the apollo on board preamps sound really nice just by themselves...but then to be able to color them with all the various mic pre emulations is just sick. i'm an old school analog guy, but ua is the first company to really nail these sounds in the digital world. so impressed with this apollo stuff.
I went all UA three years ago. Console 2.0 is great. Improvements for 3.0?? The ability to physically move the channel strips wherever you want them. A bigger headphone mixer. Maybe 6 mixes instead of 4? 2 more aux’s for a total of 4 The ability to save a Console mix preset and not be required to go to show/hide inputs and turn on/off the needed channels. Rick I’m posting my 3.0 wish list on your review since you are a major center of influence and “Spanky and the gang” might read it. Thanks for all your efforts! You will love the UAD platform!
Thankyou rick for the Beaton book 2, it fills in alot of gaps for me, and the time and effort you have put into the object is beyond comprehension . sincere gratitude, from your new student, tweed
I just bought a new Apollo Twin and am delving into the world of UA plugins - this video shows the potential. Just Wow! I gotta get that Helios plug-in - man that sounded great! 🤓🤓
Love this channel I learn great things every time and its unique in the way you interact with art and technical thoughts , theories and real practical application - this makes it so great ! Thanks Rick.
Once Rick is more accustomed to the Apollo / Console specific workflow, it would be much easier for him to set thimgs up apples to apples and do a soecific a/b with his normal quick video edit cuts. This seemed to be a discovery / self edification video for him that he wanted to also share with us (in case there are others in the same boat.) But i agree, the thumbnail title suggested it was more of the former rather thsn the latter
Great video and super timely! Just picked up a Twin MKII and a x8 that arrived earlier this week, myself. Getting away from all the Avid proprietary hardware and looking forward to comparing the Unison versions of mic pres. Cheers!
Amazing video, as always-that Helios did sound very special. One thing, I just brought this up in the recording studio to listen, and you have a little noise floor and reverse gating issue going on (i.e. low level 60 cycle, and a upward expansion). I hope this makes sense, and I’d say more if I knew the details of your setup there. I hope you love the new Apollo as much as we do- between them and Focusrite Red, the sound and workflow is amazing.
I've been on this platform for a while and I love it. The value is insane. The plugins alone represent hardware worth thousands more than the interface.
UAD has a lot of quality properties, and the fact that they process inside the box is awesome, but the real thing is still smoother in my opinion.....Great video!
Great video guys. A good point for all us to remember is it all starts at the source. Your guitar sound is a beast................Enjoyed Spanky mentoring the mentor, lol.
I'm glad you mentioned why you were playing chords. Whenever I try gear in guitar stores I always play certain chords to test harmonics, instead of shredding or showing off in the typical form of people in guitar stores including the employees lol. I care about how well the 3rd 4th 5th and 6th strings on the guitar sound together when testing gear. You'd be surprised how often tone is diluted or muddy even on expensive guitars, amplifiers, and pedals when playing certain chords. If I can't hear "good" tonal harmonies from an E9 chord with either clean or added effects, then I usually will avoid a product. You don't have to sacrifice tone quality for compression, even with genres like metal. Guitars I consistently use to test gear are, anything from the Fender Professional series, and anything from the PRS S2 series. The pickups in those guitars are consistent, and have great tone qualities for testing products imo.
Another Awesome video Professor Beato! I liked the set and production you are mastering another art. The art of video production I did notice the lighting and fades between shots. Good job
The nice thing about the Apollo is the ability to record with effects. I'm really considering going with a 500 series setup as well with a compressor, EQ, and the DBX sub synth.
@@agesonjohanesburg2915 I usually don't use it in Unison mode when recording. I've made a few basic channel insert chain presets that work for me. Neve Preamp to Studer A800 is the most common one I use. The Studer plugin over a bunch of tracks does add hiss(which, if you think about it, is hilarious). The Neve is probably the UAD plugin I use the most, including the 1176 and LA2A. I'm a Cubase user and the stock EQs have always don't the job for me.
I have an x8p as well synced to a Twin Mk2. Spanky is the man. An amazing human and and killer guitarist in his own right. Great comparisons and breakdown guys.
I own the UAD Apollo and the 4-710d, so I hate to say it but the hardware Neve absolutely sounded the best to my ears. Though that middle (to me unknown) plugin was thick and lush as well.
Howdy Rick, I’m late to the party as usual But when you highlighted your focus points 6:10 How to use console? How to plug directly into its mic pres? How to route it to outboard gear? Great questions that I for one would love spanky to still address I have my Twin X and a new X6 and like you although I read the 250+ software manual and the 70+ page hardware manual It’s much easier to see it performed by the competent and experienced hands and guidance of Spanky. Or now 2 years on Mr. Rick B. I’m sure you got it down by now so help out a brother P.S. happy new year hope your all Covid free!
