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Post by jakeharris on Jun 11, 2016 18:28:15 GMT -6
Let's hear those files:
Soyuz > D4 Blackspade > Great River
Whatever the differences are, we'll let you know
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Post by M57 on Jun 11, 2016 20:19:01 GMT -6
Alright - I'll play devil's advocate here..
Disclaimer: I have somewhat of a vested interest in this thread because I've pretty much been copying Martin's purchasing decisions. I've recently picked up a couple of D4's and a UM-18R. I'm even running interference for him and just picked up a WA-2A. (LOOOOVE IT!)
I'm the epitome a one man band. I'm about as reclusive as you can get. Hell, I'm a musical hermit - I haven't gigged (with equipment) in 20 years. I pretty much have zero connections in the genre of music that I'm writing and recording, and but for one A/E course I took in college (uhmm.. 35 years ago), I've learned almost everything I know about recording from on-line sources. Pretty much all of my purchasing decisions have been made based on information I've gleaned from forums, watching youtube videos, etc. - and I have to say, with very few exceptions, I'm happy with what I've learned and the decisions I've made. Take for instance the treatment for my room. It's just a room ..with drywall everywhere. So I learned (all on-line) that I had to fill it with traps and cover it with baffles at reflection points yada yada, so I made it so ..a bit at a time until I felt the room was reasonably tamed. Are there still problem frequencies, and is the room not perfectly tuned? Of course, but it's so much better than what I started with and I certainly feel like it's workable. I'm an independent school teacher - I don't bring in the bucks public school teachers make, and so while I don't have a lot of gear, I'm quite comfortable with what I have, and just in the nick of time - I'm out of money (so says my wife). So back to the topic..
Before I purchased the above mentioned stuff for my vocal chain, I wasn't unhappy with my NT1-A and the mic pres in my Focusrite interface, but I wasn't smiling all the time either. Didn't stop me from recording with it. Is there gear that's better suited for my needs than what I have now? Sure, but I realize that it's all relative - and that's the key. There's nothing wrong with obsessing about gear as long as you're rocking what you have. If you're not smiling - then you should be researching, and there's no better tool than the internet for that. Are there too many choices and voices? Of course, but you don't have to listen to them all. That's what search parameters and common sense are for ..and then there are sites like this.
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Post by Martin John Butler on Jun 11, 2016 22:48:05 GMT -6
Forgot to say welcome to the forum John. I enjoyed your post. Keep us in the loop as you go, I'd love to hear how it all works out for you.
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Post by chasmanian on Jun 12, 2016 6:30:48 GMT -6
hey guys, the purpose of my post is to entertain. thats all. no more. no less. once there was a fantastic singer. I heard she sang through an M49. her signature song (one of them anyway), was People.
I've re-wrote some lyrics, in hopes that it will bring a smile, a chortle, a guffaw (perhaps all 3....at the same time.....hmmmmmm) to the fine bunch here. (completely unrelated note.....not that I'm super easily distracted........that much.......well, ok, I am.....watching old episode of TV show New Girl with Zooey Deschanel.......love She & Him music......her voice is my favorite........its the episode with Prince.......they have just met him.......Zooey screams and waves her hands......Jake Johnson screams....and faints......too funny!!!)
herewith, without no further ado:
sung to the tune of People:
People People who need Pre-amps are the luckiest People in the world we're grown ups needing other microphones a feeling deep in your soul says you were half, now your whole no more hunger and thirst but first be a person who needs Compressors Compressors and Converters yada yada yada luckiest People in the worldddddddddddddd
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Post by Ward on Jun 12, 2016 6:35:20 GMT -6
Cute!
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Post by swurveman on Jun 12, 2016 7:22:38 GMT -6
After reading through this thread I'd say two things:
1. Don't let gear (or lack of) get in the way of finishing your songs and sending them out to whomever will pay for songs. Use what you have. Send your music out. promote it.
2. When I think of the modern sound I hear in my reference mixes, I know that my gear purchases have helped me get closer. However, I believe that I need more gear to get closer. However, it's the total system. There is no magic channel strip or bus compressor. All you can do is assess your weaknesses and build one block at a time.
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Post by mjheck on Jun 12, 2016 8:40:16 GMT -6
I do think it is okay to use instruments and equipment and another source of "inspiration" for lack of a better word. I pretty consistently write a new song while playing with a new component. It may be a simple endorphin thing. Or maybe the forced change of approach is what stimulates new perspectives.
But yeah, Martin & M57, ya'll are not alone. The persistent bloat and shrink is pretty much a running joke over here. Has it changed the sound quality? Well, not as much as the subsequent hours of labor and love the experiences and mandated.
But there is something wonderful about finally hearing in your ears what you have been hearing in your head. For me that was certainly instruments and mics. I ultimately realized that, though there were certainly differences in my preamps and comps, they were all good and the debate was just no longer interesting.
Thank you for starting this conversation - gear misery loves company too, it appears.
MJH
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Post by Martin John Butler on Jun 12, 2016 10:14:21 GMT -6
Swurveman speaks to moving forward, and I'm just going to do that. The merry go round I've been on is still circling, but I hope to jump off more often now, and get something done with my music. I've been chasing the satisfying mix of gear without enough money, which causes all sorts of grief, when say.. $10,000 would basically end it all. I would be spending 95% less time worrying about gear, and use that time for making music.
