Studio Projects VTB-1?

[chessrock]

I just dare him to back up his claim that he has guts by posting under his real name and citing some of his work. To be honest, most musos I know are incredible name droppers, and I'm sure there is nothing preventing him from mentioning all the superstar clients he has worked with, even if he quite rightly can't post examples due to copyright.

The fact that he hasn't leads me to believe either:

1. This is all a hoax and he is some little punk 12 year old writing fake posts in between breastfeeding from his mother/sister.

2. He actually does work for a recording studio and uses some great gear, but spends his day recording advertising jingles for SPAM, and uses this forum to vent his frustration that he is not recording the superstars he believes he should be.

Honestly, who even cares?

If he is, indeed, the 12 year old ... then at least he'd be a step or two above all the dipshits on this board asking what the difference is between an SM57 and a 58. And at least he isn't starting threads asking what the best rap mic is for less than $10.

On the other hand, if he's the guy doing SPAM jingles, then he's probably still far more accomplished than all of these tired myspace bands who litter the mixing clinic begging for tips on how to bite your head off with their ear-splitting grindcore guitar riffs, while some constipated vocalist screams his head off in the background, trying to pass a kidney stone.

And as far as his engineering skills go ... who even knows? But again, at least he isn't that guy recording in his walk-in closet with his Radioshack mic, starting threads asking how to get his stuff to sound "more profeshunal like stuff I hear on my IPOD."

I like this guy, recordingpro. He made my day more interesting and bearable with his last few threads. And it pains me to see him getting tossed around this forum like a rag doll. I think I'm going to cry if this keeps up.
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[Daniel Reichman]

On the other hand, if he's the guy doing SPAM jingles, then he's probably still far more accomplished than all of these tired myspace bands who litter the mixing clinic begging for tips on how to bite your head off with their ear-splitting grindcore guitar riffs, while some constipated vocalist screams his head off in the background, trying to pass a kidney stone.
.

I think I found my funny bone, this made me laugh (probably 'cause it's true).

 

[mrface2112]

what's getting lost in the crap are these truths:

1. Studio Projects products allow people to make decent recordings at damn near bargain basement prices.

2. On average, Studio Projects products are of better quality than their same-priced competitors.

3. Alan Hyatt, irrespective of his "forum decorum" in the past, has never attempted to mislead anyone as to their origin or the nature of the beast that is Studio Projects.

4. Studio Projects as a company has fantastic customer service, which again, is damn near unheard of for a company catering to the "low end" clientele.

5. Once you've gotten experience with mics and preamps that are "better" (qualify "better" however you desire) than Studio Projects (or insert "other cheaper gear manufacturers here") products, it becomes very apparent that they do great for their price niche and that's about it.

6. Once you've gained some experience with this "better gear", the shortcomings inherent in the cheaper gear (which was working JUST FINE for you until you started playing with the better stuff), become VERY noticible. Maybe you don't want to notice the shortcomings, but eventually it becomes hard not to.

7. It follows that once you've gotten a taste of the "better" mics and preamps, be it in the flavoring they impart or the way they interact with certain vocalists or instruments, it's hard to go back to a "lesser" product.

8. These are all tools. Some of the tools help you to do your job more easily and more efficiently. Sure i can change a tire with a socket set or maybe a pair of pliers......but pneumatic impact wrench sure gets the job done a whole lot faster, easier and with fewer busted knuckles.

9. Generally speaking, the better gear is like the impact wrench--it helps you do the job faster, more easily, and without the bloody knuckles.

10. The gear doesn't mean shit unless there's a good song played by good musicians in a good room on one end of the gear, and an engineer with good skills, experience and ears on the other end of the gear.


cheers,
wade

 

[tone_aot]

Great post! You know what you're talkin about!

 

[warble]

Great post Wade and a +1 for you.

 

[chessrock]

1. Studio Projects products allow people to make decent recordings at damn near bargain basement prices.

As do plenty of other brands; Shure, Audio Technica, MXL, and CAD to name a few.

2. On average, Studio Projects products are of better quality than their same-priced competitors.

Your opinion. I think the above mentioned companies, on average, tend to range anywhere from "about the same," to "slightly better" to "noticeably superior" in almost every aspect. (MXL being about the same, CAD being slighly better, and Shure/Audio Technica being noticeably superior ... in my own opinion, of course).

3. Alan Hyatt, irrespective of his "forum decorum" in the past, has never attempted to mislead anyone as to their origin or the nature of the beast that is Studio Projects.

Okay. That's nice.

