Universal Audio LA-610 Mk II (Demo and Overview)

[@arthurahlfont4657]

love this format of demo and review please make more!

[@LesVegasMusic]

@arthurahlfont4657 Thanks again! So glad you like the demo and format of this video and my video on the Universal Audio 6176. Again, please feel free to contact me anytime with any questions you might have on either of these pieces of gear or anything else pro audio related. Just leave a comment on one of my videos or email me at [e-mail]. I appreciate you! See you on the next one!

[@MarchaanDotson]

Yes, I can hear the difference. The LA-610 Mk II is such a classic tube preamp and compressor. It can level up my recordings and mixes. Great video! Thanks a lot!

[@LesVegasMusic]

Hi Marchaan! Thank you for watching and for your comment. Excellent! Glad you can hear the difference the LA-610 Mk II can make on your recordings and mixes. If you have any questions, feel free to contact me any time at [e-mail]. Thanks again!

[@dannyharpermusic]

These are great preamps. They have been used in major studios for many years. I have been using the plugin, but ordered this one to add to my collection of outboard preamps for my analog console.

[@LesVegasMusic]

Awesome! Did you get it yet? Have you tried it out on any new projects? How do you like it?!

[@daniel_dumile]

omg sounds amazing

[@LesVegasMusic]

@daniel_dumile Yeah man! Thank you!

[@mistermusicenterprise3148]

Thank You for that.. now I love mine more. I have them since 2012.. its time to swab the tubes, after all these years. This black beauty is such a good unit. Great on Rock and ballads. For more modern pop, I like 1073 a bit more.. sometimes. Adele used the La610 with a Elam 251 for some records. I like Your channel.. good info

[@dnabiologic]

Very well done video !!

[@LesVegasMusic]

Thank you so much!

[@genesisnkaidence8519]

Just bought one.. and I bought some nos tubes from holland.. can’t wait to hear the difference.. the stock JJ’s are good but it can sound way better

[@LesVegasMusic]

@genesisnkaidence8519 Oh man. That's excellent. Congratulations! I wish you the best of luck with it. I think you're going to love it!

[@PapaJean]

Sounds so smooth even through my macbook speakers bro!

[@LesVegasMusic]

Thanks Papa Jean! You know how we do! Roll 'em!

[@lgs1dustryservices431]

thanks for the good vidéo

[@LesVegasMusic]

@lgs1dustryservices431 You're welcome! Thank you for watching and for your comment.

[@JohnnyBtv]

Great video man!! New subscriber

[@LesVegasMusic]

@JohnnyBtv Hey! Alright! Thanks so much man! Great channel you've got going too. Congratulations on 13k!

[@Andriy023]

Thanks!

[@LesVegasMusic]

You're welcome! Thank you!

[@thomasstokesproductions]

🔥🔥🔥🔥

[@LesVegasMusic]

@thomasstokesproductions4409 Thank you!

[@tatucastaner]

Amazing man! Would be great to also hear the actual LA 610 (hardware) compared to the UAD 610 plugin (unison) for recording and may push them to their limits. Haven't seen a good video so far comparing both of em. Keep it up!

[@LesVegasMusic]

@TatuCastaner Thanks for watching and for your comment. Awesome! Glad you like it. Yes, LA-610 Mk II vs 6176 coming next in this series and then Hardware vs. UAD Software. Good idea about pushing them to their limits. I'll do that. Thanks again!

[@tatucastaner]

​@@LesVegasMusicStill waiting on your Hardware vs Plugin comparison of the 610 man! haha! Hope you've been well though! Cheers!

[@LesVegasMusic]

@tatucastaner Dude! Trying to get back around to the hardware vs plugin comparisons. Just completed two new hardware overview and audio demo videos. They're scheduled for November 27th. Maybe I'll circle back and do the hardware vs plugin video for this one next. Thanks for the reminder!

[@REMRODFILMS]

Can I please hire u for voice over work😅

[@LesVegasMusic]

Ahaha! Sure! As long as it's pro audio related! 🙂

[@galgogergo]

When did they release the LA610 MKII? I didn't know there was a mkII version...

