I'm glad I made this purchase.Allen Wagner Re-Creates The Faces Of Everyone On Gearslutz Annoyed By Subscription Plans I felt like I could hear the difference between the solid state vs actual tube but other than that, it was 90% close. TL DR: The Slate mic is pretty darn close at emulating a real 251/47 > 1073. I've attached the bounces of each take and uploaded them on dropbox for you guys to hear if you're interested. I'm not too snotty about what gear I use. Why'd I buy this if I already have access to these mics? I'm not a work all the time and I don't really care. As long as it doesn't sound like ass (unless that's what you're going for) and you have a good song, nobody gives a shit. They're gonna say, " Meh, this song's alright Not really my thing". I feel that in a mix, after EQ'ing and compressing the crap out of it and whatever else you do, reverb, delays, chorus, nobody's gonna be like " Hey, this is that Slate mic set to 113% with the FG-73 at 35.66 with the trim down a dB or so with around 3-5dB of compression, recorded where the air conditioner was set to 74 degrees at a latitude of blah blah blah, not a real 251 > 1073!". The emulations that I've tested really surprised me in how close they were. In conclusion, I am 100% satisfied with my purchase.
I'm still bummed I didn't get to put it up against a real C800 though but I'll try to do that later. I felt like the only difference I would hear between the real deal and the emulation was the solid state vs tube thing. They also sounded eerily close, probably even closer than the 251 comparison. I was expecting this to still sound like garbage but once again, I tracked my vocals, matched the levels, and compared. Neumann U47 > Neve 1073 vs Slate U47 > Slate 1073 Still, for 1/10th of the price of an actual 251, I can't tell a $9,000 difference. The Slate 251 had a sharper high end and slightly bigger body and the Telefunkin 251 had a cooler high end and not as big of a body. I felt that I could hear the solid state (I'm guessing that's what the Slate mic is built with) vs the actual tube between the two mics. Most of the time though I could hear a difference but it was still pretty darn close. When balancing the levels of the two takes, it was hard to tell what was what at certain lines. Telefunkin 251 > Neve 1073 vs Slate 251 > Slate 1073 With the VMS plugin at 100%, no EQ's or compression, and the 1073, emulation and real, set to 40, I sang the same line into each mic. Once my mic came in, I picked it up and took it to the studio to put it up against our real 251/47 > 1073 (no C800 again).
Overall, the comparisons were okay but by themselves without a comparison, I'd say they sounded great (except for the 47 emulation). When I was listening back, it was in the show room so not really the best place to really hear the difference. They unfortunately did not have a C800 to put it up against but it sounded like what I remember a C800 sounding like bright top end, a mid scoop, and a big body.Īll the mics at Vintage King were all lined up agains the wall in a small vocal booth (I hate vocal booths like this). It was dark, muddy, and would make me ask if the mic was working okay. The two OG 47's sounded great on their own. I then loaded up the 47 emulation and put it up against both 47's. I liked the 251 emulation better than the original though. The 251 emulation sounded like it had a little more body to it compared to the real 251 but the high end sounded similar. The Slate mic was put up against a Telefunkin 251, a Telefunkin U47, and a Flea U47. My first demo of the mic at Vintage King went okay. I was not able to use the C800 at the time of recording. I then took an actual Telefunkin 251 and Neumann U47 (not FET) and ran it though a real Neve 1073. I tracked my vocals through the Slate VMS with the 251, C800, and 47 emulations and the 1073 emulation.