OLD LYME,
CONNECTICUT: In the midst of her latest tour, pop
goddess Paula Cole and her band received a high
grade sonic injection in the form of True Systems'
Precision 8 microphone preamplifier. Eric Frankhouser,
Cole's tour manager and monitoring engineer, picked
up the single rack space, eight-channel Precision
8 on a recommendation from Neumann USA's Rob Treloar.
"We use a Crest monitoring console," said
Frankhouser. "It has a respectable number of
inputs, flexible routing, and all the rest, but
I wanted more from the mic pre's. So when Treloar
told me about the Precision 8, I was eager to try
it. It's made a dramatic difference. Before our
sound was heavily colored and required a lot of
equalization to get it 'back'. With the Precision
8, our sound is transparent and natural all by itself.
Our EQs are taking a permanent vacation."
The most striking difference can be heard in the
band's acoustic guitars. Frankhouser uses the Precision
8's internal direct inputs where before he used
dedicated direct boxes. "The Precision 8's
DIs are the best I've ever heard, and I've tried
them all," Frankhouser remarked. "Our
guitarist uses two wonderful Martin guitars. Before
we got the Precision 8, I was forced to EQ the signal
to salvage the 'natural sound' buried under all
the color. With the Precision 8, I just leave everything
flat and it sounds as beautiful as it does without
sound reinforcement."
True System's Precision 8 boasts an impressive frequency
response of 1Hz to 500kHz and delivers robust, tight
lows and clear, airy highs. Frankhouser cites its
compact package, smooth, continuous knobs, and five-segment
level indicators as gravy for an already delectable
sonic stew. "With a good microphone and a solid
mic pre like the Precision 8 you're home free,"
observed Frankhouser. "The Precision 8 has
brought our sound up to a level we didn't think
possible."
Neumann is the U.S. distributor of the True Systems
Precision 8 Microphone Preamp.
www.sennheiserusa.com
www.neumannusa.com