[@LesVegasMusic]

@galgogergo Yeah man! They released the LA-610 MKII with the few new updates I talked about in this video in June 2010!

[@TheCryptoLifestyle]

Hey bro I just subbed as well, can I use this in live stream applications for a podcast as well ?

[@LesVegasMusic]

@TheCryptoLifestyle Thanks so much for watching and subscribing. I really appreciate it. Yes, absolutely. The LA-610 would be ideal for podcast applications. It would give you totally professional sound and results. I know my man over at @Podcastage uses the LA-610 for his content. Which mic are you using?

[@TheCryptoLifestyle]

@Les Vegas my guy! Dude I'm in the parking lot right now just purchases this pre amp and a Apollo interface I bought the lewitt 1040 mic 2 weeks ago!!! Super excited the only thing is this preamp doesn't have a hardware noise gate can you confirm this if so I guess I can hook up my DBX 286s take off all the settings there and use the built in noise gate from that ? I will be using this for dialog and spoken words I don't want the keyboard buttons going through the mic. What's your thoughts ? I subbed cause I like your energy and the content was very helpful for me

[@LesVegasMusic]

@TheCryptoLifestyle Awesome! Congratulations! Good picks! Yeah, you could use the noise gate on the 286 but I'd probably just do that in post using a plugin like Waves NS1 or Clarity Vx. I'm sure either of those two plugins would do the trick well - might just be easier and keep less analog equipment out of the signal path. Let me know what you end up doing and what worked best!

[@REMRODFILMS]

Your right tho my ssl fusion changed everything! Track all of my beats thru it. Night and day bro

[@LesVegasMusic]

Totally! I find a couple of key pieces of analog gear for tracking and mastering is all you need to take your productions to the next level. The rest you can do in the box.

[@REMRODFILMS]

@@LesVegasMusic Im totally a believer at this point! Your so right

[@minghao6931]

Hi! How did you precessed the stereo tracks though single LA-610 ?

[@MichaelJamesWood]

You can print the track processing in your DAW for the left channel, then run it again on the right channel. It takes longer, but has the same results.

[@LesVegasMusic]

@minghao6931 Yes. @MichaelJamesWood is correct. Here is my reply to a similar comment below. "If you have a stereo track and only one LA-610 MKII, you do it the same way as if you had two! You send the left channel through the preamp, print that on one track. Then send the right channel through the preamp, and print that to another track. Pan the two tracks hard left and right and boom, you have a stereo track with preamp saturation, EQ and compression on both the left and right channels! You don't need two preamps/EQ's/compressors to process stereo files. It's just double the work! You have to really want to do it, and you have to have the time to do it. But if you know the most important things to apply analog processing to, it's worth all the time and effort when you're recording and mixing your own work, and it's really not a bother at all. It's fun! When it becomes not fun, but you just have to have the sound, that's when you buy two! 🙂"

[@minghao6931]

@@LesVegasMusic Thank you for your detailed explanation!!!

[@manuellujan5625]

Officially subbed to your channel! Just got this preamp!! It is a bit more complicated to set (compared to my other pres) I have read on other "forums" the gain on left of unit should be set at -10 and set on the other level and gain to "gain stage". I noticed you had yours set to +10 and it sounded great to me... what advice can you spare on the subject with your own experience with the pre? Thanks!

[@LesVegasMusic]

@manuellujan5625 Thanks for watching, subscribing and for your comment! I really appreciate it. I'm surprised to hear others are suggesting to set the Gain to -10. That will give you the cleanest recording for sure, but you usually buy a tube channel strip like this one for the character and harmonic distortion. Here's how it works. The Gain switch alters the amount of the input tube’s harmonic distortion, a major contribution to the “warm” sound characteristic of tube equipment. For the cleanest, most uncolored signal, you would set the Gain switch to its lowest usable setting with the Level set between 7 and 10. The higher the Gain setting, the more coloration the LA-610 will impart to the incoming signal. Hope that helps! And please feel free to reply to this comment thread with any additional questions you have. I reply to every comment.

