Young producer/engineer Howard Redekopp booked Vancouver’s top studio, The Warehouse, hoping to make full use of the arsenal of vintage microphone preamps they have in their racks. But somehow he  met Boris before his project started. Upon hearing of Howard’s imminent studio session, Boris suggested he tried the Creamer Plus and Je-DI.

Taking a chance with an unknown preamp and a DI, Howard almost reluctantly took them to his first recording. When the Overheads sound at his drum tracking session was not happening, almost in resignation, Howard turned to Creamer Plus. Instantly, the clarity, transients and coloration he was after were all there.

“I couldn’t believe the sound I was getting! Needles to say, I went on using the Plus (and later Je-DI as well) on just about anything:  mandolin, Martin acoustic guitar, bass!”

Continuing the project at his home studio, Howard took the Creamer with him to record vocals. He loved the sound. The tracks recorded with the Creamer made it to the final mix.

No doubt, vintage mic preamps sound great. But you never know what lurks inside a shiny woodpecker-colored box!

Famed L.A. engineer, producer and mixer David Reitzas (of Madonna, Celine Dion and Barbra Streisand fame) took a Creamer with him to Capitol studios in Hollywood recently to use it on a Japanese major artist recording session. David really loved how live strings sounded through the Creamer, yielding them a rich, silky sound . He sent us these photos after a busy session at Capitol.

Thanks for trusting Sonic Farm, David!

Kirt Shearer, a seasoned Sacramento based engineer/producer, and also a Tape Op magazine reviewer, stumbled upon our website following a Gearslutz blog.
He immediately contacted us and asked if we were interested in the Tape Op Mag test.
I, of course, agreed right away, and here are Kirt’s first impressions  after using Creamer for a few weeks on different sources at his Paradise Studios:

“It’s really nice to see a company that is doing something different, rather than just producing another cookie cutter tube preamp. The “no-feedback” design gives this unit an openness on the top end that is really wonderful. It had much more detail than with other tube preamps I’ve used. Also, the switchable control you have over the circuit really gives you many sonic options.”

~Kirt Shearer
Kirt Shearer Productions
(916) 844-6641

Many thanks, Kirt! So, can we call the Creamer, “the AC30 of Mic Preamps”?
(for non guitar players: Vox AC30 owes its rawness to the lack of a feedback loop)

Here we can see Kirt in his control room with the Creamer resting on top of his vintage Trident 80B board:

It is unfair to call somebody the best in their field without comparing them to each and every person in the same industry. But one thing is for certain: Niksa Bratos is the busiest and most sought after Croatian producer.

Boris found him in his SSL-based studio in Zagreb and asked him if he would be willing to check out the Creamer. He agreed and put it to test while comparing it to his go-to SSL and Rupert Neve Portico preamps.

Boris witnessed a few jaw drops as Niksa was soaking up the sounds coming from his monitors.

The bottom line: He let go of the Creamer out of his hands only after Boris promised  to rush him off the first available production unit. Addiction comes in many forms, sometimes unexpected!

Here are some pics from Niksa’s studio. See Creamer nested snugly right next to SSL units.

Jay Baumgardner, the owner of NRG Studios, had a full plate tracking an up and coming band, CRUZ, when we called him to ask if he’d be into checking out our preamp.  But the  famed LA producer and engineer had an open mind.

He put the Creamer to the test on lead vocals. The first tune was a rock ballad. I called him right after the session and asked what he thought.

“It just sounded great! So smooth! The song had soft, emotional verses and loud choruses where the singer really belted it out. In both instances, the Creamer delivered it beautifully.”

Jay has 3 large control rooms at his recording facility, 2 of which have large Neve consoles, and the third one an SSL 9000, but he wants to do all of the vocals for this project on the Creamer!

Our pleasure, please finish those vocals with the Creamer, Jay, and let’s cross the fingers that this new band makes it big!  A big thanks from Zoran and Boris.

You can check out Jay’s jaw dropping list of clients at http://nrgrecording.com/clients.php

A Grammy award winning L.A. based producer and engineer Ross Hogarth tested the Creamer last Thursday on his current Chase Yaklin project.

The Creamer was a pleasant surprise and he ended up using no other preamp the whole day. The studio was armed with Neves, API’s, Focusrites, Avalons, and more. The instruments recorded were guitars, mandolin, fiddle and pedal steel guitar.

Thanks for trusting Sonic Farm, Ross!