I was looking through various mic pre amp and channel strip packages
and heard a lot of good things about the Langevin DVC. Normally you
don't hear universal applause about anything. In the case of the DVC
the reviewers liked it and just about every post I read here liked it.
Clean sound and a bargin price were the things most mentioned.

Now here's my position. My current mic pre amp is a Focusrite
Voicemaster. The Langevin is a step up in price but how much of a step
up in audio quality can I expect? Will I feel as if my mics were let
out of the closet to breath?

I need 2 channels for recording various things. The DVC certainly
looks like it can provide what I need. A limiter instead of
compression might suit me. The limited eq just forces one to use their
imagination. I would simply eq by mic position. My guess is the price
is reflective of the spartan controls but it delivers on sound?

The DVC has some drawbacks but they seems to be corrective as well. No
phase reverse switch. Shure makes an adapter, monster cable has a
short cable, those were the first 2 companies I checked out.

Sometimes less is more. Is the Langevin more? Will it blow my
voicemaster out of the water?

William

Doctor Phibes wrote:

Now here's my position. My current mic pre amp is a Focusrite
Voicemaster. The Langevin is a step up in price but how much of a step
up in audio quality can I expect? Will I feel as if my mics were let
out of the closet to breath?

I've never used the Voicemaster. But I know know that most Langevin/Manley
dealers should allow you to check one out for a week on a credit card and
audition it so you can decide for yourself.

The DVC has some drawbacks but they seems to be corrective as well. No
phase reverse switch. Shure makes an adapter, monster cable has a
short cable, those were the first 2 companies I checked out.

Or you use a figure-8 and turn it around.

Sometimes less is more. Is the Langevin more? Will it blow my
voicemaster out of the water?

The Langevin sounds good. You'll like it. How much more than your Voicemaster
I don't know.
--scott
--
"C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis."

(Scott Dorsey) wrote in message ...
Doctor Phibes wrote:

Now here's my position. My current mic pre amp is a Focusrite
Voicemaster. The Langevin is a step up in price but how much of a step
up in audio quality can I expect? Will I feel as if my mics were let
out of the closet to breath?

I've never used the Voicemaster. But I know know that most Langevin/Manley
dealers should allow you to check one out for a week on a credit card and
audition it so you can decide for yourself.

The DVC has some drawbacks but they seems to be corrective as well. No
phase reverse switch. Shure makes an adapter, monster cable has a
short cable, those were the first 2 companies I checked out.

Or you use a figure-8 and turn it around.

Sometimes less is more. Is the Langevin more? Will it blow my
voicemaster out of the water?

The Langevin sounds good. You'll like it. How much more than your Voicemaster
I don't know.
--scott
If I choose the Langevin I'll be paying in cash though. I'm just
trying to get a basic idea of what makes each pre amp different and in
some cases better. Based on the prices I've seen Langevins=$800 per
channel. A new voicemaster pro is $640 or so. My old voicemaster has
been seen on ebayesque auctions for like $300. But like you said you
never heard a voicemaster. I've never heard a Langevin but for some
reason(probably after reading 200 posts about it)I have a sound in my
head. We'll see if my intuition is correct. ;-)

I think I'd buy an adapter Scott, they can't cost much.

thanks
William

(Scott Dorsey) wrote in message ...
Doctor Phibes wrote:

Now here's my position. My current mic pre amp is a Focusrite
Voicemaster. The Langevin is a step up in price but how much of a step
up in audio quality can I expect? Will I feel as if my mics were let
out of the closet to breath?

I've never used the Voicemaster. But I know know that most Langevin/Manley
dealers should allow you to check one out for a week on a credit card and
audition it so you can decide for yourself.

The DVC has some drawbacks but they seems to be corrective as well. No
phase reverse switch. Shure makes an adapter, monster cable has a
short cable, those were the first 2 companies I checked out.

Or you use a figure-8 and turn it around.

