Sytek or Safe Sound

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Rhammer19

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I want to take a step up in preamps.I have the DMP-3. My budget is around $800 .I am just your average home recording guitar player into , Rock , hard rock and acoustic type music . I am looking at 2 preamp selections at the moment . #1 is the Sytek MPX 4Aii and #2 is The Safe Sound P1 . The sytek I can get for $811 brand spanking new ( 4 channels- pres only ) The safe sound is $499 per unit with 1 channel pre/comp/limiter one neat package. I am looking to purchase 2 units ( so I would have to save a little longer). I need at least 2 more channels of pres for the drums. I would also like to have a decent vocal pre . Through anybody's experience would it be wiser to get The safe sound with 2 channels (is it better on vocals ? ) or get the sytek and build from there (that is a good deal ) Thanks in advance for any input . Iam trying to write this quickly before going to work.
 
It depends on how important the compression and limiting are to you.

If you want/need the compression and limiting, then get the Safe Sound.

If you just need the mic pres, then get the sytek.
 
chessrock said:
It depends on how important the compression and limiting are to you.

If you want/need the compression and limiting, then get the Safe Sound.

If you just need the mic pres, then get the sytek.
Click to expand...

Ditto......
 
For vocals the sebatron vmp would also be very nice. I'd go with the safe sound or the sytek for drums though.
 
I need to get in on this too. I've been looking at both those preamps. My equipment is currently very limited:

Rode NTK
Aardvark Q10
Cubase SX
Waves Plugins

Yeah, that's it...for real.

At the end of the summer I'm going to have some money to upgrade my studio. Probably have about $2500 to spend. I'm budgeting about $500 for monitors (BX8s or Yorkville YSM1Ps...open to suggestions). My real question is...which do I need more: preamp or mics? Mics I'm looking at are:

Pair of AKG 451s
Pair of Shure SM81s
Pair of SP C4s
EV RE20
Beyer M260 or M500
Blue Dragonfly
Cad M9
lots of others

There so many ways I could spend this money...Please Help!

Forgot to say what type of music I'll be doing. So far I've mostly done acoustic stuff due to the lack of equipment (acoustic guitar, vocals, shaker, tambourine, bongos, electric guitar). While I do enjoy recording my own music, I like working on other people's stuff more. I would like to have a collection of equipment that will be good overalll, not just for a particular type of music. Although in the immediate future I will probably be recording mostly acoustic (ryan adams, pete yorn), rock, and alternative. Sorry I'm really bad with labeling music...I don't like to do it. Apologies for the long post.
 
EleKtriKaz ---

Are you getting what you need / want / like out of your current setup? If so, piling on more gear will only confuse the issue - making music.

If I had $2500 to spend and a nice, compact setup like yours I would put the bulk of the money available into the best monitors I could afford - Genelec, KRK, Mackie, even the lower line Adams - and the rest into a pair of stereo microphones.

But that's just me, as the wizard had often been known to say. :D
 
I'm definitely happy with what I have so far, but recording everything through the NTK gives it all the same kind of sound...don't get me wrong continuity is good, but I want some different flavors (good flavors).

The aardvark has discrete preamps in at least 4 of the channels, I think all 8...I just don't know if it's worth it to buy a $500-$800 preamp. Will I notice a huge difference?

My goal isn't to record my music or demos for other people, although those are things I want to do. My main goal is to make great recordings and improve my skills as an engineer/mixer.
 
EleKtriKaz

If that's your goal, then my advice would be the same - times ten!

It's never too early to start REALLY hearing what's going on in your mixes, and any of those monitors I listed will be a great place to start.

As far as everything sounding the same thru the Rode mic, it must have an LF rolloff of some kind and at least a few pickup patterns that you can try. If I were you (here we go again...) I'd visit second-hand music stores and pawn shops - even thrift stores - and buy every cheap microphone that I could lay my hands on. The Rode and a good stereo pair (Oktava makes some that are quite inexpensive and have a stunning price/performance ratio) along with every cheap mic you can possibly find pumped through some premium monitors will give you a rainbow of available colors.

As far as noticing a huge difference between the Aardvark and a new outboard mic pre, you'd probably have to get something like a Massenberg or a Hamptone before you'd really notice the diff -- and both of those would be about twice what you're able to spend right now. My advice is - stick with what you've got and build on it in an intelligent and measured way.

Boy, I wish I was around 20 years ago to offer myself some advice...
;)
 
The NTK doesn't have rolloff and is not a variable pattern mic.

I appreciate what you're saying, I know monitors are the absolute next thing I have to buy. I've been mixing in headphones for too long. I don't think lots of cheap microphones are the way to go for me right now, not that cheap is always bad.

As far as SDCs go...I'm looking at AKG 451s, Shure SM81s, and SP C4s. I kind of have an idea of where I want to go, I'm just not quite sure how I should allocate my money at this point. Appreciate the suggestions.
 
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