Louder Than Liftoff Silver Bullet User Manual

Drbill's stereo tone-amp

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DRAFT – 11/7/15

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Summary of Contents for Louder Than Liftoff Silver Bullet

Page 1 DRAFT – 11/7/15...
Page 2 Thank you for purchasing the Silver Bullet. We believe that it is a forward thinking product that will revitalize and infuse your digital workflow with an awesome analog sound. As the Louder Than Liftoff website says: “Welcome to the Mission!”...
Page 3: Features
So by now you’re probably asking yourself: The Silver Bullet began its life as a dual MOJO Amp box, and gradually we added what we believe to be essential and useful features for those who are tracking and mixing ITB. (That’s “In The Box” or “completely digital inside a computer”...
Page 4 The Silver Bullet’s MOJO Amps are controlled by a front panel that is simple and elegant - not all that different in workflow than your favorite guitar amp. Add the detented pots into the mix for convenient recall, and you have a very user friendly analog device that integrates seamlessly with your ITB workflow.
Page 5: Table Of Contents
1. Mixing - Silver Bullet on DAW 2-Bus Master Insert 2. Mixing – Recording Through Silver Bullet Back Into DAW 3. Tracking Other Gear Through the Silver Bullet While In Mix Mode 4. Tracking – Using the Silver Bullet as a Mic Preamp 5.
Page 6 In essence, it makes life easy. We designed the Silver Bullet to meet the two goals above…for the purpose of making life easier and more creative. Innovative MOJO Amp "A" and "N" circuit topologies inspired by classic American and British consoles ...
Page 7  While many will want to mount their Silver Bullet in a rack, some will want it at or near their mix position. drBill prefers to mount his unit either dead center between his speakers, on the console bridge, or in the rack space directly below his speakers.
Page 8 If for any reason the Silver Bullet does not power up, please contact Louder Than Liftoff at: support@louderthanliftoff.com. In general, it is good practice to power on speakers after turning on the Silver Bullet, and to power off the Silver Bullet before turning off speakers.
Page 9: Rack Mounting
 the other. A grounding type like the one employed by the Silver Bullet has a plug with two blades and a third grounding prong. The third prong is provided for your safety. Please do not defeat it by lifting it or using adapters to bypass the ground.
Page 11 SILVER BULLET USER MANUAL...
Page 12: Power Requirements
Impedance balanced outputs used for connecting the Mix signal path to A/D converters, or a 2-track recorder; use when processing a stereo mix or 2-bus material with the Silver Bullet. When using the unit with a passive summing box like a Folcrom, Jumper J13 can be set to config the Mic signal path to output the Mix Outputs.
Page 13 The signal flow through the Silver Bullet is depicted for each Mode, as a function of Jumper J13. The Insert bypass behavior is also shown for each Mode, as a function of Jumper J14. SILVER BULLET USER MANUAL...
Page 14 The TRK/BYP setting doubles as a hard relay bypass for signals plugged into the Mix input and output connectors. If you are monitoring the Mix Outputs of the Silver Bullet in your DAW or on your console, you can use this setting as a global bypass for all processing - the Mix Inputs connectors are patched directly to the Mix output connectors via relays.
Page 15 The unique circuit topology of the Silver Bullet allows it to be used as a true stereo or single channel microphone preamp. There are two MIC Modes to accommodate a range of microphone input signal levels. The first MIC Mode has more input headroom and works well for louder sources such as drums and electric guitar amps.
Page 16 OUTPUT at 3 o'clock will be close to unity gain. GAIN at 1 o'clock and OUTPUT at 11 o'clock will also yield an output close to unity gain. Use the meters for reference and fine tune the OUTPUT to taste. SILVER BULLET USER MANUAL...
Page 17 Hz. The filter is slightly resonant so there will also be a tasteful 0.6 dB bump at 40 HZ. TIGHT works well for clearing up subsonic mud that can reduce headroom in a mix without adversely affecting the perception of low end size and extension. This feature can be used in conjunction with or separately from all other processing. SILVER BULLET USER MANUAL...
