JOEMEEK TWINQ DUAL PREAMP CHANNEL STRIP.
By Jonathan (The Tinkerer!).
October 11, 2006
Hey everybody I hope all is well.
I just thought I would write another review for all of the gearheads out there.I had been speaking with producer Chiba Antoine about upgrading my sound. He uses a Avalon 737 and a Neumann u87 microphone on his productions. We’re always joking about me trying to catch up with him. I may be selling cd’s online and at a few major outlets but he is the one with platinum records on the wall. In case y’all don’t know that’s what producers and engineers do, the talk gear, women and sports and video games too I might add.
Anyway the joemeek name came up as a good front end that will not cost as much as a Avalon. Chiba said he uses the joemeek plugins and found them to be great, so I decided to check joemeek out. I stumbled onto this company called American music supply. You can buy gear from them in installment payments and they offer a 45 day return policy. Check it out! I made a payment of $286 bucks and they sent me the unit. If I didn’t like it, I could send it back and get my money back. No tax and No shipping either, how cool is that.
Initial impressions.
Y’all got to understand I’ve been doing this music stuff for almost 35 years. When I think pro gear I think heavy. Think 1970’s tascam, fender, traynor and ampeg.The twinq is not heavy at all, in fact I thought the case a little thin, but as I said maybe that’s my age showing. I’ll tell you one thing I immediately did not like. I looked in the back of the unit and it said “Made in China”. You guys know how I feel about Chinese gear. I thought joemeeks were made in the
First use.
The day after the joemeek came I hade a session with a cute little Puerto Rican r&b singer, Desiree . She was small but she had a bigggggg voice. As a matter of fact she is one of the best latin girls I have seen at singing r&b. I used the Marshall Silicon v6 and all mogami cabling going into the joemeek and went analog from the joemeek into the digi002 at 24bit/48khz.
The compressor. The first problem I had was the joemeek compressor. It adds a lot of coloration if you don’t use it right. It is very different from the art sc2 compressor that I had been using. The art is pretty much transparent but the joemeek can add color depending on the settings. I kept fooling with the compressor and pretty much got it the way I wanted it .I found that the trick was to adjust the attack very slightly. One of the things I did not like was I had to do all the adjustments while the singer was waiting for me to get the adjustments right, which can kill the singers groove. I should've done some experimentation before the session but I didn't have time. All I can tell you is once you go past 4.1 things start getting flaky. Desiree was cool about it though, she used the time to perfect her lyrics.When Desiree sang, her big voice overloaded the preamp input. The joemeek has clipping indicators on the input gain control and on the output control. That’s a great feature and I used it to dial in optimum sound, and the sound was great. Definitely a huge step up from the preamps I’ve used in the past (behringer and studio projects) and even my current ramsa 8118 mixer preamps. Between the silicon v6 and the joemeek preamp I did not have to eq Desiree’s vocal at all, and when I was doing the mix I did not have to add any more compression either.
The E Q. While mixing down the track I routed the stereo mix in and out of the twinQ. Equalizing the mix on the twinQ sounded good but not spectacular. I think the equalizer on this unit is good for tweaking vocals and separate instruments but in terms of mastering or mix down equalization, it is OK. I don't think I'll put it copperin the same league as my old ghost mixer E Q or the old tascam I used to use years ago. It could be I just need to do more experimentation, time will tell.The next day I laid down a bass track for a joint that I’m doing with Douglas (Douggie Do) Glover and Mad Freddy (flugel horn) Thompson.
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We were replacing a upright bass with my bass guitar. I plugged my bass in to the front instrument Jack on the twinq (I use a Bass Collection), and wow the twinq made my bass like some kind of super weapon. It’s like the bass sound that I’ve been wanting to get all of m life. James Jameson himself would dig this twinq sound.. For me the twinq is dope just to have for my bass. |
Finally.
I ain’t sending this back are you crazy. Mistress (my bass) would have a fit. My vocal recordings sound much fuller and just plain more high end than before. I can’t wait to use it on Lenora Jaye when she comes in for her next session.The digital output on the twinq is convenient but I kept things analog I also ran some mixes thru the twinq and the compressor made them sound dark and weird so you'll have to experiment with that. I do not think i will be using this unit for mixdown. If you can’t afford a Avalon AD2022 - then get the joemeek twinq. The Avalon Vt-737sp and the focusrite isa220 are single channel units and cost hundreds more.
Trust me you won’t be disappointed Get the Joemeek Twinq.
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Desiree - The Buzz of your Love - So in Love Recorded October 7th and 8th 2006 at our studio! |
Addentum!
Here is a copy of the email Alan Hyatt of Joemeek sent me in response to me beefing about the compressor. These joemeek guys are good people.
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Here is where I suggest you start.
Set your attack time to the slowest point at 100 msec and set the release to its mid point
or at 0.3sec. Set the compression control to half way or less.
This is a good starting point. From there, simply start turning the attack time counter
clockwise. The more you turn it, the more percussive it will be and will then add more color.
You can hear snare drums become tighter and more aggressive. So a fast time for drums is good. A slower time
for vocals is better, say about 75msec.
From there make your adjustments as you need them and for less compression, turn the compression down. E and
many others are getting very good sounds out of the unit. The reviews have been extremely good on the twinQ. I think
it more of your not getting the right feel of the controls. Remember, optical compressor always add color..That is what
they do, however you can acheive more neutral response with light settings and slow attack times.
Alan Hyatt
PMI Audio Group
Joemeek© - Studio Projects© - Toft Audio Designs© - Stephen Paul Microphones©
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Gardena, California 90247
toll free: 877-563-6335 fax: 310-323-9051
url: www.pmiaudio.com
Joemeek©, Studio Projects©, Toft Audio Designs©, Trident Series© are Registered Trademarks of
PMI Audio Group©
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