Advice/suggestions needed on a combined pre-amp/graphic equaliser/ mixer/ compressor!

ey_tony

New member
Maybe you guys can suggest what I possibly need. Many, many years ago I was a full time touring solo singer-guitarist and did it for a living for 13 years but gave it up to be with my young family in 1980 and never touched another guitar seriously until a year or so ago but have since got the urge to play for fun and have built up a home recording studio.

I have a pair of quite large Samson Resolv A8 75 watt active studio monitors, a Zoom R24 ( 24 track recorder) and I feed my guitars ( including bass) through my Yamaha THR10 amp and into the R24 via the amp's headphone out. I have a collection of guitars ranging from Fender to Gretsch and a couple of bass guitars so I really want for nothing except for one thing. I have four other amps including Fender but playing a guitar through my THR10 patched through the R24 and fed into the AR8s gives fantastic guitar sounds suitable for recording and comparable to just about any amp in a studio.
It's been a long time since I sang and I'm just beginning to get back some of my old vocal ability but still have a fair way to go but I imagine I can get there with practice.
I have a couple of Shure SM58s for vocals ( very similar to my old stage days mikes) which suits me vocally and a couple of Shure SM57s for acoustic recording. I have some decent sets of headphones which are ideal for recording too.
I also have a TC Harmony Singer pedal so I have most of what I want but before I get fully back into recording my vocals, I'd like some means of modifying my initial vocal output before it actually reaches the R24 recorder.
There really isn't much that I need apart from early stage mic modification.
I'm thinking that something along the lines of a pre-amp/graphic equaliser/mixer/compressor would be what I want as I'd rather modify any vocals before the final recording WYSIWYG style rather than use a computer to do the mods so have you any suggestions for what gear I might need?
If I go down the mixer/graphic equaliser/compressor route it wouldn't need many channels as it would essentially only be for modifying vocals and possibly the occasional single guitar at the same time.
Any advice or suggestions welcome.
 
yeah a channel strip or golden-strip as they call it.

first one popped in my mind is the ISA 220 and the bigger brother 430.
on the cheaper end the ART MPA into the ART VLA combo.

the most common seems to be the NEVE1073 w/eq into a LA2A or 1176 compressor...hence the multitude of clones.

Universal Audio- LA610 is a tube preamp-eq-comp (LA2A) mono channel strip, or the 6176..same thing but with a 1176 comp.

Around a grand for the full rack versions. I dont know anything about the condensed 500 series stuff.

I like the old Joe Meek VC1 stuff, its around $400.

You can do all that ITB inside the DAW you know, and then save the $1000. My drill down reading of so many articles is the compression is so light you cant hardly hear it unless its a severe deliverate "effect"....but at 2:1 or 4:1 its hardly noticeable (so why buy it?)

Actually the most common is the Neve Clone 73 type stuff for a preamp ....its to a point its kind of boring, but there it is, thats the most often copied and cloned if you read a few hundred posts.
then the 1176 or LA2A clones...

but you'll spend as much as a LA610 by then , and the LA610 is really nice strip for the same cost.....preamp-eq-comp and impedannce/ DI / pad..talking used of course.

DBX, Symetrix, APhex, and others make channel strips too in the $100 to $300 range.
 
yeah a channel strip or golden-strip as they call it.

first one popped in my mind is the ISA 220 and the bigger brother 430.
on the cheaper end the ART MPA into the ART VLA combo.

the most common seems to be the NEVE1073 w/eq into a LA2A or 1176 compressor...hence the multitude of clones.

Universal Audio- LA610 is a tube preamp-eq-comp (LA2A) mono channel strip, or the 6176..same thing but with a 1176 comp.

Around a grand for the full rack versions. I dont know anything about the condensed 500 series stuff.

I like the old Joe Meek VC1 stuff, its around $400.

You can do all that ITB inside the DAW you know, and then save the $1000. My drill down reading of so many articles is the compression is so light you cant hardly hear it unless its a severe deliverate "effect"....but at 2:1 or 4:1 its hardly noticeable (so why buy it?)

Actually the most common is the Neve Clone 73 type stuff for a preamp ....its to a point its kind of boring, but there it is, thats the most often copied and cloned if you read a few hundred posts.
then the 1176 or LA2A clones...

but you'll spend as much as a LA610 by then , and the LA610 is really nice strip for the same cost.....preamp-eq-comp and impedannce/ DI / pad..talking used of course.

DBX, Symetrix, APhex, and others make channel strips too in the $100 to $300 range.

Cheers for the reply.
I did think about doing most of the vocal editing in a DAW as I have no problems or issues working with computer software having just built myself a latest high spec games machine but I suppose coming from an era when any recording was done on 1/4" or wider magnetic tape and having done 250 live gigs minimum per year for 13 or 14 years, the idea of editing/modifying vocals before final recording appeals as I always preferred recordings which had that slight rawness to give the recordings a slight edge. It's not exactly easy to explain but I'm not looking to make absolutely clinical/sterile recordings perfection...I want a bit of live edge to them to give them impact as these are mainly for posterity and for my two daughters who asked me to do them.

I did consider buying something like a 'Behringer XENYX QX1832USB' mixer or something similar which would probably help me do most of what I want but if I found it doesn't, then I can always fall back on working with a DAW.
I can build and assemble all the individual guitar, keyboard and drum tracks and edit and balance them via my R24 but I just need to be able to record and balance the vocal tracks with the correct tonal and echo/reverb settings with basic compression before a final mix down. It would also help if the instrumental tracks had some compression on certain recordings. I also still have my old 1960s WEM Copycat echo unit which fortunately still works fine and gives better and slightly warmer and more live feel vocal recording results than the usual inbuilt rather sterile digital reverb/echo functions but the Copycat needs taming a little when it comes to using it for recording to get the most from it which is why I think a multi function mixer is probably the way to go for my needs.

i guess I need to do a little more research and look at your suggestions to see which might be best for me.
 
Hey Tony

Cool Cat gave you a lot of great suggestions. I'd like to echo one of them: the Universal Audio LA-610. There are two models. I've had the original "silver face" MK1 version for 11 years. I bought it specifically for vocals, and it's wonderful. You can pick them up used for $750-$900 US. I think the MK2 sells new for 1600. Regardless - it's a great channel strip and if vocals are your main concern, it's a great box. If you can find a used silverface, it's well worth it. Obviously if you can afford a new one - go for it! But that's a lot of coin to cough up.

Best of luck dude.

Sean
 
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