Universal Audio Sphere LX Review
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- Опубліковано 18 сер 2023
- My review of the Universal Audio Sphere LX!
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I picked up the DLX. And then I sold 90% of my other mics. Honestly, this thing is incredible. It sounds great and gives you so many options to choose from in post as well as tracking. Sometimes the right mic can mean a lot to the performance. I never really track more than 2 tracks at a time, so it's perfect for me with just one other mic to pick up the second source or run a guitar direct while using the DLX for vocals, etc. And because I've used many of these mics in my prior life, I know what I looking for when selecting a Coles over a U67 or whatever. It doesn't really matter if the models are an exact match as long as they have the overall spirit of the original. I look at them as colors to paint with. Instead of buying 5 or 6 $200 mics, buy one of these.
Love it!
Pretty sweet times were living in, cheers!
I’ve looked at a lot of videos and this is the first one to explain the difference In waveforms when committing to the record or dropping the plug-in down to the insert slot below the record slots!! 🙏🏾🙏🏾 Confirmed!!
Cheers mate!
I try to be a as thorough as I can without getting dense.
What if you're trying to record a main vocal? Would you suggest splitting the tracks to Mono and muting/deleting the 2nd track (basically like the trick you said in the video 😂)
Using LX
Hi man, Quick question.
I recorded a with the DLX, and a friend of mine is going to mix it in his studio, but he doesn’t have the mic neither the plug-in. The question is, how do I export the track from pro tools for him to mix the song? Do I bounce the stereo track to a mono track through a bus? in order to get the sound from the mic I choose previously in the plug in?
You could do a mono bounce. You could do a stereo bounce.
Either way, it’s being summed to mono via the plugin, so whether you give him a stereo vocal track or not, it’s the same audio.
Don’t stress. Bounce a stereo file. lol
@@TheSteveKinney thank you very much!
I bought the DLX. After thoroughly testing it for two weeks now, I am of the opinion that there is nothing better, at least for an ambitious home studio musician with several other good microphones.
This is a really well done and thoughtful video. Thanks!
Glad you enjoyed it! I try my best to make these thoroughly helpful.
Sometimes I hit. Sometimes I don’t. Haha cheers!
I have owned the Townsend Sphere L22, which is now sold as the DLX, from early on and I did a shootout with another producer that owned a Telefunken 251E. Neither he nor I could tell the difference between the 251E and the L22, it was so close that he ended up selling the 251E and bought a L22. The L22/DLX does have a shock mount and has saved me tons of money by not having to try to build a mic locker of different mics. I feel like I have a great locker of mics by owning all of the UA Mic packages. And yes Melodyne does process the stereo track produced by the L22/DLX without any problems. So get you some!!
Love it!
That’s great to hear mate!
So is the original L22 the same as the DX? I have the L22 and have had it since 2019. Love it. I thought they had released a new one.
@JacksonTaylorandTheSinners from what I understand, they slapped the UA logo on it.. yes, should be the same.
But I don’t understand. It is advised that you put the sphere plug-in before a preamp. But it you use the sphere in your daw after recording than you can not use a preamp/ vocal chain when recording right?
It’s essentially advised that you don’t use a saturated pre before the plugin.
I mean - essentially - if you use a colored preamp, you’re now going to be messing with the calibration of the mic modeling.
Which is only loosely described. A lot of nuance to it, but it’s important to note.
Fantastic video as always. Question; I am a opera singer and I do mainly vocal recordings with other singers. For classical singers they often use 2 to 3 mics in a live room and that gives I guess that wide ambiance you hear on classical recordings. With the DLX would I get when out the mic in stereo the same effect as these classical recordings or do you really need 2 mics on a stand?
The second question is: melodyne. Here 2 signals come in from the mic. When the vocal is being processed in melodyne is melodyne processing it as 1 note at the time? And, does it effect the original recording negatively there melodyne process the vocal in mono.