Hi Rick, I can't thank you enough for your hard work. I really appreciate it. A tip for you, if you like it: don't put a light right into the camera, even if you need a backlight for the shooting . So much love
I dream of having an x16, x8p, and a solo or twin for monitor control and for looks. Lol the x16 will just have a bunch of uad 6176 and 710s with la2a compressors so I can choose between both or use both at same time. I also dream of having a custom built uad console with all that plus faders, touch panels to control plug ins with real knobs, a built in ox box, as well as all their pedals connected. Like a one stop shop console that does everything I want it to do to record my band.
Hey Rick... Great vid! It's funny... I have a buddy who is a mastering engineer in Nashville. He swears that he needs to use physical hardware units and that he can hear the difference. I can't. lol...
+thedrummersalmanac That's why he's the mastering engineer & you're just the drummer, haha...your ears are shot! :-P I kid (I'm a drummer/percussionist, too, haha!...and a saxophonist). But, honestly, to my ears, *some* of the plug-ins and emulations still don't quite have the special sauce of the real hardware. Just in this demo alone (and considering that we're hearing BOTH over RUclips's lossy compressed audio), while listening using ATC SCM25A monitors, the real 1073 sounded WAY better than the emulation...at least to my ears. But I guess you could say that it's just subjective preference, so YMMV. For me, where good plug-ins really come into play are with some the newer ones that allow you to do crazy precise or unique things that are not yet possible, and probably never will be, with any existing analog (or digital) outboard gear. The other issue for me with a lot of the plug-ins is that it's WAY too easy to get completely lost in the plethora of options, instead of just quickly finding a good tone and laying down the track! Just get it done, son! But that Helios emulation sounded pretty kick-@ss, even if there wasn't a comparison to the real thing. 👍
mastering engineers train their ears to hear extremely subtle changes in eq and compression. it takes years to develop the ears for those sorts of things
@@awesomebawss2013 It sure does... That's why I leave the mastering to those guys. My friends ears are amazing. I'm missing most of my high end... (Cymbals.lol)
+@@awesomebawss2013 Definitely. And it's interesting that quite a few of the best mastering engineers were or are symphony orchestra musicians (or other types), such as Bob Ludwig (symphony trumpet) and Eric Boulanger (symphony violinist) to name just a few. They had already developed expertly-trained ears years before becoming engineers. ;) When playing in a symphony/orchestra, you develop acute skills in controlling dynamics (ppp to fff), and in constantly balancing your instrument with the others in your section and with the entire orchestra. In addition, you are constantly aware of & checking that your instrument is "in tune", or hearing if others are flat or sharp, whilst also experiencing & learning the delicate tonal qualities and harmonics of a multitude of live acoustic instruments. Just my .02 FWIW.
I have a hardware UA LA-610 and find plugging my electric guitar into that for some mild compression and EQ and then into the UA Apollo (Apollo 8 in my case) and launching one of their plug-in amplifiers in the Unison slots works really well. I’m using a simple hardware pre-amp which limits your possibilities which gets you to your desired sound faster. And the low latency of the Unison plugin spots make getting to a perfect sound pretty easy. I have two favourite plugin amps. I’m not a heavy distortion fan like Rick, so I use the Marshall Bluesbreaker which has some really nice Marshall clean settings. Also love the Fuchs Train 2 which is really versatile and doesn’t sound like a “train wreck” at all :). Rick hope you get to video record how you make UA Console feed PT (dude, please upgrade to 12!!) and how you route it back to the UA Console (hint: PT output to Virtual 1 and Virtual 2 in UA Console). If there’s more that your UA bud can share it would be great!
Well said. Use an outboard pre into Apollo plugs. I've done that. But i do like the idea of using the Apollo unison pres because everything is recallable. Also you can save an entire channel strip as a preset. Physical patchbays are so 1970s. I guess that is why I continue to upgrade my patchbay with 100s of patchpoints. Pricey. But the better the patchbay, the better use of my hardware to integrate withe the Apollo Converters. I keep on telling myself that my AMS 1073 DPX pres sound better than their Unison 1073 pre. Like the hardware is more 3D, focused, and has more air. But sometimes I feel I can not tell the difference. I guess for $2300 an AMS Neve 1073 DPX channel, it might be close. But I am really hoping a used vintage 1073 pre for $8000 or whatever they go for today's prices has a sound that you can not capture with a plugin and UA's harware with Unison. i am sure if I owned a vintage 1073 or a Telefunken V76 I would tell myself that the UA emulations do not even come close. With all this great gear I just make poor music compositions I write sound more of a high quality. Very close to the "Pros"s. Now if i could just get software to play guitar like Eddie Van Halen that would be perfect.
