Well, you certainly have the right to your opinions. That song was recorded by me about 3 or 4 years ago. Personally, I am not concerned that you don't like it. One of the other songs I tracked and mixed off that album was responsible for winning a movie best soundtrack at a larger film festival. Obviously someone liked it.
What I want to know, is what have you done? You want to tear apart my work, based on one song that you know nothing about with circumstances that you know nothing about, but what have you done? You asked for advice, I gave you my opinion. I attempted to clarify when I realized that it sounded like I might be "putting you or your gear down". I gave you good advice, and when asked I even quantified myself. Then you try and attack me personally? Sounds pretty childish to me. I gave you what I consider to be good advice. I didn't force it at you or repeat it over and over or anything. I clarified myself and expanded on my reasoning to try and not offend you on a personal level, and after that I answered YOUR question. The funny thing is that I am still not quite sure what it is that got to you so bad.
Now that you have decided to go this route though, I can tell you what I really think of the s20.... First, certainly no Trident at least in the traditional sense and regarding the whole Trident mystique. The s20 completely misses the rich warm low mids that the classic trident consoles exhibit. Also, the s20 has ALOT more HF stuff happening than the actual Trident stuff out there (at least preamp only wise, not considering EQ's). This is what I meant when I said in some ways maybe better. However, the problem with the s20 in this regard is that it very easily sounds harsh and wears on you very quickly unlike the HF extension on Neve's, Chandler's, Pendulum's etc... Thankfully the s20 is not priced like those units, which originally the s20 was slated to be. At $600 to maybe $800 for 2 channels the s20 is probably a decent value. Any more than that and you start moving into a range where a whole different class of preamps take over.
As for the SSL, once again I never said it was bad. Its just that SSL's aren't really known for their preamps. They are known for their EQ's and comps, primarily the bus comp style stuff. I have worked on a few different SSL's, but have never used the new Alpha stuff. The pre's on the SSL's are certainly usable, but also nothing to write home about. I just can't see spending $1500 on 4 channels of "nothing to write home about". I figured you try and get $700 for the Trident if you are lucky, add that to your $1500. This gives you $2200. That is nearly enough for 4 channels of 500 series preamp and the lunchbox, a DaKing 4 channel preamp (if you really are after that Trident sound), 4 channels of Vintech, a 4 channel API etc... In my opinion, which obviously you don't trust since I have all this equipment and can't make a good mix, any of these recomendations are much nicer than the Trident or the SSL. Take all this how you will....
