Analog Obsession releases "PREDD" : Vintage Mic Pre / DI

[AnalogObsession]

Vintage Mic Preamp / DI

Features

- MIC/DI : Will select input section. Mic preamp or DI input.

- PAD : -20dB PAD. Fully gain compensated.

- POLE : Phase invert

- VOLTAGE GAIN : Selectable main gain knob. Fully gain compensated.

- FINE GAIN SET : Variable +/- 5dB gain for fine settings. Fully gain compensated.

- OUTPUT : Main output knob.

- RUMBLE FILTER : 20 to 180Hz Highpass Filter.

- HF : 10dB high boost

- ANALOG OBSESSION : Oversampling

Available Formats

VST/VST3/AU | Mac 10.9 - 11.X

VST/VST3 | Windows 7 - 8 - 10

Patreon

[sambaji]

Is this a saturator (even:odd harmonics?) How do you envision people using it--placing it on any track where one wants to add this type of saturation? Thanks.

[kPere]

I wonder too, never really understood why would we need preamp emulations. Saturation I guess, but not sure if i'd use it. Anybody does?

[jamcat]

I use preamp emulations.

It's an integral part of the analog signal chain. A good preamp plugin on each track gives depth to an otherwise flat mix. Instruments have more weight and body, and they sound like they have their own space and pop out a little more.

Plus, I also use tape emulation, and I drive the tape plugin with a preamp plugin in front of it. If the tape plugin is good, it will respond to the level coming out of the preamp.

Using a preamp emulation is particularly useful following ampsims and physically modeled instruments that emulate miked instruments.

If you're working with a VST synths, you may also want to follow them with a preamp plugin, for all the reasons mentioned above. In the '70s and '80s it was common for synths the be played live in the studio through a speaker and to be miked. Depeche Mode recorded synths that way. In the '70s, Ritchie Blackmore's Rainbow recorded the Minimoog on the seminal album Rising through a Marshall amp. It's just how it was done. Guitarists played through amps, vocalists sang through PAs, and keyboardists played through either or. It's not a bad idea to run a synth plugin through an ampsim or virtual speaker/room and preamp plugin. It will make your music sound more tangible, and less like a computer printout that never existed in time or space. And it will have a whole lot more character.

I actually split my mixer into 2 separate views: the "tracking" console which has the source into a preamp with any EQ or compression I want to "print" and then into tape. From there the channel routes to another channel in a totally separate mixer view of my "mixing" console, which always starts with a channel strip as the first insert. Since this represents the console that is mixing from tape, it doesn't need a preamp, but I do like using some kind of analog summing and full mixer channel emulation here. I'll use the Brit Console (SSL) from Retro Mix Legends or the CTC-1 in Studio One's Mix Engine FX for analog summing, and a bx_console channel strip with TMT. The "tracking" console and "mixing" console don't have to be the same, as it was pretty typical for albums to be recorded in one studio and mixed in another. Recording on a console like a Helios or Neve for its "sound" and then mixing on an SSL for its functionality was a very common approach, and it's the one I typically emulate. And it sounds pretty legit.

PreSonus' CTC-1 has a REDD summing model called "Tube" which is what brought me to this thread. I currently pair it with the Waves REDD plugins for my preamp/channel, but if PREDD is truly comparable to it, I will gladly switch so I can get one step closer to being Waves free!

Perhaps a Helios Type 69 preamp is the next kit Analog Obsession wants to tackle?

[Agreed]

Good post Jamcat, I agree and I also use preamp sims in the same contexts as you describe, and as the start of a virtual channel strip. Also with channel strips and EQs in the style of consoles (etc.) that don't include preamp emulations of their own but may benefit from them.

[kPere]

I use preamp emulations.

It's an integral part of the analog signal chain. A good preamp plugin on each track gives depth to an otherwise flat mix. Instruments have more weight and body, and they sound like they have their own space and pop out a little more.

Plus, I also use tape emulation, and I drive the tape plugin with a preamp plugin in front of it. If the tape plugin is good, it will respond to the level coming out of the preamp.

Using a preamp emulation is particularly useful following ampsims and physically modeled instruments that emulate miked instruments.

If you're working with a VST synths, you may also want to follow them with a preamp plugin, for all the reasons mentioned above. In the '70s and '80s it was common for synths the be played live in the studio through a speaker and to be miked. Depeche Mode recorded synths that way. In the '70s, Ritchie Blackmore's Rainbow recorded the Minimoog on the seminal album Rising through a Marshall amp. It's just how it was done. Guitarists played through amps, vocalists sang through PAs, and keyboardists played through either or. It's not a bad idea to run a synth plugin through an ampsim or virtual speaker/room and preamp plugin. It will make your music sound more tangible, and less like a computer printout that never existed in time or space. And it will have a whole lot more character.

I actually split my mixer into 2 separate views: the "tracking" console which has the source into a preamp with any EQ or compression I want to "print" and then into tape. From there the channel routes to another channel in a totally separate mixer view of my "mixing" console, which always starts with a channel strip as the first insert. Since this represents the console that is mixing from tape, it doesn't need a preamp, but I do like using some kind of analog summing and full mixer channel emulation here. I'll use the Brit Console (SSL) from Retro Mix Legends or the CTC-1 in Studio One's Mix Engine FX for analog summing, and a bx_console channel strip with TMT. The "tracking" console and "mixing" console don't have to be the same, as it was pretty typical for albums to be recorded in one studio and mixed in another. Recording on a console like a Helios or Neve for its "sound" and then mixing on an SSL for its functionality was a very common approach, and it's the one I typically emulate. And it sounds pretty legit.

PreSonus' CTC-1 has a REDD summing model called "Tube" which is what brought me to this thread. I currently pair it with the Waves REDD plugins for my preamp/channel, but if PREDD is truly comparable to it, I will gladly switch so I can get one step closer to being Waves free!

Perhaps a Helios Type 69 preamp is the next kit Analog Obsession wants to tackle?

Oh damn, you're doing a lot to emulate workflow and sound od the past. I take it as a bit of overkill, but you've got some cool ideas to play with indeed. Might try to create that analog-like template myself, wonder how will it work for me.

[kobal]

something i m wondering , can phase invert on any plugin degrade the sound? it add any artifacts ?

[nineofkings]

something i m wondering , can phase invert on any plugin degrade the sound? it add any artifacts ?

If it's just a phase invert, no. A phase inverted version of a signal is audibly 100% identical.

There are very specific use cases where the phase between two different signals matters - for example, if you record a snare drum with both a top and bottom mic, flipping the phase of only one or the other affects the sound a lot. Same if you flip the phase of only one side of a stereo channel or the other. However, outside of these specific cases, flipping the phase of a signal doesn't change the sound.

[Bodhisan]

Really nice on vocals. Would really love to see this emulation completed as the console.