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Is in the box where its at?


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So there is no way I will ever be able to afford an SSL or Neve, or even an API console. SO! the question is it smart to buy 8 or 12 same brand mic pres to act as my "Main console-like pres" (solid state of course) and have 2 or 3 tube UA, Avalon, and Focusrite pre for special tube pre vocals. Then for looks/connivence get like a control surface to impress people and make digital mixing more easier on me? Then just outfit my outboard with all the compressors that my little heart desires? My engineer still things I should thinks I should fork the money for an SSL. We would never get the return on an analog digital board anyway. Any ideas out there in Logic land????
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@Studio517:

 

Are you really tracking 8-12 things simultaneously which require treatment

in such a sophisticated way before they're committed to a track ?

 

I disagree with your engineer on this one. Getting a big desk may well

"impress" clients who walk in the place but your objective ought to be

to genuinely impress them with the quality of the work in progress that

they hear in the control room. That will be achieved by your having the

gear which you find fluent to work with and easy to adapt to your clients'

needs in real time.

 

A control surface of some kind which interfaces reliably and consistently

with Logic's mixer pane will probably yield better results, faster, for you

and for your clientele. I really do believe that the days of artists walking

into studios and throwing hissie-fits because there isn't a Neve in the

room are dying fast. Everyone (or at least everyone who is savvy) knows

how music is made these days.

 

A few good mic-pre's in the rack does no harm and the money is well

spent when it comes to getting good vocals tracked, but there's no need

to go mental about this and buy them by the dozen.

 

With an unlimited budget, sure you could buy in a big desk and spend

half-a-lifetime figuring how its routing works, but how much of it will

you (or your engineer) actually make use of ? Who needs a $200k coffee

table ?

 

-

pH

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Yes we actually do track 12 things at once. I like a big drum sound, so I throw a lot of mics on it. I was suggesting that I use only few tube pres two or three for a different vocal pre sound, and just have a nice multiple set of solid state pres that are nice. I've heard great stuff about API 512c's and the SSL Alpha channel is supposed to be ok. I just need a few multiple pres that I can go to that I know are awesome on drums guitars and bass.
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OK.

 

If you want direct-to-digital, the MOTU 8PRE isn't at all bad.

About $550. ($70/channel). 8 in a 1U, so a bit fiddly.

 

A little better is the Focusrite Platinum at ca. $200/channel.

1 per 1U. Very sturdy.

 

I use a TLA 5001 but only because I can flip any channel to

DI input, which is useful for my sort of work.

 

A colleague of mine has 2 Presonus channels (called the "Eureka",

I think) which are excellent but he paid dear for them I believe.

 

-

pH

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If you want some serious mic pres:

 

http://mercenary.com/micpres1.html

 

Happy salivating. :D

 

Actually, getting one or two of their API 6 bay Lunchboxes and filling them with 512 preamps is a pretty good bang for the buck. You're well under 1000 USD per channel with that. Plus there's a slew of vendors offering stuff, (even kits) in the 500 series format.

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Yeah, I used some API stuff at a studio in ATL for guy and I was impressed. The way look at doing something like this in the box for a studio. I'm not 50-500K on a console. So if you know you can get clients make the money back, profit, and have creditability then go for it. Personally I don’t agree with my engineer either. The money needs be sank in my interfaces and converters first, and everything that falls next in line. Granted a console may look awesome in the control room, but I think one of you guys said it best when you said "100k for a coffee desk is too much". My buddy Ocean Way in Nashville tells me that in the box might the future for major artist (because they like feeling like rock stars behind that big monster, and they can afford to feel that way). For other people though like me, In the box is the best way to go if you only do one or two major artists a year (which I deal with none at the moment, and they don’t come to me I go to them at other studios).

Hey David thanks for the Pre suggestions (That’s exactly what I was thinking)

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