I always like watching your videos. I need to come to ATL and check out that rack first hand :) I have been using Apollo since it came out and I love it. I'm broke because of my UA plugin addiction, lol. I'm kidding. Great investment tell Spanky he did a great job.
Not (yet) a UA user, so it was cool to learn more about their Console s/w here. Re: Console vs. the mix window, in Logic you can't easily track with plug-ins, e.g., by putting the plug-in on your recording channel. That plug-in only affects the track on playback. If you want to track with plug-ins, you use the logic "environment" or you have to do somewhat complicated routing through a bus track in the mixer (I think this may be easier with PT). It looks like Console solves that problem more easily.
I think the main point is that the Apollo can do the processing with almost zero latency, which would inevitably get unstable on a PC. A decent DAW should actually be capable of tracking with plug-ins without any difficulty though (just with higher latency); Cubase and Reaper do this just fine at any rate. Just as I said, as soon as the processing is done on the CPU you'll have to contend with noticeable latency, so DSPs on the interface definitely make sense. I just wish UAD actually made these DSP's user-accessible for _creative_ purposes with an open programming interface, instead of cashing in on stupid emulation of the products from their days of glory. But, apparently engineers like just that, oh well...
I really wish I could find a video that explains how to use Console 2 in a live situation. It's kind of tricky figuring out how the sends work and how to do things like double an instrument, etc. all in Console. One of the great things about Apollo and Unison is that it's fast enough to use live, but if you search for tutorials on how to do it, all you get is a bunch of stuff about Ableton Live and UAD.
The Hardware seemed to be louder in level and brighter, which tricks you out, as mentioned in the video. Was this the case ? A loudness meter would have helped....
The reason they did not show how to wire up the SSL compressor is because it would take a considerable amount of time. It would have been very helpful to have Spanky go through the nuts and bolts of Apolllo X hardware integration. I have a new Apollo X multi-unit set up and a hardware mixer with outboard gear and it took a lot of trial and error to get everything set up and fully functional. i have an Allan Smart CLA bus compressor in my 500 series rack and it is "killer" as Rick Beato would say. That SSL Vibe. Only a true Music producer/mixer would have had the look on Ricks's face right before he told Spanky to turn the attack to a faster setting. You could see it was really bothering him. I felt his pain. That being sad, it was challenging to route the UA Console's inputs into my mixer mixbus to be able to use the C1LA compressor on all the channels summed. Nice to have when I am tracking and writing to get a sense of a finished polished sound of a song. Easier to figure out when mixing down and going straight into my mixer channel without the UAD plugins inside console for real time DSP. Using the UAD plugins in my DAW during mixdown which you do not need an Apollo interface. But you do need a physical UAD device. There are alot of tricks to use with UAD Apollos. Once you wrap your head around it there are many possibilities. Then it becomes fun.
Love the channel Rick. Probably my fav videos are the What makes this song great series. As a guitar nerd and someone that likes to play the guitar as a hobby one thing I’ve noticed on your channel is you have not talked much about Stevie Ray Vaughan. Do you mean he’s the baddest mofo that ever picked up a guitar. One thing I would like to see is a video with your thoughts about him and what makes him great? Not just one of his songs but a guitarist profile. To me he’s a guitar god
Hey Rick great vid,very informative. I wonder if you would consider doing a Voivod song, Tribal... I bet you would find their new guitarist to be a kindred spirit.
Someone have to do a video about "tell the difference" videos on youtube, and talking about the youtube compression, the rig you use for listen youtube video (often shitty headphones / speakers) and most important, how much the difference you hear if you are playing on stage, on a live with a BIG good damn speakers, sorry for bad eng ! tell me what you think about :)
Yeah, RUclips really kills nuances, but that's exactly my point in picking UAD-2 emulations. EVERYONE except the guys listening to the lossless playback in their treated space through their calibrated monitors is not going to be able to tell the difference by the time it gets through whichever streaming service, through bluetooth, and into their crappy earbuds which are probably not even sitting in their ears right. It's just not worth the time, trouble, and expense to use analog gear when UAD has it so close. And these guys that say "the hardware sounded better" could probably not pick it out of an ABX text. They hear "analog" and think "better". IME, the UAD-2 stuff often sounds better than most of the gear that's out there. And good luck finding an anniversary edition black face/blue stripe 1176, let alone a set of all three and be able to swap them back and forth to tell which one you want and use them on 6 ins at once. UAD-2 has analog beat at this point.