[@manuellujan5625]

@@LesVegasMusic Hey! Thanks for commenting back! Yes you have all the reason!👍🏼 I'm sure the people I asked on other threads were assuming I was a newbie (which I am... to the 610 lol) so they were probably letting me know to go that route to be safe. Il try starting at 0 untity gain and going from there. I have other pres and well the purpose of me getting the 610 is to impart tube coloration so yeah lol il try starting from 0 and going from there to color the sound a bit. Thanks again! 🙌🏼🙌🏼🙌🏼

[@LesVegasMusic]

Yep. I think that's a good approach. You could try starting from -10 but I think you'll find yourself at 0 or higher pretty quickly. So, how do you like it now that you've had a bit of time to give it a proper try? I hope you're loving it!

[@manuellujan5625]

@@LesVegasMusic I just used it officially this week to track a band and used it solely on vocals and I sounded a bit grittier but also thick full of body in the vocal. Using a Manley REF C for vocals so I thought the combo sounded great!

[@manuellujan5625]

BTW started at 0 gain and yep sounds great right there!

[@jamesdavis5096]

Not human

[@LesVegasMusic]

@jamesdavis5096 Thanks so much!

[@chicagoblow]

What do you have on your master bus . This sounds very good 👍. I have this same channel strip . Do you record into it. And after run it on the channel again after recording. What's your process? The vocals sound great. How did you get the vocals to sound so good

[@LesVegasMusic]

@chicagoblow Thank you! Well, this isn't a final mix. It's just a rough mix in the moment during the recording session, so all I have on the mix bus is Cytomic The Glue (SSL G Bus Compressor Emulation Plugin) and Slate Virtual Tape Machines - both just to give it a little analog flavor. I didn't record into the LA-610 Mk II for this song because I didn't have it at the time but yes, it has quickly become a go-to for tracking since. For this demo, I took the tracks I recorded from the session and processed them through the LA-610 Mk II to see how it could improve the sound. That's something I might do on programmed drums or VST instruments but on any physical instruments like acoustic and electric guitar, bass guitar, vocals, synthesizers, keyboards, samplers, drum machines etc. I would just track those through the LA-610Mk II or one of my other preamps, process it on the way in and be done with it. The unprocessed vocals you hear in this demo at 4:05 were just tracked with my Slate ML-1 modeling microphone using the FG-800M microphone model, followed by the Slate FG-73 preamp and FG-N EQ all in the one Slate Virtual Mix Rack plugin. That's all you're hearing in this demo until it gets processed with the LA-610 Mk II. When the processed vocal gets thrown back in the mix at 5:32, I follow it up with the Waves DeEsser, Waves CLA-76 (3 dB of GR), Waves RVox (3 dB of GR), Plugin Alliance Black Box HG-2 and Waves CLA Vocals. That all gets sent out to Valhalla Vintage Verb on one send, and Waves H-Delay on another. Minus the Black Box HG-2 and Waves CLA Vocals, that's my basic vocal chain for tracking. It's just quick, easy, low latency and sounds good! When it comes time for the mix, I'll replace those plugins or try different outboard processors and effects. I like where it was going after running it through the LA-610 Mk II in this demo though! I just processed the four bars though! 😂 Let me know if you have any other questions. I'd be happy to answer any other questions you might have. Thanks again!

[@LesVegasMusic]

@chicagoblow Oh, and I just pulled up the session and noticed that the lead vocal track gets sent to an "ALL VOCALS" bus where I added Slate Fresh Air, Soothe2 and UAD API 560. Some good choices there I wouldn't normally use but thought would work well for the tune in the moment. Again, you're not hearing any plugins on the vocal at 4:05, just at 5:32 when I throw the processed tracks back into the mix.

[@chicagoblow]

Wow that's a great description thank you so much I would love to see it on video but I know you're very busy. For just plug-ins you have a good ear it sounds very very good what interface are you using ?is it universal audio Apollo or something like that.

