 This is a pretty special mic preamp from Warm Audio, the WA MPX, and I've been using it during the recording of my latest song. So I wanted to let you know just what's so special about it, some specific settings I use during production, and then we'll have a listen to a short demo of the song so we can hear it in context. But before I get into that, I have to let you know it's a bit of a discount fest in the description for this video. Not only have I got my usual VIP link for DistroKid, you'll get 7% off if you use that. But for my Australian viewers, I have an exclusive discount code from one of my favorite shops, Manny's. If you follow that link in the description, you can get 10% off of one of these. There's also links for other countries as well. So let's dive in and find out why I found this so useful. There are two switches in the middle of this unit, which I reckon are at the heart of its sound, which is why we're going to talk about those later. But first of all, we have mic, line and instrument level inputs, with XLR and TRS inputs on the back, as well as an instrument level input on the front. We have 48 volts of phantom power for microphones that need it, as well as a high pass and low pass filter. We also have a polarity switch for those times when you're using more than one microphone and you may have some phase issues. Now we get to one of the more interesting features for me, the high gain switch. This unit uses one tube normally at the input stage and one tube on the output stage. So even when you don't have any of these features switched on, you still get some nice tube warmth when you're using this preamp. However, when you switch on the high gain switch, it introduces a second tube for the input stage, giving us an extra 20 decibels of gain going from 70 to 90 decibels, which is actually quite a lot for most microphones. Now in some situations, you may be using a dynamic microphone or an old ribbon microphone where you really need this extra gain. But I'd encourage you also to experiment with microphones that don't need it. What I did was I had the input level, which is the knob right in the middle here next to the VU meter, which is for output and the output control over here. So I had that input level down really, really low, and then I switched on that high gain. Introducing that extra tube for some extra sort of tube saturation, but also you very easily get a little bit of sort of grittiness in there as well, which you may or may not want. I ultimately didn't use it on my song, but I do think it's worth experimenting with. However, with these two switches that I mentioned earlier, I did use them during my song. Let's talk about the first one, the tone switch. Now as you may guess, the tone control noticeably changes the tone. However, what's actually happening with this is it's switching the input impedance from 600 ohms to 150 ohms. Now you probably should use the 600 ohm setting when you're using something like a condenser microphone or some dynamic microphones. And you should use the 150 ohm setting when you're using something like a ribbon microphone or some dynamic microphones again. However, this is a switch you can abuse and I encourage you to do that. Definitely I would say that when it's engaged, you tend to get a much more sort of gritty, perhaps punchier sort of sound. So I would recommend experimenting with this as I did. You know, if you were to Google images of the Vintage Ampex 351 mic preamp, you'll get a clue as to the inspiration for this unit. And the sound of that inspiration comes when we switch on the saturation switch. Here we start to use a completely discreet circuit which is there to emulate tape saturation. We get harmonic distortion as well as that lovely subtle compression that we associate with tape saturation. This is at the heart of the sound signature of this unit. So one of the more subtle ways I use this during my song was with acoustic guitar. In this case, I engage the high pass filter that really helped to get rid of some of the sort of low rumble that we often get when we're recording acoustic guitar. And I switched on the saturation switch for two reasons primarily. First of all, I like the natural compression that we get with this, especially for something like acoustic guitar where I want it to be relatively transparent. And also I found that it really highlighted some of the high frequencies. Now you may or may not want that, but in this case, I wanted to hear that plectrum sound on the guitar. Have a listen to this AB demo and see what you think. So my needs for the bass guitar were quite different. It comes in a little later in the song and I wanted it to have just a little bit of aggression. So as well as switching on the saturation switch, I also switched on the tone control. Now, when you hear the demo, you're going to hear that the bass just breaks up a little bit here and there. And that's what I was going for. So for the vocals, I had the great pleasure of using the Warm Audio CX-12 microphone. So there was already some juicy tube warmth before getting to this unit. However, I did want to add some extra grit a bit later on, especially in the chorus. So I engaged the saturation switch and again, I switched on that tone control. Now, what you're actually about to hear is an earlier passage of the song where I'm singing a little bit more softly. But you can still hear a bit of a difference again, especially in the high end. Later on, you'll get to hear more passages of the song and you can hear it really sort of break up with the louder vocal. Now, listening in isolation is one thing, but I have to tell you, when I dialed in the settings, I was listening in the context of the rest of the mix, which I think is super important. So we're going to have a listen to a short version of the song now. And you're going to notice at the bottom of the screen that I've got three sections noted. A soft section, a kind of a mid-strength section and a louder section at the end. And I want you to listen out for the changes in sound with these different instruments that we've talked about here as it goes from one section to another. Enjoy. So the full-length version of this song is now at the stage where it needs to be properly mixed and mastered. And then I'll be releasing it through our sponsor DistroKid. They make it super easy. You just upload your music, your artwork, fill in a simple form, and they get it out to all of the major platforms like Spotify, Apple Music, Amazon, Google Play, TikTok, etc. Just follow the link in the description down below. Talking about links in the description, Australian viewers, don't forget to take advantage of that exclusive discount I've got for you from Manny's. That's going to be valid for two months from the release date of this video. That's going to get you 10% off of one of these babies. Now, I have some really nice mic preamps in my studio and they're very, very clean. But this brings something quite different to the party, brings some real character. And I especially like it when you push it kind of to its limits a little bit. Let me know what you think about it in the comments down below. I'd love to hear from you on that. Now, I mentioned earlier that if you engage the saturation control, you get a little bit of really natural compression. If you want to explore compression a little bit further, I'd recommend you take a look at this video here where I talk about the WA2A version of the famous LA2A.