Mark! I stumbled across you channel as I was researching UAD preamps for VO. I've been using the VoxBox with MKH416 for many years. I recorded completely clean with no EQ or processing and have had solid success in the VO game. Your channel has been a revelation. I demoed the Neve DFC and C-Vox and added them to my chain in Console and the difference is crazy! I just finished a fully treated home studio build but even the the fan noise from my Mac Studio was picked up a tiny bit. The Neve and C-Vox nixed that. I'm currently A/B ing the 88RS vs VoxBox. I also produce and write music and have the Townsend Sphere. I love the BP 251-A for Pop vocals. After watching your video on the U47s I might try some VO with those. The Sennheiser has been my rock forever though so it will be hard to ditch. Thanks again for all of your insight and knowledge. A++
Thanks Jensen! Yeah man, the C-Vox and DFC are total game changers for home studio VO. Enjoy! And the great thing with the Apollo is you don't have to choose between any two preamps or channel strips. You just find what they do best and set up a preset you can call up anytime because there will be VoxBox days and there will be Neve days. And that versatility in your sound is what helps set you apart from the competition.
For compression I think you should try the 1176 and the LA2A Silver in tandem. They work very well and naturally together, and they add a warm tone to the equation. Glad you're building chains again.
Thanks! Yeah man. It's funny because the 1176/LA2a combo is what I did in my very first chain video from like 6 years ago. It's a great combo. For color on a sterile mic, I actually like the 176 better than the LA2A because it's just a little smoother and I like the mix knob on it.
That is a solid signal chain! Love how the Soyuz still remains it's characteristic sound! The plugins make it better! Please check out : Brusfri by Klevgrand. They have cool stuff. I find that the Brusfri is more effective at noise suppression.
I may be confused but i guess to dumb it down for me as someone who has never worked with vsts before the C-Suite is cleaning up the background noise and noise floor making things sound very clean The SSL- 4000 E is doing some voice compression and other effects (not sure which ones to be honest it seems to do alot of the heavy lifting) and the Oxford Dynmaic EQ is predefined Equalization targets ? The DFC seems to just be some extra tweaks here and there to the compression and EQ mainly the compression seems to be the big thing its adding So i guess aside from the three main take aways here are Cleaned audio + Compression + EQ ?
You got it. That’s pretty much it. The DFC just on its own is kind of a black box that outputs a sound with that broadcast glue on it, even if you just use the filter and nothing else.
Right? Even some way just to be able to easily swap settings between users. I should be able to export a file that I could just put online for folks to download and then import.
@@MarkYoshimotoNemcoff UAD sale on for black Friday. Your top 6 picks for a VO artist. I already have Avalon/ ManLey VOX/ SSL / what can I get more . Help
Why split out the EQ, when you could just do it in the DFC? The DFC has a dynamic EQ band, as well. I also don’t understand your plugin order. The de-esser would typically come last in the chain, after EQ & compression, as those can affect sibilance. Thanks for taking the time to produce these videos & share your experience; any insight in re the above would be greatly appreciated!
Hi Roland, So, I prefer de esser as early as possible since EQ and compression can make it harder to control. I split the EQ because I like the EQ on the SSL. I hit it with the 15k in the DFC because I like the related boosts at 4.5k and 9k and don’t want to hit the 15k before the de-esser and air is the last thing I’d want to add in the chain. Also, the THD the SSL adds in the high end is so sweet, I don’t want to lose where it sits. Once it hits the DFC to glue it together, I can hit it with that 15 to just add a touch of sparkle. As always, what may work with my voice may not work with someone else’s, but it’s just all kind of an evolution of a process that I’ve been working on for decades and sadly know it will never end until they find my dessicated corpse in my booth with a microphone clutched in my cold dead fingers.
Love this. I've been using hardware to create a similar chain in a 500 series rack, But have recently been playing with the UAD plugins and this exact path! Have you tried the API Vision CS as an alternative to the SSL? Would be intrigued to know if you felt there was much of a difference..? I actually quite like the option to switch to a graphic eq on the API strip.
Wolf Man! Dude, I really like the API Vision a lot and the new update with the graphic EQ is pretty great. I love the SSL for VO because of how "punchy and clean" it is at its core, but when you push it, much like the actual SSL hardware, you get this bit of THD, especially in the top end that helps it cut. It's not a lot, whereas with the API, you get harmonic distortion at lower levels. Plus,, even though the API is more mid-forward than the SSL, where it induces that harmonic content is right in the presence peak. Think about how big Neal Schon's distorted guitar sound in Journey is so in your face. That's the epitome of the API sound inducing a ton of character into that frequency range. I've used the API on VO stuff before and it does work well. I'm just more of an SSL guy, I suppose. I also greatly prefer having variable Q settings on the SSL EQ to help zero in on what I want and the SSL compressor is more transparent. I do have a CAPI VP-26 500 series pre that I love, but never use.
@@MarkYoshimotoNemcoff Hey man, sorry for delayed reply, was in a long session. Thanks for laying that out. Very interesting. Yeah I guess I can sense that too. Is that the same for the Neve 88? I was actually running through a DBX 580 hardware, into an SPL De-esser hardware, then into the plugins...but wondering if there's a way to use any of those channel strips but disengage the pre on them...do you know? I really like the DBX 580...super clean and kind of a Pre-Q as you have some filter controls. I have an SSL 611 E-Dyn comp and gate/exp, but am having to send it back as mouth pops register as clicks. I tried a second one and same issue. Not sure if others have had that issue, but will be sending it back. May. end up just using the Midas 500 series compressor I have and a plugin expander, and EQ.
