Yeah, we have the midterm next week and we had like an extra hour after the recording lab class where we operate an SSL console (FYI to NSGuitar: a REAL SSL console
) and since the studio had three different kind of preamps (SSL, API and Neve), we decided to make a shootout on them. We split the kickdrum signal (AKG D112
) on the Duality patchbay's multis and did two versions... One with "clean" settings and one with more "driven" settings on the preamps, and we tried to match the gain as close as possible. And to be honest... It wasn't even funny how similar they sounded. It was so subtle that it was more like level mismatch than tonal difference.
if you want to hear the clips, I can try to go and get the files from the computer later today if the room is not occupied.
edit: clips on post #9

if you want to hear the clips, I can try to go and get the files from the computer later today if the room is not occupied.
edit: clips on post #9
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/1338211/SSL_test.zip (~7mb)
Pretty straightforward deal here, two different takes on same preamps with different settings. _01 is clean and _02 is the driven.
Just so you know that we are just humans and we couldn't adjust the volume to be 100% exactly the same, so there is some minor +-1dB level difference between the preamp clips. Because we all know "louder seems better", so if you want to get a more neutral opinions on the clips, normalize all the files to -6dBFS peak level.
edit: oh yeah, I don't think these will be much of a use to anyone, but if you want, free feel to use the samples for whatever.