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Post by sean on Jun 25, 2023 19:16:46 GMT -6
Have you considered getting a longer DigiLink cables and keeping the card/box somewhere else? That what I'm going to do...just run a digilink into a closet or the storage room.
This thread did make me order some quiet fans for my HD I/O's because I have to keep those in the control room and they do sometimes get loud
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Post by sean on Jun 24, 2023 16:18:29 GMT -6
Softube Fix Flanger and Doubler are sometimes $9...and they have AAX DSP versions if that means anything to you. The A/DA flanger plugin isn't bad and can probably be had for $9 too. There may also be a AAX DSP version of that one. Waves Kaleidoscopes? The Fuse pedals are cool and often half off or more when they have a sale. Very expensive but the Stymon Blue Sky?
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Post by sean on Jun 24, 2023 16:11:08 GMT -6
I just don't think they are the exciting new flavor of the moment which is why you don't hear about them. Also, standalone outboard EQs are not nearly as popular at preamps or compressors...I'd imagine for every Great River EQ there are 50 preamps.
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Post by sean on Jun 24, 2023 6:37:12 GMT -6
Not sexy but bought a used UAD-2 Octo Satellite at a price I couldn't pass up...now I've got this at home and two Quad's at the studio so I don't think I'll ever have to worry about running out of juice
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Post by sean on Jun 23, 2023 23:12:25 GMT -6
Personally, I don't "love" the sound of the compression, but its a great peak limiter, and them on drums to tame the peaks is awesome. Sometimes just a touch of compression is ok, but I think the magic is just seeing this peak limiter lights turn on occasion. They got a reputation of being dirty compressors because they were used inappropriately. I think the STX 600 is a really cool piece in particular, I'd like a rack of those Is the STX 600 essentially a 500 series C610? What is the difference between a c610 and v610? I’d recommend looking at their website which describes all their models and their differences; www.spectra1964.com/
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Post by sean on Jun 23, 2023 7:11:04 GMT -6
Personally, I don't "love" the sound of the compression, but its a great peak limiter, and them on drums to tame the peaks is awesome. Sometimes just a touch of compression is ok, but I think the magic is just seeing this peak limiter lights turn on occasion. They got a reputation of being dirty compressors because they were used inappropriately. I think the STX 600 is a really cool piece in particular, I'd like a rack of those
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Post by sean on Jun 20, 2023 11:26:19 GMT -6
I’ve switched speakers a lot, and I think once you get your listening environment treated/sounding good to where you are actually hearing what the speakers are doing you can, as the good doctor said, making the switch is easier.
I just dropped a pair of Neumann KH310’s into the studio and I’m mixing a couple records next week and I’m interested in seeing how it turns out/translates. But, even just spending a day with them yesterday I can tell it’ll be a lot more enjoyable.
That’s in the actually studio…and at home the little KH80’s are the best thing I’ve found. I’ve had everything from PMC IB2S to NS10’s to Auratones and for me, in a small space, close to the speakers, not having to impress anyone, they work great.
Honestly, with NS10’s, you could just get an additional set of speakers. Best of both worlds
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Post by sean on Jun 19, 2023 21:33:09 GMT -6
Interesting. Thank you. If only I had a closet. I assume you mean the Avid rack mount as opposed to something like the Sonnet Echo III. Wish they published noise specs. If the echo III is much quieter it would soften the price diff pain. Unlikely I need space for 3 cards anytime soon however. This sounds like a possible bad path (no pun intended) for me then. I really hate fan noise. A friend of mine recently got a 3 slot Sonnet desktop rack (of course, it’s the more expensive one because the other one is too small for HDX card) I’ll ask him and see if it’s noisy…it’s in the control room with him. I think they also make one that fits a Mac Mini? A friend of mine has that (actually I bought my Avid one from him because it was too noisy to be in the control room with him)
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Post by sean on Jun 19, 2023 17:23:44 GMT -6
Probably the quietest is the rack mount version. I have a single slot Avid branded Sonnet chassis and it has some noise, but I shoved it in a closet 😆
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Post by sean on Jun 18, 2023 18:06:17 GMT -6
Well, mic 1 was the BeesNeez and 2 was the Flea. We ended up using the Flea on the vocal. The BeesNeez was used on the acoustic guitar and Farfisa, which you’ll hear once we wrap the song. I love this answer so much. Now people are going to tell you turn return your Beesneez because something is “clearly wrong with it”
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Post by sean on Jun 17, 2023 6:56:08 GMT -6
Auto-Align 2. It works great. It makes a pretty shocking difference sometimes...but especially with drums or blending DI and mics.