[@LesVegasMusic]

I tracked the vocals with the Slate ML-1, going into the Slate VMS ONE Ultra Linear Microphone Preamp, out from there into my Apogee Symphony I/O. No compression or EQ on the way in. So, that's of course a very expensive and top of the line audio interface with industry best converters. But honestly, with that cleanest of clean vocal chain, there wouldn't have been a noticeable difference if I had used my $225 SSL-2 audio interface.

[@MuxyMusic]

What’s the difference with this and a UA6176

[@mikedefaria8442]

You own a studio and Seriously asked this Question ? Google it .

[@LesVegasMusic]

@MuxyMusic Thank you for watching and for your comment. I give a thorough explanation to that in this video - Universal Audio LA-610 Mk II vs 6176 (Demo / Overview / Comparison) kzbin.info/www/bejne/jJuXoIl8rp5_r6c

[@sergio_grez]

@@mikedefaria8442 So, having a studio means you know absolutely every hardware in the world, have worked with absolutely every single one and know absolutely every difference between heach one of the million hardwares out there? Didn't you think that there are people that have studios that relay mainly on ITB workflow until they get more experience / money and start thinking of buying hardware after they investigate which might be their best option? May be you were born knowing it all by the way you talk to fellow producers. It's satisfying knowing that people like Les Vegas exist, who are capable of answering this same thread with all the humbleness people like you lack so much of.

[@christopherJSmokeandMirrors]

Had to sub... you are only a couple more away from monetization at 1000.

[@LesVegasMusic]

@christopherjamescreativespace Ha! Thank you for the thought and consideration. You know how it goes. I appreciate that.

[@itauzinhow]

How do you put these stereo tracks into the preamp?

[@LesVegasMusic]

@itauzinhow Thanks for watching! If you have a stereo track and only one LA-610 MKII, you do it the same way as if you had two! You send the left channel through the preamp, print that on one track. Then send the right channel through the preamp, and print that to another track. Pan the two tracks hard left and right and boom, you have a stereo track with preamp saturation, EQ and compression on both the left and right channels! You don't need two preamps/EQ's/compressors to process stereo files. It's just double the work! You have to really want to do it, and you have to have the time to do it. But if you know the most important things to apply analog processing to, it's worth all the time and effort when you're recording and mixing your own work, and it's really not a bother at all. It's fun! When it becomes not fun, but you just have to have the sound, that's when you buy two! 🙂

[@giocmusic90]

Hello brother. I have the opportunity to get one of it. I mainly work with mix and mastering edm and i would use it to saturate stems before work. Do you think its good for it?

[@LesVegasMusic]

@giocmusic90 Yeah man! It's a good idea. The tube pre and compressor will be good for any mono source. So for EDM, it would be excellent on mono synths for sure. I feel like you might be a little limited not having two though. You may be better off saving up a bit more for a stereo saturator like the Rupert Neve Designs Master Buss Processor or the new Master Buss Transformer. The MBT or Analog Design Black Box HG-2 would be perfect for what you're looking to do with it. I absolutely love my Black Box HG-2. Serious piece of kit perfect for EDM mixing and mastering. So versatile! It takes any mono or stereo source and sends it through the roof! Great on synths! Keep us posted on what you end up going with.

[@giocmusic90]

thanks brother for the help! im from brazil and here is very hard to get a good analog gear, when we find its 10x the price you pay there. but for what you say i may not go on with the deal. better wait for another opportunity! @@LesVegasMusic

[@LesVegasMusic]

@giocmusic90 can you buy used on reverb.com?

[@Youth971]

Hello !! where can i listen this sound please?

[@LesVegasMusic]

@Youth971 We haven't released it yet. We're holding off a bit but, I'll let you know when it's available.

[@Youth971]

@@LesVegasMusic 👌🏽🤘🏽

[@DreTheEngineer]

does line i/o go through preamp as well?

[@LesVegasMusic]

@mixedbygod Thanks for watching and for your comment. Yes. It doesn't matter if you use the mic or line inputs, it all goes through the tube preamp and EQ! Just what we want. 🙂

[@alanreno3467]

What do you think the best mic preamp for voiceover work would be?

