What piece of equipment do you have to show us today?
My Townsend Labs Sphere L22 Mic Modelling System
How did you come across this particular item?
So a bit over a year ago I was in the market for a mic that could cover a lot of bases for me, I was using a Neumann U87 at the time and was finding it sounded great on one voice but sometimes not on another. A friend of mine had been telling me about the Slate VMS for a while and after a bit of research I came across The Sphere as a competitor.
What is it that you like about it so much?
First and foremost, being able to change the mic on the plugin after tracking a whole song is a godsend. I’ve been halfway through a mix where the vocals just weren’t sitting the way I wanted them to, and then switched to a different mic to have all my problems solved. The proximity knob on the plugin is also a handy feature when I want to bring the vocals forward just a little bit.
How do you use it and how has it shaped the way you write music?
Moreso to do with the way I record/produce music but I don’t ever have to consider what mic I’m using on a record anymore. In the past if was recording a heavy vocalist I’d typically use a Shure SM7B, it has its own sound and it’s always guaranteed to work well, but I haven’t used it for months now. A few weeks ago I reinstalled my Sphere plugin to find that they’d added another 8 or so mics for free, and now it even has a 7B model. So if I ever want something along the lines of that sound I’ll have the option anyway.
Tell us a little about what you have coming up?
We’ve got an EP coming out on the 22nd of March called Empire and we’ll be hitting the road in support of that. We’re on tour with The Brave at the end of this month as well as a little regional run at the end of April.
Empire, the new EP from Windwaker, is out now.
