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Post by jeromemason on May 2, 2015 22:13:37 GMT -6
The good thing is my place is just a 1/2 mile from all the other studios that Shannon mentioned. And like 2 streets from a kickass dude with a mix room too...... surely isn't a dweeb and just rocks, no other way to say it.
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Post by jeromemason on May 1, 2015 14:08:38 GMT -6
dandeurloo, I have a bla red sparrow ad as my main ad/masterclock. Have any experience with it? If so how would you say the stock motu compares? I use the Sparrow on my mixbus return/master clock and I wouldn't use anything else there. Just has a thing it does in the analog realm that makes it special. If the MOTU sounded like that it would be a hell of a lot more than 1500 bux. The MOTU is very very good though, detailed and pure, doesn't add anything or take anything.
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Post by jeromemason on May 1, 2015 0:49:42 GMT -6
I remember the first time I ordered from Warren and that coffee was in the box..... smelled amazing and my wife quickly forgot about how much money I'd spent because she loved the coffee...... Warren's Kung Fu is strong in some areas for sure.
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Post by jeromemason on May 1, 2015 0:44:08 GMT -6
What kind of production?? You need to do just overdubs or track multiple players at once, or is it more just a songwriters type of setup you're going for? I'm not sure where "Pro Studio" even is categorized these days. I'd consider what I have professional enough to churn out mixes, and overdub well enough to hang with some decent places in town, but I only focused on mixing and overdubs. Even some of the big studio's, their control rooms are not the best for mixing in. Some of it feels like an illusion to me honestly, it's expensive and fancy but I've heard what can come from places far less sparkly and I'd choose the ones that focus on the guts and purity rather than the cool sinks in the bathrooms.
Money wise, for 20k you can either buy a lot of gear that is decent for all things, or you can buy less gear that's amazing for a couple of things. If you're talking about just the gear a lone 20k will get you some mic's, decent speakers, good conversion, good pre's, etc. but take into account the cost to construct the area and that's where things become expensive, again, depending on what you consider "Pro"
Tell us what your plans are for the next 5 years for this place and you will get much better advice.
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Post by jeromemason on Apr 29, 2015 21:11:24 GMT -6
Probably something I posted..... I'm awesome... happens all the time.
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Post by jeromemason on Apr 29, 2015 0:25:07 GMT -6
This blew my mind... and at the price exploded my head.
You can trial it for 10 days, I foresee me doing that and getting a drum room sound out of this thing and crying when I don't have the $1300 to buy it. I've never seen it before, but with some folks showing interest lately with IR verbs and spaces I stumbled upon this. I'm sure some of you know it, but it was a first for me. Pretty freaking cool.
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Post by jeromemason on Apr 28, 2015 21:01:43 GMT -6
I was able to do a shoutout the other day of a real UA 1176 reissue and the Warm-76. While neither were my cup of tea, I found the Warm to be rather cloudy and the snappy attack I have known good 1176's to have was just not there. The UA-1176 reissue was only a couple months old and already had static sounding pots and while it had good attack, the body disappeared as compression was raised. It wasn't even as good as the plug in versions UA has out. There is no way to short cut a Pultec sound either. It's in the transformers. While the Warm may sound decent, I have the feeling it will be much like the Wa-76. Just not quite there. Damn you Randge 8) you have peaked my interest now.... Its been a few years since I used a real 1176 Blue Stripe... hmmmm anyone got a hairball rev A and the WA76 cheers Wiz The U76 I built was probably the most impressive build in terms of converting a rack mount circuit (or just a circuit in general) to 500 series. I took the U76 and jacked it's gain and output volume up while doing the same to a full out Rev A and the damn harmonics were exactly the same, same level, same points. Then, I would pass pink noise through both and even the freaking knee in the compression ratios was so close what I had couldn't measure the difference. All we can do is give these types of emu's a try and see how they do. If they don't do well then send them back. That's what I'm gonna do.
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Post by jeromemason on Apr 28, 2015 14:14:48 GMT -6
My Pair should arrive this week. You get them in bro? Any word?