Big thumps up. Thx for sharing. I'm going to go out on a limb and say the 1073 didn't sound better but different. Although I would use the real 1073 because I have one :)
Did I miss something? Explanation of video @5:59 is How to use console, how to plug directly into it, how to use outboard mic pre's to get in and out of the system. But 3/4 of the vid I'm listening to plugin comparisons and the last quarter covers nothing about routing in and out of the Apollo to external gear and etc. Nice vid but a bit disappointed
Hey Rick, great vid. I've been using UA forever in my studio (in Tucker)... and I'm still running through a older mac aluminum tower (with all the headaches), what is your control room CPU now? You didn't say... Thanks!
great video and thanks for sharing. So we are considering upgrading as well. Rick are you suggesting that the UA Apollo X series does not offer an actual remote, you have to buy another interface just to have a volume/talkback/feature desk side control? I say because Apogee does offer an actual remote control. If true, that is a bit of an expensive remote, no?
I just recently picked up the Apollo x16 and the Neve OPX and am currently in freakin' heaven.
the apollo on board preamps sound really nice just by themselves...but then to be able to color them with all the various mic pre emulations is just sick. i'm an old school analog guy, but ua is the first company to really nail these sounds in the digital world. so impressed with this apollo stuff.
Thank you for this. I recently upgraded to an Apollo 8x and now I am learning how to use the consule
That Helios sounded killer... can’t wait for that SSL bus compressor video! Keep the gear videos coming!
That Helios is my next purchase from UAD. Wow. Just wow.
the helios is great
I went all UA three years ago. Console 2.0 is great. Improvements for 3.0??
The ability to physically move the channel strips wherever you want them.
A bigger headphone mixer. Maybe 6 mixes instead of 4?
2 more aux’s for a total of 4
The ability to save a Console mix preset and not be required to go to show/hide inputs and turn on/off the needed channels.
Rick I’m posting my 3.0 wish list on your review since you are a major center of influence and “Spanky and the gang” might read it.
Thanks for all your efforts!
You will love the UAD platform!
Still can’t move Channels wherever you want them, but I would say cue mixes are much improved.
Thankyou rick for the Beaton book 2, it fills in alot of gaps for me, and the time and effort you have put into the object is beyond comprehension . sincere gratitude, from your new student, tweed
Great video. I seriously needed this. I just bought the twin Mkii and x8. Perfect timing
I've been a UA Apollo user since '12 -- I still have my original silver QUAD and a newer 2nd gen unit. Love em. Great vid.
I just bought a new Apollo Twin and am delving into the world of UA plugins - this video shows the potential. Just Wow! I gotta get that Helios plug-in - man that sounded great! 🤓🤓
Love this channel I learn great things every time and its unique in the way you interact with art and technical thoughts , theories and real practical application - this makes it so great ! Thanks Rick.
Just bought the Helios 69’plugin. Been thinking about it since this video first came out. Can’t wait to track my Jubilee through it!
Great video, as always, Rick. Given the title it would be nice to hear the UA vs the real 1073 in a more direct A/B comparison.
Once Rick is more accustomed to the Apollo / Console specific workflow, it would be much easier for him to set thimgs up apples to apples and do a soecific a/b with his normal quick video edit cuts. This seemed to be a discovery / self edification video for him that he wanted to also share with us (in case there are others in the same boat.) But i agree, the thumbnail title suggested it was more of the former rather thsn the latter
Great video and super timely! Just picked up a Twin MKII and a x8 that arrived earlier this week, myself. Getting away from all the Avid proprietary hardware and looking forward to comparing the Unison versions of mic pres. Cheers!
Wish you had shown the physical wiring for us visual guys
I love my Apollo and their plugins are rocks! 🤘👊 Awesome video as always Rick! Cheers from Sardinia! 😊
Please Rick, more of this kind of stuff
Amazing video, as always-that Helios did sound very special. One thing, I just brought this up in the recording studio to listen, and you have a little noise floor and reverse gating issue going on (i.e. low level 60 cycle, and a upward expansion). I hope this makes sense, and I’d say more if I knew the details of your setup there. I hope you love the new Apollo as much as we do- between them and Focusrite Red, the sound and workflow is amazing.
I had the Apollo Quad Core but I sold it and got the Presonus Studio Live Series III. I like having physical faders to move around.
