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OLD LYME,
CONNECTICUT: Session drummer Gerry Hansen recently
capped off his state-of-the-art remote drum recording
studio with a True System's Precision 8 microphone
preamplifier. Hansen, who splits his time between
working at an audio equipment retailer and his session
work, has been a session drummer for 15 years. As
the bulk of his work shifted to commercials, he's
seen a decrease in the ability of post-production
houses to properly record acoustic drums. At the
same time, the medium de jour has shifted to ProTools,
allowing Hansen to collect all the best drum mics
and the best mic pre in an optimal drum room for
remote work. Clients send him a ProTools session
file with a guide track, and he sends back eight
crystalline tracks of perfectly recorded drums.
"If the quality of my own recordings isn't
top-notch, the post production houses will have
nothing to do with it. Thus, the selection of a
mic pre was crucial," commented Hansen. "Working
at an audio retailer gave me the ability to try
all of the famous mic pre's. I 'A-B'ed them all,
and the Precision 8 sounded much better than units
that cost twice as much for only two channels! Eight
channels of True Audio Systems quality and features
make the Precision 8 the better deal."
Hansen described the sound of the Precision 8 as
"excellent, transparent, crisp, and clean".
A frequency response that extends from 1Hz to 500kHz
delivers thunderous low end and a coherent, realistic
high end. "It's difficult to get a good tom
sound with your average pre," noted Hansen,
"but the Precision 8 slams!" Hansen uses
the built-in M/S decoding on the first two channels
to capture an 'adjustable' room sound, a sound that
can be made larger than the actual room itself.
He also cites the unit's solid construction, its
smooth, continuous knobs, its five-segment level
indicators, and its comprehensive array of output
connectors as features that put the Precision 8
over the top.
"When recording drums, you've got the instrument
itself, the microphones, and the preamplifier. Failing
to deliver on any one of those pieces brings down
the recording," observed Hansen. "Most
mic pre's deliver a thin, washed out sound. With
bad mic pre's, you're trying to squeeze something
natural out of an unnatural beast. That's why I
love the Precision 8: it sounds natural and works
with me instead of against me. It's simply awesome."
Neumann is the U.S. distributor of the True Systems
Precision 8 Microphone Preamp.
www.sennheiserusa.com
www.neumannusa.com