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Post by jeromemason on Apr 28, 2015 11:19:57 GMT -6
Jerome are you using the sources D/A for monitoring or the Moto? Hey bro, I only use the source for monitoring the mixbus return and listening via core audio to whatever through my computer. I wish I would had went wit the one that you could put a remote on, but honestly the Source is just fine, I have it right below my summing rigs so I don't even need a freaking remote! ha.
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Post by jeromemason on Apr 28, 2015 11:15:55 GMT -6
I was able to do some comparisons in Spectrafoo Complete, looking at 2408mkIII and 16A, measuring a simple output to input loop against the internal signal generator. OK, I tried to copy some code bits over, but this site doesn't like url link code. So....here's my measurements posted over at that site the kidz like. Lots of comparison against a MOTU 2408mkIII, try to see past that part. Plots are identified in the menu window. www.gearslutz.com/board/10346461-post344.html16A noise numbers as seen in those plots: 60Hz (AC line) -147dBFS 125Hz -154dBFS 250Hz -151dBFS 715Hz spike about -140dBFS (certainly looks higher on the plot, but zoom in confirms) 1kHz -147dBFS (note the manual states in or out THD+N of -110 dB, -1dBFS, unweighted, 1kHz) 4kHz -143dBFS 16kHz -137dBFS Do you have something we could compare this too? Is there data out there like this on the Symphony and other high end converters. I'd like to think those numbers confirm what I'm hearing, but I'm not a specialist.
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Post by jeromemason on Apr 28, 2015 2:43:25 GMT -6
just got mine today. a/b-ing lady gaga bad romance and her vocal is much more up front through the Motu. also feel the whole mix is tilted a little bit to the low end. both sound great. after comparing the two (16a/RM barebeast) for the last couple hours im comfortable saying the RM has more high end detail. maybe a little high end bump somewhere, or maybe 16a is rolled off a little bit. IDK. the low end im not sure about. it seems clearer/cleaner on the RM. on this particular song i would swear it was high passed, but definitely more able to tell whats going on down there. the whole track on the other hand seems thinner to me as a whole. i would say either the motu extends lower than the the RM or its got a little bump down there somewhere. listening to mostly pop records. the vocals really sit high on top of the mix through the 16a. sometimes they even pop out to the point of separation. something i really struggle with. i really want to know what these engineers are hearing because through the RM i thought the synths were a little harsh sounding. kinda that digital static noise that makes you cringe. on the 16a i thought the vocals were a little loose (almost mortal) and the bass could be cleaned up a little. does anybody know what the frequency response is on these dac's? im really curious as to which is more accurate. over all i would say strictly for listening purposes i would choose the Motu. i think it softens harsh high end a little bit/RM exaggerates it too much. for mixing IDK yet. i thought they would sound close enough i could sell the RM but it sounds different enough i think ill hang on to it. I've been living with mine for a while now and I can tell you that what I mix in my room is what comes out in the car or wherever I listen. I'm not afraid or thinking of adjustments I'll have to make to the bass or highs come mix down, it's just mix it and print it. I love this box, best I've ever owned. I've got a Dangerous Source and I don't think the MOTU is hyped anywhere, I think it's pretty darn flat. I know this because I used to have an issue w/ my apollo on electric guitars, seemed like I was having to work extra hard to get the harsh out of them. Since I've gotten this box and this is no joke, my eq moves are very little. Where I would had cut 4db on the Apollo, I'm doing like 1-2db cuts, I'm not having to use compression near as much and I mean it's pretty darn drastic. That to me is a clear sign that my image was collapsing on the old system and I was having to do more with processing to allow things to be heard. I pulled out an old mix I did like 2 years ago, and I was having to take plugins off it like crazy because of how bad it sounded, left all the automation and did a global re-balance. I sent that mix to a friend of mine back in FL that I've always bounced mixes off of and he had heard the older one, asked me what the hell did I do to make the mix sound so freaking big, telling me how he could clearly hear the fiddle and banjo's right there with the heavy guitars (it was a pop country mix.... ) impressed the hell out of him and this guy is from England and a massive ball breaker when you ask him to give his opinion. This new design from MOTU is really a very good one guys. At the price they are selling these it gives we, the ones that can't afford 15k in conversion a very competitive edge with the ones that can. Just my .02
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Post by jeromemason on Apr 27, 2015 16:49:51 GMT -6
I think a lot of it depends on what you're recording...... I don't really like the Warwick sound because I'm involved in 96% Country music. Back in the day when I did more pop stuff and R&B that's what most of those guys played and they were good for that music, just not a lot of punch, but it wasn't really needed though. They did have this growl happening in the low low register that not many other guitars could touch, so, depending on what you're tracking who's to say what will and won't work. I've just never been able to get those types of basses to have any heft or punch, just kind of a flat sound.
