3630

[raven46]

i got an alesis 3630 the other day and i have a fostex vf16

i have no pre amp at the moment

will i be able to get a good vox with just 3630 and the vf16 without the pre amp

or any compressor and mixer with out a pre amp, this is just my set up

is the pre amp essential.....

[Kevin Deschwazi]

The Fostex has preamps built in. Unless you want to spend a fair bit of money on a proper upgrade I'd stick with those. It's unlikely you can properly bypass them anyway.

The 3630 seems to be universally loathed, never used one myself. There are some apparently good mods around.

Seeing as you own the gear you are probably in a better position than us to say whether or not you can get a good vocal sound.

[raven46]

nice one,

i got the 3630 for nothing but was'nt sure what the story was about using it with a pre amp and the vf16

i asked about the vox coz i wont be able to cheak it out till the w/kend and tought someone might have the same or similar set-up

if the 3630 is universally loathed its a good thing i got it for nothing

[Kevin Deschwazi]

You can patch it in via the inserts.

If you're handy with a soldering iron there are some mods here:

http://www.recording.org/e-mag/article_81.shtml

[Renascent]

I often use 3630 when trying to attain a really really, really compressed sound. I've probably used it on 2 out of the last 18 mixes I've done, and never on a vocal. Drum overheads for one project, and once to attain a desired effect on a reverb for a "dance" track.

It's a cheap compressor, but it can really give a lo-fi compressed sound if thats what you're going for. At really low threshold/ratio (3db reduction) (2:1 or less) it's fairly transparent, but after that.. unpredictable.


If you decide you want to get rid of it after getting it for nothing, I'll throw ya a few bucks and cover shipping! It's a nice little thing to have around though.

[xstatic]

There is a really good chance that you will get a better vocal sound without the 3630. Generally it is a pretty useless box and I dread things every time I run into one.

[raven46]

Renascent, cheers for the offer but since this is my first bit of rack gear and my first compressor(minus guitar compressors) i'm gonna hang onto it and experiment with it, it will do as a good starting point and learning curve...

[MOFO Pro]

Originally Posted by raven46

Renascent, cheers for the offer but since this is my first bit of rack gear and my first compressor(minus guitar compressors) i'm gonna hang onto it and experiment with it, it will do as a good starting point and learning curve...

Believe me... all you'll learn is bad habits... Results can be unpredictable at best, and rarely what you'd expect from better units... I'm not saying to get rid of it (especially at the price (Istill have the one I bought 20 years ago... mainly because resale is so bad... It's currently between my TV and Reciever )... but don't expect settings from the 3630 to translate to another unit... not a good compressor to learn on (except for what not to buy )

It's amazing that (even at the price) this is the all time best selling audio compress on the market)

OMG!!! I've turned into a Gear Snob

[raven46]

mofo sell it to Renascent.............

im not looking forward to setting this thing up now, i was all happy coz i got a free compressor, oh well its no wonder why.....

i cheaked it out and thomann sell it for 111euro, so how dose it compare to the behringers and others in this price range max 200euro,

i would'nt buy any of those units id sooner spend the money on acoustic treatment or something you know your gonna get value for money, i'd wait untill i had at least 500euro to spend on a compressor and i know thats only gonna get me an alright to averageish compressor unless i get lucky on ebay or something, and then all the amount of rack gear you have is irrelevent if your cables, signal, monitors, singer, mic, room treatment and so on are not up to scratch and then there is technique and experience and of course you have to have good songs...

good songs sound good no matter what there recorded on or with, but put it through a good set up with a magic set of ears and fingers and a good song becomes a great song...

[Renascent]

I guess I'm the only one on the board who doesn't completely hate the thing :-P
It's good to practice learning gain reduction and stuff like that. Like I said, it has its uses, its just not pretty. For a vocal, you might want to check out the FMR stuff.. RNC..RNLA .. or maybe lower ended "tube" compressors like the ART Pro VLA (stereo 2channel, supposed to be pretty nice for the $)

Let us know how it goes. good luck!

[soundchaser59]

The 3630 gets bashed all the time, but every pro studio I've ever been in has one..... must be a reason....

[MOFO Pro]

Originally Posted by soundchaser59

The 3630 gets bashed all the time, but every pro studio I've ever been in has one..... must be a reason....

Never been in a pro studio without a toilet either... must be a reason... yeah, definetly

[Harvey Gerst]

Originally Posted by soundchaser59

The 3630 gets bashed all the time, but every pro studio I've ever been in has one..... must be a reason....

