Sonnox - Audio Media

Processing without the muddy
clutter? SIMON TILLBROOK finds
it is possible, with a little help
from the Voice of God.
Jonathan Little of Little Labs has been making quirky
signal processors and preamplifiers since 1988.
With an electronics background, and as a studio
technician in many of Los Angeles’ finest studios, he
is well qualified and experienced enough to produce
devices that have an interesting twist to them.
The Little Labs VOG (Voice Of God) is a unit that fits
into a 500 series host, such as the API Lunchbox, but there
are plans for a stand-alone version more akin to other
devices in the Little Labs’ ever expanding range.
What is the VOG?
The Little Labs VOG is, in effect, a bass resonance tool that
was originally designed with voiceover work in mind.
The idea was to combat the problems of lost vocal
definition with microphone proximity effect. You often
want to use proximity effect to broaden the lower midrange
for a warmer, sexier feel, but this usually comes
with additional muddiness that needs to be dialled out.
taken with just how well the Little Labs VOG worked in
this application.
This device is simplicity itself to operate and delivers
broad low mid resonance with wonderful clarity. It was
with female or thin sounding vocals where the Little
Labs VOG was really able to show you what it could do
and shine.
Moving onto instrumentation, I took a number of kick
drums, toms, bass guitars, and synthetic bass sounds to
see what could be gained from using the Little Labs VOG.
Across all of the signals that I tried, a real beefing up
took place, but without the muddy clutter that so often
accompanies such processing.
Drums gained depth and clarity with the Little Labs
VOG installed on them. Toms, in particular, could be
manipulated in terms of pitch with the Little Labs VOG.
There was a limit to this, but it is an interesting and natural
sounding possibility to have available to you.
You can be very subtle with the amount of process that
LITTLE LABS VOG
Analogue Bass Resonance Tool
THE REVIEWER
SIMON TILLBROOK is the Principal
Music Tutor at Islington Music
Workshop in London. The rest of
his time is spent as a freelance
engineer, mainly in the USA.
The Little Labs VOG lets you focus in on
the chest resonant frequency and bring it up
without the additional clouding of the signal.
This is achieved using a peaking high pass
filter with a very tight bandwidth that can
centre with frequencies between 40Hz-300Hz
with a 24dB per octave slope either side of it.
The Little Labs VOG is fully balanced
throughout with a single amplifier circuit for
optimum signal quality, allowing it to be used
at the highest sonic levels.
Control
With the Little Labs VOG, we have just three
buttons and two rotary controls with a series
of LEDs to indicate selections and operation.
The three buttons are used to select the
centre frequency range you are going to
sweep through. One of these is labelled ‘Flat’.
This is a flat frequency response selection
and not a bypass, as you may initially think.
The Little Labs VOG still has an impact to the
overall feel even in this position.
The other two buttons are labelled ‘40’ and
‘100’, with the legend ‘40/200’ sitting between
them, so you can select either a 40Hz or 100Hz
centre frequency or, when selected together,
a centre frequency of 200Hz.
One of the rotary controls on the Little
Labs VOG-labelled ‘Frequency’ relates to your
selection. This rotary control has a scale that
runs numerically from 1-10. It is the five-position that
relates to the specific centre frequency you have chosen
with the buttons. It is from there you can sweep up and
down to find the fundamental frequency you require.
The other rotary control available to you on the Little
Labs VOG is Amplitude, and does exactly what you would
expect, delivering up to 18dB of additional boost at the
selected frequency peak.
Use
I first took the Little Labs VOG and used it with a variety
of vocals as per its designed orientation. I was instantly
you introduce, but I can see the amplitude
control spending most of its life at the
higher end of its setting possibilities if
my experience was anything to go by.
The Little Labs VOG delivered positive
results with all the options that I
tried with it.
Conclusion
The Little Labs VOG is a very interesting
device indeed. I absolutely loved it. It is
very refreshing to see a company taking a
slightly different route with processing and
focusing on areas that are of real benefit to
us, the user.
For voiceover work, and virtually any
sound that could benefit from some low
frequency treatment, the Little Labs VOG
is a unit you simply must take a listen to.
I think you may come to like it just as
much as me. ∫
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INFORMATION
£ GB£340.75 (inc.VAT)
A Little Labs Professional Audio
T +1 323 851 6860
W www.littlelabs.com
A UK Distributor:
Unity Audio Ltd., The Elms Barn, Baythorne End,
Halstead, Essex, CO9 4AF, UK
T +44 (0) 1440 785843
W www.unityaudio.co.uk
34
AUDIO MEDIA MAY 2011