Avalon 737 and Vocals

[Greene]

Anyone using the 737 sp for lead oor background vocals? What are some of your settings? Mics used?

[Lee Blaske]

I've had good luck with this. I usually use a Neumann TLM170, M149 or AKG 414. Normally, I won't do any compression. EQ wise, I don't do anything radical, maybe a little boost up around 10k and possibly cutting out some of the low mids. For female vocalists, I'll switch in the low cut. Settings are really going to depend on the mic and the voice, so there can be no hard and fast rules.

Lee Blaske

[PTUser NYC]

Hey Lee,

I notice that you're using some bright mics there. You and I have disagreed (very civily I might add) about the 737. My main gripe is that its too dark or mushy. Maybe this pairs well with the brighter mics you use.

I like a U87 into a 1073 for example. Is this an example of a darker mic and an edgier pre, while you may favor a brighter mic, and a more rounded pre?

Hmm.

[mixer]

use it all the time over the neve with u87s or a brauner...don't find it to dark. but i think these units vary and of coarse so do mics..i love mine for vocals.. very little compression usually set to 3 or 4 fast attack ( which is slow on these anyway) and slow release. no eq do use the high pass filter. gary vandy audio production

[mixx]

i find it less than stellar..mushy..il defined

[LeGato]

I've had good results with the M149. A lot of people use FET mics (like U87 fet) with Tube pre's but the 149 seems to pair pretty well for a tube mic. Plus 2-4 db @10k roll off -2 @ 100-150hz, some other variances but it also depends on the voice. The compression depends on how the singer sings but usually kept light. I've used the M149 with my Neve but prefer the Avalon for vocals, acoustic guitars is a different story though. I'd go with the U87 FET if you are going to rent the mic, you'll save a few bucks and get decent results.

RS

[ProTooler]

I've had some success with a U-87 into the 737, light compression (no more than 3/1 (fairly slow attact, letting many of the initial peaks through, with very little gain reduction, and a slow release), and very light eq, w/ no more than a 2-3db boost of the highs. I've found my 737 to be a little bit brittle in the mids, so i'll lightly cut anywhere from 1.6-3k 1-2 db. The freq. cut depends on the voice of course. I use a very narrow bandwidth for this cut after determining the culprit freq.
BTW - I much prefer going into the Neve or Vintech into either the tubetech cl-b or the distressor for most vocals; but, the question is about the 737, which does have it's place in my studio, and is a good value piece of gear in my opinion. I suggest replacing the tubes on a regular basis.
Hope this helps.