Checking for weak links....

[seismetr0n]

Ok
my general setup is -
Alesis Studio 24 mixer ---> Layla 24 A/D/A

i was wondering if anyone would consider one of these a weak link in the process....
i imagine the layla to be decent in terms of A/D conversion @ $100 channel (originally).... and i like the sound of the alesis over the sound of my other preamp (aphex 207D) ... but i havent tried a lot of other pres or A/D's...

any input is appreciated
thx

 

[SouthSIDE Glen]

I'm not sure in what context you're wanting to put the phrase "weak link" here. You're showing only two "links", the Alesis and the Layla.

Are they the best you can do? Of course not. It's all in the budget. Could you do worse than what you have? Sure.

Is the Alesis much better or much worse than the Layla? Is one of them holding back the performance of the other? IMHO, I'd say, no, they are a nice match in the bang-for-the-buck category.

Most important, there's no reason why, with care, you shouldn't be able to get very decent quality tracking out of that chain - all else on either side of those pieces being equal.

If you had to push me to find the weakest link there, I'd say that the mic pres in the Alesis are probably the closest thing to a quality logjam you have there. If you have a couple hundred bucks or so burning a hole in your pocket, I might say the next logical upgrade might be to get one or two channels of mic pre that'd be the next step up. If nothing else, the variety in mic pre sound will be almost like doubling the number of different types of microphones you have to work with.

But if you don't have the discretionary money, but you were just concerned that your gear is holding you back, I'd say don't worry about it. You have enough there to get you tracks good enough to make some decent mixes out of.

G.

 

[seismetr0n]

thanks Southside.. thats pretty much what i was checking .....

i have been considering upgrading the alesis.. probably to another mixing board (i like this setup).. maybe a soundcraft or something similiar...
you think i'd get any great sound upgrade with that or should i just wait til i get a couple thousand to spend on some really nice pres?

 

[SouthSIDE Glen]

Something like the Mackie Onyx, Soundcraft Ghost (I don't like the Spirits myself, but others will disagree), or even one of the better A&H's would be a nice upgrade overall. Of the three, I'd be tempted by the Onyx, though the larger Soundcrafts have a classic sound that's hard to apps up as well.

If you are going to be working ITB a lot, you might even want to look at something like the Tascam DM3200 which gives you full mixer with better pres than your Alesis *and* is a full-fleged DAW controller to boot. The best of both worlds there.

But even if you went to a new board, I'd recommend having one or two channels of different pres anyway, just to have the variety of sound and the choice. Sure you can spend thousands if you like for that (Grace, GML, Manley, etc.), and I wouldn't complain...unless you said I couldn't come over and use them .

But you could even keep what you have now, spend a few hundred for an ART MPA Gold or something along those lines, and give yourself a couple of channels of inexpensive preamp that will be well above and beyond what you have in your Alesis. Use those for vocals, acoustic tracks, etc.; stuff that can show off the extra polish. Practice your mic technique with that, get used to the tricks to matching mics to pres and making selections between the pres for different tasks.

And if/when you do upgrade the board and/or your other stuff in the signal chain, the preamps will not become obsolete; you will stall have something with a different characteristic sound than the 8 or 16 or 24 identical pramps in your board, and ones that you'll still find useful even if you mounted it right under your new UA preamp .

IMHO, BBB

G.

 

[TexRoadkill]

As much as I like working on a real board it's pretty much pointless to expand in that direction unless you can afford ALOT of outboard gear. It takes some serious cash to duplicate what you can do with plugins in a DAW. Especially if you're going to be doing different styles of music.

If you're just doing simple straight ahead stuff like bluegrass or punk then go for a used Ghost. I have one and they're hard to beat at around $2k. Otherwise start buying some nice preamps for a good front end and just mix in your DAW.

 

[Ethan Winer]

> i was wondering if anyone would consider one of these a weak link in the process <

The weakest link is always your monitoring - the loudspeakers you use and the room you put them in. Always. By a very large margin.

--Ethan