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Post by jeromemason on Apr 26, 2015 16:27:58 GMT -6
Swurve I always use comp distortion. 2 birds with one stone kind of thing but I guess a pedal would work. Kinna the same sound without the note length a compressor adds. Thanks. I was thinking about those Sans Amp pedals that have "character" buttons which controls the distortion of the sound. I've never had one and wondered about that type of distortion compared to an 1176 or LA2A type compression distortion which I own. A lot of players use Sans Amp pedals, they dial just enough to make it cut a little when tracking and that's about it. That tone to me is pure gold. Usually it's just P bass' or Jazz bass', I'm not a massive fan of Warwick's and such for tracking or that style in general because they don't feel like they have as much punch to me. The P bass is my fav, has punch, and you can dial in some really nice lowend too.
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Post by jeromemason on Apr 25, 2015 21:41:01 GMT -6
Get a player that can control their dynamics, you know, the waveform looks like it's already been compressed but is raw. Then maybe -5db with mid attack/mid release and I'll put an aux send under it with either deviloc or decapitator. If I use decapitator I'll have it only distort the area of the bass that has the most natural grind, kind of reminds of ringing things out or something, but it does work. I'll pull out what the kick is taking and let the bass be the low of lows. If it's a faster song I'll use a Multband compressor on the bass or sidechain it with the kick. I haven't done that in a while because I've been fortunate to have really good players that can control those types of things, and will think about that kind of stuff when they are tracking. The player, if he's been around the block, can make you look like a genius.
The player is the biggest part though. If you get a spiky player use transient type plugin to kill those and then compress. But EQ before any of it.
That usually let's my bass make it to whatever it's getting played on, usually.
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Post by jeromemason on Apr 19, 2015 1:20:44 GMT -6
Bluegrass humming out of the mix room and my living room overtaken by gear junkies armed with soldering irons..... Nothing like Nashville Randge jsteiger
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Post by jeromemason on Apr 16, 2015 1:12:08 GMT -6
Got mine in the mail earlier today... can't wait to build it, have a few other things to do first, but I'm so eager to get to work on this baby. I do have a few questions jsteigerCan you email me the build threads on the 1731's? And has Chung got his build guide up yet, or what are us early folks using? I know Randy and I are probably going to build ours together so I want to study up before we dive into it, makes things much quicker for me. Thanks! I think this baby will be the ultimate vox comp, from what I heard over at Randy's the 1731's seemed so much more transparent and allowed the vocal to be massive w/o sounding clamped. Soon as I can move some more gear I'll be buying another, honestly this compressor does what a FET does, but has the character of a VCA.... amazing what you've done here Jeff.
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Post by jeromemason on Apr 16, 2015 0:39:29 GMT -6
Ivory. It's all I ever need. This. I've always thought Ivory was the best.
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Post by jeromemason on Apr 15, 2015 15:20:27 GMT -6
info from Gannon/Ua Forum re: new converters and why no octo: a) We're really excited about our new conversion - not only have we substantially improved the measurable specs, but we have listened extensively to ensure the new interfaces sound great. Internal and external double blind tests have proven without a doubt that we've achieved an incredible depth and clarity in sound that outperforms highly regarded interfaces costing twice as much as Apollo. We use AKM A/D and D/A on the Apollo 8 and 8P and AKM and ESS on the Apollo 16mkII. Though, it's not just the converter chipset that makes the difference - it's the surrounding circuitry that supports the chip to produce better or worse results. We've made literally hundreds of tweaks to the power supply, routing and other surrounding topologies to gain the improvements. b) It is not physically possible for us to fit 8 DSPs in an Apollo. We use every single pin on our FPGA to host I/O and virtual paths, so there are no connections left. OCTOs are possible in a processor format like a PCIe card or Satellite Thunderbolt because there is no I/O, so we can support a larger number of DSPs. The Symphony is a 2U.... seems like if they were going to overhaul the Apollo to compete on the AD/DA side of things and to actually upgrade it they would had went this route. Seems odd to just offer more options and an improved conversion. I think people really believed UA would double the Sharc's in the Apollo on the next roll out, I sure did.
