As promised before, one of the things we want to talk about is the equipment that CREW has to offer.

The most recent thing we’ve acquired is a pair of Grace Design m501 preamps.  While we haven’t had a ton of time to play with these just yet, we are extremely impressed with the few recordings we have used them for.

 

 

One thing we want to do is offer a number of different choices or “flavours” of preamp.  We have the API sound, we have the Neve sound, we have the Creamer sound, but something we were looking for was a clean preamp that would reproduce the sound we hear in the room, coming from the instrument or voice.  Super-clean, with a 75Hz high pass filter and a ¼” input to plug guitars, bass, or keyboards in directly.  Mission accomplished!

Grace Design is known for transparency and detail.  The circuit in the m501 is for people confident with their source, mic selection, and placement, and want to capture it with as little coloration or distortion as possible.

We’ve tried it with condensers, tube mics, ribbons and dynamics.  One of the great things about it, and more manufacturers are designing their preamps with this feature, is that you can change the input impedance when using a ribbon or dynamic mic, changing the way the mic interacts with the pre, driving it differently and creating a different sonic characteristic.

So if you’re looking to record EXACTLY what you hear coming from the instrument in the room, this is the preamp to use.