I've been on this platform for a while and I love it. The value is insane. The plugins alone represent hardware worth thousands more than the interface.
Spanky! Great to see you and Rick together. Just met him at NAMM. Small world. Great work Rick. I'm picking up one of these next week.
This is really interesting, seeing all this tech work together to make a nice sound. I would love to have a studio like Rick.
Rick "I'm gonna do a video on that" Beato
Logan "I'm gonna do a comment on that" Haynes
Delete please. This ain't JRE.
😂😂😂😂😂😂
I could run a channel off the video ideas he's never done
I LOVE that guitar tone!
UAD has a lot of quality properties, and the fact that they process inside the box is awesome, but the real thing is still smoother in my opinion.....Great video!
Great video guys. A good point for all us to remember is it all starts at the source. Your guitar sound is a beast................Enjoyed Spanky mentoring the mentor, lol.
I'm glad you mentioned why you were playing chords. Whenever I try gear in guitar stores I always play certain chords to test harmonics, instead of shredding or showing off in the typical form of people in guitar stores including the employees lol. I care about how well the 3rd 4th 5th and 6th strings on the guitar sound together when testing gear. You'd be surprised how often tone is diluted or muddy even on expensive guitars, amplifiers, and pedals when playing certain chords. If I can't hear "good" tonal harmonies from an E9 chord with either clean or added effects, then I usually will avoid a product. You don't have to sacrifice tone quality for compression, even with genres like metal. Guitars I consistently use to test gear are, anything from the Fender Professional series, and anything from the PRS S2 series. The pickups in those guitars are consistent, and have great tone qualities for testing products imo.
fun fact, the 1073's germanium ancestor 1053 was the inspiration behind the title for 10538 overture by ELO
Aquatarkus, Also speaking of germanium. The Beatles also used Chandler's made with germanium parts. Resulting in great tone.
ED WENZEL Yes such a great vintage sound on germanium gear. Wish I could afford just one
@@Aquatarkus96 I happen to think API rock also.
Thank you Brother... always love seeing your material.
...yes! Please, do a video to demonstrate how you record a drum kit (multiple inputs) through UA Console, into Pro Tools soon!
Man I love the Helios and how the API sounded.
Another Awesome video Professor Beato! I liked the set and production you are mastering another art. The art of video production I did notice the lighting and fades between shots. Good job
The nice thing about the Apollo is the ability to record with effects. I'm really considering going with a 500 series setup as well with a compressor, EQ, and the DBX sub synth.
Rick please do a video on mixing for RUclips.
Sounds great. Congrats, Rick!
Spanky!!! Great to see him on the channel!!
That Helios has some badass mojo bite.
I have the X8p. It’s an amazing piece of gear.
I use the Neve Preamp on all my channel inputs. I could be crazy, but it really does make everything sounds better.
Do you put it first in the chain on the track? Do you turn your interfaces gain knob down? Thx
@@agesonjohanesburg2915 I usually don't use it in Unison mode when recording. I've made a few basic channel insert chain presets that work for me. Neve Preamp to Studer A800 is the most common one I use. The Studer plugin over a bunch of tracks does add hiss(which, if you think about it, is hilarious). The Neve is probably the UAD plugin I use the most, including the 1176 and LA2A. I'm a Cubase user and the stock EQs have always don't the job for me.
When I worked in radio in the 70’s and 80’s we used UA all the way.
I have an x8p as well synced to a Twin Mk2. Spanky is the man. An amazing human and and killer guitarist in his own right. Great comparisons and breakdown guys.
I own the UAD Apollo and the 4-710d, so I hate to say it but the hardware Neve absolutely sounded the best to my ears. Though that middle (to me unknown) plugin was thick and lush as well.
Accidentally started playing this at half speed and i can’t stop
“Hello everyone this is my friend Phil Collins” 😹😹
"Hello everyone this is my friend Spanky" is pretty amazing on it's own.
tbh I would not be surprised if that happened
Rikkousa That would be awesome.
@@rikkousa I'm absolutely certain you are the first person to even suggest someone would say that.
Great content Rick! Appreciate the studio side of guitar almost as much as guitar! Almost!
Very Nice Rick ! Enjoy .Grow !
Howdy Rick, I’m late to the party as usual
But when you highlighted your focus points 6:10
How to use console?
How to plug directly into its mic pres?
How to route it to outboard gear?
Great questions that I for one would love spanky to still address
I have my Twin X and a new X6 and like you although I read the 250+ software manual and the 70+ page hardware manual
It’s much easier to see it performed by the competent and experienced hands and guidance of Spanky.