Sometimes less is more. Is the Langevin more? Will it blow my
voicemaster out of the water?

The Langevin sounds good. You'll like it. How much more than your Voicemaster
I don't know.
--scott
I rerally like DVC its a great bang for the buck.The pre's are really
solid sounding ,fairly neutral....not a ton of personality or color
but a good solid pre..IMHO much better than what you are using.The EQ
is limited but sounds really good ,a great way to add a little shine
or body to your tracks.The limiter is very nice and you can also go
line in and use the limiting section seperatly.Its not a very fast
limiter but what it does it does well.If your looking for a ton of
personality or color look elsewhere.(API,Neve-clone,Manley tube
stuff)For the price I am not aware of much else that compares.

Ron Florentine
Soundswest Studio

In article writes:

If I choose the Langevin I'll be paying in cash though.

Well, we all have to do that sometimes. However, there are dealers who
will let you return it for a full refund if it doesn't float your
boat. That's the best way to find out what it does for you. Most of
the time things don't get returned, but sometimes you'll try something
that just isn't what you're looking for and you don't have to lose
anything more than the cost of shipping to find out. $25 to FedEx is
worth more than any advice you can get in writing from us here since
we all have different combinations of equipment, sources, and taste.

I've seen Langevins=$800 per
channel. A new voicemaster pro is $640 or so. My old voicemaster has
been seen on ebayesque auctions for like $300.

How much do you see Langevin DVCs going for at auction? Maybe that
would help you decide on their worthness as an investment.



--
I'm really Mike Rivers - )

The DVC has some drawbacks but they seems to be corrective as well. No
phase reverse switch.

Another possible drawback, depending on what mics you intend you use with it,
is only 40 db of gain. However, you can buy some more with the limiter makeup
gain, at the expense of running through additional circuitry.


Scott Fraser

(Mike Rivers) wrote in message news:znr1067516592k@trad...
In article writes:

If I choose the Langevin I'll be paying in cash though.

Well, we all have to do that sometimes. However, there are dealers who
will let you return it for a full refund if it doesn't float your
boat. That's the best way to find out what it does for you. Most of
the time things don't get returned, but sometimes you'll try something
that just isn't what you're looking for and you don't have to lose
anything more than the cost of shipping to find out. $25 to FedEx is
worth more than any advice you can get in writing from us here since
we all have different combinations of equipment, sources, and taste.

I've seen Langevins=$800 per
channel. A new voicemaster pro is $640 or so. My old voicemaster has
been seen on ebayesque auctions for like $300.

How much do you see Langevin DVCs going for at auction? Maybe that
would help you decide on their worthness as an investment.


I've done a pretty comprehensive search on the dvc Mike. Aside from
the opinions I came across, I found very few FS signs. There are 2 I
see when I googled the newsgroups. In both cases the seller wanted
$1200. There's no indication if the seller completed the sale.

It seems people buy this thing knowing what to expect. They know it's
stripped down like a brittney spears award show garment. (sorry
couldn't resist lol)I've adopted that mentality based on the reviews,
opinions and my own style of not liking to twist knobs all the time.
I'm fairly confident this unit can do what I need to be done. There
are other units that will also accomplish my goals only differently
and I freely admit I'm trying to save a few bucks while cleaning up my
sound a bit.

thanks
William

(Ron Florentine) wrote in message . com...
(Scott Dorsey) wrote in message ...
Doctor Phibes wrote:

Now here's my position. My current mic pre amp is a Focusrite
Voicemaster. The Langevin is a step up in price but how much of a step
up in audio quality can I expect? Will I feel as if my mics were let
out of the closet to breath?

I've never used the Voicemaster. But I know know that most Langevin/Manley
dealers should allow you to check one out for a week on a credit card and
audition it so you can decide for yourself.

The DVC has some drawbacks but they seems to be corrective as well. No
phase reverse switch. Shure makes an adapter, monster cable has a
short cable, those were the first 2 companies I checked out.

