|
Post by sean on Jul 12, 2022 21:33:52 GMT -6
Built a rack into the control room and wired up a bunch of outboard gear I had at home. Feels good!
|
|
ericn
Temp
Balance Engineer
Posts: 14,934
Member is Online
|
Post by ericn on Jul 12, 2022 21:41:26 GMT -6
Built a rack into the control room and wired up a bunch of outboard gear I had at home. Feels good! Looks good Sean!
|
|
|
Post by jacobamerritt on Jul 13, 2022 11:55:29 GMT -6
So I got one of the Tonelux Equalux new in Feb 2020. Used it maybe... 30 times at most. Now the left channel output is significantly lower than the right channel. Contacted Tonelux support, replied quickly but $75 an hour to repair on top of shipping and parts. I swear, it feels like about 50% of the 'boutique' or higher end stuff I have ends up needing a repair within a year or two. Then ironically my low end things like Klark Teknik stuff or 3U mics just keep working with no problems ever.
|
|
ericn
Temp
Balance Engineer
Posts: 14,934
Member is Online
|
Post by ericn on Jul 13, 2022 12:23:42 GMT -6
So I got one of the Tonelux Equalux new in Feb 2020. Used it maybe... 30 times at most. Now the left channel output is significantly lower than the right channel. Contacted Tonelux support, replied quickly but $75 an hour to repair on top of shipping and parts. I swear, it feels like about 50% of the 'boutique' or higher end stuff I have ends up needing a repair within a year or two. Then ironically my low end things like Klark Teknik stuff or 3U mics just keep working with no problems ever. Jacob, man I feel the pain, but here is the thing the only propriety stuff in analog gear is going to be transformers and some discreet opamps, so find a good local tech. I primarily use a guy at a local HIFI shop. Per hour may not save a lot but I’m not shipping it. Also I can usually get a pretty god estimate of total repair simply with paying the bench fee.
|
|
|
Post by jacobamerritt on Jul 13, 2022 12:44:11 GMT -6
So I got one of the Tonelux Equalux new in Feb 2020. Used it maybe... 30 times at most. Now the left channel output is significantly lower than the right channel. Contacted Tonelux support, replied quickly but $75 an hour to repair on top of shipping and parts. I swear, it feels like about 50% of the 'boutique' or higher end stuff I have ends up needing a repair within a year or two. Then ironically my low end things like Klark Teknik stuff or 3U mics just keep working with no problems ever. Jacob, man I feel the pain, but here is the thing the only propriety stuff in analog gear is going to be transformers and some discreet opamps, so find a good local tech. I primarily use a guy at a local HIFI shop. Per hour may not save a lot but I’m not shipping it. Also I can usually get a pretty god estimate of total repair simply with paying the bench fee. Yeah. Im definitely not shipping it somewhere. I have local guys, its the inconvenience and added cost thats aggravating. I wish 'high end' meant higher build quality. Based on my experiences, often it doesn't.
|
|
ericn
Temp
Balance Engineer
Posts: 14,934
Member is Online
|
Post by ericn on Jul 13, 2022 13:05:44 GMT -6
Jacob, man I feel the pain, but here is the thing the only propriety stuff in analog gear is going to be transformers and some discreet opamps, so find a good local tech. I primarily use a guy at a local HIFI shop. Per hour may not save a lot but I’m not shipping it. Also I can usually get a pretty god estimate of total repair simply with paying the bench fee. Yeah. Im definitely not shipping it somewhere. I have local guys, its the inconvenience and added cost thats aggravating. I wish 'high end' meant higher build quality. Based on my experiences, often it doesn't. You bring up a good point, what is highend today? Many dealers and manufacturers will try to convince you the product is high end superior build quality at time of sale than tell you “ well at this price what were you expecting?” What compounds this is many gearpimps have never seen the inside of most gear and really don’t know what they are looking at. A great example from the live world is the Midas M32, many think it should be built better than the X32, Achilles heal ? Like the Yamaha DM series (10k plus when new) $ 17 dollars motorized faders! Now the good thing about this is I can replace all the faders for less than one new P&G non motorized fader. In fact I’m looking at a used DM1K with bad faders knowing the price of new faders and figuring if I make that choice I know I have about 7-10 years before they all wear out.
|
|
|
Post by gwlee7 on Jul 13, 2022 13:49:43 GMT -6
Just had a new 5 ton AC unit installed. Have to keep that new Marshall cool I guess.
