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Townsend Sphere User Reports

quantise

Active Member
Several folks have asked for user reports on the newly delivered L22 mic system. I'm in the UK and was fortunate to receive mine last week after going the Indiegogo route last year.

I've had a head cold but decided to try out a vocal track on a song that I had already recorded the main vocal, knowing I'd have to re-record it once my sinuses cleared.

It's difficult to go into much in the way of tech stuff that hasn't already been covered very well by others, particularly James Ivey's video from Pro Tools Expert, linked to from the Townsend site but here's my quick overview.

The mic came via UPS exactly when they said it would after resolving some vat issues with Townsend. As agreed, last year, they picked up the import duty. Nice touch Townsend. There was a box within the shipping box that contained the camera style flight-case containing the mic. Nicely protected.

Inside the mic box was a note regarding the tightness of the cutout for the cradle and some advice on how to carefully remove the cradle without damaging it. Apparently, this tightness has been addressed at manufacture and will be fine on later models. I'm Serial No. 9. They were right it was extremely tight but came out of the case fine with a little patient coaxing.

So straight to the studio where I set it up on the stand previously home to my Sontronics Aria Pro valve mic. Another excellent mic. My first thought was that the double connector lead that plugs into the base of the mic, terminating in two normal 3-pin xlr male plugs carrying the signal from the dual diaphragms was a bit short. Still, a pair of xlr mic leads as extensions soon sorted that out. plugged through to a couple of channels on my Apollo 8 and once phantom power was engaged we were good to go.

I'd already set the Townsend Sphere UAD plugin to demo mode and began wondering what would happen after the 14-day period had finished but a quick email to UA support last Friday brought a response on Monday to say they had authorised it from their end for me so we were good to go in perpetuity.

I'd forgotten that the mic has four little lights within the grille that light up when power is applied and it makes the mic look very special while letting you know that it's on. The software reminds you to link a pair of channels in Console to use with the mic if you haven't already done that. So I loaded a song into Pro Tools HD where I use three Apollos as outboard including all the Unison goodness to an Avid 8x8x8 running from a TB HD native box.

I did two passes of the lead vocal track one while recording the mic going through the 87 mic model and a second pass without recording the mic model. I have access to a real U87 and all I can say is that it sounded the same to me. The mic definitely recorded the fact that I had a cold! But boy was it a classy cold.

After I'd spluttered my way through these two recordings, I had a play with the different mic models using the 2nd recorded pass and decided that for my voice the C12 model would be great on this song but I was also impressed with the Coles 4038 ribbon model, especially when the cardioid pattern was tweaked to figure 8 just like the real thing. The software gives you all kinds of creative possibilities post recording to get things just right. It all works seamlessly and is very easy to pick up what is happening. Really good software design in my view.

That night, I read the manual, which is clear and underlined some of the important differentiating elements of the L22 and other mics. They also, helpfully included some suggested ways to use the mic with different instruments and recording scenarios.

Once this cold has cleared I'll spend some serious quality time with this baby. The build quality is great. The sound quality superb. The way that Townsend conducted themselves throughout the campaign was exemplary, especially in keeping investors up to date with progress and now they have delivered. What more can I say.

You are going to love this mic when you get yours if you have one coming. If you don't yet, you owe it to yourself to check it out.

John
 

Matt Hepworth

Master of the UADiverse
Forum Admin
Moderator
Great info, John! I'd suggest to also consider utilizing an aux in Apollo's Console so you can print and monitor the full Sphere modeling, but also simultaneously record the "dry" signal for later processing or as a safety.

Keep in mind you'll need to enter a negative delay offset of 33 samples in PT to compensate for the 33 sample delay the aux inherits (or manually drag the track back).

With your set up, you would just need to assign the aux to an ADAT or other output to feed to ProTools.
 

quantise

Active Member
Great thinking, Matt,

I'll give that a whirl.

Best,

John
 

Sid Chigger

Superman
Forum Admin
Moderator
Moderator
Thank ya kindly for the write up John... Ya have me stoked.. Your impression pretty much mirrored mine after seeing it in person at VK Nashville a month or so ago. I'm #268 and got an email from Erik @ Townsend saying the next shipment is expected shortly, will be tested and sent to Sweetwater for fulfillment.. I'm stoked!
 

