3K to spend haphazardly.....

  • Thread starter Thread starter BRIEFCASEMANX
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BRIEFCASEMANX

BRIEFCASEMANX

Winner chicken dinner!
Here's what I've got so far.....

-Presonus Firepod
-Soundelux u195
-Chandler TG2 preamp
-DMP3
-Sennheiser e604
-SM57
-MD 421 mkII
-Studio Projects C4 matched pair
-Wharfedale diamond pro 8.2 active monitors

I KNOW I need better conversion so I was probably going to get a mytek 2 channel A/D and use it to clock the firepods A/D/A as well, but what else should I consider with the rest of the money? It would be nice to get more mics to mic up a full drumset or better SDC's or monitors or etc etc, but what do you guys think?
 
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How are you handling reverb, compression, EQ? With plugins on a DAW? I might look for a good outboard compressor or maybe some DSP card-based effects like the UAD stuff or TC electronic.
 
At this point I don't know if I'd feel comfortable printing effects direct to hard disk. I want to get a distressor sometime down the road though.
 
I'd go with a nice pair of SDCs for OH like the Josephson C42mp and a nice stereo pre.

Or a couple of versatile LDCs like 414s.

You've already got a nice pile of gear there, tho.

-Casey
 
BRIEFCASEMANX said:
At this point I don't know if I'd feel comfortable printing effects direct to hard disk. I want to get a distressor sometime down the road though.
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I can see your point, although some instruments/voices are almost invariably compressed or reverbed and if you have mixing limitations (like a lack of CPU power or poor quality plugin effects) you sometimes end up doing effects up front. Probably a bad practice from a technical point of view but, hey, what are you gonna do!

Do you have available slots on your DAW that could accomodate a card-based effect setup? How about extra room for a firewire-based system like the TC Powercore?
 
Supercreep said:
I'd go with a nice pair of SDCs for OH like the Josephson C42mp and a nice stereo pre.

Or a couple of versatile LDCs like 414s.

You've already got a nice pile of gear there, tho.

-Casey
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I have been eyeing the josephsons but you think I need ANOTHER pre? The Chandler TG2 and the DMP3 are both stereo pres, TG2 colored and DMP3 clean, not to mention the Firepod has 8 pre's.
 
dwillis45 said:
I can see your point, although some instruments/voices are almost invariably compressed or reverbed and if you have mixing limitations (like a lack of CPU power or poor quality plugin effects) you sometimes end up doing effects up front. Probably a bad practice from a technical point of view but, hey, what are you gonna do!

Do you have available slots on your DAW that could accomodate a card-based effect setup? How about extra room for a firewire-based system like the TC Powercore?
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I am truly not interested in buying more software than will be obsolete before i know it, when what I really need is to get all the fundamentals down, i.e. a great hardware setup that will last me a very long time. I feel it is important to do this before I start getting stuff that will not last me a long time. After I make these next purchases I may be in a position to consider UAD or Powercore though.
 
I had another thought. Instead of spending haphazardly, why not spend with a plan in mind. Step one: Upgrade AD/DA (as you indicated) but rather than getting the mid-level Myteks, go for eight channels of Apogee AD/DA IN/OUT. Step two: Down the road, add a summing box like the Dangerous two bus.

http://www.mercenary.com/2buscom.html

You will end up with high quality converters to match your Chandler, Soundelux, etc. and you will enjoy the benefits ofanalog summing.
 
BRIEFCASEMANX said:
I have been eyeing the josephsons but you think I need ANOTHER pre? The Chandler TG2 and the DMP3 are both stereo pres, TG2 colored and DMP3 clean, not to mention the Firepod has 8 pre's.
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Well, you DID say haphazardly....

War :cool:
 
Warhead said:
Well, you DID say haphazardly....

War :cool:
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Okay then, I will buy another stereo preamp, Warhead. Case closed.
 
dwillis45 said:
I had another thought. Instead of spending haphazardly, why not spend with a plan in mind. Step one: Upgrade AD/DA (as you indicated) but rather than getting the mid-level Myteks, go for eight channels of Apogee AD/DA IN/OUT. Step two: Down the road, add a summing box like the Dangerous two bus.

http://www.mercenary.com/2buscom.html

You will end up with high quality converters to match your Chandler, Soundelux, etc. and you will enjoy the benefits ofanalog summing.
Click to expand...