|
|
ericn
Temp
Balance Engineer
Posts: 14,934
Member is Online
|
Post by ericn on Jul 13, 2022 14:22:47 GMT -6
Just had a new 5 ton AC unit installed. Have to keep that new Marshall cool I guess. It is Texas after all if I remember correctly.
|
|
|
Post by gwlee7 on Jul 13, 2022 16:16:08 GMT -6
It’s brutal here right now.
|
|
ericn
Temp
Balance Engineer
Posts: 14,934
Member is Online
|
Post by ericn on Jul 13, 2022 16:30:21 GMT -6
It’s brutal here right now. Even up in KC it’s brutal, I’m working on speaker cabinets out on the dock at my building because it offers shade and the building manager loves the smell of saw dust, but it’s work for 30min bring everything inside take a very cold shower cool down for 2 hours go back do it again! I have been freezing bottles of water in in about 30 min they are pretty much melted. The funny thing is I can’t regulate my body temp ( most grafted skin can’t sweat and where I can it’s brutal) but I’m doing better because of good hydration than the guys trimming the plants out by the sidewalk! I saw a homeless guy get picked by an ambulance!
|
|
|
Post by OtisGreying on Jul 13, 2022 18:41:58 GMT -6
SPL Vitalizer Mk2-t hardware
Pretty much my go to brightening device now. I'm surprised how much smoother the brightening is then on my other analog EQ's. Maybe cause the slope is so wide, in any case it's definitely an extremely natural sounding enhancement and realling bringing certain tracks in a session to life. Super happy with this thing I wasn't sure if I was going to like it but its great. Especially elec guitars they become brighter and just sound like they were recorded that way, doesn't sound EQ'd.
|
|
|
Post by michaelcleary on Jul 13, 2022 20:41:57 GMT -6
Golden 58 and D-Comp. Thank you Ward and AudioScape!
|
|
|
Post by sean on Jul 13, 2022 20:43:57 GMT -6
SPL Vitalizer Mk2-t hardware
Pretty much my go to brightening device now. I'm surprised how much smoother the brightening is then on my other analog EQ's. Maybe cause the slope is so wide, in any case it's definitely an extremely natural sounding enhancement and realling bringing certain tracks in a session to life. Super happy with this thing I wasn't sure if I was going to like it but its great. Especially elec guitars they become brighter and just sound like they were recorded that way, doesn't sound EQ'd.
That's cool to hear! I've always liked those devices, I'm a big "exciter" fan in general. I think I might try and track one down
|
|
|
Post by Bat Lanyard on Jul 13, 2022 20:49:20 GMT -6
Bought a third-party color grading plugin for Final Cut Pro called "Color Finale," and am right now grading some commercial footage I shot last week for a client. Final Cut has most of these tools in there already, but Color Finale really has everything laid out in a much faster workflow. It opens up a few areas to make grading in Final Cut more like DaVinci Resolve. Do you use any of the Pixel Film Studios plugins? They've got some really useful stuff as well for FCPX.
|
|
|
Post by chessparov on Jul 14, 2022 17:37:34 GMT -6
Am downloading Studio One Prime (Free) right now.
Will see how I like Studio One compared to nTrack 9. nTrack was purchased on a 1/2 price @$60, a little while back. Chris
|
|
|
Post by the other mark williams on Jul 14, 2022 18:31:39 GMT -6
Bought a third-party color grading plugin for Final Cut Pro called "Color Finale," and am right now grading some commercial footage I shot last week for a client. Final Cut has most of these tools in there already, but Color Finale really has everything laid out in a much faster workflow. It opens up a few areas to make grading in Final Cut more like DaVinci Resolve. Do you use any of the Pixel Film Studios plugins? They've got some really useful stuff as well for FCPX. I do use a few things from PFS. I more heavily rely on MotionVFX, though - they make it a bit easier for me to make sure my wife’s computer has all the same plugins I have on mine. My wife and I are constantly trading projects back and forth, with each of us doing specific things in our workflow, and if I’ve forgotten to install something on her machine, it can really mess things up. MotionVFX has a better installer app (IMO) that runs in the background. *I should say, too, that the world of video FX plugins *sucks* compared to the world of audio plugins. Not so much quality-wise, but just that IME the companies are less responsive, the plugins are buggier, they’re not updated as frequently, installers are less professional, no common copy-protection scheme from one developer to another, etc. Seriously, if an audio plugin developer were to behave like most video plugin developers, they wouldn’t last 8 months. It’s wacky.
