Neumann U87 + LA2A Compressor = Chef's kiss
We experimented while recording vocals for my song "Anne". The signal chain was a Neumann U87 into an analog emulation of the legendary LA2A by Warm Audio soft patched into the Neve Desk and printed in Pro Tools. The result was surprising and so wonderfully pleasing. We set the box for compression and not limiting. The box was not squashing anything that we could perceive or observe on the meter. The vocals were merely getting some nice warm characteristics. Maybe it is me and my engineer not being that good at producing and recording yet, but we could certainly feel the difference. It was one of those things that we could feel but could not exactly describe. We say this because this was not the our first time using the U87 microphone. Since the inception of this project, we have been heavily reliant on that legend. We have used it as a primary mic, as a pair in different settings, as a vibe mic for drums, as a vibe mic for my guitars, amps, and what have you! Hence, we are definitely a bit used to its sound. But this recording! This recording was really special. And we know we did not invent anything, and this has been the industry standard for years. But this was fun, and just the fact that we won't have all this outboard gear and the GOATed microphone for any further use after a couple of weeks KILLS!
Until next time,
P.
