Heading down to Mercenary Audio (500 series)

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jeliot86

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I have an opportunity to drive down to Mercenary Audio on Monday to check out some high end gear. I have read countless threads and have a pretty good Idea of what I'm looking for when I head down there. But I don't want to give those ideas away yet......:) I want your opinions.......they mean more.

I will tell you this I'm going the 500 series route ( dahhh the title :o)

I'm looking for probably either 2 mic pre's or 1 pre and 1 comp for now. My band records Dave Matthews, Bare Naked Ladies, and Jack Johnson type of music really acoustic and vocal heavy but also have some pretty heavy rock songs.

Mic's

RE 20
Rode NT5's (matched pair)
Rode NT1a
Cad e-100
SM58
Beta 58a's

Recording in Sonar (MOTU 828)
Hoping you guys might have some suggestions before the BIG DAY! I feel like a kid on Christmas eve. Or Maybe some one is also into this type of music and has some tips on 500 series equipment you could share, it would be greatly appreciated. We won't forget you when we hit it big time:D

Ggap
 
You don't need anyone's opinion here, just let the Mercenary guys know what you want and what you're style is and they'll set you up. And for the 500 series, there is likely no wrong choice.
 
For vocals in the 500 series, THE BEST (IMO) is Avedis ma5. Unfortunately, I don't think they carry that brand at mercenary. They'll probably steer you towards API 512, and it's hard to go wrong with that one as a starter. For any acoustic instrument, you should seriously look at the Forssell 500 series pre amp. Unbelievable detail and clarity at a great price. In fact, if I was you, I'd cancel the trip to Mercenary and just get a Forssell and ma5. You'd have two killer preamps!
 
Go to Mercenary. It's to gear buyers what disneyland is to kids. Just fun to see all the gear.
+1 on the MA5, though. You should definitely get a pair of those. High Profile Audio sells em.
 
mamm7215 said:
Go to Mercenary. It's to gear buyers what disneyland is to kids. Just fun to see all the gear.
+1 on the MA5, though. You should definitely get a pair of those. High Profile Audio sells em.
Click to expand...
I see from your signature that you have a drawmer 1968ME. I just bought one, but don't have it yet. What are you using it on? How you liking it?

Sorry, didn't mean to hijack:o
 
Using it on just about everything! :) Tracking vocals and bass (just a touch on the way in) and on final mixbuss to see if it suits the song. Most of the time it does, sometimes not but it's a great PRO piece (my second, behind my A7's). The fact that they can be had for about $1000 now second hand is silly. Great unit, you'll love it.
 
jeliot86 said:
I have an opportunity to drive down to Mercenary Audio on Monday to check out some high end gear. I have read countless threads and have a pretty good Idea of what I'm looking for when I head down there. But I don't want to give those ideas away yet......:) I want your opinions.......they mean more.

I will tell you this I'm going the 500 series route ( dahhh the title :o)

I'm looking for probably either 2 mic pre's or 1 pre and 1 comp for now. My band records Dave Matthews, Bare Naked Ladies, and Jack Johnson type of music really acoustic and vocal heavy but also have some pretty heavy rock songs.

Mic's

RE 20
Rode NT5's (matched pair)
Rode NT1a
Cad e-100
SM58
Beta 58a's

Recording in Sonar (MOTU 828)
Hoping you guys might have some suggestions before the BIG DAY! I feel like a kid on Christmas eve. Or Maybe some one is also into this type of music and has some tips on 500 series equipment you could share, it would be greatly appreciated. We won't forget you when we hit it big time:D

Ggap
Click to expand...

Allright, so yesterday was Monday, whadya get?
 
...hope you got the 512c's. Those things are the swiss army knife of preamps. I hear the Burl Audio stuff is good too though...

So...what did you get? :D

Frank
 
All I can say is WOW!!!!!!

Thanks for the advice guys, It's much help!

If any one lives in the New England area...you have got to schedule an appointment with these guys and check out their Studio. Sean gave us a full tour of the studio, played us some songs that were tracked in "The Meth Lab" and just plain spent time with us. We were there for over 3 hours and I think we spent an hour actually picking out the gear. We left there a hell of a lot more knowledgeable than when we walked in, never got pushed toward any gear, and I will say this with utmost certainty.....I will never buy any high end gear anywhere else.

We ended up going a little different road than we had expected with the gear but with good reason. We got a Purple "ODD" EG and a Pico 500 Compressor to go in the "Lunchbox". For now he thought we would get more with those and continue using our MP20 "Jenson tranny's" than upgrading the pre amp and waiting on the EQ or Comp. The EQ will help tame some of those unwanted high airy frequencies the Asian mics (e-100) tend to produce and just help us get it sounding the way we want. I have just dipped in to these puppy's today and tonight is the big test. But I can tell you that the EQ is fantastic and the Pico well you can slam this thing with everything you have and it still sound good. I'm going to give it a shot in my Parallel compression buss for Drums tomorrow. AHHHHHHHHHH Gear.............don't you just love it, my wife thinks I would leave her for my Gear if she wasn't such a good........................................COOK!

I'll keep you guys posted

thanks again

Ggap
 
Very cool. I've been seriously thinking about that pico comp. After you've had a chance to try it out on a few different things, come back and give us a report.
 
Update

Tracked some vocals last night and man did that Purple EQ do wonders. Let's put it this way after what I was able to do using this EQ and my RE20 my brother has decided to use the RE20 as his primary vocal mic. Of coarse the mic alone fits his voice well but it never quite gave us the high end we were looking for. The more you boost the frequency's the more this thing purr's. It even made our Beta 58 almost get close to the RE20. The CAD still has some more work but we may even be able to get that thing close to the sound were looking for with this EQ. (my brother likes his vocal with a lot of body and less highs).

The Pico compressor smoothed things out perfectly, though I still have a lot of messing around to do with this to give my full opinion on it, but right now I can't see bringing this back to spend 200 more on something else. From what I gather there is limited Quantities of these baby's so I would grab them why you can regardless.
 
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