I have NEVER seen a "pro" studio with a 3630 in it - never.

[pdadda]

I'm with renascent. It has its uses. If you want to hear the compressor pumping, then use it. Works well for ducking everything to the kick in dance tracks if you like that sound.

[warble2]

Originally Posted by soundchaser59

The 3630 gets bashed all the time, but every pro studio I've ever been in has one..... must be a reason....

Hmm, interesting. Is that pro studio or "pro" studio?

[Ford Van]

http://www.phoenixlightandsound.com/...ecretHeart.mp3

Two channels of 3630 on that one. Guess which tracks. In fact, http://www.phoenixlightandsound.com/Audio/SkyBlueMind , every track in there has at least 2 channels of 3630.

A box is only useless when the operator lacks the skills to use it to it's fullest potential!

There was a member here many years back, I for the life of me cannot remember his name, who owned a 4 control studio in England somewhere who had 3630's in all 4 studios. He had quite a few artists he had worked with that were on the European charts. His work sounded great!

Is the 3630 my first choice of compression? Hell no!!! But, it works worlds better than some other choices out there, and on some things, it really shines!

[Lt. Bob]

Originally Posted by Ford Van

http://www.phoenixlightandsound.com/...ecretHeart.mp3

Two channels of 3630 on that one. Guess which tracks. In fact, http://www.phoenixlightandsound.com/Audio/SkyBlueMind , every track in there has at least 2 channels of 3630.

A box is only useless when the operator lacks the skills to use it to it's fullest potential!

There was a member here many years back, I for the life of me cannot remember his name, who owned a 4 control studio in England somewhere who had 3630's in all 4 studios. He had quite a few artists he had worked with that were on the European charts. His work sounded great!

Is the 3630 my first choice of compression? Hell no!!! But, it works worlds better than some other choices out there, and on some things, it really shines!

ditto to that.

I want to emphasize that this is just my opinion but whenever I see a musician obsessed about the tiniest bit of gear where it all has to be just so before he can play, then it just becomes an excuse for not playing well. ..... I can assume that he puts more thought into the gear than playing because the great players obsess over the tiniest errors in playing and timing and what they can do to get better. Sure ... they know what gear is going to work well and that's what they use and they try to have the best stuff they can ..... but when it comes down to putting the notes out there ..... they quit thinking about the gear and just play. Any musician that can't play because he doesn't like the gear he has isn't a very good musician. You have to produce with what you have and get the most out of it. And obvious exceptions are gear that is so bad that it's not functional so please spare me the obvious in that no musician can get anything out of gear that's just flat out broken ..... I'm simply talking about say, an Epi LP Jr. versus a PRS.

I imagine the same is true of recordists ..... the great ones get the most out of what they have regardless of what that might be. Do they know there is better stuff? Sure they do ..... but a good one can get acceptable results out of whatever they end up having to use.

[SonicAlbert]

That said, a great msucian playing a great instrument is going to sound better than a great musician playing a mediocre instrument. Likewise, a great engineer using great gear is going to produce better results than a great engineer using mediocre equipment.

[MOFO Pro]

Originally Posted by Lt. Bob

...because the great players obsess over the tiniest errors in playing and timing and what they can do to get better.

Come on... a musician playing through gear he doesn't like is an angry frustrated artist... How can you be satified with equipment that doesn't capture, or at worst, masks the subtle nuances that make a great performance... Though I do believe that really, really, talented musicians can play without tuning...

[boingoman]

Originally Posted by MOFO Pro

Though I do believe that really, really, talented musicians can play without tuning...

So can all the shitty ones. And they do.

[Lt. Bob]

Originally Posted by MOFO Pro

Come on... a musician playing through gear he doesn't like is an angry frustrated artist... ...

