OLD LYME, Conn. – March 27, 2012 –Born in Sao Paulo, Brazil, Julio Figueroa is a percussionist and multiple Grammy award winner whose unique style of drumming has been featured on performances by artists such as Michael Jackson, B.B. King, Patti LaBelle and others. Like many other musicians today, Figueroa has created a semi-professional recording environment in his own home and simply uploads his tracks to an FTP server, where they are accessed by various production teams all over the world. He considers the Sennheiser-distributed TRUE Systems Precision 8 preamplifier a fundamental component of his setup.
“For drums and percussion, the Precision 8 captures my sound exactly as I hear it and this is what I value the most,” he states. Figueroa started with one Precision 8 and then acquired a second one so he could accommodate a greater range of percussion and other instruments, as well as take them on the road. “Now if I want to do a live recording I have everything I need,” he observes.
M-S Decoder and Mic Placement
In addition to the transparent sound characteristics of the Precision 8, Figueroa also appreciates the unit’s powerful integrated M-S decoder, which provides greater versatility and enables him to control the stereo spread of his drum overheads via the front panel of the unit with minimal mic repositioning. “For jazz, that M-S capability is incredible if you want to get a great room sound. You set up a couple of mics (cardioid and figure-8 pattern) and it is just unbelievable,” he says. Figueroa frequently uses both the M-S technique and the “Recorderman” technique simultaneously, along with four additional mics on individual drums. This provides him with tremendous flexibility when it’s time to mix down.
Figueroa, who has over 60 snare drums to choose from and four full kits (Jazz, Classics, Collectors and Performance series) from drum manufacturer DW, wants to stay focused on the sounds he is getting out of his instrument rather than fiddling with knobs and settings. “The TRUE Systems Precision 8 is great for someone like me who is not overly technical,” he says. “The units are simple to use right out of the box and there is nothing complicated about it. This means I can get to work faster.”
By using his Precision 8 preamplifiers, Figueroa is confident that when his producers access his percussion tracks on an FTP site, they will like what they hear. “My engineer and producer colleagues get a pristine-sounding file and they can tweak it any way they want for the mix,” he explains. “This is very important when you are doing tracks from a remote location because there is no producer here to tell you how they’d like it to sound. Since the sonic signature is more transparent, this gives them more flexibility in the final stages of the production.”
Tried and TRUE quality
The TRUE Systems Precision 8 uses a high-voltage composite architecture with discrete devices plus integrated circuits, and offers very low noise and distortion as well as high headroom. The totally balanced dual-servo design eliminates nearly all capacitors in the audio path and is DC-coupled at the output. This results in a very detailed and transparent sound characteristic.
Features of the Precision 8 include:
• Eight highly transparent solid state microphone preamps in a 1 unit rack configuration
• Built-in M-S (Mid-Side) decoding for creative spatial image control
• Active, high-impedance instrument inputs ("DI's") selectable on two channels
• 5-segment level indicators with peak-hold feature and selectable peak reference
• Smooth continuous gain controls
• Easy integration with MDM's, HDR's, DAW's, or consoles
• Dual DB25/TRS outputs for flexible interconnection