4. Studio Projects as a company has fantastic customer service, which again, is damn near unheard of for a company catering to the "low end" clientele.

Not true at all. In fact, most of the above-mentioned companies, again, all seem to offer similar outstanding customer support. With the possible exception of CAD ... which is, by no means, a reflection of their unwillingness to help ... just more of a lack of bandwidth (which is understandable give the fact that they're a much smaller company).

In fact, from my own experience, I would go so far as to say that bad customer service seems to be the exception, rather than the rule. Companies like Behringer and/or Nady definitely suck in that regard. Can't think of too many others off the top of my head, though.

5. Once you've gotten experience with mics and preamps that are "better" (qualify "better" however you desire) than Studio Projects (or insert "other cheaper gear manufacturers here") products, it becomes very apparent that they do great for their price niche and that's about it.

While that does seem to hold true for Studio Projects ... I don't feel that the same principle holds true for the others I mentioned; namely Shure, Audio Technica, and CAD. You find a source that any of these mics work on, and you keep on using it even after you get the quote-unquote-nicer stuff, because it still has a lot of uses, still sounds good, and can sometimes be ideal on the right source.

This probably doesn't hold true as much with SP gear, but I'm sure there are still people who keep it around, if for no other reason than you can never have too many mics lying around.

6. Once you've gained some experience with this "better gear", the shortcomings inherent in the cheaper gear (which was working JUST FINE for you until you started playing with the better stuff), become VERY noticible. Maybe you don't want to notice the shortcomings, but eventually it becomes hard not to.

In some cases, this might be accurate. But for the most part, you just find other uses for the cheaper stuff ... or maybe it just doesn't get used quite as often or whatever. But no; if you buy good-sounding gear, it doesn't all of a sudden just stop sounding good, just because you bought something more expensive.

Now if you happen to buy something better, you'll certainly notice a diffence right away. But "better" and "more expensive" don't necessarily go together. Especially in the case of Studio Projects, for example, where just about anything, regardless of price, will likely be better.

8. These are all tools. Some of the tools help you to do your job more easily and more efficiently. Sure i can change a tire with a socket set or maybe a pair of pliers......but pneumatic impact wrench sure gets the job done a whole lot faster, easier and with fewer busted knuckles.

Okay.

9. Generally speaking, the better gear is like the impact wrench--it helps you do the job faster, more easily, and without the bloody knuckles.

Only if it's a better match for the source. Which isn't always the case.

10. The gear doesn't mean shit unless there's a good song played by good musicians in a good room on one end of the gear, and an engineer with good skills, experience and ears on the other end of the gear.

This is about the only "truth" you've actually offered amongst a list of opinions and speculation. My own personal theory is that you can get much better stuff than SP for right around the same price, and with the same or better customer service. Why SP continually gets mentioned on these boards is really beyond my comprehension.
.

 

[mrface2112]

As do plenty of other brands; Shure, Audio Technica, MXL, and CAD to name a few.

absolutely. the plethora of mics available to the "home user" these days is just about staggering.

however, i was not using shure or AT as competitors to SP as they typically have their own mic designs and manufacturing rather than being a rebadger and QC'er of chinese imports. it's the "chinese importers" that i consider as "competitors", so MXL is definitely in that classification. not so sure about CAD falling in that category......

.....but in terms of "mics for at a low pricepoint", shure, AT, nady, behringer, CAD, cascade, heil, KEL and a number of other folks can qualify. I was simply referring to the "chinese importers" when i drafted my earlier statement (even though that wasn't apparent in reading it).

still......i do have a hard time counting shure and AT in that grouping. the AT4033, 4040 and other "lower end" AT condenser mics.....i hesitate to put them in the same "ballpark" as most SP mics. they're costlier and significantly better mics than the SP offerings. i hold the shure KSM series in similar regard.

IMO, there's a significant difference in quality between the sub $200 condensers and the condensers in the $200-400 range.

exception of CAD ... which is, by no means, a reflection of their unwillingness to help ... just more of a lack of bandwidth (which is understandable give the fact that they're a much smaller company).

i've never dealt with CAD myself. but plenty of folks whose opinions i value hold (at least some of) their products in high regard.

however, i've dealt with a LOT of small companies (both "audio" in nature and not), and it's my experience that a desire to be helpful doesn't always breed helpfulness. often with a "limited bandwidth company", it's customer service that suffers, and that's a shame. please understand that this is no reflection on CAD, but a generalization based on my experiences with smaller companies.

unfortunately, on boards such as this one, all it takes is one poster having a "bad customer service experience" for a company to be branded negatively......and in that respect, i reference the Old School Audio thread over at Gearslutz. both OSA and Nathan took a pretty heavy beating over what seemed to me to be a product error and some unfortunate miscommunication.....but it's a perfect example of how things can easily spiral out of control in the world of internet forums.

that said, it's the fact that SP gets regular rave reviews for their customer service on boards such as these (as well as the lack of customers with negative experiences), that IMO, speaks to their willingness to go that extra step.....they must know as much as we do how easy it is to get painted negatively. and that's in their favor, IMO.

