Looking for a decent channel strip.

  • Thread starter Thread starter quietb03
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quietb03

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Right now I have a At4040 mic and MAudio 1814 interface... I want to look into a decent channel strip to bypass the pres on the 1814 and compress on the way in...some channel strips I was lookin at are:

Price Limit $500

DBX 386
Joe Meek SixQ
Presonus Eureka
M-audio Tampa...

Anyone tried any of these?
 
Some people are gonna ask you why do you want to compress on the way in?

If its just for getting your levels "right", you probably don't need a compressor.
 
quietb03 said:
To control peaking.
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The besy way to avoid going into the red is to track at levels where you are never in any danger of clipping.

That way you have some headroom for mixdown too (which is always nice).
 
DBX 386 is not a channel strip . No EQ , no compressor. Do you mean 376?. In your pricerange, I like the Tampa.-Richie
 
I like the Symetrix units. You can get those 528's off ebay for around 100 bucks a pop, and they're pretty good. Ugly looking, but good.

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For around $600 you could get the Safesound P1 (which is supposed to be excellent) or a Brick/RNC combo.
 
FWIW, I am extremely satisfied with my Mindprint Envoice MkII, which BTW was winner of best product for 2006 in its category in 'Electronic Musician' magazine. I would disagree with the comments made discouraging the use of analog compression on the signal while tracking. While not appropriate for every instance, I am achieving better results using the compressor while tracking certain sources (such as vocals and bass primarily), compared to my previous recordings made before I got the Envoice. They sit better in the mix and sound more like a professional recording. The use of plug-ins can be mitigated by the source being close to what I want to begin with. And plug-ins do add a CPU overhead to your computer.

Of course, learning how to use your tools is always the key to success.
 
j-boy said:
FWIW, I am extremely satisfied with my Mindprint Envoice MkII, which BTW was winner of best product for 2006 in its category in 'Electronic Musician' magazine.
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And we all know that EM is a bevy of unbiased and expert evaluation of recording gear. :D

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chessrock said:
And we all know that EM is a bevy of unbiased and expert evaluation of recording gear. :D

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Well, in this case they seem to be right. I can't vouch for all of their choices!

I was impressed by the build quality of the Mindprint for one thing... typical German attention to detail. I also looked at the Presonus Eureka and the Focusrite Platinum strips. Neither of them sounded as good, to me. I was kinda shocked at how little there was "there" on the Eureka... I mean when you turn it around and look at the back it's about six inches deep! Not much in there, know what I mean?
 
j-boy said:
I was impressed by the build quality of the Mindprint for one thing... typical German attention to detail. I also looked at the Presonus Eureka and the Focusrite Platinum strips. Neither of them sounded as good, to me.
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Yea. I'm a mindprint fan, myslef. I think they're pretty under-rated.
 
Not a fan of the Eureka at all, way too brittle and never liked the compressor. I do however LOVE my Joe Meek 3q. Half rack space, nice compressor, very usable eq and adds a great colored sound to most sources, especially vox and guitars.
 
TragikRemix said:
why dont you just lower the gain a tad??
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Doesnt come out as good like that, I dont have the nicest pres in the world...
 
quietb03 said:
Doesnt come out as good like that, I dont have the nicest pres in the world...
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If your pres aren't good, then it should actually come out better if you don't have to turn them up as high ... theoretically speaking. Unless they're just a steaming shit pile. Then you can just dismiss that last statement altogether.

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Remember you are aiming for -10 to -18 dB for recording at 24 bit. Massive explains it much better then me, but with the headroom that 24bit provides there is no reason to be hitting your converters even close to clipping. So turn down those pres and record like a real man :p :p :p :p :p :p :p :p .
 
Oh and if your answer to my first post in this thread was to compress for flavor, that would have been the right answer, and people could chime in with what compressor they like to use for flav'a. Like a 1176, or a distressor, those would give you flav'a!!!! Cheap side of things maybe a ART PRO VLA or one of the channel strips mentioned would give you some flavor that would be apealing to you. But to compress going into the box to keep peaks down is 9 out of 10 times a wrong answer to the "problem" of peaking.
 
quietb03 said:
Doesnt come out as good like that, I dont have the nicest pres in the world...
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well, i dont think that the Maudio1814's pres are that bad... its not a crap unit.

Are you just caught up in the hype that you need more gear!?!

Ah Is.
 
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