You have a “good, I saw it on YouTube, it’s strong” interface or “but what do I need, I don’t need it, I buy something from AliExpress” from the V88 category – RODECaster Pro II – BOSS Gigcaster 5 – Mackie DLZ Creator but the sound is it terrible?
Are you listening to yourself in headphones and your voice sounds pitiful?
Do you listen to the voices of your idols and realize that even though you use their instrumental, your voice “doesn’t sound “, “gets out of the mix” and “sounds metallic”?
The explanation is simple: for 70 years, serious musicians have NOT used digital processing – regardless of the price of the “equipment”. Digital doesn’t sound good. Digital is CHEAP and SOUNDS CHEAP. End of story.
Of course, not everyone can afford a NEVE mixer over 100,000Eu. Of course, not everyone KNOWS how to use a 100,000Eu NEVE mixer, even if they had one.
What are we doing anyway? Let’s stop singing on TikTok and start making cat biscuits?!? It would be sad, since that would mean going back to working “on the strip”, where we came from (some of us, more uneducated :P).
Fortunately, there are solutions and today I’m going to present you an ESSENTIAL component to “HEAT up” the voice: the ANALOG compressor.
Any voice that reached Billboard or gained notoriety could NOT get there without the LA-2A compressor.
Built in America in the early 1960s, the LA-2A LAMP compressor with input and output TRANSFORMERS was built by Teletronix SPECIALLY for broadcast and was purchased en mass by all CBS and RCA radio stations. Having become “the holly grail” of any radio broadcast, it was adopted by all radio stations and recording studios suddenly became interested in it. The four valves in the sound path (excluding the lamps on the side chain) and the input and output transformers made the sound sound “sweet “, warm and without distortions (the problem present in any radio transmission – then – but also in any TikTok Live broadcast – today). Even if you don’t hear the distortion, it’s there – and today, on digital “equipment”, this distortion sounds terrible and has a catastrophic effect on the mental state of the audience (who swipe next after a maximum of 2-3 minutes of auditory torture).
Today, an original LA-2A costs around 10,000Eu and the periodic overhaul (every 10 months) costs 2,500Eu . The prices are prohibitive even for Dorian Popa (he doesn’t have anything like that either and can’t afford it) but luckily there are alternatives. Universal Audio , which acquired the properties of Teletronix , sells a modern version of the compressor for a price of… 6,000Eu 🙂
There are, however, affordable alternatives even for Romanians.
In my opinion, the most suitable alternative for tiktokers is the version produced by the British company Klark Teknik . Although the model is less famous in Romania , it is well-known overseas (stock or with easy-to-operate modifications), where – at the time of writing this article – it is NOT in stock and pending orders are recorded… 5 months in advance !!!
Equipped with 3 valves and Midas transformers on input and output, the compressor is available ( in stock !!!) at Thomann for… 1,735 RON. Yes, RON, not Euro!!!
The compressor has one single channel and is the best solution to “warm up” the voice – both in recitation and in musical interpretation (well, not for “manele” style :|) – if it is purchased alone. If it is purchased in pair (configuration recommended by me, especially at this price) it can be used either on binaural voice (immersive sound, as you can hear me live daily, or for ASMR sound) or on bus master , for to “sweetly glue” the voice with the instrumental (which, downloaded in digital formats, no longer sounds like it did on magnetic tape or vinyl).
For configurations and mounting schemes, I’m waiting for you live tonight at 19:30 .
PS: I ordered two with a discount of over 60% . The discount expired this morning.