Love to hear your experience
Hey Josh, thanks so much for this - this is a great question.
to your first point, spaced pair mic'ing is a specific technique.. you'd probably get slightly wider stereo image that way - specifically as it relates to a large choir.. but I think that all depends on how big the choir really is.
what might be a cool trick to do - is if it's a small group of say 5-10.. use the DLX for the close mic' in stereo
and then use two mic's further away for the ambiance and room mics. That would probably make a beautiful sound if you're in a great room.
there would definitely be greater "spread" if you had two mic's further away from each other though as your close mics.. but a lot of it will come down to experimentation.
now to the second question.. from what I understand about Melodyne, you'd want to have a specific version of Melodyne that can handle polyphonic material in order to fix and tune specific notes within groups of notes.. I've never personally used it, so I have no idea what kind of artifacting it may introduce.
but I know the software exists. My best advice, give it a try - they give you demo's for stuff like that for a reason. They don't want you to buy a license of something and then be dissatisfied if it's not what you need.
Thanks for the great question!
Cheers,
Steve
Hi Steve, thank you so much for taken the time to reply my long message. I received the microphone today and tried it directly. I instantly noticed the difference in sound and power which wasn't there in my 2 old mics I told you about. I have to do some studying on how it all works, however, when I recorded my voice and then want to have that effect of a dual mic as they use on opera singers it should sound equal in both of my ears correct? Because that isn't the case. My left is a lot louder than the right side - I probably do something wrong and I figure it out but if you find the time to guide me on my way in this I would appreciate it a lot. I am happy I bought the mic 🙂Wish you an amazing week@@TheSteveKinney
@@joshrainbow-IceTenor NP at all. I do my best to get to all comments at some point.
did you get the DLX or the LX?
Hi Steve, i just see your reply..I have bought the DLX because UAD said I could achieve the same stereo wideness with this mic similar to the operatic recordings where they use 2 mics spread. However, haven't found the way on how to do that with the 2 plug ins that comes with the mic. The second plug has a preset for a guitar simulate 2 mics, however, the delay time is not equal and therefor for vocals it sounds weird, not even close to the classical recordings we hear. So, I am still in the dark how to make it work for my vocal when I record classical arias and have it with that 2 mic effect :-) @@TheSteveKinney
Yoo first of all, really great video 😂….and the review was great and honest…personally I definitely don’t like the fact we’re they didn’t include a shock mount I mean I am surprised lol but this microphone is also good because it’s a omnidirectional microphone and I think it’s really good for a home studio personally I would buy, I mean the emulations, proximity is really good stuff here but this but my question is does it give a fair competition to slate digital ML-1? They both are really good and both have some down sides but if you were to pick between them two what would you pick?…once again great video…cheers brotha✌️✌️✌️
well.. funny you say that - because... I currently ALSO have the slate mic chilling in a box.
Bobby & I are working on project together for Kat & we were doing a bunch of vocal shootouts for vocal tracking.
Both of these mics were apart of it.
but I haven't had a chance to do a direct head to head of the slate vs UA... so.. maybe that's another video.
Lol 😂 well then I hope you do a head to head video about that it will be really interesting…and also good luck with your project ✌️✌️✌️
Thx For Your Videos ! I have a U87Ai for my Lead Vocals and sing my Backup Vocals on same Mic . So I've been thinking I need a Second Mic for backing vocals, Harmonies around 1.500 to 2.000. And this Microphone Setup maybe the Answer ! I do have Apollo X4 and Apollo Solo.
Cheers mate!
I definitely think this mic is super handy. My favorite part (and I know I'm in the small minority) is how the mic itself sounds without the modeling. That front capsule sounds so good.
but using the modeling for color is a really great tool!
Thanks for sharing mate.
-Steve
or just use EQ?
Looking for the Shock mount solution for LX model. Do you have any recomendation?
You’re gonna want a generic one that clamps around the mic.
I am unclear on how with the DLX, the video states “you can record in true stereo.”
But in the demo showcasing the LX in use, it needs 2 XLR inputs, and in the video it shows 2 channels that were recorded. Are these 2 mono signals, representing the front and back of what is captured by the LX?
