Country Studio Drum Test

I know this guy and he plays drums quite well.

so I had him come out to some friends of mine house that live in the country who have graciously let me set up a recording studio in the living room and dining room area.  Nothing major currently, but we do have 8 tracks at one time and a decent room with

I just won a Symetrix SX202

I did some mic preamp research in an earlier post, and I ran across a deal on a Symetrix SX202 that I couldn't pass up, and since it was on my good list and in my price range (aka cheap) I bought it. The catch and main reason I went for it, there are tons of documented mods to this (main one by Monte McGuire), most of which involve changing the op amps out. So when I make the plunge for a high roller pre, I can mod this one up.






The main mod is changing out 4560 ICs and replacing the compensation caps on the new IC's.  It should be a pretty straight forward process.

-The manual pdf

-The Gear Slutz Forum- This has good info and is the best starting place.
-A Tape Op Message Board Mod Post- it has some specific IC's to change out

API 500 Series Gear

So I have dug for gear and preamps and I keep running across these 500 series API modular boxes. I missed the boat on these, so I need to check into them a little more. The deal seems to be the following- You buy an API LunchBox (Pictured Above) for like $450, and in that you can put 6 modules of your choosing. The LunchBox has your connectors and power, and you just have to buy the modules, which slip into the box much like a PCI card (for young folks) or like modular console channels in a board (for you old folks). This link has all the API approved modules, some big playa brands in that list. It looks like you can get some good pres for $700+ per channel.

They have other non-API chassis- examples of these will be updated next time I work.

The Gear Slutz take on all the Racks/Frames/Lunchboxes available- BAE, API500, the OSA. They have 6 slots, 10 slots, and 11 slot versions, and they have various PSUs.

The Radial Workhorse runs about $1000 and has cool summing options and had a hot little ad in this months tape op.

Racking up Modular Console Preamps, DIY Preamps- A Brainstorm

Photo from this post on prodigy-pro.com

This is my information landing pad for how to take modular channel on a mixer console, put it in a rack mount box, and have a dope and custom made preamp that I built. I also have some kit based pre's in here too- cause you have to buy the PSU's from these companies. But I have no idea how to do that, so I will pile any info I find here.

-a link to a set of Rack-up examples- from prodigy-pro

-A Midas rack up- with text and pictures

-The Yamaha pm1000's seem popular to recap and mount

-SSL channel strips don't rack up easy, so they say.  As if I will ever stumble upon an SSL strip . . .

-Orphan Audio Forum- Restoration and Preservation of Classic Audio Equipment and they have a good forum, and sell parts.

-----DIY Kit Companies-----

-Five Fish Studios- they sell PSUs and other DIY circuits for audio. This site has good guts pics.
You must have a Rack, a Transformer, a PSU, and the circuits.
-Seventh Circle Audio and Eisen Audio and Sound Skulptor- DIY companies
-Gear Slutz Low down on DIY companies- they dig SCA.
-http://micpreampkit.com/- has examples of the Five fish projects
-The Gear Slutz Posts on the SC-1 Five Fish Pre-


-----Other Notes-----
-The most reoccurring PSU mentioned on various sites would be a JLM power supply.
-This article from 1995 talks about grounding issues in the Modular Soundcraft 200B-
-Gearslutz always has a good discussion going- internet feedback . . . 
-Below is a description I took off of ebay  for a boxed up RCA BA-72A-it notes brands of capacitors and transistors ect.
"Up for auction is a freshly racked vintage RCA BA-72A mic preamp. Great Class A transistor circuit. Kenyon transformer balanced input and output.
     To allow these preamps to reach their full potential the following restoration work has been performed: electrolytic capacitors have been replaced with new exact value replacement Sprague ATOM series except the output cap. The output cap is a larger value for better low end. All capacitors that are in the signal path have a .1uf bypass cap for a more open high end. Also the second stage of the two-stage negative feedback amplifier transister has been replaced by a new old stock germanium RCA 2N404A and the two-stage output transisters have been replaced with new old stock RCA 2N2270's.
     The rack brings this great sounding vintage amp in line with all of the modern studio options all within a single rack unit footprint. Toggles for polarity, -20db pad and 48vdc phantom power (red LED on/off). There is also a toggle that increases circuit gain by 6db. This reduces the amount of feedback in the circuit and also adds a bit more distortion and color to the sound. Power has a blue LED to indicate status. Mogami audio wiring throughout. Continuously variable output trim control. Neutrick XLR gold for input and output. External linear regulated power supplies for -30VDC and +48VDC will take an international range of AC voltages with internal modification - currently set to 120VAC. Tested and in fully working condition. Very durable construction. Also included is the JLM DI that uses two FETs running as a unity gain impedance converter so it can drive 200ohm loads. It has a 1Meg input impedance on the jack so the loading to the guitar pickup is the same as a Fender or Marshall Amp. Inserting the jack switches the small relay on the DI from the mic input and sends the active DI into the input transformer. DI is a great addition to this amp as it feeds directly into the input transformer using the entire circuit and sounds great on bass and guitar. One of my personal favorites for bass."

Mic Preamps

So, I got a cool recording gig coming up (I will go in depth once it pans out), and it will be a one mic in one room capturing some local singer song writer types (think of this in Cage's chance and environmental soundscaspes more than recording some hippy with a guitar). The point is to capture some quiet music and have the outsides and the house and the room all be a apart of this. So a friend of a friend asked if I would be into helping out so I said "damn right I am." The point is, I