internal switch allows for phantom power, which is now as ubiquitous as toast.

One of my favorite plug-ins is Universal Audio's emulation of the Roland Dimension-D, a 2U rack box that looks a lot like the unit above. It does one thing and one thing well- a subtle chorus effect that enhances the stereo nature of whatever you put through it. Now, seeing as the plug-in sounds so great and that vintage Roland Dimension-D's are actually quite pricey, I wouldn't normally think about taking up two rack spaces for something that's a bit "one trick pony" in nature. But this Klark Teknik clone is extremely affordable. Affordable enough to receive as a gift even! And I can confirm that it sounds very nice. I've started thinning out some of the rackmount synthesizers in the back corner of the control room that were not functioning, so this guy will live there. So easy to use and so gratifying when you hear what it does.

Speaking of Universal Audio and chorus effects, here's another gift I got. This is one of UA's first ventures into guitar pedals. They basically have taken their incredible plug-in emulations of classic gear and stuffed them into hardware boxes you can have at your feet (or on your table top). This one, called the Astra Modulation Machine, gives you the sound of a few classic chorus, flanger, and tremolo pedals of yesteryear. It's got the famous Boss CE-1 chorus sound, the MXR 126 Flanger/Doubler, and the sound of  vintage Fender black face tremolo packed into one box. I love using plug-ins like this when needed, but there's something better about having it baked into the sound going to the guitar amp.

Speaking of guitar amps, what's more ubiquitous than a Shure SM57 on electric guitar? Not much except maybe the predecessor to the SM57, commonly called the Unidyne III. This one here is not vintage, but instead part of Shure's "classic collection" series. It certainly looks a lot like the SM57, but word on the street is that these guys are somehow more pleasing? Smoother top end? I don't know, but I'll find out!

For the last two items we have some "effect" mics. The one above is the Scope Labs Periscope. A very fun looking steam punk kind of vibe to it. This mic has a built in aggressive compressor to give you instant funky behaviour as soon as you put it up. When recording things like drums it's fun to have one or more weird mics that are kind of trashy in some way. It can add a lot of character to the sound. So I will have to experiment with this when it makes sense and see what it can do. 

And now finally we have the DrAlienSmith DirtMic-01! This mic takes a little cheap harmonica mic and integrates a distortion circuit right inside. A knob on the mic itself lets you dial in how much grit you want to add. This could be a fun one for vocals, but who knows what I might use it on. It's pretty cool that so many little companies are doing strange little creations for us creatives to buy and play with. 

So that's it for 2021 and here's to a better and less virusy 2022!