What is all this rack gear?mor importantly why?

  • Thread starter Thread starter Elmo89m
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timboZ said:
When your client comes into the studio and looks at all the rack gear he will want to pay you more than if you just had a PC loaded with software and plugins that cost a lot more than all the rack gear.
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Plugins don't cost more than GOOD rack gear
 
In Tune Audio said:
Plugins don't cost more than GOOD rack gear
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OK, I’m a dumb ass. But the gear looks more impressive than a bunch of floppy disc and CD ROMs
 
Yeah. Point me to the preamp plugin. :rolleyes:

"It's the $30,000 software Gizmonator3000! It does everything from a heart defibrillator to a 96-channel Helios AND COMES WITH A DONGLE!!!"
 
I'm all about simplicity, too. To me, a recording chain is similar to any machine, and the more complicated you make it, the more apt it is to breakdown. But, and there is always a butt, uh but... In this case, it's about flexiblity and getting great sound. To me, great sound needs lots of options...

And I'm not even a gear head or prone to G.A.S....
 
well i made a list of things that if i had an unlimited amount of money o would get and it still was only like 9u here: preamp (8) on as strip x2, compressor, reverb, multifx box, eq, power conditioner, power amp, patchbay, harmonizer. there thats eleven...now do you guys with like 30u have more different stuff then ive included or do you just have more varieties of the same stuff i mentioned.
 
Hmmmm .... not my stuff, but stuff I've used in racks in studios:

- Patchbays x2 or 3
- Reverbs x2 or 3
- Couple of compressors
- Hard disk recorder e.g. Alesis HD24 (3u?)
- Preamps x at least 4u
- Power distributor
- Other FX x2
- CD burner
- CD player
- Minidisc player
- Sampler
- Rackmount guitar pre/fx e.g. POD

So there's a few thoughts for a starter. But there's only 4 channels of comp there, and many will use more rack pres than that. It comes to about 24-25u to get you started though ... :)
 
Okay a quick breakdown of what I have in my racks:

Compressors x11
Limiters x2
Eq (stereo) x5
Digital fx x6
Patchbays x6
Synths/Samplers x31

Plus all sorts of other stuff like audio interfaces, midi interfaces, other outboard, hard drives, DAT & cassette recorders, CD-ROM drives, mixers, etc.

The point is, you don't always use it all at the same time. You have different gear for different uses, for different sounds.

For example, I'm working on some rock songs with my brother. I'll use one compressor for the vocals, another for the guitars, another for the drums, and yet another for the bass. So there's four compressors right there for a simple song. And it's nice to have a variety to choose from, in order to match the tones and response to the track well.

It's not like one should just go out and buy all this stuff at once. The way to do it in my opinio is to gradually build up a collection over time, and based one need.
 
WOW...for someone like me with basically my 8ch. pre as my only rack unit thats a pretty awesome amount of gear. thanks.
 
noisedude said:
Also ... and I'm gonna get flamed for this ... Reverb plugins still suck ass big time when you compare their cost and CPU overhead to what you can get in hardware.
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Nothing flammable here, I agree!
 
Cheers Scott. I just noticed while I was playing with Adobe Audition's Full Reverb plugin in January that I was getting better results with an Alesis Midiverb 4 in a matter of seconds than I was spending hours trying to get the PC to sound right. Incompetence on my part, perhaps, but a fact nonetheless!! :)
 
noisedude said:
Cheers Scott. I just noticed while I was playing with Adobe Audition's Full Reverb plugin in January that I was getting better results with an Alesis Midiverb 4 in a matter of seconds than I was spending hours trying to get the PC to sound right. Incompetence on my part, perhaps, but a fact nonetheless!! :)
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EXACT same problem here! I have almost given up on Auditions reverbs.. I now run my tracks back through an Alesis QuadraVerb! More rounded sound!
 
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Superb! I'm not going mad then. :) Actually, the entire Audition thing made me want to throw full wine bottles at the computer screen. It was for a piece of coursework at university and one of the criteria was using Full Reverb. I was sat looking at a rack of Lexicon FX units and cursing under my breath ....