Or now 2 years on Mr. Rick B.
I’m sure you got it down by now so help out a brother
P.S. happy new year hope your all Covid free!
Spanky! Good to see you. Rick you are going to love console once you used to it. I use it everyday. If only there were 8 cue busses. 😋
Great vid Rick!
Excellent vid... I think we need a part 2
I liked the Neve plugin the best. Sounds more natural than the Helios IMO
Awesome video Rick. Spanky seems cool to he reminds me of mr strickland from Back to the future.
Hi Rick, I can't thank you enough for your hard work. I really appreciate it. A tip for you, if you like it: don't put a light right into the camera, even if you need a backlight for the shooting . So much love
Thank god!! Just got this today
You are going to love the UAD world
I dream of having an x16, x8p, and a solo or twin for monitor control and for looks. Lol the x16 will just have a bunch of uad 6176 and 710s with la2a compressors so I can choose between both or use both at same time. I also dream of having a custom built uad console with all that plus faders, touch panels to control plug ins with real knobs, a built in ox box, as well as all their pedals connected. Like a one stop shop console that does everything I want it to do to record my band.
Hey Rick... Great vid! It's funny... I have a buddy who is a mastering engineer in Nashville. He swears that he needs to use physical hardware units and that he can hear the difference. I can't. lol...
+thedrummersalmanac
That's why he's the mastering engineer & you're just the drummer, haha...your ears are shot! :-P I kid (I'm a drummer/percussionist, too, haha!...and a saxophonist).
But, honestly, to my ears, *some* of the plug-ins and emulations still don't quite have the special sauce of the real hardware. Just in this demo alone (and considering that we're hearing BOTH over RUclips's lossy compressed audio), while listening using ATC SCM25A monitors, the real 1073 sounded WAY better than the emulation...at least to my ears. But I guess you could say that it's just subjective preference, so YMMV.
For me, where good plug-ins really come into play are with some the newer ones that allow you to do crazy precise or unique things that are not yet possible, and probably never will be, with any existing analog (or digital) outboard gear.
The other issue for me with a lot of the plug-ins is that it's WAY too easy to get completely lost in the plethora of options, instead of just quickly finding a good tone and laying down the track! Just get it done, son!
But that Helios emulation sounded pretty kick-@ss, even if there wasn't a comparison to the real thing. 👍
bb foto ha... agreed
mastering engineers train their ears to hear extremely subtle changes in eq and compression. it takes years to develop the ears for those sorts of things
@@awesomebawss2013 It sure does... That's why I leave the mastering to those guys. My friends ears are amazing. I'm missing most of my high end... (Cymbals.lol)
+@@awesomebawss2013
Definitely. And it's interesting that quite a few of the best mastering engineers were or are symphony orchestra musicians (or other types), such as Bob Ludwig (symphony trumpet) and Eric Boulanger (symphony violinist) to name just a few. They had already developed expertly-trained ears years before becoming engineers. ;)
When playing in a symphony/orchestra, you develop acute skills in controlling dynamics (ppp to fff), and in constantly balancing your instrument with the others in your section and with the entire orchestra.
In addition, you are constantly aware of & checking that your instrument is "in tune", or hearing if others are flat or sharp, whilst also experiencing & learning the delicate tonal qualities and harmonics of a multitude of live acoustic instruments. Just my .02 FWIW.
“This is how you route your mix to the hardware bus compressor”
* doesn’t cut away to the screen capture🤦♂️*
That was the part of the video I really wanted to see.
I have a hardware UA LA-610 and find plugging my electric guitar into that for some mild compression and EQ and then into the UA Apollo (Apollo 8 in my case) and launching one of their plug-in amplifiers in the Unison slots works really well. I’m using a simple hardware pre-amp which limits your possibilities which gets you to your desired sound faster. And the low latency of the Unison plugin spots make getting to a perfect sound pretty easy. I have two favourite plugin amps. I’m not a heavy distortion fan like Rick, so I use the Marshall Bluesbreaker which has some really nice Marshall clean settings. Also love the Fuchs Train 2 which is really versatile and doesn’t sound like a “train wreck” at all :).
Rick hope you get to video record how you make UA Console feed PT (dude, please upgrade to 12!!) and how you route it back to the UA Console (hint: PT output to Virtual 1 and Virtual 2 in UA Console). If there’s more that your UA bud can share it would be great!