Companies like Behringer and/or Nady definitely suck in that regard.

absolutely. and admittedly, as i said above, it was companies like nady and behringer that i was using as "competitors" to SP.

still, though, i don't think that if i drop the president of Shure or AudioTechnica an email, that i'll get a reply. however, that happens regularly with SP--as well as willingness to "talk shop". and that goes a LONG way in my book.

a great example of this is Ted Weber (Weber Speakers). an exchange of a half-dozen emails between the two of us that took maybe 10 minutes total out of his day not only got my business for a replacement speaker for my Champ, but also earned him future sales for my fender 4x10 cabinet. i wouldn't nearly be as ecstatic about it if it had taken him a week or more to get back to me. as a result, i'll loudly trumpet the spectacular service and products he offers.

Now if you happen to buy something better, you'll certainly notice a diffence right away. But "better" and "more expensive" don't necessarily go together.

very true--and that's the essence of what i meant.

howver--i don't think i ever used "better' and "more expensive" as synonyms. i did, however, use "cheaper" as a synonym for "not as good". i think both of those statements generally hold as true.

My own personal theory is that you can get much better stuff than SP for right around the same price

and i certainly would NOT disagree with that. In fact, i said pretty much the same thing a couple pages ago referencing an SM7 and Symetrix 528. i'll take an SM7/528 combo over a B1/VTB1 combo ANY day.

then again, the SM7/528 combo is about 2.5x the price (used) as the B1/VTB1 combo (new).

Why SP continually gets mentioned on these boards is really beyond my comprehension.

probably three reasons:

1. b/c Alan has put a lot of personal time into marketing his products (some would call it spamming) on boards like this. the squeaky wheel, the grease and all that.
2. b/c products like the B1 and VTB1 *do* do the job as advertised, and IMO, far better than the nady, behringer and many MXL offerings.
3. the aforementioned customer service.


as with anything, YMMV.......and for the most part chessy, you and i agree on the matter in principle here.


cheers,
wade

 

[crazydoc]

Why SP continually gets mentioned on these boards is really beyond my comprehension.
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It's because you and Gidge and DJL made such a huge deal of PMI/Alan a few years age. You've given SP a permanent place in recording history.

I'm sure Alan thanks you all in his prayers nightly.

 

[jmorris]

I own a couple of Studio projects mics so that makes it MY gear. And if I run out of mics, I might drag them out of the mothballs and use them.

As far as posting I'll have to see if I can get permission..it's pretty uncool to put someones music on the web without permission not to mention illegal.

let us know some of the bands web sites .they must have samples there. all the bands i work with do

 

[noisedude]

My own personal theory is that you can get much better stuff than SP for right around the same price, and with the same or better customer service.

That's not been my experience at all. There are definitely very close competitors but you can't tell me that there's a "much better" valve mic than the T3 for the price of a T3 ... and Wade's example of a used setup costing 2.5x the price is obviously irrelevant, because that's not "around the same price".

There isn't a mic for £60 that's "much better" than a B1, and there isn't a channel strip for £100 that's "much better" than a ThreeQ. There just isn't. There's definitely alternatives, the B1 sells in tens of thousands but hey, there are products from ADK, Red5, SE etc that will do a job for under £100. I haven't found anything competitive with SP over here but that's because PMI are one of the few companies that price their wares fairly in the UK (rather than employing an enormous markup in the conversion process).

As for service ... well I haven't encountered a company as helpful as PMI, but over here we tend to go via our retailers a lot more anyway.

Why SP continually gets mentioned on these boards is really beyond my comprehension.
.

Well you're as big a cause as anyone of it. It was a three-pronged attack. DJL did the "I openly hate Alan Hyatt" angle, Gidge did the "now I do, now I don't" routine for years ... and you did the "I'm going to pretend to be perfectly reasonable about this, but basically Studio Projects is worse than any of its copmetitors" angle. Yours had the most staying power, because you could actually even make yourself believe that you were being fair and open-minded, all the time going out of your way to make sure that everyone who liked good products and service was labelled a foaming-at-the-mouth sycophant .... and that your own brand of ambivalent and cynical commentary was portrayed as the rational point of view.