[@LesVegasMusic]

@alanreno3467 Thanks for watching and for your question. A very common choice for voiceover work is the LA-610 MK II channel strip because it has a great, warm sounding tube preamp with plenty of gain for any microphone, a nice basic EQ for all the essential tracking duties and smooth optical compressor all in one unit. I love channel strips for that reason. It makes a great vocal chain with nothing else needed. The Neve 1073 is always a good choice too with it's transformers. It provides nice saturation, harmonics and brings out the low end making it ideal for voiceover work. If you have a 500-Series rack, you can get the AMS Neve 1073LB for $1,095 new. If not, you could get the NEVE 1073SPX MICROPHONE PREAMP/EQ. It's great to have the EQ onboard, but it does bring the price up to $1,795.

[@oinkooink]

Your phone will be fine. It's just a voice over. No big deal.

[@josephrobertkrauss]

are you getting these levels without gain clipping? my 610solo mic level is so low unless I gain clip it 15-20db

[@LesVegasMusic]

@josephrobertkrauss Do you mean after you record something with your 610 Solo, you have to use clip gain in your DAW to increase the level so that you're hitting around -10 dB on your peak meters? If so, something's wrong there. Maybe your 610 Solo needs a new tube? Which mic(s) or instruments are you trying to record with it that you're not getting proper input or output levels?

[@minutemaid123]

can't this be achieved with ITB?

[@chicagoblow]

No. I've been trying for years

[@LesVegasMusic]

@minutemaid123 Similar processing can be achieved in the box with plugins like the UAD 610 Preamp and EQ, UAD LA-2A and Waves Magma BB Tubes among others, but the sound is never quite the same. It's not that it's better or worse, it's just different - almost like using two different processors, one digital, one analog. You can do the same thing with both, but the sound will be different.

[@minutemaid123]

what's that hum noise from 4:30 ?

[@RecognizeGreatness-sy3bs]

Great ears

[@RecognizeGreatness-sy3bs]

Great ears

[@digitaldice4649]

Bro what do u think about the Avalon v5 mic pre

[@LesVegasMusic]

Oh man! I think everything Avalon makes is amazing and worth every nickel. You can't go wrong. I love the tone shaping options on it and the high pass filter. It's so useful and versatile for anything you want to record. What instruments will you be recording most? It is mono so even though it's great for recording keyboards, synths, samplers and drum machines, you'd have to make sure they're mono sounds or samples. Personally, I produce a lot of electronic dance and pop music and have a lot of poly synths and drum machines that are stereo so I chose the Avalon VT-747 which is a stereo tube preamp, compressor and mastering EQ. I'm all about the warm sound of tubes on the way in for the harmonics and saturation they provide. Solid state gear like the V5 is going to be a cleaner sound. Those would be the main things to consider but yeah man, Avalon all the way. U5, V5, VT-737, VT-747 - can't go wrong with any of those. I guess the only thing I'd say with the V5 is it's really expensive new and for that price, you could almost get a used VT-737 which is without a doubt one of the most versatile and best sounding channel strips available with a tube preamp, compressor and EQ! Dave Pensado once said if he could only have one piece of analog gear in the studio it would be the Avalon VT-737 for the versatility and all the reasons I just mentioned.

[@LKO-Ekawami]

I love mine so much!..I wouldn't ever let go of this pre, even if they kidnapped my wife, and said the ransom was a LA-610 Mk II !!!! No I'm just kidding... Dam it, no I'm not kidding! No really I'm just kidding......... ???????

[@LesVegasMusic]

Haha 😂 I know it. She's a keeper! I could definitely record an entire album with just that one piece and be happy with the sound. Easily. It's so versatile.

[@LKO-Ekawami]

@@LesVegasMusic Oh hell yeah!!

[@LesVegasMusic]

Haha. Right! 😂

[@LKO-Ekawami]

@Ricky Anthony Damn right!! I'll be putting down some warm vocals in about 10 min!!!

[@LKO-Ekawami]

I also have a Daking Go Mic-Pre2t, which is pretty dang sweet!!