What's next?

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Supercreep

Supercreep

Lizard People
NT1-A
V67-G
JM-45 (coming)
2 x SPB1
AKG D112
2 x MXL 603s
2 x C1000s
2 x sm57 (toms, snare and cabs)
2 x sm58 (tom :eek: )
various nasty dynamics

TwinQ
RNP/RNC
MOTU 896hd
Behringer Truth powered monitors
AMD 64 3200 2gRAM 2x80gig Sata RAID


My drums, guitars, and keyboards are nice. My room, albeit small, sounds pretty good.


What's next? Monitors? Dynamics?

@1000.00
 
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First, did you ever get your AES/EBU issues sorted out? Well, to your question. OK, you've got a usable rig, and all the basic bases covered. Now's the time I think you have to accept that buying more cheap gear won't change your life. You probably aren't at the point where you're ready for that Manley reference mic, either. It's time to start doing upgrades to the signal chain, and the monitor chain, one at a time. The twinQ isn't a bad pre, it's more mid priced than low end, and the MOTU is basically OK. So, you either need to upgrade the monitors, or buy a real mic or two. I would start saving for higher end mics. As to which mics, it depends on what you record the most, and what sound you're not happy with. For myself, I would rather try to mix with cheap monitors that I'm used to, than record with cheap mics.
Don't get me wrong. For a versatile cabinet of cheap mics, you have chosen well. Reality- you can't upgrade everything at once, so it's time to just take the next step. A few mic suggestions- upgrade the SD pair to SM81 or better, Josephson C42. Or- get a good multipattern workhorse- AKG C414XLS, Shure KSM44 or better-Soundelux ifet7. Or- Upgrade main vocal mic to, say, Soundelux U195, or Audio-technica AT4060, or better- Lawson L47 MKII. A better dynamic is sort of an add-on- Sennheiser MD441, or Shure SM7B, or Electrovoice RE20.
My point is this. You've spent the dribs and drabs of money on the minimum mics you needed, and buying more cheap mics won't help. It's time to start looking at mics in the $500-2000 range, or a monitoring system in the same range. Fuckin' expensive hobby, isn't it? Best of luck.-Richie
 
APL - Good call. I've done my homework already though and have bass traps in all four corners of the room, foam on the ceiling, diffusers, etc. and a good mix of reflecting surfaces. I can't really add on to the dimensions of the room(9-1/2' x 14" x 6'-8'), but the sound I get isn't bothersome at all (yet :eek: ). You should have heard it before the bass traps went up. Yes, all that gear goes in that little room.

Richard - Thanks for the tips, and I'm glad you threw in mics as a good option. The monitors are the nicest ones Behringer made, the active Truth something or anothers and cost @ 400. I'm not hating them, but that could just be that I haven't heard the good stuff. The mixes seem to translate well enough...

I'm glad you mentioned the Josephsons, I've been eyeballing those. I play rock and pop in the general style of The Police, Squeeze and XTC, sometimes with some heavier guitars. Aggressive drums, anyway. I found the C1000s excessively harsh, and find the 603s excessively bright and hot. I considered the Rode NT5 for a while but I think you're right.... I need to just slow down and pick up a couple of nice pieces of the right gear. I just don't really know which way I want to go yet; Perhaps I should just record for a while and see what really starts to bother me the most. :confused:





Short story on the AES/EBU is no, through no fault of PMI or Alan Hyatt. I want to make that clear.

Long story is that MY motu won't talk to the TwinQ. It could be a software thing or a windows thing or a Sonar thing or whatever, but Brent tested the unit and it worked ok, got a new 896HD and it worked ok. So I don't know what to do other than apologize to Alan on behalf of some other folks lurking about. I don't really need the two extra channels anyway so fuck it - the money's not wasted.


Thanks for asking though.
 
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