The UAD tube tech CL 1B is my secret weapon on my Shure SM58
The TubeTech CL1B—is a pretty popular plug-in but it’s one that I see a lot of YouTubers kind of gloss over. This is usually due to them comparing it to its hardware predecessor. My first time using the CL-1B, I had no idea about the hardware side of things at all which led me to appreciate it at face value.
I was literally just experimenting with trial plug-ins on my Apollo Twin, and the CL-1B was the first plug-in I used where I felt like I was hearing the actual tones of my voice that I expected hear when I rap. It was giving me that warmth that I’d been looking for at the time—like speaking into a warm cloud.
Funnily enough I’d recently been mentally picturing what it would feel like to speak into a mic that gave me this type of feedback. This feedback is called harmonic saturation as i’ve come to understand it.
So, the next few days, I did some more research and took advantage of two Universal Audio deals I had access to where I was able to get some pretty cool plug-ins at a discount price. One of which was the “Custom 2” in which I got the A-Type Multiband Dynamic Enhancer plugin along with the Neve 1073.
No regrets there.
And then the “Select 2” special allowed me to get the Oxide Tape Recorder.
And The closest thing, I thought, to the CL-1B, which was the Manley VoxBox Channel Strip.
After using both for some time, they’re really not a lot alike at all… other than the fact that they are both blue. The sound of each is texturally different with the VOXBOX being much more smoother of an experience to speak through whilst the TubeTech boasts a subtle grainy presence that’s pleasing to the ears of this home studio hip-hop head.
While I was taking advantage of these awesome deals, I knew I didn’t have much longer to use the CL-1B (which I’ve since now purchased as well as of the time of writing this article) because the trial was running out.
So I used the CL-1B to go back and forth between plug-ins that I had and this sound that I was slowly falling in love with, which was bringing me more clarity through my trusty SHURE SM58 (though with a lot more groundwork to get the tone in a similar ballpark of the CL-1B when it came to that subtle cloudy feedback I was looking for that felt so live.
What was I going for here?
I was going for something that allowed me to hear myself and really feel what I was saying. Something that invoked excitement about my own sound.
The I think in my mind about recording, something about the CL-1B helps me come up with rhymes on the spot by way of how I hear my own voice. Using the Manly VoxBox, especially in combination with the A-type Multi-band Dynamic Enhancer, I was able to replicate this– specifically with the excite and air buttons.
But I still found myself desiring the difference in sound that the CL-1B was giving with a fraction of the effort.
And so ultimately made the decision to cop it as well.
With that being said, I now know after comparing them both, that I would have been fine with the mainly VoxBox and the A-type combo alone specifically because the 2 plug-ins together give you so much control over that cloudy feel, I spoke of earlier. It can be tweaked to precision with the EQ on the A-type. You also get an ever so slight boost when you add oxide tape at the end.
I saw a creator say he recently never used oxide tape much which is a shame because I love how subtle of a boost oxide tape can give my vocals to round out the sound. But I get it. I’m sure that there are other more capable plug-ins I haven’t tried. However, these plug-ins that I have used—CL-1B included, have just been amazing so far.
