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Check out the first preview of Coffincraft's debut album, which was mastered here at Subterranean Watchtower. In Eerie Slumber will be released by Memento Mori on the 25th of July. Youtube doesn't have the best sound quality, but at least you can get a taste of the death these Finns are dealing!
Coffincraft is a Death Metal band from Joensuu, Eastern Finland. Formed in November 2008.
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Check out the first preview track from Huldra's new EP, which we recently finished mastering. This was recorded and mixed at Broken Box in NY. Mastered at Subterranean Watchtower Studios.
I bought my Peavey 5150 some time in the summer of 2004. It was a used item at Guitar Center, and I felt really lucky to find one for a good price, so I bought it immediately. I didn't know much about tubes in those days, and I wound up never retubing the amp. I was just happy to have the amp in my possession. I did have a small repair made to the amp in 2007, where one or two preamp tubes were replaced, but the power tubes, and most of the preamp tubes remained the same ones that had been there since I bought it. This means that this year, the tubes in my amp were over ten years old, and I have no idea how long they were used before I purchased the amp. So, I recently decided it was time to do some research, buy some new tubes, and hear the difference it made. From my general powertube and 5150-specific research, I noticed that on the internet, people talk a lot about the sound differences between tubes they've tried, but I've never seen any well-done comparison clips to actually demonstrate any claims. So, I decided to make my own tests as scientific as possible, and record a shootout for everyone to hear. I recorded the beginning of a song (Carcass' "Heartwork") on drums (please forgive my lack of drumming skill), so that there would be some "full-mix" context to judge the guitar tones. I then recorded two guitar DI tracks, which I used to reamp through the different sets of tubes. This way, the guitar performance, amp settings, mic position, etc. would all be the exact same, and the only variable would be the tubes. This gives us the best chance at judging how the different tubes affect the 5150, with a more real-world context than just listening to lone guitar tracks. That being said, I did not include a bass in the mix, as I did not want to further obscure the tube differences, and the recorded guitar tones were left raw (no processing) in the DAW. I bought two new sets of 6L6 power tubes, as well as a set of new preamp tubes (12AX7): A TAD RT080 7025WA for V1, three JJ ECC83S, and a Sovtek 12AX7LPS with balanced triodes for the phase inverter (V4). I put these preamp tubes in for the shootout. For the test, I had three different sets of power amp tubes (6L6):
I then decided on a favorite set of power tubes, left them in, and then put the original, 10+ year-old preamp tubes back into the 5150. These were two Sovtek 7025WA, and three totally unlabelled 12AX7 tubes. I then recorded a fourth take of the reamped DI tracks.
So, again, we have four different passes: Power Tube Set 1, Power Tube Set 2, Power Tube Set 3, and Power Tube Set Mystery + Old Preamp Tubes. These four different takes are randomly labelled A through D. Here are the files so you can listen and make your own judgements. Let me know what you think in the comments. Clip A Clip B Clip C Clip D Can you tell the differences? Which is your favorite? Can you guess which is which? Far East Myth's debut four-track EP entitled "Horizons" was recently mastered here at Subterranean Watchtower Studios. It is to be released May 27th on Sun Chariot Records. Single to be released April 12th. Presented here is the fantastic cover artwork of Far East Myth's debut EP created by Frank Duarte of Seventh Tower Studios. Produced by Matthew Earl at Erthe and Axen Studios, "Horizons" contains two original tracks of blistering, discordant death/thrash metal music. It is then followed by interpretations of "Neolithic" by Floridian sci-fi death metal legends Nocturnus and "Black Future" by Philadelphia-based prog-thrashers Vektor. The track listing is as follows: 1. Reverie 2. Kujaku Ou 3. Neolithic (Nocturnus cover) 4. Black Future (Vektor cover) "Horizons" was mixed by Mark Bell at Grotto Obscuratus and mastered by Damian Herring at Subterranean Watchtower Studios to provide optimal fidelity for our sound. Keep your ears out on April 12th for the single to be posted.  Welcome to the brand new website of Subterranean Watchtower Studios. Please have a look around, and let us know if you have any comments or suggestions, and please spread the word! This blog will feature news updates, and articles about audio, production, mixing, mastering, etc. Some of these articles may be gear shootouts, where we will include audio files. Thanks for visiting!
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Damian Herring
Audio engineer and studio owner. ArchivesCategories |
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