Recent content by Russtopher

Parallel compression is almost a "must" when mixing extreme styles of metal - my kicks and snare are almost always paracomped when mixing a metal project, so they cut through and give some weight to the low end. Here's another great resource with examples on parallel compression on metal drums...

^ditto. I also have the 1641, just recorded 12 tracks at the same time (live band "demo" recording) with zero issues, on an older Core 2 Duo laptop. AFAIK, the 1641 has phantom power in groups of 4, while the 2000 switches power on in pairs.

Hey! His side projects with Ty Tabor, Platypus and Jelly Jam, were great! I'd rather listen to those bands than a few of the newer King's X albums...

Processor, available memory, disk drive speed/available space, if you're running effects in real time while recording, etc. I've never had a problem recording 8 tracks at once on an older Pentium M laptop using my Firepod, but I have heard people discuss that their PC's specs/condition have kept...

Yes, as long as your PC can record those tracks without any problems, you can use those inputs and then use your DAW to compensate for any volume differences while you're mixing.

Sure. I recorded using a Firebox for almost 3 years, using the Recorderman and Glyn Johns mic techniques. Condenser overheads went into the XLR plugs for phantom power, then kick and snare mics went into the back using XLR to 1/4" plugs. I never had an issue with volume concerns.

Hydrogen's not bad, and it's free. It can be a bit of a PITA to install new drumkits, but the Metal kit does sound quite nice. When I used it I would export the drums individually so I could EQ/process them more and sit them into a mix. The grid layout is very easy to use. Since I got SSD Ex...

Very true, that's why I recommended checking it in the mix first :) Depending on the style of music, I sometimes will compress the grit track a bit to even it out if it's more of an overdrive than distortion. If it's going through a hi-gain ampsim, then no compression. I really like your second...

Copy your DI track, and on the second track high pass anywhere from 200k to 800k (adjust to taste) and low pass around 2000k. Add a distortion plug in, or run it through a guitar amp sim, then blend that in to taste with the original track. Depending on the type of distortion you're putting on...

When I was in high school, we had some leftover kevlar heads after marching season (we had tried them but decided against using them due to sounding like we were hitting formica) and we got to each grab one. So I put one on my Pearl Export snare and cranked the crap out of it to get a...

I had a Mars Pro, the precursor to the Pro M series. That thing survived a flood and 2 East Coast tours with a hardcore band and still sounded great. Didn't look so hot, but it still sounded great :) Recently recorded a Pro M kit and thought the toms sounded fantastic.

So what's wrong with the chain? Why do you feel it needs to be improved?

I've had success in doing almost what he's advocating, usually in heavier rock music. Copy a single bass track, use one for the low end, and the second gets aggressively high passed, then gets a bit of distortion added to it and compressed like a mofo. Buss the two together, compress, and add in...

Ditto to the above - if you're using Reaper, just do a quick render of the ampsim track and mute the original DI to help free up a lot of CPU; I do that as well. Another decent, low-CPU ampsim is the older Simulanalog Suite - http://www.simulanalog.org/guitarsuite.htm The JCM 900 with presets...

Just to make sure.... you are using a speaker simulator after most of the AcmeBarGig stuff, correct? The majority of their amp sims are head-only, and you need to use a speaker sim in line after the heads. I believe they recommend LePou's LeCab for use (which I really like), IIRC only DIG comes...