|
|
Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
|
Post by Deleted on Jul 14, 2022 20:13:39 GMT -6
I know that most of the folks in the group have a strong affection for vintage gear. But I recently picked up something that I remember with less fondness. I'm conserving and restoring concert recordings for a chamber music group where I also serve on the board. The concerts go back 45 years, so the early recordings have their problems. I've already gotten over the odd feeling of having a cassette player in the room again. But I recently got a drop of nearly 60 tapes from one of the previous music directors. DAT tapes. I got rid of my DA-30 more than 20 years ago and was joyous when it went out the door. Now there's an old (is there any other kind) SV-3700 sitting right underneath the cassette machine. I hope it can play all of those tapes before it gives up the ghost or eats one.
I was glad when DAT originally came in. It beat the dickens out of dragging a reel-to-reel to concerts. But the sample rate was too low and the dynamic range was only 16-bits. And the transport mechanism was ready to chomp on a tape at any time. There was no characteristic vintage sound other than quantization error. Quickest new->old transition of any format ever. I can't believe I had to buy another one...
|
|
ericn
Temp
Balance Engineer
Posts: 14,934
Member is Online
|
Post by ericn on Jul 14, 2022 20:32:32 GMT -6
I know that most of the folks in the group have a strong affection for vintage gear. But I recently picked up something that I remember with less fondness. I'm conserving and restoring concert recordings for a chamber music group where I also serve on the board. The concerts go back 45 years, so the early recordings have their problems. I've already gotten over the odd feeling of having a cassette player in the room again. But I recently got a drop of nearly 60 tapes from one of the previous music directors. DAT tapes. I got rid of my DA-30 more than 20 years ago and was joyous when it went out the door. Now there's an old (is there any other kind) SV-3700 sitting right underneath the cassette machine. I hope it can play all of those tapes before it gives up the ghost or eats one. I was glad when DAT originally came in. It beat the dickens out of dragging a reel-to-reel to concerts. But the sample rate was too low and the dynamic range was only 16-bits. And the transport mechanism was ready to chomp on a tape at any time. There was no characteristic vintage sound other than quantization error. Quickest new->old transition of any format ever. I can't believe I had to buy another one... Oh the DAT machine, probably sold enough in the day to put my kid through college. Micheal be careful because there was an infamous compatibility problem between Sony and Panasonic Machines. It was a big enough issue that in the 90’s guys would have both, it was so bad that 90% of the B-stock SV3700 and SV4100’s we got from Panasonic had nothing wrong with them it was simply the original purchaser was trying to play Tapes recorded on Sony Machines ( I actually sold a Couple of B-stock Panasonics that had Sony Studios stickers on the back). Now you would think after this the 2 would get their acts together, hell no same issue with DVC. Maybe it’s a good thing we got rid of dedicated Audio and Video storage media!
|
|
Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
|
Post by Deleted on Jul 15, 2022 6:06:42 GMT -6
Oh the DAT machine, probably sold enough in the day to put my kid through college. Micheal be careful because there was an infamous compatibility problem between Sony and Panasonic Machines. It was a big enough issue that in the 90’s guys would have both, it was so bad that 90% of the B-stock SV3700 and SV4100’s we got from Panasonic had nothing wrong with them it was simply the original purchaser was trying to play Tapes recorded on Sony Machines ( I actually sold a Couple of B-stock Panasonics that had Sony Studios stickers on the back). Now you would think after this the 2 would get their acts together, hell no same issue with DVC. Maybe it’s a good thing we got rid of dedicated Audio and Video storage media! Thanks for the warning. I have no idea what machine(s) the tapes were recorded with and I probably can't find out. My first tests are OK, so I'll just have to keep my fingers crossed. Helical scan devices were a clever (a little too clever) way of getting faster tape speed across the heads, but incompatibilities were legion. I remember buying rewinders for all my VCRs just to lower usage of the mechanism. It was completely true that a well-calibrated analog tape machine had better frequency response and a more tolerable way of handling signal that exceeded headroom, but DAT won on the convenience front. That mattered a lot when you had to do very quick setup before a concert. But the machines were easy to fall out of love with when the time came.