Now, of course, that stuff is the business of legend and I'm sure your transparent insults have helped to drum up free business for PMI. I know I wouldn't have bought the things I have from them (T3, C4 x2 pairs, B1, B3, ThreeQ x2) if you hadn't drawn my attention to them on this forum. God, I'd still be languishing with that crappy SE and other assorted OEM stuff I was using unless I'd got myself down to an exhibition and had a listen to the mics and preamps myself.

I guess how much continuing publicity they get depends on your ongoing committment to the anti-cheerleader role. That's up to you mate!!

Nik

 

[chessrock]

DJL did the "I openly hate Alan Hyatt" angle ...

Hmm. Do you suppose that could be because he didn't like Alan Hyatt? Na.

Gidge did the "now I do, now I don't" routine for years ...

Yes. Gidge was the resident flip-flopper.

Yours had the most staying power, because you could actually even make yourself believe that you were being fair and open-minded, all the time going out of your way to make sure that everyone who liked good products and service was labelled a foaming-at-the-mouth sycophant .... and that your own brand of ambivalent and cynical commentary was portrayed as the rational point of view.

That's amazing. Holy Begezus. You discovered my secret plot! How did you know that I was ... um ... doing ... um that stuff you just said I was doing? (wow, dude. You're really weird)

Now, of course, that stuff is the business of legend and I'm sure your transparent insults have helped to drum up free business for PMI.

Yea, legendary. I hear they've already incorporated some of it in to the Business curriculum at Yale.

I know I wouldn't have bought the things I have from them (T3, C4 x2 pairs, B1, B3, ThreeQ x2) if you hadn't drawn my attention to them on this forum.

It's comforting to know there are guys like you still out there. Weird guys, I mean. Keep up the good fight, mate. Cheerio!
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[recordingpro]

Noisdude you're simply a smeg head - you try to speak as one with a mind but alas it's obviously an empty mind

 

[studiomaster]

recordingpro, why don't you go and fucking ban yourself?

 

[big country]

I got neged by a bunch of dumb fucks who didnt belive I went to school for recording.then they wanted my teachers E-mail .fuck that, these fucks dont like me .you think Id give thies fucks my teachers Email. what do you think my teacher would say? thies fucks dont even know how to use a pad and then they neged the shit out of me, telling me that thier all this and all that. fucks are tards . all I gotta say is beware dumb fucks learking

 

[scorpio01169]

I got neged by a bunch of dumb fucks who didnt belive I went to school for recording.then they wanted my teachers E-mail .fuck that, these fucks dont like me .you think Id give thies fucks my teachers Email. what do you think my teacher would say? thies fucks dont even know how to use a pad and then they neged the shit out of me, telling me that thier all this and all that. fucks are tards . all I gotta say is beware dumb fucks learking

the reason we needed your teachers e-mail cause we needed him/her to know that when and if they taught the art of recording that they needed to also teach you how to spell too...that's all.

 

[Daniel Reichman]

the reason we needed your teachers e-mail cause we needed him/her to know that when and if they taught the art of recording that they needed to also teach you how to spell too...that's all.

He sure knows how to spell 'fuck'

 

[scorpio01169]

He sure knows how to spell 'fuck'

well from the time he was 2 he heard his father screaming at his mom to go fuck herself as he stormed outa the trailor. it was one of the first words he learned as a child.

 

[Daniel Reichman]

well from the time he was 2 he heard his father screaming at his mom to go fuck herself as he stormed outa the trailor. it was one of the first words he learned as a child.

Lol, my nephew on my wifes side was but 2 when he fell over, knocked over something else and called out, 'aw SHIT!!!'.

I know it's crass, but I find toddlers who swear in context incredibly funny.

 

[noisedude]

Hmm. Do you suppose that could be because he didn't like Alan Hyatt? Na.



Yes. Gidge was the resident flip-flopper.



That's amazing. Holy Begezus. You discovered my secret plot! How did you know that I was ... um ... doing ... um that stuff you just said I was doing? (wow, dude. You're really weird)



Yea, legendary. I hear they've already incorporated some of it in to the Business curriculum at Yale.



It's comforting to know there are guys like you still out there. Weird guys, I mean. Keep up the good fight, mate. Cheerio!
.

And with one post you prove everything I just said!

 

[recordingpro]

recordingpro, why don't you go and fucking ban yourself?

Wow Studiomasturbater - such a creative statement - now go play Reader Rabbit and tell you mommy you want a bedtime story later.