Cheaper Sounds Better??

[mentalattica]

Hello everyone,

I have a pretty simple question but the answers maybe quite complicated.

I Used to use a MXL v93m (aka mxl 2003) microphone, Art Tube MP connected to my Dells intregrated 16bit sound card. The results were just OK, something I would just play for friends.

Last year I purchased an AKG C3000B, Echo Layla 3G, Studio Projects VTB-1, BX5 Monitors and Mogami Gold XLR & Instrument Cables. At first I was amazed at the difference, but now that I listen to it (as well as others with Totally Untrained ears) my cheaper setup sounded better.

Well, to make a long story short after Hurricane Katrina I lost all of my equipment and just replaced it with a more limited buget. My current set up is a M-Audio Firewire Solo, Shure KSM27 (I liked this mic better than the C3000b on my voice), Presonus Tube amp, DX4 Monitors and the same Mogami Gold Cables. (Please don't flame me for my set up, I'm on a truly limited buget)

Now common sense would tell me though that this set up would sound comparable to the one before it, which it does in a sense but still my first "cheaper" set up sounds better to me and others who don't have a clue what a XLR cable is...lol I use the exact recording and mixing techniques, which I do admit I am a novice at with 4 years of "learning as I go". What can be the problem in a nutshell?

Also I have recorded on 3 different CPUS with all ample RAM (512-1gb) and processor speeds (1.6ghz-2.8ghz).

 

[ermghoti]

Total guess: your old gear was darker sounding, and less detailed, so the recordings with the new gear expose problems in the room or with the source sounds, and the cheaper pres and converters smear the sounds together, hiding wierd sounds and performance inconsistancies. Kind of like the bartender turning the lights on at closing time.

 

[shackrock]

yeah good guess i say erm.

For I while i was recording vocals with an sm57/58 in a little closet space with carpet on the walls and stuff.

Anyway, after I picked up a condensor mic and set it up in that room, it was 100 times worse. That was 4 years ago (ish), and ever since then I've now been recording in the middle of my basement, with minimal walls near-by. MUCH better. ha.

 

[mentalattica]

Erm that could be partially correct, but the oldest recordings actually sound very bright compared to the newer ones but IMO it's due to the difference of mics.