Matt Hepworth

Master of the UADiverse
Forum Admin
Moderator
It's been requested that I share my review of the Sphere system, since I had quite a bit of experience with it. My feelings and appreciation of the system have not changed since the "honeymoon phase", so to speak, so I am happy to do so.

Here it is:

There really is a single mic that’s perfect for everything.


Maybe it’s slightly deeper than that, but I’ve been a recording engineer for nearly two decades and Sphere has changed the way I record. Over the past few months I’ve recorded some great vocals and instruments: metal screams, female pop & contemporary rock vocals, acoustic and electric guitars, drums, crazy hand percussion, piano and just about everything else you can think of. What was mind blowing is I was able to do it all with the same microphone and it was practically perfect every time.



Sphere is kind of the ideal mic. It’s stereo, it’s mono, it’s an old tube condenser, it’s a ribbon, and it’s modern and pristine. You get to pick.



Working with a pre-production Sphere for multiple albums as one of the Sphere test studios, it really got to where Sphere became part of my workflow. I could just put it up and trust it. I knew I could get it to do whatever I wanted, and more than I even expected.



What I found was so unique about the Sphere microphone system is the way it can be used as a creative tool—not just as a world-class mic locker—to achieve the perfect sound and bring back the experimentation that’s been somewhat absent in the fast-paced modern audio production world.



Case in point: I put the Sphere L22 on a guitar amp, recorded it and mult'd/duplicated the track. On one track I'd select whichever one of the well-done mic emulations I thought sounded best on for the track like usual. On the mult copy, however, I would then VIRTUALLY flip the mic so it was pointed directly away from the amp, allowing me to capture and blend in this great ambience. Not a new recording, simply using the track I already had. Using the Off-Axis Correction control, and also shaping the polar pattern a bit, I could reject the direct sound almost entirely, and add a lovely new dimension to the guitar tone. And this was all done AFTER THE FACT FROM A SINGLE MIC!



For your critical vocals and instruments or those times you need just one more pair of mics for capturing something in stereo glory Sphere has you covered. The only downside to using Sphere is that it needs two identical preamps with identical settings. A pair of Sphere mic systems will eat up four preamps, so be prepared.



The Townsend Sphere is a microphone system unlike any other. Having had the pleasure of using it on several records I don’t want to ever do a record without at least one.
 

RalphK

Active Member
Thanks for the Review Matt and quantise!
 

dr.jazzy

Active Member
You can also use only the left xlr-output and record only this. then sphere behaves just like any other fixed-pattern cardioid large diaphragm condenser mic. of course the software can't be applied to this one channel, but I tried it and compared to a TLM-103, which is supposed to be neutral. I liked the sphere much better: sounded more natural and well rounded, with lots of warm midrange. The TLM-103 sounded in comparison more artificial with a dip in the lower mids and too much high end for my taste.

so: sphere can be a regular 1-input-mono-mic and it even sounds very nice when used like this.
 

Matt Hepworth

Master of the UADiverse
Forum Admin
Moderator
Yeah, pro tip for users:

Non-Apollo: In PT use a trim plugin and unlink left and right and then mute the right side of the trim plugin. Pan both sides to center. This way you're just hearing Sphere as if it's a single, cardioid mic, but still have the after the fact benefit of being able to change everything by still recording stereo.

Apollo: Even easier initially. Just unlink the channels, verify the gain is the same on both channels, then mute the second (rear/right) channel in console. If you're going to be doing overdubs with LowLatency Monitoring on you can't use the Trim trick, so you'll want to record three tracks (mono left/front, then stereo also) and create an edit group for them so your punches and comping work as they should. Mute the stereo channel in PT until you're ready for it. At that point you'll mute or delete the mono channel.
 

JakeO

New Member
Hi guys, very excited following these threads about the Sphere. As it will be released soon, does anyone already have some thoughts about the recently released 251/c800 models? Thanks!
 

