Re: Universal Audio SOLO/610- RODE NTK

On Nov 8, 12:25 pm, "Paul Stamler" <pstamlerh...@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
"Julien BH" <julie...@xxxxxxxxx> wrote in message

news:1194540395.655109.116050@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx



Many of you asked where I read Gain vs Level on the UA 610. Its in the
manual that comes with the preamp. This also may seem like a rookie
question, but I've always been in bands and never had my own
studio...anyhow, is it careless to leave the NTK out all the time.
Meaning on the stand in the vocal booth, or is it better to be put
away when not being used. (I know this isnt a guitar) Just wanted to
ask.

Why are you buying such expensive gear if you don't even know the
basics of recording?

That's not such a bad idea, really. He's buying decent equipment that he
won't outgrow, and it's built well enough to last him a long time. Starting
out with crap gear, he won't hear what good stuff sounds like, and when he
does and buys some, the crap gear will have no resale value.

Anyhow, GAIN is a kind of overdrive and LEVEL is the volume output.
Turn up the volume and turn down the gain. Then slowly turn up the
gain to have the level you want without too much "distortion".

Umm, well, not quite. Here's the way the UA 610 circuit works. The first
section is an amplifier made from a couple of 12AX7 vacuum tubes. (A couple
of half-tubes, really, but let's not mess with that.) By adjusting the value
of a resistor, using the GAIN switch, you adjust how much this amplifier
amplifies -- in other words, how many volts come out of the output for a
given input. Once that's happened, the signal goes to the LEVEL control
which is really just an attenuator: it turns the signal down by an amount
you control by turning the knob. Finally the signal goes to an equalizer
circuit and an output amplifier which sends it into the world again.

When you change the gain of the input amplifier, you change not only how
much it amplifies, but also how cleanly. For a given output level, the
amplifier will be cleaner at lower gains, less clean at higher gains. That's
measurable, but in practice not particularly audible, as even at high gains
the amplifier is quite clean with appropriate signal levels. If you set the
LEVEL knob where the manual says you should (I think around the 2:00
position, but I may be misremembering), then set the GAIN control to give
you roughly the right output level, then use the LEVEL control to tweak it,
you'll be fine. However, you cna't "slowly turn up the gain" on a 610
because it's switched, in intervals of 5dB.

About overdrive: You can also turn up the GAIN way too high and turn the
LEVEL down low to bring the output level to the right place to drive your
recorder. What you're doing, in that case, is deliberately overloading the
input amplifier, causing it to clip. This sometimes sounds interesting, but
it's definitely a *special effect*, not something to strive for all the
time. Some folks out there seem to believe the reason old records sound good
is that the engineers were deliberately overloading everything. It ain't so.

Peace,
Paul

Allright allright.
What made the old recordings sound good is the LP technology and the
better consumer audio gear. (All imho)

.

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