Empirical Labs EL-9 - Manual (Page 12)

EXAMPLE SETTINGS
The Mike-E provides an un-compromised Mic Preamp with a new level of coloring ability. Mike-E
should be compatible with all microphones and provide enough gain range to handle any source.
Use the CLIP TEST detailed in USING FOR THE FIRST TIME to set the input gain. Here we provide
some starting settings to get you going on any session.
Vocals
- Pick the right mic, the right distance and the right angle for the singer. The most
expensive mic isn’t always the best mic for a person’s voice. Moving a person a couple inches in
and out from the mic can make all the difference in the world. A thing called the Proximty Effect
makes things closer to the mike bassier, and things farther from the mic thinner and with less low
frequencies. Putting the mic up above the person’s mouth around their nose level can warm things
up, avoid pops, and make a singer sound less nasal. When a mic is aimed down a little towards the
singer’s mouth, you will be aiming it at their body also, where lots of low frequency resonance
occurs. Conversely aiming it up can work, having the singer sing over the top of the mic.
Remember that a leading cause of “nasality” is the lack of sound and air coming from a persons
nose, so by aiming up or being level with the nose, an engineer can often improve the basic quality
of a voice. Remember to remind the singer they can move slightly in on soft intimate parts, staying
aware of the sound, working the microphone.
Setting Mic Gain (see page 2) – CLIP TEST - Start with 35 dB of gain, output on 7, CompSat
bypassed (Drive on 0). Then use the CLIP TEST to tweak the mic gain by having the singer sing
loudly or yell “HEY” into the mic. If the clip light (BAD!) comes on, back the gain down one 5dB
notch and try again. Otherwise increase the gain till the BAD! LED does come on. Then set the Mic
Gain 5dB (or even 10dB) down from the gain that clips with the test “yell”. This will give you
excellent dynamic range and headroom.
If there is any rumble or Low Frequency POP problems, the 80 HZ HP can be useful. This cuts
all sub frequencies below all but the very lowest male voices. If there aren’t any rumble problems,
leave the HP off, since it won’t have any possibility of interacting with later Eq-ing or high passing.
Watch out for “P’s” and other plosives as they can produce subs.
CompSat On Vocals – There are a zillion options here. This versatile circuit can provide powerful
level control, soft saturation, and high frequency taming. We will give three example settings just to
show a few of the many options. These are useful on tracking as well as mixdown.
• Soft Clip & Tape Emulation. Put the CompSat on 1:1, and adjust drive so the warm light is on
often, and the Toasty LED lights on peaks. Set the Mix Control to full CW (10) and the user will
gain a dB or two of “heat” and headroom. The Mike-E will be flattening the peaks out gently
with its saturation circuit. Engaging the Emphasis will make the high frequencies clip earlier
and soften peaky and possibly harsh “build-ups”. It has the added benefit of decreasing noise.
Emphasis was used in all modern tape recorders to improve Signal to Noise and dynamic
range. Going to another compressor after this will give you a familiar tape like vocal sound.
Compressors react differently after a signal has been soft clipped, or on tape.
• Classic Knee Compressor. Set Ratio to 8:1 attack on 8mS, release on .1S, mix full CW (10).
Adjust Drive for 6 to 14 dB of compression on peaks, and set output knob for good recording
level into your DAW or Recorder. Don’t be afraid to run the output level above 8, and even to 10
to get proper levels, as long as BAD! LED does not light. The output has tremendous dynamic
range.
• Excitement Generator with Dynamics – Set Ratio to 8:1 attack on .9mS, release .1S, Mix on 5.
Adjust Drive for 20dB of gain reduction on peaks. With the Mix set to blend the overly
compressed AND Dry signal, your dynamics will be maintained while low level words, syllables,
breaths will be brought up in an exciting way. Always solo this kind of treatment and make sure
you aren’t bringing up rumble, air conditioning, street noise, etc since the compressor is
providing lots of gain to low level stuff. If there is some rumble, perhaps engage the 80Hz HP.
Plucked Instruments & Acoustic Guitar
– Plucked Acoustic instruments are
especially sensitive to tonal coloring. Mic selection and placement is again your first resource for
getting great sounds during tracking. If attack is needed, aiming a mic at the picking or plucking area
will bring it out. Conversely, too much pluck can be fixed by moving the mic to a position aimed at
the body, away from the area where strings are plucked. Also positioning the mic over where the
neck meets the body on relevant instruments will avoid too much picking noise and boominess.
