compressor or preamp

[thomaswomas]

my band have just had some recent home recordings mixed in a pro studio by a top engineer. i was so impressed by the results i had to ask a few questions about how he got the songs to sound fatter and more fuller than they were before. without giving away too many of his secrets, he said he ran some of the tracks back through some outboard valve/tube stuff to get the warmth that budget digital converters lack.

i've since been looking to buy some kind of valve/tube gear to get our demos sounding fatter but i'm a bit confused on whether to go for a preamp or a compressor. my budget is £300 (obviously not a lot) but i've seen a lot of items around this price range.

will i be able to get the full, warm sound with just a preamp or do i need to go for a compressor instead, and whats the difference?

any advice?

thanks

 

[zradioman]

Hmm

What are you looking to fatten up? What do you mean by fatten up?

Bass
Vox
Mix

I use a Groove Tubes Brick on Vox and Bass which is a pretty good entry-level real tube pre ($250-300 used). Sounds natural adds a bit of compression-Helps those individual tracks stand out a bit-

If your trying to figure out what he did to your tracks- good luck.
I don't know to many mastering geeks who'll break everything down. . .besides how do you break what "sounds good"- down?

If I do something that sounds great and someone asks what I did to make it sound so good I reply. . ."I don't know". . .because really, I don't remember!

 

[zacanger]

Wow, holy cliched question. The answer is, the cheapest t00b pre worth buying is the brick. Anything cheaper is crap. Don't even THINK about PreSonus or ART or something like that.
While no one would argue that tube gear has a certain colour, you could make that argument for any gear. A big part of the increase in quality is most likely room, mics, and skill, and not running the tracks back through tube gear.

 

[XLR]

...my budget is £300... will i be able to get the full, warm sound with just a preamp or do i need to go for a compressor instead, and whats the difference?

Sorry, amigo but you're going about this all wrong.

 

[Kevin Deschwazi]

Who knows what the engineer did but it wouldn't have just been the gear he used that made it sound good it would have been how he used it. What you're probably hearing is a just a good mix, the gear is secondary.

There's nothing you can buy for £300 that will magically transform an ok mix into a great mix.