moosers
Published on 08/23/10 at 22:17
Crane Song's Flamingo is a dual channel microphone preamplifier designed for use in the recording studio. It is an analog piece of gear and will take up only a single space in a rack casing. I don't know the types of connections that it has since it's all racked up and connected to the patch bay in one of the smaller studios that we have on site at the studio complex where I'm working.
UTILIZATION
Using the Crane Song Flamingo preamplifier isn't too difficult, but at the same time there is more here than you'll find on your average preamp. Each of the two channels has knobs for gain and attenuation, which is a unique make up when compared to other preamps out there. Each channel then also has switches for phantom power and phase. There are then a set of unique tone knobs - one is a fat/norm switch and one is an 'iron' switch which basically changes the low frequency color. The manual is helpful and complete if you have any questions about the unit.
SOUND QUALITY
The overall sound of the preamps in the Crane Song Flamingo are very impressive. They've sounded awesome for every application that I've used them for, which includes snare drum and acoustic guitar. They're incredibly full sounding and the unique tone parameters offer up some nice colors that you won't find anywhere else really. While the preamps are very full sounding they also have a great deal of clarity and detail, as they seem to pick up all of the minuet details necessary for high quality recording.
OVERALL OPINION
If you're interested in a set of high quality microphone preamplifiers for your front end, the Crane Song Flamingo is a great way to go. These are definitely designed for professionals, but as your top piece of gear in your home studio, these would be awesome. Either way, they are going to cost you a little bit of money, but considering you're getting two preamps here this is a pretty good price for this high a quality preamp. If you just had this, a computer, and a few decent microphones, you'd have yourself a pretty nice little home studio...
UTILIZATION
Using the Crane Song Flamingo preamplifier isn't too difficult, but at the same time there is more here than you'll find on your average preamp. Each of the two channels has knobs for gain and attenuation, which is a unique make up when compared to other preamps out there. Each channel then also has switches for phantom power and phase. There are then a set of unique tone knobs - one is a fat/norm switch and one is an 'iron' switch which basically changes the low frequency color. The manual is helpful and complete if you have any questions about the unit.
SOUND QUALITY
The overall sound of the preamps in the Crane Song Flamingo are very impressive. They've sounded awesome for every application that I've used them for, which includes snare drum and acoustic guitar. They're incredibly full sounding and the unique tone parameters offer up some nice colors that you won't find anywhere else really. While the preamps are very full sounding they also have a great deal of clarity and detail, as they seem to pick up all of the minuet details necessary for high quality recording.
OVERALL OPINION
If you're interested in a set of high quality microphone preamplifiers for your front end, the Crane Song Flamingo is a great way to go. These are definitely designed for professionals, but as your top piece of gear in your home studio, these would be awesome. Either way, they are going to cost you a little bit of money, but considering you're getting two preamps here this is a pretty good price for this high a quality preamp. If you just had this, a computer, and a few decent microphones, you'd have yourself a pretty nice little home studio...