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Post by sean on Jun 16, 2023 14:07:58 GMT -6
In plugin world I’ll use the PSP SpringBox…Arturia Spring-636 is great…sometimes the lowly Avid Black Spring
Outboard, there are tons! Tapco, Furman, Sound Workshop, various AKG, Orban, Vesta Fire…
Personally I kept my AKG BX10 but I’ve owned pretty much every 70’s and 80’s rack mount spring reverb it feels like
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Post by sean on Jun 16, 2023 9:05:55 GMT -6
They are great little amps! If I hadn't finally had found a B15N I could afford I would have grabbed it.
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Post by sean on Jun 15, 2023 19:57:08 GMT -6
You might want to check out that Advanced Audio CM800T I have for sale!
For quiet, breathy voices I think that sounds works great...I've just for several other microphones like the Chandler REDD and Blue Bottle with the B7 capsule and a Korby KAT and an Upton 251 that do a somewhat similar thing...although a lot more money.
I also think soft, breathy vocals is all that a TLM103 is good for
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Post by sean on Jun 15, 2023 11:30:46 GMT -6
Snatched up a pair of Neumann KH310’s…excited to have some better nearfields at the studio. Sorry wallet
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Post by sean on Jun 14, 2023 12:52:45 GMT -6
High Voltage Audio EQ6-S incoming. I can't seem to quit the Maag EQ4 plugin, didn't want to shell out the dough for the EQ4M, and I've heard nothing but good things about this unit so excited to give it a try! Also, an AKG C34. This and my C422 I think will have me covered on stereo microphones (unless a deal comes around on a SM69 haha)
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Post by sean on Jun 13, 2023 17:35:50 GMT -6
Price drops
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Post by sean on Jun 4, 2023 18:35:35 GMT -6
Anyone using n RCA 77dx on stand-up? I’ve used mine a lot for bass, probably my preferred ribbon of all the ones I own (44, BK5B, Coles, Royer, Samar VL37)
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Post by sean on Jun 2, 2023 20:57:54 GMT -6
I’ve really come across two different bass tones: the bluegrass “thump” (Barry Bales, Dennis Crouch, Mike Bub) which is usually heavily dampened (pillow in the bridge to mute resonance/cut sustain) and/or gut strings. The other is what I call “lead bass” like Edgar Meyer, Paul Kowart, or Todd Phillips. More open, more throaty, usually steel string.
The thump is comes from down on the F hole/around the bridge and the “detail” I find is above the F hole on the part of the bass near the high strings. Over the neck is usually just clacking/more noise than you’ll want, too close to the right hand fingers and it might have too much “pluck” or the sound of the strings being pulled…but that upper bout that’s exposed usually sounds great.
So, that’s usually where I put the mics. Omni is great. I usually like to use a multi pattern because sometimes cardioid is better. Maybe try a pair of their U47 style microphones so you can easily A/B Omni and cardioid.
But it really is all about the instrument and the player if it sounds good. Have the player move around the room and play and find a place where the instruments speaks and sounds even. Some instruments as mentioned have really loud “woof” tones and some have notes that are just totally dead.
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Post by sean on May 31, 2023 19:59:48 GMT -6
Have you tried contacting Crane Song? If you have a Version 2 license I bet they'd send the original to you.
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Post by sean on May 31, 2023 9:21:35 GMT -6
I take into account everything everyone is saying and think things over a lot before making any final decisions. So, I appreciate what people here have to say. Seems like what I've been saying is not translating. My whole pitch is going to be to hire me based on my own branding. Meaning that the potential client knows what they're getting into ahead of time, so there aren't these big disagreements. A lot of my background was in selling to hostile customers on the South side of Chicago, I'm used to dealing with objections ahead of time. I'm not chasing after the clients who are looking for credits and things I don't have. That would be a braindead approach. I'm surprised anyone would think that I believe that I can go buy 20k worth of hardware and then go try and compete against some well-established studio for clients who want something I'm not trying to deliver. All I was looking for was some simple feedback on hardware pieces. I've had a few people tell me that their clients have gone to them because they had certain gear. People here have said that doesn't happen. Is it not possible that both experiences are true? The people telling me their gear entices clients don't have a reason to lie to me. It's not like they're sending me affiliate links so they can get a cut of a hypothetical VK order. And it's not like I haven't thought about monitors and treatment. If that were a viable idea, I'd have done it years ago. It just doesn't make sense for me to invest a lot in treatment in a place that is either temporary or will be sold in a year or two. It also won't solve the anemic plugin sound. If it turns out that there is a set of monitors that would make a huge difference over VSX in the environment that I'm in, I'll figure that out in time. First, I have to see if I can even get approved for any financing above a few thousand. I may be stuck with only being able to get one Looptrotter piece and IGS Tubecore on a 48 month deal. There's no need for intervention. It's not like I'm attempting to take on massive debt with gear and then renting out a physical