gear to warm up my digital recordings?

M

marquardt

New member
My digital recordings lack warmth. They're all recorded directly in to an aardvark q10 using it's pre-amps and is in no way processed until after it's been tracked.

I haven't experimented with many other digital recording gear, and am beginning to wonder if the a/d converters are a part of the problem.

Regardless, what I'm interested in doing is purchasing a hardware pre-amp and/or compressor that will warm the sound in a pleasing way, and is somewhere in the middle price-range.

Actually, if you guys could suggest something in all three price-ranges low, middle, and high, that'd be very helpful.

The songs are available at www.purevolume.com/fredsfear/music

The MP3's are available and don't have to be streamed, so you can download them and listen to them properly.

Any advice would be greatly appreaciated.
 
You could get a fatso

Or on the lower end, you might consider an ART Pro VLA.

Honestly, though, I don't know if you're going to get what you want out of a compressor or a mic pre. Lack of warmth I generally think of as being a result of bad microphone selection. i.e. -- using a mic with a noticeable high end boost on something that doesn't need it. Or using a condenser where a dynamic or even a ribbon might be more appropriate.

The source and playing technique play major roles as well. Bashing the crap out of nasty-sounding cymbals or overly-aggressive strumming on an accoustic guitar as if you're mad at it . . . are good ways of making things sound "not warm."

The list goes on.
 
Last edited:
marquardt said:
Good idea Chris. I 'll just pull one out of my ass. Thanks for the help.
Click to expand...

Your personality could use a bit of warming up as well........perhaps if you pull out the stick first, it will be easier to get that tape deck out of there.
 
marquardt said:
My digital recordings lack warmth. They're all recorded directly in to an aardvark q10 using it's pre-amps and is in no way processed until after it's been tracked.

I haven't experimented with many other digital recording gear, and am beginning to wonder if the a/d converters are a part of the problem.

Regardless, what I'm interested in doing is purchasing a hardware pre-amp and/or compressor that will warm the sound in a pleasing way, and is somewhere in the middle price-range.

Actually, if you guys could suggest something in all three price-ranges low, middle, and high, that'd be very helpful.

The songs are available at www.purevolume.com/fredsfear/music

The MP3's are available and don't have to be streamed, so you can download them and listen to them properly.

Any advice would be greatly appreaciated.
Click to expand...

A lack of "warmth" (puke) is always shitty A/D and D/A converters. Look to them for your "warmth" Compressors and pre-amps don't add "warmth" They both have a "sound" that you either like or hate.
 
acorec said:
A lack of "warmth" (puke) is always shitty A/D and D/A converters. Look to them for your "warmth" Compressors and pre-amps don't add "warmth" They both have a "sound" that you either like or hate.
Click to expand...

This comment seems a little too absolute to be 100% correct.
 
acorec said:
A lack of "warmth" (puke) is always shitty A/D and D/A converters. Look to them for your "warmth" Compressors and pre-amps don't add "warmth" They both have a "sound" that you either like or hate.
Click to expand...
Well put...!
 
Blue Bear Sound said:
Absolute or not, he's right!
Click to expand...

Why?
What do better converters offer in terms of "warmth"?
Better definition in the low/high ends?
Stonger signal overall?
Not a validity of statement question.
A "i dont understand question".
Do i just have to go breakdown, and buy an apogee to understand?
Or is there a more scientific answer to the question of how "warmth" and "converters" co-relate.
 
Culture Vulture!! ~1995

I heard this thing in action and its FUKKING AMAZING....things sound a little 2d/flat/thin etc. add CV and watch things become full of life and get rounder/fuller shit was amazing. A little can go a long way. I just heard it on the 2bus I could just imagine adding it to drum bus and individual synths when mixing.

I never heard the fatso in action though.
 
xfinsterx said:
Why?
What do better converters offer in terms of "warmth"?
Better definition in the low/high ends?
Stonger signal overall?
Not a validity of statement question.
A "i dont understand question".
Do i just have to go breakdown, and buy an apogee to understand?
Or is there a more scientific answer to the question of how "warmth" and "converters" co-relate.
Click to expand...

Oh,man........There is so much to it that a dissertation paper would only cover 1/8th of it.

When analog tape ruled the planet the $$$ was spent on pro tape decks to get the best sound. Now, most people concentrated on the tape width/bias/etc. and blamed it for the lousy sound vs. pro stuff.

I have a Fostex E16 and an MCI 2" machine. The dfference in sound is night and day. The difference in build quality is that my MCI has its own zip code (meaning the physical size of it due to the mass of the tape drive table). That is how big this machine is. The secret, then, was *stability* and not necessarily tape width. The 2" machines have such mass in the drive mechanisms that the tape could be accuratly written to. The electronics were far superior to the semi-pro machines and the difference in price was ten-twenty fold higher.

Now, with digital, we have to accept the fact that writing to a magnetic storage device (hard drive) ain't rocket science anymore than writing to 2", 1",1/2" or 1/4" tape is. The difference is what the data being written looks like. Today, the $$$ in the digital domain are the A/D,D/A converters and nothing else. The $$$ are spent in the high-end conv's on stable clocks and expensive filters (where the "sound" and "warmth" come from like the analog tape decks electronics). It will not change because it *can't* change. The integrity of the converted signals are the very essence of the "sound".

Bad converters have cheap components that create phase problems in the filters as well as cheap clocks that are all over the place (not to mention cheap A/D,D/A coverters themselves). Converter technology is where all the manufacturers are spending their time to improve. I will tell you from experience that I have a half-dozen high-end pre's that will dissapoit you tremendously if they were to be hooked up to your system. The pre-amp and mic blaming is the most common thing (read some posts and see the common complaints). So, if you have decent converters, then you should not hear anything but what you record + the "sound" of the filters. Only then would pre-amps and better mics even be relevent.

Botton line: Converters are 99.9% to blame when talking about "warmth" or the lack of in the digital world.
 
Dude i dont even know what kind of converters i own??!!
I have a digi002 and a Focusrite octopre...
Am i gonna hear a big difference when i hook that apogee up?
Or does my stuff cut the warmth mustard??

It bothers me to think i could have just bought better converters in the first place.
 
A cheap mic plugged into a cheap pre shot through a cheap converter will not sound great when compaired to a great mic plugged into a great pre shot through a great converter.
 
Farview said:
A cheap mic plugged into a cheap pre shot through a cheap converter will not sound great when compaired to a great mic plugged into a great pre shot through a great converter.
Click to expand...

ok............
 
It's not the fault of the digital medium. And it's less about sounding "warm" and most about just sounding "right". Your studio is one entire system - and there's lots of areas that can contribute to things not sounding right.

1. Room Acoustics: Standing waves caused by parallel walls will literally kill frequencies. If you think something's missing it could very well be a lot of your music that got eaten up by the room and never even made it to the mic. Getting the acoustics in your room in order is at the top of the list for better sound.

2. Analog Circuitry: The digital medium in the last several years has gotten pretty advanced and sounds very good. What sounds bad is all the shit analog circuitry surrounding the digital medium. Crappy mic pres going through crappy cables to crappy A/D converters. And then on the way back out - again - crappy D/A converters.

Those first two things are the biggest offenders for things not sounding right.

There's no use in getting a Fatso or running the final mix to tape or doing anything else to "warm" up digital recordings. It's not the digital part that needs warming - it's the analog part.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top