Or you use a figure-8 and turn it around.

Sometimes less is more. Is the Langevin more? Will it blow my
voicemaster out of the water?

The Langevin sounds good. You'll like it. How much more than your Voicemaster
I don't know.
--scott
I rerally like DVC its a great bang for the buck.The pre's are really
solid sounding ,fairly neutral....not a ton of personality or color
but a good solid pre..IMHO much better than what you are using.The EQ
is limited but sounds really good ,a great way to add a little shine
or body to your tracks.The limiter is very nice and you can also go
line in and use the limiting section seperatly.Its not a very fast
limiter but what it does it does well.If your looking for a ton of
personality or color look elsewhere.(API,Neve-clone,Manley tube
stuff)For the price I am not aware of much else that compares.

Ron Florentine
Soundswest Studio


Thanks for info Ron,
I keep going back to "less is more" mentality. The lack of controls
will allow me to focus more on performance. I think moving the
microphones around is a far more useful eq. Bargin is a reoccuring
theme I've come across from people some of which I might imagine could
afford more.
thanks
William

(ScotFraser) wrote in message ...
The DVC has some drawbacks but they seems to be corrective as well. No
phase reverse switch.

Another possible drawback, depending on what mics you intend you use with it,
is only 40 db of gain. However, you can buy some more with the limiter makeup
gain, at the expense of running through additional circuitry.


Scott Fraser

Part of this purchase also includes 2 new microphones. I'm interested
in 2 BLUE mics; The Blueberry and The Mouse. Would they present a
problem?

William

I have a dvc and 2 dragonfly mics. I've also had the blueberry. BLUE
mics seem to have low self noise and put out a pretty decent level so
you should have no troubles matching a Blue mic with the DVC. I
personally thought the blueberry was too thin and bright sounding
through the dvc and preffered the blueberry through the VoxBox or
Manley 40db dualmono. I love my U87ai through the DVC for vocals and
it hasn't yet been bad enough to switch to something else. Meaning a
touch of shine or warmth from the DVC eq section, smoothing out the
peaks with the magical DVC limiter or changing mic patterns on the
u87ai has always made producers and talent plenty happy.

I'm not saying there aren't better combo's but the dvc and u87ai are
so good so often it's my goto setup that I take with me as a
freelancer who never knows what to expect from the studio I'm working
out of.

As for instruments, The DVC-dragonfly combo has produced some great
recording's of elec,acoustic guitars, horn sections and my current
favorite uses are Piano and drum overheads.

For the price of the DVC being around $1600 new i can't think of
anything that is even close to
it's sound quality in it's price range.
Chris
Wavetrap



(Doctor Phibes) wrote in message om...
(ScotFraser) wrote in message ...
The DVC has some drawbacks but they seems to be corrective as well. No
phase reverse switch.

Another possible drawback, depending on what mics you intend you use with it,
is only 40 db of gain. However, you can buy some more with the limiter makeup
gain, at the expense of running through additional circuitry.


Scott Fraser

Part of this purchase also includes 2 new microphones. I'm interested
in 2 BLUE mics; The Blueberry and The Mouse. Would they present a
problem?

William

Part of this purchase also includes 2 new microphones. I'm interested
in 2 BLUE mics; The Blueberry and The Mouse. Would they present a
problem?

Not unless you're distant miking a very quiet instrument. Where you would run
into gain issues would be miking a dulcimer with KM84s, or ribbon mics on just
about any source.


Scott Fraser

Not unless you're distant miking a very quiet instrument. Where you would run
into gain issues would be miking a dulcimer with KM84s, or ribbon mics on
just
about any source.

Actually, I've miked dulcimers with KM84s many times, and never had gain
problems. (I finally gave up because KM84s are still too hard-sounding for
dulcimers, emphasizing the window-shade-flapping sound of the pick.) The real
rub is miking dulcimers with ribbons, which sound a lot better but have serious
gain/noise issues.