Page 18 The amount of boost/cut for each band is +/- 9 dB. The figure below shows the response curves for each frequency setting. Because the TONE EQ can be engaged separately from all other processing, the Silver Bullet can be used just for its tone shaping capabilities if desired.
Page 19 SILVER BULLET USER MANUAL...
Page 20 When used in conjunction with TIGHT, some interesting low end shaping can be achieved: SILVER BULLET USER MANUAL...
Page 21 SILVER BULLET USER MANUAL...
Page 22 Like the TIGHT filter and Baxandall TONE EQ, VINTAGE can be used independently from the MOJO Amps. The plot in the TIGHT section above shows the frequency response of VINTAGE Mode without the Baxandall TONE EQ engaged. SILVER BULLET USER MANUAL...
Page 23: Servicing
Other outboard gear can be inserted into the Silver Bullet signal path via the pair of unbalanced ¼” TRS insert jacks on the rear panel. Be sure to use cables that are wired with the Send signal connected to the Tip, and the Return signal connected to the Ring.
Page 24 VU scale where 0 VU is equal to +4 dBu (1.228 VAC). Many A/D converters are calibrated for 0 VU = -18 dBFS. Keep your output levels from hitting +16 on the Silver Bullet's meter and you'll likely avoid clipping your converters.
Page 25 Connect the Silver Bullet Mix L/R Outputs to your interfaces A to D Hardware 3/4 Inputs. Switch the Silver  Bullet Mode switch to “MIX”. The Silver Bullet will now be fed from its Mix Inputs, and your mix will exit the Silver Bullet on the Mix Outputs on its way back to your DAW.
Page 26 MOJO Amp set to “A”, GAIN at around 10:00 and the OUTPUT at around 2:00. Of course, this depends a good deal on how hard the output of your DAW is feeding the input of the Silver Bullet - but 10:00-2:00 is a good place to start if your mix is peaking at around - 12 to -8 dBFS on your DAW with the Silver Bullet bypassed.
Page 27 It’s a lot easier with a Silver Bullet though as you are not rebalancing your mix as you boost / cut / tweak the input levels on 48, 96+ fader inputs.
Page 28 Connect the Silver Bullet Mix L/R Outputs to your interfaces A to D Hardware 3/4 Inputs. Switch the Silver  Bullet MODE switch to “MIX”. The Silver Bullet will now be fed from its Mix Inputs, and your mix will exit the Silver Bullet on the Mix Outputs on it’s way back to your DAW.
Page 29 Beyond the obvious above mentioned routing differences - my application notes are pretty similar to the previous 2Bus Insert application notes. (Application Note #1) We’re still dealing with MIXING and having the Silver Bullet on the 2 Mix, so if you haven’t read the previous notes, I’d suggest you might want to go back and peruse them.
Page 30 As I mentioned in the last application, the more you tweak the gain staging in the Silver Bullet, the more you will zone in on the harmonic changes taking place that shave off transients, increase harmonic distortion, widen the mix, saturate various frequency ranges, and generally “analog-ize”...
Page 31 If you are already using some of the outputs we suggest, just move the Silver Bullet connections accordingly. For this application note, we will assume you are using the Silver Bullet on your Mix bus - either as an insert, ...
Page 32: Mic Modes
It’s a no brainer really, and there’s no real need for any application note if you only use it like that. But one of the coolest things about the Silver Bullet is its work flow options. I ALWAYS like to keep it on my mix bus from writing onward, and I’ll switch it into tracking or mic mode on the front panel - and then back - when I need to during the production...
Page 33 A mic pre alone can’t sound quite like a console for this reason. So……? So don’t neglect trying the Silver Bullet in tracking mode AFTER your external mic pre’s. Yes, I know that is theoretically “wrong”. Ask me if I care. LOL I don’t, because it WORKS. I don’t always do this, but often if I’m looking for a thicker, solid, more 3D image, combining a great tube pre out in front of the Silver Bullet sounds great.
