eq for post production

[EVT]

Hi everyone,
.. I was wondering what you all think about toft?
I am looking for an eq that I will run my final mixes from my fostex 16 through before the cdrecorder. I basically want to warm the tracks up a bit and tweak a little on the eq.
I was looking at this as a possibility.
http://www.frontendaudio.com/Toft%20AFC-2.htm
Please share any other recommendations.. this range in price or under.
thanks,
evt

[Richard Monroe]

Yo EVT. The AFC-2 is a 2 channel mic preamp with EQ. I don't think you need 2 mic pres, you need a parametric or graphic EQ. I don't know about that unit, but if it is at all like the Toft ATC-2, it's got a pretty clean "just the facts" Burr-Brown preamp, and excellent EQ.
Note here- EQ will not "warm up" anything. It is useful for shelving uneeded frequencies to separate signals that are competing for the same acoustic space. It can be used to reduce noise, or to bring out or suppress certain components of the mix. "Warmth" is selective distortion, hopefully subtle, which airbrushes sound to remove a little of the detail. Sometimes detail and accuracy aren't the best thing. We'd often rather hear a pleasing illusion. It's like makeup. Just remember, with makeup, there's Chertl Tiegs, and there's Tammy Fay Baker. You can overdo it. Warmth usually, although not always, is generated by the distortion introduced into a circuit by running the signal through a vacuum tube in the mic or pre.
Also note that cheap tube mics and especially cheap tube preamps often claim to produce warmth, but really just produce nasty distortion. I think in this case, you are looking for an EQ unit, not a preamp with EQ.-Richie

[Fletcher]

Running a mix through one? If it's like the EQ on the ATC-2 then I probably wouldn't. Don't get me wrong, I really love the EQ on the ATC-2, it's just that it's more of a "production" tool than a "post production" [mastering] tool.

I would say that the Speck ASC-T is a much better tool in that application... as always, YMMV.

[Richard Monroe]

LIsten to the nice Fletcher. He speaks truth. To do it right, you would need 2 of those units. That's a little over $1000. In the greater scheme of mastering tools, that's wicked cheap.-Richie

[EVT]

Thanks Fletcher,
I know what I need to do now.
Save my pretty little pennies...

Would you recommend the lavengin or toft as a dual preamp to run drum machines to fostex vf16? What else is good/and budget for that purpose?

Richard nice studio I saw the pics... thanks for your help.
evt

[earworm]

you want to warm up mixes,

wellllll,

what i would look at is the Joemeek twinQ,
the newer version seems to be better than the old ones...

its got a compressor, which might be nice,
and the EQ can color your music more,
make it warmer if you want

but i like the joemeek sound, some people don't


so ehm, you don't even have a mixer to run your sound trough?
with EQ thats acceptable?

[EVT]

thanks for the post earworm...
Nope.. sadly I have a limited arsenal...if it is even an arsenal at all... I have a behringer mixer, and I would say it is unacceptable to me. I acually run it into a radioshack mixer that helps it out... it does actually warm it up.. it's an optimus ssm-1250 which is really like a dj mixer that I bet nobody would ever use. Strange but it sounds better to me and it's all i have. This is only for post production.

I record individual tracks... 2 at most with instrument and mic'd cab, or drum machine/stereo.. or keyboard/stereo. I'm using the safesound p1 which is great.
I should get a good little mixer... i thought soundcraft or allen heath.. but I thought the eq is more important for what I need right now.
I want endless amounts of equipment.... in time.....long, long, time......
evt