List Jam III ~ Laura List Jam
3/24/2001
Who came?
Tripi and Roxanne Vicente, Laurence and Charla Scheidle, Loren Young, Michael Dagley, Janet Dagley Dagley, Rick Mather, Stephen Buckalew, Tom McAnulty, Tony Soll, Don & Kay Sealer, Brian Simpson (BIS - Wrathbot) (Longest Drive: 10 Hours!!!!), Gordon & Nancy Groff (shortest drive), Larry George, Carl Chimi & Ginny Mazzei, Brian Glock, Dave Rissler. And, of course, the guest of honor:
Laura Tyson and the amazing VS2480!!!
What did we do?
1. Did a shootout between the preamps of the VS2480 and the Millenia Media HV3B mic preamp.
Plan A was to have a splitter box to run the output of one mic into the MM and into the VS. We had technical difficulties, so we went to plan B, which was to use two high quality matched mics (Sennheiser MKH-40) located as close to each other as possible, far enough from the sound source to minimize any difference in position between the two. This was a very interesting exercise. Since we had already lost time for the aforementioned technical difficulties, we only used two source sounds: A short piano piece with the mics about 2' up from the strings, just about midway between bass and treble ends. A short acoustic guitar sample played by Tony Soll on his 12-string. We did not do the Apogee A/D vs. the VS A/D shootout.
Levels were matched, and only Laura knew which was which. Most Jammers got a chance to sit in the sweet spot between the DS-90 monitors and run the transport while Laura toggled source tracks. We simply called them "A" and "B". We then went around the room and got everyone's comments before revealing which was the VS and which was the MM. For the complete audio record of this this event, Go to www.BigListen.com and check it out, courtesy of Janet Dagley Dagley. You will hear complete all the Jammer's comments there.
Here's a summary of the responses:
5 people preferred "A". 7 preferred "B". General consensus was that the difference was small and subtle. Some thought the differences were obvious, some had trouble hearing any. Some waffled. A common comment was that "A" seemed "more accurate" and "brighter", while B had more "bottom" and an easier sound to work with. A collection of Jammer's comments posted later can be seen here.
Most agreed before even finding out which is which, that the point was well made that the new VS pre's are in the same league as the MM.
Ready for the answer?? Okay: "A" was Millennia Media HV3B and "B" was the VS.
2. VS2480 Demo
This was really cool. While Laura mentioned many features till I passed my personal MYGO (My Eyes Glaze Over) limit, a couple things really stood out to me. This thing has built-in compressor and 5 band EQ on *every* track without even using the effects cards!! No more bouncing!!! All effects available. It uses the same cards the 1680 uses and has room for a bunch of them. Compression and EQ adjustment is very cool, using either physical knobs or a mouse to shape these things just like a PC-based system. We had an overhead projector for the display monitor, and could see Laura pushing the EQ and compressor envelopes around. The other thing that really stood out in my mind is that the pre and A/D quality was superb. You're getting 16 full high-quality channel strips here. There's lots and lots more. I just scratched the surface with what impressed me the most. The R-buss thing should give all the ins and outs you may need. This could very easily be the base of a "pro" studio and it looks the part.
3. Made some music.
Laura did all the tracking on the VS2480. What a dream to have 16 inputs available to record! Each "sponsor" of these songs mixed their own.
4. Fellowship
Well, I'm batting 1000 with List Jam Lasagna! LJ1 never got heated through. LJ2 burned. LJ3 not heated through. Oh well. It was great meeting with fellow Listers for the first time and seeing old friends from previous Jams. Check the PHOTOS page.
Gordon
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