A musician that gets that distracted by things he has no control of is a pain in the ass. That's the same guy that also plays like crap on a song he doesn't care for or plays like crap if he doesn't like the venue or the dressing room or how someone looks at his date. I hate guys like that ..... I don't hire them again ..... and they're the guys that the other players talk about when they're discussing who they don't like to work with.
The reality is that you play with what you got and you get what you can afford. Sure, everyone prefers the best but lack of the best isn't gonna stop someone that really has the music jones .... it'll only stop posers.
Charlie Parker ..... one of the greatest players in history played a lot of his most famous stuff on a piece of shit plastic sax ..... he didn't like it and it was a total piece of crap that I've never heard anyone say was anything else but crap. And he was on record as saying it was a terrible horn. But it was all he could afford so he made some of the most important jazz music of all time regardless because that's what he had.
I have good gear ...... but if tomorrow all I had was an Epi LP jr and and piece of crap student horn I'd still be playing ..... working all the time and, after an adjustment to the crappy horn, making decent music with it despite its' limitations.
It always amazes me how many times when I say this someone pops up to tell me what a real musician thinks. I've played about 11,000 paying gigs and I've done absolutely nothing but play music for 40 freakin' years and I know pro musicians as well as anyone here and better than most and if someone really has the music in their blood they'll find a way to make it with what they can get their hands on and there's plenty of historical examples to back that up. When I'm looking for people to play gigs ..... I'm looking for someone who talks about playing ..... if I hear them talking about nothing but gear and how, "Oh, I have to have this or I just can't play" ..... then I can be pretty sure they're fairly amateur by my standards.

I'm [i]not[/] saying that good players don't care at all about their gear. Hell, they're gonna be far more aware of what constitutes good gear than anyone else. I know good saxes better than anyone here ..... but if my ax got stolen and all I could get was a Jupiter piece of shit then I'd be gigging with the Jupiter and I wouldn't think of it at all while I was playing ....... I'd still be trying to play stuff that people would talk about and unless the horn was totally unplayable I'd find a way to do so.

[travelin travis]

Maybe some folks ears are more sensitive to shitty gear than others.

If I'm playing thru a crappy rig I'll make the best of it but it does bother me. Once you get a taste for the good stuff it's hard to go back to using crap and keep a smile on your face. It is for me any way. From what I've seen, guys that can just blow off their sound probably don't have a clue as to what their sound is.

As far as playing a song I don't like, I don't play songs I don't like. Why would anyone? If you're making money off of playing songs you don't like you're either really hungry or playing music for the wrong reasons. If you're really hungry, get a restaurant job for god's sake. If a band mate is trying to shove a song down my throat, fuck him. That's his problem for being a dick, not mine. I would never do that to someone. It's fucking wrong! It's like a gay guy trying to talk a straight guy into ass sex. Fuck no, it ain't happening buddy!

You wouldn't like playing with me Bob. Plug me into a Crate and ask me to play some Winger and I'll likely tell you to fuck yourself.

[MOFO Pro]

Originally Posted by Lt. Bob

on a piece of shit plastic sax ..... he didn't like it and it was a total piece of crap that I've never heard anyone say was anything else but crap. And he was on record as saying it was a terrible horn

And if it didn't matter to him why would he go on record with that... and he ditched it as soon as he could afford better... Why? Because he knew that a better horn would let him present a better performer (not make him a better player).

Originally Posted by Lt. Bob

I'm [i]not[/] saying that good players don't care at all about their gear. Hell, they're gonna be far more aware of what constitutes good gear than anyone else. I know good saxes better than anyone here ..... but if my ax got stolen and all I could get was a Jupiter piece of shit then I'd be gigging with the Jupiter and I wouldn't think of it at all while I was playing

How could you not... as your fingers ached 10 minutes into the set from the horrible action, as you worked up the neck and started going flat because of the crappy intonation... as the frets buzzed away every time you put any emphasis behind it.
Could an artist with two tubes of oil paint create a masterpiece? Of course... he'd be no less of an artist... but think of what he could do with a full pallet... Could a formula one driver race in a volkswagon beetle... sure... would he still be a great driver... yup... would he feel any satisfaction as the other drivers passed him like he was standing still... I doubt it... he'd be slammin' the steering wheel cursing the crappy POS car

Bob- I've seen you post on this topic before... You're very passionate about it, and I respect, and in most ways agree, with your opinions on professional musicians. But your blanket statement that it just doesn't matter... I can't agree with. I never stated that a musician couldn't perform with crappy gear... just that it would be frustrating to do so.

[Ford Van]

Just like I thought, not a one of you can determine what tracks the 3630 was used on those mp3's.

I discount all you guys judgment concerning this compressor! I mean, if it is so aweful, it should be quite obvious when it is in use right?

[chessrock]

Originally Posted by Ford Van

Just like I thought, not a one of you can determine what tracks the 3630 was used on those mp3's.

I discount all you guys judgment concerning this compressor! I mean, if it is so aweful, it should be quite obvious when it is in use right?

It's obviouly on the triangle track.

Duh.

.