Motu Traveler mk2

There are a lot of multichannel audio interfaces on the market, and many of them have similar specs. I haven’t tried that many, but my impression is that they ARE very similar both in design and sound quality.

I initially bought a Motu UltraLite and was very happy with it. I have never experienced any problem with Motu interfaces, and I really liked the smallness (it fit in my laptop bag) and rugged design of the UltraLite. But when a coworker said he wanted to “downgrade” his Motu Traveler for a UltraLite, I suggested a trade which he accepted. The only reason for me doing this was that the Traveler has 4 mic preamps where the UltraLite only has 2. For me this means that I can take the laptop, the Traveler, and some mics, go to our rehearsal space and record 4 channels of drums. With my TLA 5001 4-channel mic preamp I can record 8 channels.

I’m thinking we should maybe rerecord the main guitar. It was done quite fast as a guide track, but then we thought it sounded good and kept it. I think the playing is pretty OK (sloppy enough!) but the sound is too “country” and twangy. I would like a darker, more jazz-like sound. If I mute it in the verses there is much more room for the vocals, but then there is not enough drive in the music. I have a guitar with flatwound strings, so I might try that.

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Måns testing mics

We were not so happy with the vocal sound on some of the tracks, so we decided to do a microphone test. It has been difficult to get a sound that is both pleasant yet can cut through the mix. We chose the song Fire Fire Fire to try different mics on, partly because it has both very soft and quite loud vocals, and partly because it was a song where the vocals were hard to mix.

We connected four mics we had available to the four mic inputs on my Motu Traveler. The mics were (left to right in pic):

• T-Bone SC400 large diaphragm condenser
• Sennheiser MD 541 dynamic (no bass cut)
• Sennheiser MD 421 dynamic (no bass cut)
• Studio Electronics B1 large diaphragm condenser (no bass cut)

To make the test at least pseudo-scientific Måns connected the mics and I connected the mic inputs, so we didn’t know which mic went what input. But then I had to cheat: two mics needed phantom power, so I knew which were the condenser mics at least. All mics were set to give approximately the same level to the track.

Måns sang a verse/chorus and then we listened. Track 1 sounded pretty good, but a bit thin. Track 2 sounded crap in comparison, less treble and with some ugly resonant frequencies in the lower mid. Track 3 lacked a lot of treble. Track 4 was similar to Track 1, but less sticky.

So what was the result? Track 2 was the T-Bone mic. It sounded quite bad, so we won’t use it for vocals. Track 3 was the Sennheiser 541. I bought this second hand from an auction and have used it as a snare mic. Compared to the others it sounded almost broken since it lacked so much treble. It will stay in the drawer when we record vocals.

The mics that sounded good were the 421 (Track 1) and the B1 (Track 4). The 421 had a quite sharp quality that made the vocals cut through the mix. Unfortunately it sounded a bit unpleasant on the louder parts. The B1 sounded the most “natural” of the four mics, but it didn’t cut through the mix as well as the 421.

We re-recorded the whole song using the 421. We’ll see if we are happy with this take or if we want to do it again.

What we learned:

• Mics sound really different.
• It’s hard to say if a mic sounds good or bad if you don’t have anything to compare with. A/B testing is recommended.
• We want to try a really expesive mic!

Studio Projects B1

This is the mic we most often use for the lead vocals. There are a lot of good large diaphragm condenser microphones for about $100, and I guess this is just one of them. But I like the design, and it got good reviews when Swedish music magazine Studio tested it. They sound a bit harsh around 5kHz, but that is pretty useful. I’ve got two of them, so we also use them for stereo recordings of piano and as drum overheads.

Noname Telecaster

This is a guitar I bought for $200 in 1997 or therabouts. I got it second hand in a shop, apparently someone needed fast cash for paying the rent. It’s a noname Telecaster, pretty standard. It has a maple neck which I’m not really fond of, I prefer rosewood. A couple of years ago I took it on the road with The Grand Opening. Some parts played around the 12th fret sounded terrible, with no sustain at all. So when I got home I got another Tele and took this one to the office to fiddle around with. I also changed strings to heavier guage (0.11 maybe) and I think this has made the guitar sound slightly better. Maybe the heavier strings make the neck more curved? Anyway, I’m starting to like it again.