Hmmm, have you used both converters to know for sure that the apogee is much better? An apogee rosetta 800 is 2750 while the comparable mytek is 2500, not a very big difference, but I am very interested in hearing about different converters. I am interested in the 2 channel mytek because I hear the clock is great and I want to reclock the firepods converters so they'll sound much better. A 16>2 summing box, as well as more than 2 channels of conversion are overkill unless i upgraded my Firepod(maybe I should spend the money on that?) because the Firepod only has 8 outputs and an spdif digital I/O. Thanks for your replies :) .
 
Make sure the room you're in is a nice room. Get it sorted, build diffusers, buy foam, soundproof etc.
 
BRIEFCASEMANX said:
Hmmm, have you used both converters to know for sure that the apogee is much better? An apogee rosetta 800 is 2750 while the comparable mytek is 2500, not a very big difference, but I am very interested in hearing about different converters. I am interested in the 2 channel mytek because I hear the clock is great and I want to reclock the firepods converters so they'll sound much better.

A 16>2 summing box, as well as more than 2 channels of conversion are overkill unless i upgraded my Firepod(maybe I should spend the money on that?) because the Firepod only has 8 outputs and an spdif digital I/O. Thanks for your replies :) .
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I've never done a direct comparison between Apogee and Mytek converters. For that you might see if the 3d Audio converter shootout cd has both:

http://www.3daudioinc.com/catalog/p...id/31?osCsid=fff49fcd541a8e0d3ef0356606fdef75

I'm not sure about the exact setup of the Dangerous summing box, but I'm guessing that you would route eight channels of the Apoggee DA directly to its inputs. The two channel output of the Dangerous would then go to some type of external CD recorder. So, the firepod would not necessarily be in the chain. Again, I'm not positive about this process because I've never done it and I don't have the equipment. I do know from too much late night reading that it's a convenient way of improving the quality of your tracks by summing using analog rather than digital equipment. Of course, you could really shoot for the moon and drop 3k (or a lot more) on a full-fledged console instead of the summing bus. (NOTE: All of this is based on the premise that analog summing is superior to mixing inside the computer. Some doubt this premise, but if you buy into it, the quality of your recording setup does not end at your computer. Your hardware has to include high quality DA conversion for BOTH monitoring and multi-channel output for mixing. Personally, it sounds plausible given the way many high quality studios are configured. But its also depressing. You've spent thousands of dollars getting sound into the box and now people tell you you have to spend just has much getting it out!)
 
If you need to spend it haphazardly, why not just buy 3 grand worth of Chinese food or something? :)
 
dwillis45 said:
I had another thought. Instead of spending haphazardly, why not spend with a plan in mind. Step one: Upgrade AD/DA (as you indicated) but rather than getting the mid-level Myteks, go for eight channels of Apogee AD/DA IN/OUT. Step two: Down the road, add a summing box like the Dangerous two bus.

http://www.mercenary.com/2buscom.html

You will end up with high quality converters to match your Chandler, Soundelux, etc. and you will enjoy the benefits ofanalog summing.
Click to expand...

There is NO way that Myteks can be considered mid-level, especially compared to Apogee.

Myteks may not be at the same level as Lavrys maybe, but my choice would be the Myteks over the Apogees.

I do agree that good AD/DA is a great way to start. I was not happy untill I got 8 channels of good Lucid AD/DA. I am looking forward to upgrading to Myteks in the relative near future.
 
I think you are on the right track regarding upgrading your AD conversion with two channels of something better. Besides the Mytek you could also consider the Apogee Rosetta 200 or the Universal Audio 2192. These cost more, but you also get DA conversion (and some other features in the Rosetta).

The prices on these units vary, so it leaves you with differing options for what to do with the leftover money. In any scenario you would still have perhaps an additional $1,000 to spend, which I think you should consider putting toward better monitors. If powered, don't even look at a pair under $1,000.

If you get the Mytek you'd have enough left over for some better monitors plus a mic or two.

In any case, I think your original thoughts of upgrading converters and monitors to be the right course of action.
 
BRIEFCASEMANX said:
I have been eyeing the josephsons but you think I need ANOTHER pre? The Chandler TG2 and the DMP3 are both stereo pres, TG2 colored and DMP3 clean, not to mention the Firepod has 8 pre's.
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Sorry, I thought the TG2 was a single channel.

-Casey
 
fraserhutch said:
There is NO way that Myteks can be considered mid-level, especially compared to Apogee.

Myteks may not be at the same level as Lavrys maybe, but my choice would be the Myteks over the Apogees.
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When I said "mid-level" I meant price not quality. I assumed, based on another post, that BRIEFCASEMANX was contemplating the Mytek Stereo 96 DAC wich goes for just under 1k. And 1k puts it somewhere between a flying cow and most of this stuff:

http://www.mercenary.com/addaconversion.html
 
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