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Post by jeromemason on Apr 14, 2015 19:19:44 GMT -6
Yep, it's very very good.
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Post by jeromemason on Apr 14, 2015 18:15:49 GMT -6
Wonder what "next generation" adda means? Probably the same chipset that's in the Motu and Symphony... pretty sure that's what most manufacturers are going to go to... the sound is definitely there, and companies like UA will design it right. It's definitely on another level. People will be shocked by how much more open and better that new Apollo will sound if that's in fact what they are going to use.
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Post by jeromemason on Apr 14, 2015 15:39:34 GMT -6
Makes absolutely no sense to stay at a quad! Instead of filling it with mic pre's they should had changed the chipset's, added as many sharc's as possible and changed the color, would had made a lot of people happy with just that. It's crazy to think that they have 8 mic pre's but you'd have to run at 44.1 in order to utilize that.
I do feel bad for folks like John that had to buy the TB card and now a new one hits that'll probably have some type of upgrade credit.
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Post by jeromemason on Apr 14, 2015 9:18:11 GMT -6
They have a new unit hitting the shelf soon. Oct Apollo as the badass drummer indicates is on it's way. The Quad is now the Duo. I always wondered why all their newest plugs slammed the DSP... I get it now. Smart these guys at UA are... smart.
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Post by jeromemason on Apr 14, 2015 9:15:53 GMT -6
Hope you can get a workaround for that brother, odd that your comp has the connection and windows doesn't support TB??? I haven't had windows in years, but I thought they at least kept up with the protocols of Apple, and Apple of Windows.
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Post by jeromemason on Apr 13, 2015 21:42:13 GMT -6
The Mic that Shannon and I built was so close to the vintage 251 when Randy would switch between the two you couldn't hear any difference. Shannon thought we were messing with him, it was pretty darn funny. What actually happened though, if you can believe it, we went beyond that mark, there was a massive amount of headroom after we'd dimed in the mic to emulate the 251 that Shannon went past it and man that mic is the best one I've ever heard. I've been so blasted busy with the move to Nashville I haven't been able to devote any time to getting more clips and showing folks what this mic can do. But, that's changing soon fellas, I'm getting settled down, and while I just tonight got back from another trip down to FL, this week I should be able to start working on one order we have and also putting the mic into use on a session I have Thursday. I'll get some files up soon.
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Post by jeromemason on Apr 8, 2015 19:27:06 GMT -6
Man I forgot to update this.
Moto gave me a call made sure I got everything tightened up and squared away, don't know how they got my phone number, but hey, I appreciate the detective work for sure!
A note on the conversion, it's stellar. Right there with a Symphony, so indeed the engineering around those chips and opamps was done correctly, and done extremely well. What I really like is the fact the stereo image doesn't collapse at all while it's maxed, and I'm maxing the analog outs, using every one of them and it sounds just pure, no hype, no dull, just very detailed and open. The meters are nothing fancy, but at least I know at a glance if I'm too hot or soft into the converter.
I've heard the old Motu gear, this is absolutely not even in the same galaxy as the old gear, so, bravo Motu, you've managed to compete with guys that are charging 3x what you are per channel and that's no small accomplishment. I have to say as well, the whole web interface setup is top notch, the routing, all of it is straightforward and easily accessed. I'm for sure happy with mine, I'm certain it will serve me a while.
I do wish this box had an RCA Spdif I/O, that's really my only con. I honestly can't think of anything else that is an issue, for me at least.
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