OK, that doesn't seem like so much, but... how much has to happen before having that much spendable money? First, you have to make quite a good amount, then, pay taxes, then sales tax, then rent, utilities, transportation, health care, food, clothing, and maybe some medical expenses, loans, and in my case, vet bills. When all that's done, only then I can look at a mic, preamp or compressor. No wonder I always feel three steps away from getting what I want for what I consider the most basic good quality home recording system.
Part of my speaking out here is to help me get a clearer picture of where I really am at. So, the honest answer seems to be focus on getting the money first, rather than trying to make my almost there system sound like it's really there by mixing super carefully, mixing hardware and substituting plugs to try getting something like a good studio sound. It's all just one big frustration without the tools I feel I need. Of course everyone's "tools they need" are different, but I need to reach my own plateau of bare bones basic good quality. I've questioned whether that plateau I'm trying to reach is too high or not. It's difficult assessing, when it feels so close.
It's time for me to pull my songs together, get a nice assortment of songs that might be coverable, and get some real world feedback from publishers and artists.
How about you guys, what are your goals? I'd really like to hear about that.
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Post by Guitar on Jun 12, 2016 12:28:06 GMT -6
I think what we're fighting here is an ugly green little monster, that keeps you away from the thing you enjoy, which is making music at all. Personal expression.
If I spend too much time on forums, and not enough time making music, I start to feel insane and irresponsible, and my posts get a lot worse. At the very worse my gear lust can sometimes cause anxiety, even though I'm sitting in a room crammed to the walls with gear. Every day that I write a song, or spend a few hours on an instrument, I feel so much more like a real person.
The important point to me is to spend as much time as you can possibly stand making your music. And then, in your SPARE time, get as geeky as you like, and spend as much money as you have but not much more. My heroes online are the guys, lots here, that work constantly and still find a little bit of time here and there for forum stuff. Super productive people with the wealth of real-world experience to share. The reason they have all this great gear is they work SO HARD on the creative stuff.
It's funny, I also have the $10,000 dream. My dream would look something sort of like Dr. Bill's room, but with a little more gear and musical instruments. In the side of a house I would own, which is actually the major expense that seems so far away. It would also be in a beautiful place with windows, not a busy urban grid, or too close to neighbors. I guess that's turning more into like the $250,000 dream.
I don't know if anyone else has this problem with spending too much time on the computer, in the studio, or both. I like it so much sometimes it goes too far. I've got to get out on the town or go hike in the woods just to get away from it and put some fresh ideas and experience into my mind. I'm sort of hermit-like too but it's a dangerous game if you don't find a balance.
So I guess my conclusion is it's all about balance. It's a little too easy to just sit around spinning records and reading about gear, think about what could be, or what other people have done. It's a little harder to start from scratch on a new idea and see how far you can take it.
I am grateful to the forums but I think a songwriter's most important ethical duty to himself is to write as many songs as possible. It's the only way to truly move forward. Everything else is either support or a side-hobby.
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Post by jcoutu1 on Jun 13, 2016 6:48:25 GMT -6
$10,000 would basically end it all. I would be spending 95% less time worrying about gear, and use that time for making music. I promise this isn't the case.
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Post by Martin John Butler on Jun 13, 2016 8:01:34 GMT -6
Your probably right Jesse !
My previous experience with recording at home was a long time ago. I had much more good paying work which kept me very busy then, so I didn't have as much spare time to worry too much about gear. But, I must admit the bug doesn't ever completely go away. Even with a full complement of gear, enough to produce good quality music for radio and television, I did continue to update and reach higher. I might have gone from Yamaha power amp to an Adcom, or a drumuator to a Linn, or a Yamaha keyboard to a Kurzweil, but as monkeyxx alluded to, the balance of that and my real work was much better. The thing was, back then, I was able to start with a complete package and adjust as I went, now, I feel my system is incomplete and I'm trying to work around it.
Everyone's situation is different, though similar, and yes, we all keep moving the goal posts, but for me, I would love to have the chance to get what I see as the essentials quickly, instead of slowly, one by one, and have the opportunity to see if I've been kidding myself or not.
So for now, I'm trying to find the insight and vision to put the cart back behind the horse and focus on doing something with my music as it is, rather than just keep recording and remixing it and then be unhappy about the results anyway.
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Post by jcoutu1 on Jun 13, 2016 8:27:16 GMT -6
Martin, you're smoking crack. You've got a top shelf mic, nice tube preamp, compressor, and an Apollo rig. You're gear is plenty good enough to produce quality music, which you've proven time and again. If you switch your mic or preamp, it'll just be a different shade of good.
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Post by Martin John Butler on Jun 13, 2016 8:43:20 GMT -6
Thanks Jesse, I'll keep that in mind next time I "light up". I'm working on this, that's why I plan to see what I can do with what I already have.
My older tracks sound shitty compared to my newer ones, I've learned a lot since I began producing my tracks in 2012. What I'm hoping to avoid is the frustration of wanting to redo them, so I'm trying to remix first, and see if what I did previously is useable.
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Post by joseph on Jun 13, 2016 9:00:30 GMT -6
It's very important not to let songwriting get in the way of healthy gear obsession.
Songwriting is refuge of sick introverted mind, whereas buying gear is showing your love for capitalism and USA.
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Post by Martin John Butler on Jun 13, 2016 9:51:53 GMT -6
I guess that makes me a patriot joseph!
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Post by Guitar on Jun 13, 2016 10:30:31 GMT -6
I think it's more important to be a used gear salesman, and a product reviewer, than a musician of any sort. That's what I tell myself, anyway.
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