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Section Details (cont’d)
Phase Inverter -
This is a simple single stage inverter amplifier, switched in and out with high
quality relay. The amplifier inverts the phase of the audio by 180 degrees.
CompSat -
This unusual circuitry alone, sets the Mike-E apart from all other mic preamplifiers. It
is engaged and bypassed using the RATIO Switch. It has four sections, explained below.
1) Saturator – This is a multi stage soft clipping circuit. If you wish to just saturate a signal, go
to 1:1 mode, which disables the compressor, while still passing through the saturation circuits.
At lower levels, a triode type saturation affects the signal. As the level increases, a second
unique clip circuit that includes Germanium semiconductors starts to more severely flatten out
the peaks. Soft clipping continues with increased “DRIVE” till there is 12% THD and 2 dB of
tape like compression is occurring. Harder unmusical clipping occurs after, and will be indicated
by the BAD! LED lighting up.
2) Compressor – This is an un-compromised compressor/limiter circuit that allows detented
control of attack and release for easy repeatability. You adjust the amount of compression with
the DRIVE knob, which adjusts the level going into the compressor. In many ways it is
Distressor like, but has other differing characteristics including a much longer available attack
time, and additional circuitry. Four ratios are provided, with 2:1 being the gentlest with a long
20dB knee, good for subtle compression such as while tracking or on the Buss. Ratios 4:1 and
8:1 are steeper but still very smooth with long knees. Nuke is very steep (limiter like) and has a
different attack and release shape, great on drum room mics. Incidentally, the main difference
between a compressor and limiter is a limiter usually has an incredibly fast attack time and
steeper ratio. It tries to “limit” peaks from exceeding a certain level.
3) Emphasis - The Emphasis is actually two circuits that surround the compressor and
saturator, as shown in the block diagram. The Pre-emphasis boosts the high frequencies
before the compressor and saturator (CompSat), soft clipping them sooner than normal, while a
de-emphasis cuts the frequencies complementary after the CompSat. Emphasis has the added
perk of improving signal to noise, and is the reason analog tape decks used emphasis to begin
with.
4) Mix Circuit - The modern recording engineer often employs the technique of mixing between
the compressed and the dry (or uncompressed) signal. This can often help maintain transients
and a sense of dynamic range while enhancing the low level nuances. Mike-E has a built in mix
control to submix in the uncompressed signal to the compressed signal. As the user rotates the
MIX control from full right to full left, he goes from the full compressed signal to the full dry
signal (absent of any compression or saturation). Sometimes rotating the mix control from 10 to
0 and back is the best way to compare, using the mix as a “Bypass”.
Start by getting an initial compression setting that you really like. The mix control should
be mostly clockwise usually. After taking note of where the mix control is, spin it fully counter
clockwise to 0, noting the level, and then to full clockwise (10), also referred to as 100% mix,
and observe the relative levels. They may be several dB different, but the DRY signal will
remain constant as you increase the compression with the “DRIVE” control. This gives you a
reference of the level difference between the signals, and can help you adjust the MIX control
accordingly. Since this is another famous (wink) Empirical Labs Knee Compressor, the
compressed signal is apt to stay fairly constant after you are compressing 5 – 10 dB. When
mixing in the dry signal, you will find you can increase the compression beyond your normal
amount. Also, a faster attack can be used when blending the compressed and uncompressed
signal. For something like vocals (and most natural instruments), the main effect of adding in
the DRY signal is maintaining the transients and some natural dynamics, while at the same
time bringing out the low level detail of a source in an exciting way. If the dry level seems way
too low, you probably need to raise the Mic Gain on the input stage.
The MIX control will be extremely useful with Digital Audio Workstations (DAWS) since the
delay introduced by the send/return Converters would comb filter with the dry channel in the
DAW. Now, you can just send the dry signal to the Mike-E and do the mixing of the processed
and unprocessed signals there. Using one of the delay compensation utility programs in a
DAW can still be used, if necessary.
It is best to turn the Drive to 0 when the CompSat is NOT being used.
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