So one of my next buys (getting a pile of mics at the moment) has to be something like the TC M300 ... or pick up another Midiverb off of ebay (the last one died in my live rack sadly).
 
When was the las time you outboard gear "froze" or crashed? Ever get a outboard compressor virus? ;)
 
We can't forget to mention that the hardware is just FUN! :cool:

I mix in the box plenty, but nothing beats getting out the patch cables, firing up the mixer, and forgetting about CPU load for a change. Even a control surface doesn't have the same kind of fun feel as a decent analog mixer.

And even my old (and I mean OLD) Zoom 9120 gets a better reverb than the Waves Rverb with less effort. And that's the worst hardware verb I've got. Don't get me wrong, Rverb is pretty darned good but...yeah, you really have to hear it side by side with a half-decent hardware verb and you'll notice the difference. If you only mix in the box you don't really have a choice and will probably never notice.

The one exception is the convolution reverbs. Altiverb sounds AWESOME for a plugin. But then you are somewhat limited by the IR patches and there isn't much to tweak- you either have the sound you want or you don't. Back to the DP/4+, Quadraverb or the Zoom 9200 for something a bit more customizable.

One thing I've seen a couple times is folks using hardware reverbs with digital I/O as effects sends when mixing in the box- the best of both worlds.

I could go on, but its just my preference: I love the sound and feel of hardware.
 
noisedude said:
Cheers Scott. I just noticed while I was playing with Adobe Audition's Full Reverb plugin in January that I was getting better results with an Alesis Midiverb 4 in a matter of seconds than I was spending hours trying to get the PC to sound right. Incompetence on my part, perhaps, but a fact nonetheless!! :)
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This is my experience also. When mixing analog things just seem to gel a lot quicker and more easily. Using plugins I always end up tweaking forever and still end up not being entirely happy.
 
xstatic said:
They have it because it sounds better and gives them all the options that they may need or want. It is not a necessity, but if you are paying the big bucks to do an album, then you ought to have the big toys as well.
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It is not necessary in a pro studio?


I happened to watch a contractor building a house. I was shocked how stupid this guy was because he had 2 trucks full of tools! What a dimwit. I saw more than enough hammers (and different kinds) than workers to use them. I know that all you need to build a house is 1 hammer and some nails.

Another trhing I noticed is that these morons kept going to their trucks to get *more* tools because I guess they did not exactly know what jobs they had to do. It is almost like these pro builders had to have enough and varied tools to do any job that you would find in building a house!


It is crazy as all these tools are not *necessary* but I guess the guys just like to buy and have tools on hand for fun or they are collectors.

I would have said something, but I guess I would have to be a *pro* builder to understand why they would need so many tools.
 
Yeah, but when's the last time you cut off a finger with a Chinese mic???
 
acorec said:
I would have said something, but I guess I would have to be a *pro* builder to understand why they would need so many tools.
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You should have put them sumbeaches in their place! :D
 
acorec said:
I happened to watch a contractor building a house. I was shocked how stupid this guy was because he had 2 trucks full of tools! What a dimwit. I saw more than enough hammers (and different kinds) than workers to use them. I know that all you need to build a house is 1 hammer and some nails.
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Remind me not to live in a house that you build! :eek:

How useful is that hammer going to be when you need to cut wood? What if the wood is not a 2x4 but trim? How about hammering a wood trim nail with the same hammer you used to frame the house? How about drills, with all the different types and sizes of bits? It goes on and on.

That contractor might have had a silly amount of tools, but certainly tools are not a one size fits all type deal. That's why there are so many of them, they are specialized. So the guy has specialized tools for every situation.

That's the same as having a different compressor for the mix buss as opposed to something that you can slam individual tracks like the drums with. The guy building houses might say you're an idiot because a compressor is a compressor, but you know there is a difference that is important.

acorec said:
I would have said something, but I guess I would have to be a *pro* builder to understand why they would need so many tools.
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Probably not a good idea to mess with people who make a living with hammers, saws, and drills.
 
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