I'm glad I made this purchase.We all know there are plenty of parts in an analog console. I felt like I could hear the difference between the solid state vs actual tube but other than that, it was 90% close.
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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".
![slate fgx review gearslutz slate fgx review gearslutz](https://slatedigital.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/slatedigital-freetutorials-fgxmastering.jpg)
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.
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The two OG 47's sounded great on their own.
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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.