Well said. Use an outboard pre into Apollo plugs. I've done that. But i do like the idea of using the Apollo unison pres because everything is recallable. Also you can save an entire channel strip as a preset. Physical patchbays are so 1970s. I guess that is why I continue to upgrade my patchbay with 100s of patchpoints. Pricey. But the better the patchbay, the better use of my hardware to integrate withe the Apollo Converters. I keep on telling myself that my AMS 1073 DPX pres sound better than their Unison 1073 pre. Like the hardware is more 3D, focused, and has more air. But sometimes I feel I can not tell the difference. I guess for $2300 an AMS Neve 1073 DPX channel, it might be close. But I am really hoping a used vintage 1073 pre for $8000 or whatever they go for today's prices has a sound that you can not capture with a plugin and UA's harware with Unison. i am sure if I owned a vintage 1073 or a Telefunken V76 I would tell myself that the UA emulations do not even come close. With all this great gear I just make poor music compositions I write sound more of a high quality. Very close to the "Pros"s. Now if i could just get software to play guitar like Eddie Van Halen that would be perfect.
damn that silver jubilee sounds amazing. also, nice stp riffs at the top there, rick. haha.
Nice! Just started my own music channel. Thanks for being an inspiration!
I always like watching your videos. I need to come to ATL and check out that rack first hand :) I have been using Apollo since it came out and I love it. I'm broke because of my UA plugin addiction, lol. I'm kidding. Great investment tell Spanky he did a great job.
Wait a min ! I thought he was going to show how he wired all that. Insert
Killer guitar tone
You’ve Got friends in high places Rick ... Thumbs up
Rick! You the man!!!!
That's Jason S. aka "Spanky", great guy.
Yeah and he works for UAD... So how is this not sponsored?
Not (yet) a UA user, so it was cool to learn more about their Console s/w here. Re: Console vs. the mix window, in Logic you can't easily track with plug-ins, e.g., by putting the plug-in on your recording channel. That plug-in only affects the track on playback. If you want to track with plug-ins, you use the logic "environment" or you have to do somewhat complicated routing through a bus track in the mixer (I think this may be easier with PT). It looks like Console solves that problem more easily.
I think the main point is that the Apollo can do the processing with almost zero latency, which would inevitably get unstable on a PC. A decent DAW should actually be capable of tracking with plug-ins without any difficulty though (just with higher latency); Cubase and Reaper do this just fine at any rate. Just as I said, as soon as the processing is done on the CPU you'll have to contend with noticeable latency, so DSPs on the interface definitely make sense. I just wish UAD actually made these DSP's user-accessible for _creative_ purposes with an open programming interface, instead of cashing in on stupid emulation of the products from their days of glory. But, apparently engineers like just that, oh well...
Agreed; a common complaint about tracking using Logic's environment to insert plug-ins is that the latency is unacceptably high.
Dang! now I have to buy the Helios Plug! Great video, guys Like the low-mids on that plug.
lol i was asking on someone else comment about this , you put this out perfect :)
The hardware (unfortunately) killed in my book, but damn that Helios had some KILLER color!
Thanks for the video!
Just brutal guitar sounds!
12:34 SPOON MAN!!!!
Loved this video!
I really wish I could find a video that explains how to use Console 2 in a live situation. It's kind of tricky figuring out how the sends work and how to do things like double an instrument, etc. all in Console. One of the great things about Apollo and Unison is that it's fast enough to use live, but if you search for tutorials on how to do it, all you get is a bunch of stuff about Ableton Live and UAD.
Good luck
The Hardware seemed to be louder in level and brighter, which tricks you out, as mentioned in the video. Was this the case ? A loudness meter would have helped....
Just picked up Apogee Symphony Desktop and a WA73 warm audio the best sound the Built in DSP and Dual path monitoring and print FX 🚀🚀🚀
The actual Neve preamp sounds wetter. The plug-ins sound drier but still awesome 👍
Loving the Antelope Audio Orion with the 4 extra analog ins and comparable plugins. Maybe comparable? I don't know for sure.
The reason they did not show how to wire up the SSL compressor is because it would take a considerable amount of time. It would have been very helpful to have Spanky go through the nuts and bolts of Apolllo X hardware integration. I have a new Apollo X multi-unit set up and a hardware mixer with outboard gear and it took a lot of trial and error to get everything set up and fully functional.
i have an Allan Smart CLA bus compressor in my 500 series rack and it is "killer" as Rick Beato would say. That SSL Vibe. Only a true Music producer/mixer would have had the look on Ricks's face right before he told Spanky to turn the attack to a faster setting. You could see it was really bothering him. I felt his pain. That being sad, it was challenging to route the UA Console's inputs into my mixer mixbus to be able to use the C1LA compressor on all the channels summed. Nice to have when I am tracking and writing to get a sense of a finished polished sound of a song. Easier to figure out when mixing down and going straight into my mixer channel without the UAD plugins inside console for real time DSP. Using the UAD plugins in my DAW during mixdown which you do not need an Apollo interface. But you do need a physical UAD device. There are alot of tricks to use with UAD Apollos. Once you wrap your head around it there are many possibilities. Then it becomes fun.
