User manual MAINLEY VOXBOX

[. . . ] OWNER'S MANUAL MANLEY VOXBOX MANLEY LABORATORIES, INC. MANLEY LABORATORIES, INC. 91710 TEL: (909) 627-4256 FAX: (909) 628-2482 email: emanley @ netcom. com http://www. manleylabs. com CONTENTS SECTION INTRODUCTION FRONT PANEL MIC PRE COMPRESSOR EQ & DE-ESSER PAGE 3 4 5 6 7, 8 & 9 BACK PANEL GENERAL DISCUSSION OVERVIEW AND BLOCK DIAGRAM MIC PREAMP COMPRESSOR EQ DE-ESSER SAMPLE SETTINGS TECHNICAL DETAILS MAINS CONNECTIONS TUBE, TRIMMER & JUMPER LOCATIONS CALIBRATION TROUBLESHOOTING SPECIFICATIONS CURVES WARRANTY WARRANTY REGISTRATION APPENDIX 1 - TEMPLATE FOR STORING SETTINGS 10 11 12 13 14 & 15 16 17 18 19 20 & 21 22 23 & 24 25 26 27 INTRODUCTION THANK YOU!. . . This unit is the result of our customers asking us to make a vocal oriented combination from some favorite Manley designs. We combined the Manley Mic Preamplifier, Electro-Optical Limiter, and Mid Pultec and then went further. [. . . ] The best place to adjust EQ should be mic choice and positioning and possibly room choice. The better the mic choice the less EQ needed or wanted. This seems to be an effect that travels all the way through to mastering and broadcast. If you start out right, you will save everybody a lot of correction work - especially yourself. Some great engineers do not use EQ for the lead vocal track, even at mixing. Most do not EQ to record but some may do a bit in the monitor path. Quite often vocals are "a work in progress" recorded on different days and different rooms and they compile phrases from each session. If you gotta EQ, the place to start is cutting or dipping rather than boosting, according to the best engineers. Before you boost highs and lows, dip a bit in the mids. It can be less intuitive because most of us want to hear more "something" than less "something else". Try it sometime. 13 The MID DIP section has a number of typical uses. Most condensor mics have a peak in the frequency response. It is the normal resonance of the diaphram and is typically in the 5 kHz to 10 kHz range on the large diaphram mics that we tend to favor for vocals. Sometimes you can often get a sweeter sound by dipping a little at 5K or 7K and then boosting frequencies above 12K. It may be important to find a good balance between "presence" or "cut" and "breath" or "air". Sibilance will be focussed on in the De-Esser section. The "Old British Sound" according to those who created it, was not so much a function of the gear used but often how it was used. Pre-mixing tracks and bouncing was a necessity and cutting some mids selectively allowed "space" for each sound in the bounces. Cutting a bit of 700 to 1K5 reduces the squawk and honk that is all too easy to get. Another very useful trick is to cut in the 200 to 500 Hz area on some instruments. These lower mids can sound right when an instrument is "solo-ed" but can "muddy" a mix real fast. Drums, piano and bass are the usual culprits. [. . . ] If the warranty registration card has already been removed then this is not a new unit, and is therefore not warranted by the factory. If you believe this to be a new unit then please contact the factory with the details of purchase. This warranty is provided by the dealer where the unit was purchased, and by Manley Laboratories, Inc. Under the terms of the warranty defective parts will be repaired or replaced without charge, excepting the cost of tubes. [. . . ]