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CHICAGO,
ILLINOIS: Chris Shepard recently added a fourth
True Systems Precision 8 microphone preamplifier
to the top of the analog rack in his amazing portable
recording studio. The new unit brings the preamplifier
count to 32, complementing Avalon and Summit processing
and a fully loaded ProTools rig and mixing surface.
Shepard boasts that he can have his studio up and
running anywhere in just two hours, making it the
ideal live recording or album project package. It
is perhaps the only studio to have served "transcontinentally,"
seeing use in Vienna and Germany!
A staff engineer at the venerated Chicago Recording
Company (CRC), Shepard has engineered and produced
such acts as Smashing Pumpkins, Wilco, KMFDM, Buddy
Guy, and many more. Helping client after client
build temporary project studios inspired the creation
of his ultimate mobile studio. It allows creative
people to make their own recording environment while
still maintaining "Big Studio" quality.
Shepard is unabashed in his lofty praise of the
Precision 8s, claiming them to be the best preamplifiers
on the market. "I've worked at CRC for 15 years,
and I've used everything, from Neves to SSLs and
everything in-between," he explained. "I
was recording drums the first time I used the Precision
8 and I thought, 'I've never heard anything like
this.' The noise floor is phenomenal. It's like
the microphone isn't even plugged in! Going to digital
demands that kind of silence. A quiet passage is
so clean that when things get loud, it's like, 'Wow!
Where did that come from?'"
A testament to his assessment, Shepard eschews the
preamplifiers on his Avalon, preferring to use the
Precision 8 as his front end (of course, he uses
the Avalons for tasteful compression and equalization).
He likes the "analog" character that the
Precision 8 imparts on a signal - the perfect antidote
to his clients' perception of "digital-equals-sterile."
Shepard heard about the True Systems Precision 8
through his Sweetwater dealer, Steve Ponte, in Chicago.
Ponte let him use the unit for a recording session,
knowing that Shepard needed something that would
be as flexible as his client list is eclectic. He
records projects that, in his own estimation, range
from "crazy blues" to "insane industrial
music." The Precision 8 exceeded his expectations
for an affordable price-to-channel ratio.
In addition to straight preamplification, the Precision
8 also delivers M/S stereo and two channels of DI.
"The M/S is great," Shepard said. "I
use it for overheads, guitar, and general ambience
of the space I'm recording in. It's a unique system
in that it allows you to make the stereo field wider
than it actually is! I use the DIs all the time,
especially on keyboards and bass."
As the world of plug-ins and DSP comes of age, Shepard
finds he does most of his processing in postproduction.
"You're best off just getting the sound as
good as you can going into the box. The True Systems
Precision 8s do that wonderfully."
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