@@matthewwolf1793 I’m like 80 percent certain that if you go line in to the Apollo, you bypass the “preamp” circuitry of the Unison slot plug in and it would treat it the same as plugging line level into a console. The Neve 88Rs often gets compared to the SSL because it’s the “clean” Neve. It’s has fast transients and a pristine top end that avoids the “sparkle” of the SSL sound. The 88Rs was built to record orchestras, broadcast, etc. But that SSL sparkle (THD) is the SSL secret sauce. Sounds like you have quite a rig you’re working on there.
Awesome video Mark. Thanks for sharing. Are you able to print the Insert plugins to your Twisted Wave DAW? I have an Apollo Twin USB (Windows) and I don't think it has the I/O matrix options to route to my DAW unless I'm doing something wrong. I use Pro Tools. I wish there was a way to save a signal chain template to share with other Apollo users so they can import it and tweak it to their own use but I can just follow along video and create it on my own
Hi Bill! Yes, I'm printing straight to Twisted Wave. I have TW set up to record MON L and MON R outputs, which on my rig are Channel 27 and 28 so anything I send to the monitor bus is what I record, which in my case is only ever my one voice output channel. So yeah, it's whatever channel in console is on and has faders up and isn't muted. I haven't used ProTools in over a decade so I'm not sure how to suggest a solution. In Console, do you have "UAD REC" selected underneath the meters? Doesn't that print your FX to the channel track you're recording? Yeah, you're right. There should be a way I can just have this as a template file that could be exchanged with other UAD users. It's probably some small file buried inside the Applications resources inside the system folder, but it should be something you could export from Console, right?
@@MarkYoshimotoNemcoff Thanks for the info Mark. I do have UAD REC in Console not the MON but I think it's more of an issue with the Twin USB. I did get a mac mini recently and definitely will check out Twisted Wave. Thanks bud
Thanks for sharing your chain. I really like that Sonnox dynamic EQ! I wonder if I could mock up something similar in TDR Nova. I might have missed this but do you print the whole chain when you send files to clients?
Yes, I cut live through the plug ins and print FX. I feel more comfortable hearing what the client will hear when I'm on the mic, and often I have "turn and burn" bookings that come in that need to be cut and sent back super ASAP, so it eliminates the need and time to tinker and mix afterwards. It probably would be better to cut dry and just monitor FX and render them in after the fact, but even taking that extra 5 min to get a file out the door is too long when you have several to knock out while the clock is running. Let me look around. I may have a copy of TDR Nova around here. It sounds familiar but I never use it.
@@MarkYoshimotoNemcoff makes sense. I'm getting ready to record an audiobook in a couple weeks, and I'm going to print my analog signal chain on the way in this time. Trying to keep my editing as minimal as possible -- it really does add up having to edit and print the tracks after! TDR Nova is a cool free dynamic EQ. I use it to pull out resonances in poorly recorded podcast tracks mainly. There's a paid version with more functionality, I haven't tried that yet.
@@marmaladecream2233 Admittedly, it's a lot easier getting away with printing fx on a 30 second commercial that may only run for a couple weeks or months than an audiobook that will be around forever, especially if you miscalculate something like the De-esser. But I hear ya. Audiobooks are just tons of editing. It's why I stopped doing them. I like work that ends the same day it begins. So yeah, it will save you time to print fx, but if you find that you don't like your settings and have to go back and re-record a small or large portion, that's no bueno too, so with longer form projects, maybe consider recording both the printed FX version and the dry version off an aux bus send just to have a backup in case you need it.
Another gem Mark! Curious for your thoughts... UAD is running pick 6 plugins (UAD 3 bundle, 3 free) for $400 black Friday deal (2022 for future comment time travelers) What would be your 6 picks for VO??
Great video. I’ve been watching a few of them as I’ve just entered the Apollo realm. Do you disable your plugins for submitting raw audio? Namely the C-VOX and DFC? Thanks!
@@JeffKellyMedia No more Apollo. It's all MT-48 here now. It's impossible to go back to the Apollo once you hear the MT-48 because all you hear is the congested low mid that Console imparts on everything in its attempt at vintage gear cosplay.
@@MarkYoshimotoNemcoff Thanks, I’ll dive into the MT-48.. The sound and the ease of use,have me leaning in that direction. Plug in game( with ILock ect ) really driving me crazy. I want best sound and too keep it simple. Only thing keeping me close to Apollo is C-Vox real time noise reduction…any ideas?
@@JeffKellyMedia I completely sympathize with feeling trapped into UAD solely because of C-Vox. What I've been doing is using the MT-48's on board gate, which is simple and incredibly effective. If I end up with some noise tails at the end of sentences, or between syllables I just clean them up after the fact with a (not as comprehensive, nor real time) noise reduction plug in like Izotope, Clear, etc... or if you're on a Mac, Hush is incredible for removing noise and room ambience. Nothing is as good as C-Vox, but I realized I don't need to feel locked into what is lesser sounding ecosystem overall because of it. I do miss the ease of C-Vox, but the other thing I've come to find is that C-Vox, while seemingly near-perfect, does seem to dull the edges a tiny bit, which I can't unhear now that I've noticed it.