Toneranger

Active Member
As it will be released soon, does anyone already have some thoughts about the recently released 251/c800 models? Thanks!
They both sound great....but I have to say the 251 is my favourite model of them all. Creamy and forgiving, with just the right amount of presence. Man I love this mic!!! No better value for money in a condenser mic IMHO.
 

Billy Pilgrim

Active Member
Have you guys been using it with a Unison preamp before or just straight into the Sphere software? I'm aware of the fact that you shouldn't process or color (in excess) the sound before it goes into the emulation. And obviously the logical thing would be to have a function to use the Sphere plugin BEFORE the unison preamp. But given the current real world restrictions I am wondering if there is any gain from using a Unison preamp with the Sphere of if in fact, you get better results by not using it.

I don't currently own a Sphere mic but am considering getting one, once it's widely available.
 

Matt Hepworth

Master of the UADiverse
Forum Admin
Moderator
The only caveats to Unison preamps is you need to avoid the low impedance mode on the 1073, since Sphere needs 1200 Ohms or greater to work as intended, and you need to stereo link the channels so processing is identical across both front and back.
 

Davelong

Active Member
Finally got my Townsend L22!

My, this is a VERY useful mic! One thing I notice immediately is that it really is teaching me how to best use the polar patterns; I can immediately hear the effect of the different patterns; their effect on the sound and the ambience.
It is SO much easier than my old way of recording: to listen to playback, decide a different pattern might work better, change that mic pattern and rerecord, listen back, change the pattern again and rerecord again...man, this mic is amazing - SO glad Matt told us about it!!!

Cheers!
 

Toneranger

Active Member
Have you guys been using it with a Unison preamp before or just straight into the Sphere software?
Almost always with a unison preamp, so far. Extremely happy with the results. The Manley Voxbox is particularly great as a unison pre before the Sphere plugin on vocals!!
 

Davelong

Active Member
Almost always with a unison preamp, so far. Extremely happy with the results. The Manley Voxbox is particularly great as a unison pre before the Sphere plugin on vocals!!
Yeah, L22 and Voxbox on vocals - sounds great to me, too!

I've been enjoying using the Voxbox's compressor while tracking vocals, and so far it seems to work every time with about 3dB of compression... seems really transparent. And, it saved me a few times when there were loud vocal surprises.

Also, I do Matt's trick of recording the signal after the Sphere plugin on an aux, as well as recording a safety track before the plugin for mixing later. (Recording "wet" and "dry" simultaneously) Very useful!
 
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scratch17

Venerated Member
I was wondering if a Sphere owner could confirm a possible setup for me. I would like to be able to use the Sphere in a figure 8 with the SM-57 simulation on both ends so I can do mid-side recording with a real 57 for the mono track on my guitar cabs.

Also, has anyone compared the 57 sim to a real one? What are your impressions?

Thanks, Steven.
 

Matt Hepworth

Master of the UADiverse
Forum Admin
Moderator
Well, an emulation of a small dynamic mic isn't going to be as indistinguishable as a large diaphragm condenser when the source is a large diaphragm condenser. They behave very differently. Townsend refers to non-LDC target mics as hybrid modeling, since they're so dissimilar. I haven't tried doing it exactly the way you describe, but I'm sure it could be tried.
 

scratch17

Venerated Member
I get it Matt. The dynamic mic model has to overcome the limits put on by the physics of the L22.

I have been wanting to try mid-side recording for a while. I had been looking at a pair of C-414's when the L22 popped up on my radar. So I waited. I happen to have a 57, and it occurred to me that I might be able to use it and the L22 with its emulation.

I have a limited budget for mics, so the L22 seems to be the way to go.
 

Geoff Waddington

Established Member
I get it Matt. The dynamic mic model has to overcome the limits put on by the physics of the L22.

I have been wanting to try mid-side recording for a while. I had been looking at a pair of C-414's when the L22 popped up on my radar. So I waited. I happen to have a 57, and it occurred to me that I might be able to use it and the L22 with its emulation.

I have a limited budget for mics, so the L22 seems to be the way to go.
There's no rule that says the M/S mics have to be the same.

I get great results recording my Leslie with a 4050 and a ribbon.
 
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