|
|
ericn
Temp
Balance Engineer
Posts: 14,934
Member is Online
|
Post by ericn on Jul 15, 2022 6:16:51 GMT -6
Oh the DAT machine, probably sold enough in the day to put my kid through college. Micheal be careful because there was an infamous compatibility problem between Sony and Panasonic Machines. It was a big enough issue that in the 90’s guys would have both, it was so bad that 90% of the B-stock SV3700 and SV4100’s we got from Panasonic had nothing wrong with them it was simply the original purchaser was trying to play Tapes recorded on Sony Machines ( I actually sold a Couple of B-stock Panasonics that had Sony Studios stickers on the back). Now you would think after this the 2 would get their acts together, hell no same issue with DVC. Maybe it’s a good thing we got rid of dedicated Audio and Video storage media! Thanks for the warning. I have no idea what machine(s) the tapes were recorded with and I probably can't find out. My first tests are OK, so I'll just have to keep my fingers crossed. Helical scan devices were a clever (a little too clever) way of getting faster tape speed across the heads, but incompatibilities were legion. I remember buying rewinders for all my VCRs just to lower usage of the mechanism. It was completely true that a well-calibrated analog tape machine had better frequency response and a more tolerable way of handling signal that exceeded headroom, but DAT won on the convenience front. That mattered a lot when you had to do very quick setup before a concert. But the machines were easy to fall out of love with when the time came. Ironically the least problematic machine was probably the original Tascam DA30 the MK2 was problematic as was the Tascam portable there is one some where in my storage unit. The problems were only magnified by the use of those abrasive cleaning tapes that were like sandpaper on the heads.
|
|
|
Post by sean on Jul 15, 2022 6:22:02 GMT -6
I've been selling a lot of stuff I wasn't using or was a bit redundant with other things I had and reinvested the money in some microphones:
Neumann U47FET Reissue Coles 4038 matched pair Sony C38B
I think those are all forever microphones that will get a lot of use at the studio...definitely more than the rack gear that was sitting on the floor in my basement!
|
|
|
Post by michaelcleary on Jul 15, 2022 10:59:18 GMT -6
Oh the DAT machine, probably sold enough in the day to put my kid through college. Micheal be careful because there was an infamous compatibility problem between Sony and Panasonic Machines. It was a big enough issue that in the 90’s guys would have both, it was so bad that 90% of the B-stock SV3700 and SV4100’s we got from Panasonic had nothing wrong with them it was simply the original purchaser was trying to play Tapes recorded on Sony Machines ( I actually sold a Couple of B-stock Panasonics that had Sony Studios stickers on the back). Now you would think after this the 2 would get their acts together, hell no same issue with DVC. Maybe it’s a good thing we got rid of dedicated Audio and Video storage media! Thanks for the warning. I have no idea what machine(s) the tapes were recorded with and I probably can't find out. My first tests are OK, so I'll just have to keep my fingers crossed. Helical scan devices were a clever (a little too clever) way of getting faster tape speed across the heads, but incompatibilities were legion. I remember buying rewinders for all my VCRs just to lower usage of the mechanism. It was completely true that a well-calibrated analog tape machine had better frequency response and a more tolerable way of handling signal that exceeded headroom, but DAT won on the convenience front. That mattered a lot when you had to do very quick setup before a concert. But the machines were easy to fall out of love with when the time came. Just an fyi, Bergsten Music near Boston has some Dat machines for rent. At least last time I was there I saw a few so likely still available. bergstenmusic.com/
|
|
|
Post by Ward on Jul 15, 2022 19:49:16 GMT -6
Golden 58 and D-Comp. Thank you Ward and AudioScape! Our absolute pleasure!!! Here to help (everyone)!
|
|
|
Post by sean on Jul 16, 2022 22:12:22 GMT -6
For some reason unbeknownst to me I bought an AKG BX-5 spring reverb on Reverb. One of the few (of the popular ones, anyway) rack mount spring reverbs I haven't tried.
|
|
ericn
Temp
Balance Engineer
Posts: 14,934
Member is Online
|
Post by ericn on Jul 16, 2022 22:22:15 GMT -6
For some reason unbeknownst to me I bought an AKG BX-5 spring reverb on Reverb. One of the few (of the popular ones, anyway) rack mount spring reverbs I haven't tried. The only BX5 I ever got to spend any time with was an absolute dog, I don’t know what the guy did to it, it turned me off springs for ages. The last couple I have heard sound nothing like it so my fingers are crossed on this one.
|
|