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By William Glosup for Rock N Roll Rentals • 10.19.2018

We're glad to offer an expansive inventory of recording equipment for Austin's music community! Renting a piece of recording gear can be the affordable solution for all types of recording situations, for pro recording studios that need to add equipment to an existing set-up, or DIY recordists that want to try a custom recording rig for a weekend warrior session.

Whether you are a studio engineer, or an amateur recordist...trying new gear is always exciting, and here are 3 awesome recording tools that you can rent for a weekend for $20 or less!

1) Warm Audio - EQP-WA

Recreation of the classic Pultec EQP-1A Tube EQ • $19/weekend

EQP-WA

 

The fine folks at Warm Audio (based in Austin, TX!!!) have made a faithful creation of one of the most sought after pieces of outboard gear in history: the Pultec EQP-1A. This legendary EQ is one of those magical pieces of studio gear, and has a few very interesting and unique offerings for recordists looking to add a little sparkle to a track.

The EQP-WA Tube EQ has a very unique "voice" because the amplifier uses it's valve circuitry to prevent any loss of signal, making it a passive-EQ. This means that any signal that gets lost from "Cutting" a frequency gets boosted back up on it's way out, adding harmonic distortion that colors the sound via tube circuitry. This also means that you can add color to a track simply by running signal through the EQ, without even cutting or boosting anything! This became such a revered aspect of this EQ that radio stations would use them without EQ'ing just to richen what they were broadcasting before blasting the signal out of the station.

The EQP-WA also offers cutting/boosting frequencies at selectable ranges...that overlap. This means you can cut and boost frequencies in similar ranges, creating a sweet overlap that adds unique character. For example, if you boost and cut 30Hz simulatenously, the EQ gives a small boost all the way up to 200Hz because of it's curve patterns, which can give a very sweet tonal boost for bass instruments or kick drums.

See if the EQP-WA gives your recording a little magic sparkle...$19/weekend, $42/month.

 

2) Adam Audio - T7V Studio Monitors

7" Powered Studio Monitor with Ribbon Tweeter • $14 pair / weekend

EQP-WA

 

All the way from Sweden, Adam Audio has been an incredibly innovative Studio Monitor manufacturer, creating competition for old-trusty studio classics with creative engineering. Instead of using conventional design with "piston-like" diaphragms, Adam monitors use a ribbon-accellerated tweeter with a pleated diaphragm that delivers rich high-mids, with less distortion. This very innovative design has become remarkably popular for mixing engineers who have noted "less hearing fatigue" from ribbon tweeters, as well as balanced frequency response, for meticulous reference monitoring.

When ADAM monitors first broke onto the scene, they were a smash hit, but priced accordingly (not cheap) for their level of top-grade components. They recently developed a streamlined version of their ribbon technology to be able to provide simialrly amazing speakers at a budget-conscious level...and they are getting rave reviews. These 7" woofer T7V's are the flagship of the T-Series, and they deliver an astounding performance, especially for their price!

Test drive a pair of T7V's for your mix! Only $14/pair for the weekend or $28/pair for the month.

 

3) Peluso - R14 Ribbon Microphone

Vintage-Styled & Constructed Ribbon Microphone • $18/weekend

EQP-WA

 

Almost 20 years after Ribbon microphones returned to popularity, it's fairly hard to imagine that their rich and mellow frequency response ever fell out of favor with engineers. However, starting in the late 1960's Ribbon mics nearly disappeared from microphone lockers in studios around the world, as many recordists began to favor condenser microphones for their sharply defined high frequency response. This occurred because of the nature of analog recording; tape has a natural taper to high frequncies, as do analog formats like vinyl or cassette.

As digital audio recording started dominating the recording world, condensers proved to be a bit harsh without EQ or signal processing on some applications, while Ribbon microphones sound much more natural with their intrinsic high frequency roll-off. While all ribbons have this intrinsic frequency response, many modern ribbon microphone manufacturers have specially engineered their ribbon microphones to have a stronger high-frequency response.

This trend has lead many modern ribbon mics to be much different than the popular ribbon's of the 1920's-1950's. Presumably, manufacturers specialized their ribbon mics to have a high frequency boost to attract those who are accustomed to condenser microphones, so an engineer isn't required to take a starkly different approach when using them in combination with condenser mics.

Few manufacturers try to recreate Ribbon mics that are akin to the RCA originals, and that is where Peluso's R-14 stands apart. It uses the same long ribbon geometry as the famed RCA 44's, and has a thicker low end, with the natural high-frequency taper occuring just above 4k hz.

If you're looking for some real-deal, old-school charm, the R-14 IS the ribbon to try the next time you are tracking guitar, vocals, strings or a drum overhead...and you can rent it for the weekend for only $18 from Rock N Roll Rentals....and if you love it, hold onto it for only $38/month.

 

Want to see other great recording gear available for rent?

Check out all of our Recording Gear Inventory here!

 

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