space. We're talking $300-$500 a month max invested so I can start off trying to serve a market that can't afford more than say $40-$100 a song. If that works, then try to go up to the next tier. With modern mastering, all this low DR stuff is compromising the fidelity/quality of the master in the eyes of a lot of people. People can like that style or not. It's not that different from back when some people wanted Pan&Scan movies because they filled a 4:3 screen. You lost information in order to fill the screen. With a lot of modern masters you're losing peaks so the waveform can fill the whole range. If people want or need to do that to make a living, that's up to them. Barry Diament was at one time a top mastering engineer who did a lot of big albums. He refused to master in these low DR styles, so he takes work from people who are fine with his approach. If I want to follow a similar path, who cares? Maybe Dangerous Music is telling the truth in their advertising when they say their compressor nullifies the problems with low DR masters and I'll be happy to use that and churn out DR5 albums. There's no need to keep going in circles. It's my relatively small risk to take. I could get a few things, decide stuff still sounds too digital and sterile, and send it all back within 30 days and forget the whole thing. I've never seen the abbreviation DR (except for doctor) but I'm assuming it stands for dynamic range? Anyway, I think if you are looking for a piece of hardware that has what a lot of engineers refer to as "box tone" you might consider the Louder Than Liftoff Silver Bullet or Portico II Master Buss Processor...or some other stereo unit that can give you some saturation...stereo width..."broad" EQ...and in the case of the Portico compression. Usually when I think of clients hiring someone based on gear it's recording studios, not mastering engineers. Because I know some of them, mixers on sites like Air Gigs and Soundbetter might be sitting in front of a large console with a ton of outboard, but that's not where they mix or actually work. It just looks better. And if you are stuck on headphones, I'd check out the Audeze MM-500 headphones. They'd be a lifetime investment and headphones you could reliably mix on without VSX or similar software. And get the piece of gear that inspires you...being inspired is what's going to make your mixes or masters stand out, not because you own some box. But if that box gets you excited when you listen, it's worth it.
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Post by sean on May 30, 2023 14:41:34 GMT -6
Yeah…unfortunately there’s been a few things where I’m opening up an old session or something I worked on elsewhere and it’s like “damn it, I used that plugin?” And the demos are now the kind that make random audio dropouts so I can’t sneakily commit that insert and forget about it 😆 Totally - I'm at the point where I just feel like I can't trust them, so I'm shying away from using their plugins. I mean, I'd been using them less and less over the years anyway, but there are a few that are still really, really good, and now I'm very hesitant to even instantiate them. Yeah, I know what you mean. It’s almost for security purposes at this point…like “better have a version of RVox that opens on this operating system just in case”
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Post by sean on May 30, 2023 13:07:15 GMT -6
Reluctantly WUP for Waves plugins…everywhere I work has updated their computers at this point and just had to do it. Wasn’t too bad, remember you can get WUP through third party dealers and Plugin Discount hooked it up…more than 25% less than going through Waves Here's hoping they don't re-abandon users in six months... Yeah…unfortunately there’s been a few things where I’m opening up an old session or something I worked on elsewhere and it’s like “damn it, I used that plugin?” And the demos are now the kind that make random audio dropouts so I can’t sneakily commit that insert and forget about it 😆
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Post by sean on May 30, 2023 12:51:11 GMT -6
Reluctantly WUP for Waves plugins…everywhere I work has updated their computers at this point and just had to do it. Wasn’t too bad, remember you can get WUP through third party dealers and Plugin Discount hooked it up…more than 25% less than going through Waves
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Post by sean on May 29, 2023 7:50:17 GMT -6
If you are building a studio to try and attract outside engineers and artist, you should be focused on tracking, and not mixing. So many people mix from home...from the biggest to smallest names. However, they usually can't track bands at home. The studios that are busy here in Nashville are nice TRACKING rooms...places where you can fit half a dozen musicians and record live. Mix rooms, much less so, because everyone's doing it from home. Call up Sound Emporium, who have two rooms booked almost every day, and I guarantee you 95% of the sessions are for tracking, and 5% are for mixing. That's why so many mix rooms are being turned into Atmos rooms because that not something you can easily do from home (yet).
Personally, if I saw a Shadow Hills Mastering Compressor in a studio rack, I doubt I'd use it, because I've not used it before and it has too many options/knobs and if I'm tracking I'm using stuff I'm willing to commit to tape/DAW, and I don't have 15 minutes to fiddle around and see if I can understand what makes that thing sound good.
For me, if I'm booking a studio for a project, what I'm looking for is 1) the space itself 2) the microphones 3) house instruments (mainly piano, organ, Wurlitzer, Rhodes...stuff too big to bring with you) 4) console 5) headphone system 6) outboard
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