Peace,
Paul

(Chris Seifert) wrote in message . com...
I have a dvc and 2 dragonfly mics. I've also had the blueberry. BLUE
mics seem to have low self noise and put out a pretty decent level so
you should have no troubles matching a Blue mic with the DVC. I
personally thought the blueberry was too thin and bright sounding
through the dvc and preffered the blueberry through the VoxBox or
Manley 40db dualmono. I love my U87ai through the DVC for vocals and
it hasn't yet been bad enough to switch to something else. Meaning a
touch of shine or warmth from the DVC eq section, smoothing out the
peaks with the magical DVC limiter or changing mic patterns on the
u87ai has always made producers and talent plenty happy.

I'm not saying there aren't better combo's but the dvc and u87ai are
so good so often it's my goto setup that I take with me as a
freelancer who never knows what to expect from the studio I'm working
out of.

As for instruments, The DVC-dragonfly combo has produced some great
recording's of elec,acoustic guitars, horn sections and my current
favorite uses are Piano and drum overheads.

For the price of the DVC being around $1600 new i can't think of
anything that is even close to
it's sound quality in it's price range.
Chris
Wavetrap



(Doctor Phibes) wrote in message om...
(ScotFraser) wrote in message ...
The DVC has some drawbacks but they seems to be corrective as well. No
phase reverse switch.

Another possible drawback, depending on what mics you intend you use with it,
is only 40 db of gain. However, you can buy some more with the limiter makeup
gain, at the expense of running through additional circuitry.


Scott Fraser

Part of this purchase also includes 2 new microphones. I'm interested
in 2 BLUE mics; The Blueberry and The Mouse. Would they present a
problem?

William

Well on the note of the blueberry wasn't it designed to be thin to cut
through the mix? Based on company descriptions and user as well as
magazine reviews I'd say it sounds like a number 2 position, second
one in from the bridge on a strat. Am I way off? My choice in theory
of selecting a blueberry is to cut through the d-28. Despite the fact
most people mic these things as if they were banjos they produce a lot
of base. I like my voice to mix with the acoustic guitar. recording
each seperate sounds too contrived. I'm really thinking the blue berry
positioned correctly will allow my voice to cut through with the
mouse. I'm willing to take the chance because i feel certain it will
do the trick, just intuition I suppose but something I've come to rely
upon.

Thanks for the info though,
I may be interested in dragon flies as well
William

Owning a DVC, and having used a blueberry a few times, I'd think the combo
maybe not completely optimal. They both have some extra top, and I think
that that particular combo could get screechy. Definitely not a swiss army
knife thing.

I do love my DVC, though (unfortunately, I'm selling it soon). If you're
looking for a 'main pair' type thing, though, I'd look for something with a
little softer top end mic-wise to match up to the DVC. Actually, it sounds
great with an SM57....

--
Jon Best
Muddy Creek Audio

Well on the note of the blueberry wasn't it designed to be thin to cut
through the mix? Based on company descriptions and user as well as
magazine reviews I'd say it sounds like a number 2 position, second
one in from the bridge on a strat. Am I way off? My choice in theory
of selecting a blueberry is to cut through the d-28. Despite the fact
most people mic these things as if they were banjos they produce a lot
of base. I like my voice to mix with the acoustic guitar. recording
each seperate sounds too contrived. I'm really thinking the blue berry
positioned correctly will allow my voice to cut through with the
mouse. I'm willing to take the chance because i feel certain it will
do the trick, just intuition I suppose but something I've come to rely
upon.

Thanks for the info though,
I may be interested in dragon flies as well
William

Actually, I've miked dulcimers with KM84s many times, and never had gain
problems. (I finally gave up because KM84s are still too hard-sounding for
dulcimers, emphasizing the window-shade-flapping sound of the pick.)

Pick? No wonder. The dulcimer players I've worked with are all fingerpickers, &
they're barely audible.


Scott Fraser