Please explain if this is the recommended way to use this mic (I.e. delete 2nd channel and pan the 1st center) to get a solid MONO recording of your source.
It was merely a demonstration of what the mic does on its own and how it might sound if it wasn’t a modeling mic.
The correct way to use this mic is with the software, and when you do, it uses both the front and back information to calibrate and create the modeled sound. And in the process becomes a mono signal.
The DLX on the other hand, does all of this the same, except it is stereo and the modeled software can also use the back mic as a separate signal in addition to using it to calibrate etc.
thank you, so much.
No problem, thanks mate!
Hi! So everyone only talks about the recording… but what about after. Because it only gets summed to mono when you put the plugin on right? So for vocals, if i have a lot of tracks for backings i want to pan it and compres the group etc. But I cannot make a summing stack and put a compression om the group for instance or the plugin sphere itself. And panning only works if the plugin is on.. How do you do this?
yeahhh... a bit to unpack here.
So you could either approach it from the standpoint of throwing the plugin into the unison slot and committing to your mic choice while recording, this would give you that capability to pan in post because the signal would be committed and recorded with the mic selection you chose, just like in real life with a traditional mic.
OR if you are going to use the plugin in post production, then in that case you'll need to put the plugin on EACH track individually... now - you SHOULD have the capability to pan each track inside of logic, even though they are stereo tracks - 99% sure there was a way you could.
I wouldn't put the plugin on the summing stack.
Thanks for your reaction 😊. I guess i will do my backing vocals via comitted recording and lead vocals post production 😊
As far as you can tell, is it possible to hack the stereo functionality of the DLX with this LX? I know it’s not officially supported, but seeing you muck around with it…
Also, why are the extra 18 mics plus ocean way and Putnam not available as (purchasable) add-ons for the standalone sphere plugin? (That’s a rant 😊)
Ehhhh. MAYBE.. maybe you could hack by separating the stereo recording and clip gaining higher - I just dunno though.
@@TheSteveKinneyTbh, it’s fair enough that they made it the way they did. The LX is so much less £ - the differentiation needs to be clear.
I imagine it should be as easy as just duplicate the track and swap the "left" and "right" channels (actually front and back) on the second one before running it through the modeler plugin, pan opposite.
@@Thoracius good idea! I’ll have to try it.
Is it the future? To a certain extent it will be, just like with modelling headphones. But there will always be people like me who like cuddling their precious U-something like Golem. "My U87!" I like your idea of using it as a way of quickly narrowing down possible mics.
There will always be limitations to the idea simply because of the physics of sound moving through the air. Different size capsules are collecting larger or smaller amounts of the resulting soundwave, for instance. And if in post you realise that you didn't have the mic the right amount on or off axis to the singer, perhaps, then you are back to re-recording.
I am also interested in how it deals with things like pops or sibilance, which are best corrected with sensible mic positioning. They can be solved post-pro, but it is neater getting it right first time. With both those issues, different mics work with better or worse with different voices or sound producers because of the physics again.
Interesting all the same. I am definitely going to play with one.
Like I say in the video, I think you will enjoy it greatly if you get one. It’s a great sounding mic on its own.
Very smooth and natural. The models to me are almost irrelevant to a degree.
Hey bud, I have the LX and I use a mic template to get singers in free for a set up. I think I picked this idea up from one of your old videos. I have various emulations set up for them to try then I make a general preset that they use when they come to track. And as you mentioned, I never commit the modelling on the way in. Love the mic and I also have the Slate ML2 for playing with guitars etc. just bought a new piano so excited to try both mics on it. Down the rabbit hole I go!!!!’ Cheers, Rog
Heck yeah!! Great way to do it.
How do you think they compare against each other?
Hello bro you use Reaper ?🎉
I use Luna.
@@TheSteveKinney OK fine bro, you Can make a tutorial on Reaper please 👏👏
I would like to to breath !!
Yeahhhhh
Hey Stene. Are you active on IG? I sent you a DM and I'd really like to book a mentor session wjth you.
Yup, Thanks mate!