Rick playing some Alice In Chains! Rad!
I just recieved mine, and this is the first video I have watched on it. Quick question... Is what you call the UA "Console" the same as "Luna"?
Hey Rick you cut your console screenshot right when you are talking about routing the SSL compressor
I want a shirt also ,all of it ,thank you all at uad great job
Loved the Helios....Real 1073 sounded better to me...
Love the channel Rick. Probably my fav videos are the What makes this song great series. As a guitar nerd and someone that likes to play the guitar as a hobby one thing I’ve noticed on your channel is you have not talked much about Stevie Ray Vaughan. Do you mean he’s the baddest mofo that ever picked up a guitar. One thing I would like to see is a video with your thoughts about him and what makes him great? Not just one of his songs but a guitarist profile. To me he’s a guitar god
It’s a very nice bit of kit that leads you into UAD plugins via low latency and therefore quite some high level priced plugins. Get your money out.
Good video I would love to use UAD products but outside of my pay grade.
Hey Rick great vid,very informative. I wonder if you would consider doing a Voivod song, Tribal... I bet you would find their new guitarist to be a kindred spirit.
Someone have to do a video about "tell the difference" videos on youtube, and talking about the youtube compression, the rig you use for listen youtube video (often shitty headphones / speakers) and most important, how much the difference you hear if you are playing on stage, on a live with a BIG good damn speakers, sorry for bad eng ! tell me what you think about :)
I listened to this on speakerphone on my iPhone 4 while riding the bus. The real one DEFINITELY sounded better.
(Joking)
Also distorted metal music is not the best choice to hear nuances.
@@OscillationOverdrive Agreed. The differences are so negligible on that kind of audio, you can pretty much roll the dice to pick a pre.
Yeah, RUclips really kills nuances, but that's exactly my point in picking UAD-2 emulations. EVERYONE except the guys listening to the lossless playback in their treated space through their calibrated monitors is not going to be able to tell the difference by the time it gets through whichever streaming service, through bluetooth, and into their crappy earbuds which are probably not even sitting in their ears right. It's just not worth the time, trouble, and expense to use analog gear when UAD has it so close. And these guys that say "the hardware sounded better" could probably not pick it out of an ABX text. They hear "analog" and think "better". IME, the UAD-2 stuff often sounds better than most of the gear that's out there. And good luck finding an anniversary edition black face/blue stripe 1176, let alone a set of all three and be able to swap them back and forth to tell which one you want and use them on 6 ins at once. UAD-2 has analog beat at this point.
You should buy better headphones is what I think ;)
Big thumps up. Thx for sharing.
I'm going to go out on a limb and say the 1073 didn't sound better but different. Although I would use the real 1073 because I have one :)
The real deal is still better, feels so good!
Did I miss something? Explanation of video @5:59 is How to use console, how to plug directly into it, how to use outboard mic pre's to get in and out of the system. But 3/4 of the vid I'm listening to plugin comparisons and the last quarter covers nothing about routing in and out of the Apollo to external gear and etc. Nice vid but a bit disappointed
I concur ....
Yeah, it seemed like a bunch of missing stuff, and no camera when they ran the SSL outboard.
I guess we are not visual learners lol !? I really wanted to see your screen towards the end of video... Anyway keep up the good work.
I just fired up my Twin to listen to this. I love my UAD plugins and that 1073!
Rick and Spanky. Good vid. Did you say Hackintosh ? .........lolol. 🤣🤣🤣
Rick has an older video about the making of his Hackintosh...
There's a song title right there; "Spanky and I".
Please do a video detailing the routing!
10:15 - No unison plug ins (Direct to Apollo)
10:25 - Neve unison plug in
15:20- Real Neve hardware (not the modelled plug in)
Hey Rick, great vid. I've been using UA forever in my studio (in Tucker)... and I'm still running through a older mac aluminum tower (with all the headaches), what is your control room CPU now? You didn't say... Thanks!
great video and thanks for sharing. So we are considering upgrading as well. Rick are you suggesting that the UA Apollo X series does not offer an actual remote, you have to buy another interface just to have a volume/talkback/feature desk side control? I say because Apogee does offer an actual remote control. If true, that is a bit of an expensive remote, no?