recommendations for upgrades???

  • Thread starter Thread starter MovingOnStudios
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MovingOnStudios

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whats up guys. i'm new the forum but i've been reading for a while. there is some great insight and knowledge in this board so i thank all of you. anyway, i'm running a protools setup (digi 002r) with a tascam dm-24 as the mixing board/consol. i have a few mid line tube pre-s but i'd really like to start tweaking the sounds i'm getting....which aren't bad now (check it out www.myspace.com/movingonstudios) . any recommendations on gear would be awesome. i have about a grand US (1,000$) to spend and am thinking about a pre/processor for vocals and maybe a rack piece for gating drums? thanks in advance!
 
people can't really give advice unless you put all your equipment. Like mics, monitors, any outboard gear you may have. etc.
 
I have an 002r and also a DM-24. The DM-24 has gates on channels 1-16, so I don't know why you'd need to buy a rack unit for that.

Without knowing what other gear you have, it's always a safe bet to recommend upgrading to a nice outboard preamp. Or if you already have that, to upgrade mics. But like Elmo89m said, it would help to know what other gear you are currently using.
 
gear list

hey guys, thanks for the quick responses...and sorry, i should have known to list all the other gear, as it does have a big deal to do with the sound and what i need...so here it is

KRK v6 monitoring
ART TPSII dual pre
DBX 266XL comp (it has a simple gate also but not good enough)
behringer autocom pro 2 channel

as far as mic's
beta 52 on the kick
sm 57/58 on toms
octava mk219 pair for OH's
57 or senneiser e609 on snare and guitars
marshall v67 or sm58 on vocals (looking at a rode nt1a)

your right on the gate/comp/eq/fx on the dm-24. i love the Fx and the compressors on board but i have never gotten a good result with the gates, they always sound digital/fake no matter what i do....the dbx 266 and the autocom have a small gate section as well, but it still isn't really all that great...basically i just want better separation for kick/snare. not total obviously, just better....maybe even on the toms as they ring a lot in our room, even with tape,moon gel, etc etc. anyway, thanks again for the response and patience.
 
MovingOnStudios said:
octava mk219 pair for OH's

marshall v67 or sm58 on vocals (looking at a rode nt1a)
Click to expand...

These two things jumped out at me. I've read that the Oktava 219 is aweful, even compared to the 319 (see mojopie.com for details). You might want to look into a pair of SDCs, since these could make better OHs and be useful in other applications.

As for the vocal mics, I have an NT1a and it's useful for some voices and can work in conjunction with a dynamic on guitar cabs and acoustic instruments. I would recommend something more versatile, however, because I don't think it will add much beyond what your v67 is capable of. Maybe a ribbon mic, like the Oktava ML52? I'm wanting one of those myself.

Best of luck.
 
New mic pres -
Neve Portico (I just ordered one :) )
RNP
M-Audio Tmpa

New Mics -
Baby Bottle
AKG 414
Audix VX-10
CAD VSM (this thing is sweet)
 
Warhead said:
Hey Deepwater, you like that VX-10 on vocals?

War
Click to expand...

Its an awesome vocal mic. If yoo guys gave on around the store you should give it a try or have your rep send you one. I use it on my wifes vox. Its a very transparent mic yet sounds smooth.
 
Yeah, I've heard it on vocals also and thought it was extremely nice as well...you just never find anyone mentioning it!

War
 
i would upgrade pre's.

Brick, rnp, or sytek would be what i would take if i could

also when your in the medium grade equipment area room treatment could give you the biggest upgrade for your money
 
As far as gates, I can suggest a few analog ones.

There's the Aphex 612 and 622. These are full featured gates and can operate very fast. Nice boxes. I used to have a 622, but sold it because I just don't use gates that much anymore.

Another option, if you need something like 8 gates, is to get a DBX 900 rack lunchbox and fill it with 904 modules. This would cost a bit for the whole package, but once you ahve the 900 rack you can add the gates gradually as finances afford. i really like the 904 gates, I used to have a pair of these as well and they sounded very musical to me. Ultimately, I needed the space in my 900 rack for other stuff, but I do like 904 modules.
 
thanks

very cool guys. thanks alot for the responses. i'm going to deffinatly look into them and see what best fits what i'm doing. i'll post some before and after audio to show the differences. i know its going to fix the couple of problem areas i have. keep the responses coming if you have them.

randall
movingonstudios
aszelle
 
Have you used plug in gates? Typically you would just cut the waveform and you could do fade outs on the hits if you like. Of course on toms this makes sense but on snare and kick that's a whole lot of cutting...in Nuendo using the "detect silence" feature can be nice but I'm not a fan of gating the snare and kick anyhow.

War
 
gates

i have used a few plugin gates...i've just started getting into using gates so i don't have it down totally. i understand the concept but just can't get them as 'real' as i want. do any of you guys have any general parameters to start out around for gating toms and snare.... thanks so much

randall

p.s. what plugins would you recommend, gate wise.
 
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