Hardware for pro level production

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Bootzilla

New member
I know that skill is very important and takes time to develop. Right now I have a lot of pressure/expectations on me to produce pro quality audio. I am constantly studying. I don't have much budget and am currently using:

MXL V67g mic, Electrovoice N/D 257 mic, Shure Prolouge mic, Lexicon Lambda AI, as all of my hardware. I use digital processing and digital sounds 98% of the time. Is that chain sufficient to give me the results? Would a quincy jones/dr. dre/Bruce Swedien be able to continue there success with that.

I am willing to do whatever it takes to get my music to that highest level. I just don't want to go on naively thinking that top tier skill will override the equipment. Anyway thank you!
:):):):):)
 
Monitors?
Treated listening/recording room?

Where's the 'pressure' coming from?
What/who are you recording?
 
I have some regular speakers. and I use beats audio headphones. No special/treated room. I am asked to do a few singles and an EP for Universal Publishing and to pitch to A&R also I have been getting a lot of calls to produce for various artist mostly rappers. Guys love my music, though I am much more skilled at that than I am at the technical side of producing.
 
Bootzilla said:
Oh what do you mean by pressure??
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You made the statement "Right now I have a lot of pressure/expectations on me to produce pro quality audio."

Obviously, we all want to make everything sound as good as possible. Upgrading your monitors and room treatment would be your best bet to relieve the 'pressure'. And get off the headphones man. A great thing for tracking, a bad start for mixing. IMO of course, though, I am not wrong in my opinion. :)
 
Bootzilla said:
MXL V67g mic, Electrovoice N/D 257 mic, Shure Prolouge mic, Lexicon Lambda AI, as all of my hardware. I use digital processing and digital sounds 98% of the time. Is that chain sufficient to give me the results? Would a quincy jones/dr. dre/Bruce Swedien be able to continue there success with that.
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NO and NO....
 
Thanks!! Sorry the pressure is from my manager haha and people who want to work with me!! People want to work with me and I don't have the tools. Like I was hit up by a jazz band to make some cuts for a radio release I couldn't do it or at least didn't believe I could and didn't. The band leader had played with a lot of massive names. I have been meeting big name and people who play with big names and want to better utilize it.
 
Improvements in quality come with time and experience. Obviously great gear helps but, I would rather hear the worlds best musician on the worlds worst equipment than the worst musician on the best gear.
If you're getting attention from people like you say, I'm sure your quality cant be that bad. If they've heard the stuff and want to work with you you're probably doing well with what you have now.

But I would say the most important parts are treatment and good monitors. With a good sounding monitor system my $20 behringer xm8500 sounds much better because I know how to amplify its strengths.
 
Bootzilla said:
Would a quincy jones/dr. dre/Bruce Swedien be able to continue there success with that.
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Well, they could certainly make the most of that gear assuming they have their solid listening skills and of course:
mjbphotos said:
Monitors? Treated listening/recording room?
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Because no matter your gear, no matter your years of experience, no matter how finely-honed your listening skill, you will only ever hear as accurately and consistently as your monitoring chain allows you to hear. And no matter how accurate and consistent your monitoring chain, it will only ever be as accurate and consistent as the room they're in.

Headphones (which are pretty worthless in the real world) need not apply.
 
They've said it haven't they:
1) room
2) treatment of room
3) monitoring system
4) headphones are for listening to little bits of detail NOT the whole sound with a lot of reasons why
&
5) if you're going to record a band you need the space/room/gear to do that
IF you're getting pressure to take on these tasks you need to put pressure on those people to get you into a space where you can do that.
Your reputation will be zero if you try to do the work you've been asked to do with the gear you say you have in an untreated room.
 
Yup to all of the above. Truly professional level recordings and mixes are a result of of a great sounding room, excellent hardware (including monitoring), the user's experience and talent--and, of course, the talent of the musicians being recorded. Even if one of these building blocks is missing the finished product will show it.

There's one more unfortunate truth though...particularly on the hardware side, the increase in quality compared to the increase in cost is not linear. A microphone costing twice as much as your V67G will not sound twice as good--it'll just sound "better". Each little increase in quality will mean an exponentially bigger financial outlay.

(Of course, that's the pessimistic view. The optimist will say that this means the V67G will be "almost" as good as Neumann!)

If I had to rate things in order of importance, I'd say the number 1 thing is the skill and experience of the operator. Number 2 is the sound of the room (but, with careful placement of microphones you can get away with a lot). Number 3 would be the quality of the monitoring...and all the other hardware is number 4 in importance. However, a caveat on this is that the gear has to hit some basic level of quality--a $5 Frisco Disco mic won't cut it...but when you get to things like the V67G, you get a darn good result for not much money. A better mic might result in more "warmth" or "clarity" or "sparkle" but we're talking subtle differences.

But I still contend that the talent of the musicians and the operator are the paramount thing. If you have any doubt, just listen to Jackson Browne's "Running on Empty" album where many tracks were done backstage, in hotel rooms and even on a moving bus with a cardboard box for the kick drum.
 
Pardon me if I am missing the picture but it seems to me that you are more of an artiste rather than a producer/engineer? If that is the case or to a certain extent true, I would suggest focusing on what you are good at and work with some else to get the other half done. Self producing isn't always a good thing and working with someone else will help you work better.

Especially if it comes to gear and experience. You can't setup a pro sounding signal chain on a budget and be good at it quickly. Setting it up costs a lot and takes up a lot of time. If you are already under pressure, no reason to give yourself more.
 
Thanks a lot guys!!! I have a friend who has a studio that is equipped with these things and is offering free studio time. I just felt guilty about accepting it sounds like I don't currently have so many options with my equipment and budget. I while just treat him generously when I am done cutting this set of projects!!! Again thank you so much for the info! I would have never thought of these things on my own I swear! hahahaha I just practice know very little about gear and what not :P This new generation of artist . . . hahahahaha
 
I am definitely more experienced with being an artist. I have great ideas in terms of producing I'm just not a master technician and it is difficult to meet all my obligations. I am doing 15 shows in January and am expected to cut a HQ EP/singles by year end while prepping for all those shows. I understand that someone who is a committed full time engineer/producer is going to be able to improve faster than me it's just hard to find everything clicking. I'm sure it will though. It helps to hear from those of you who have been actually doing it because you have more experience and therefore can help accelerate my learning curve. I have to be at an elite level of skill and work ethic to get where I want in life :D Again thanks so much for your knowledge. I'll gladly listen and apply ALL of it!!!
 
Bootzilla said:
Thanks a lot guys!!! I have a friend who has a studio that is equipped with these things and is offering free studio time. I just felt guilty about accepting it
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Contract with your friend to bring him clients, you get a commission for the finders fee, and you get your name associated with getting the job done.

Great musicians with amateur gear will go a lot farther than great gear with amateur musicians. The listener can detect amateur musicianship immediately, but they wont necessarily hear whether you used a $99 dollar mic or a $9000 dollar mic.
 
kidkage said:
indeed.

we list that under "room treatment- mood lighting" here :D
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LOL you guys are silly!!!!

Reporter:"So what broke you to the elite level"
Me:"The wonderful folks at Homerecording dot com turned me on to lava lamps and it was hit records from there on"
Reporter:"That makes no sense what-so-ever!!!:wtf:"
Me:"And that's why I'm in the music industry!"
Reporter:":facepalm:"
:D
 
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