Page 34: Inserts
If you are already using some of the outputs we suggest, just move the Silver Bullet connections accordingly. For this application note, we will assume you are using the Silver Bullet on your Mix bus - either as an insert, ...
Page 35 Bullet CAN be used just like any normal mic pre if desired - straight in, straight out. The Silver Bullet mic pre’s were put under scrutiny for a long time and compared with the best of the best. I think you will find that they compare very favorably with the current leaders in the API and Neve style camps.
Page 36 DAW or other device(s) following. While I use them constantly in the single MOJO Amp mic modes, where the Silver Bullet really becomes a unique voice is in the cascaded mic pre modes : the A>N and N>A modes.
Page 37  section) to connect the L/R Mix Bus Insert of your console to the Silver Bullet L/R Mix In and L/R Mix Out connectors. Please note that some consoles use the ring as send, and the tip as return for their insert send / returns.
Page 38: Meters
40k, 80k, 100k + cost of a classic console when I’ve got a great transparent one sitting right here. And so, Brad and I made sure the Silver Bullet concept was adapted to work well with analog consoles as well. It can be a new lease on life for your console - giving it a dose of mojo that we wanted on all our transparent consoles.
Page 39 NOT have a 2Bus Mix Insert. In cases where you DO have a 2Bus Mix Insert, we highly suggest you use application and hookup note 5 as you will get the Silver Bullet on both 2Bus Mix Outputs AND your monitoring via your consoles Control Room Monitor section.
Page 40 Note that the Silver Bullet should be in “MIX” mode. You can bypass it from both the Console’s 2Bus Mix  Outputs and CRM outputs by switching the Silver Bullet into TRK/BYP mode. Adjust the Silver Bullet to taste using the MOJO Amp and TONE (EQ) sections. As mentioned previously, you ...
Page 41 The Silver Bullet has a Folcrom or passive summing box mode designed into it. If you own and or use a passive summing box, you should jumper the Silver Bullet into Folcrom Mode by doing the following: Unplug the Silver Bullet AC from the wall receptacle.
Page 42 Without getting into the controversial discussion of ITB vs. OTB summing, let me just say that any passive summing box is almost certainly going to need a gain stage following its summing process, and I believe that the Silver Bullet offers more options with it’s metering, hi resolution EQ and MOJO Amps™...
Page 43 “re-amplify” certain mix elements, and back to MIX mode during the mix process. This is drBill’s preferred method of working while mixing. Choose the MIX setup you prefer from application note 1 or 2 - i.e.: Silver Bullet on an Insert on your 2Bus ...
Page 44 This is my preferred method of using the Silver Bullet. I mean, I use the Silver Bullet for all its functions, but I generally leave it set up like this. It’s easy to switch to MIC mode, into MIX mode, over to Tracking (TRK/BYP) mode (re-amp tracking) and back - all day long - without re-patching anything in my patch bay.
Page 45 Mix, and that leads me to a story I’d like to share - as it applies to the re-amping/bouncing aspect of the Silver Bullet. Really, it is the story of another lightbulb going off for me. It’s when I started on the journey that ultimately led to the creation of the Silver Bullet.
Page 46 Find your happy spot. The Silver Bullet can make your record sound like a trashy thrash Indie mix, or it can gently push it into a euphonic 3D vibe perfectly suitable for a high end jazz project. It’s all about the gain staging.
Page 47 SILVER BULLET USER MANUAL...
Page 48 This warranty does not cover damage due to: misuse, abuse, modification, accident, negligence, or shipping. The warranty does not apply if the unit is repaired or altered by persons unauthorized by Louder Than Liftoff LLC in such a manner as to injure, in Louder Than Liftoff LLC’s sole judgment, the performance, stability or reliability of the unit.
Page 49 The Silver Bullet was the collaborative work of a team of talented and dedicated music lovers over the course of three years. The following people contributed to creating this product: William “drBill” Pearson Brad McGowan Kyle McGowan John Petrucelli Olga Gomelskaya...
Page 50 SILVER BULLET USER MANUAL...