W
WarmJetGuitar
New member
We're having a small analogue studio, mostly just recording ourselves live in the room and overdubbing after that. We're on a limited budget and want our sound to have a wide frequency range without being too polished (a bit of hiss=fine, too much hiss=pain in the ass)
Question is what should be our next purchase or modification? We got nice instruments and amps, no need to change anything there.
Recorders: Fostex Model 80, Fostex G16
Half-inch tape is the most expensive tape we can afford unless someone offers us a 2" machine including tapes for next to nothing (won't happen), so upgrading the machine seems out of the question - but modifying the electronics to something with more character could be an option. We have yet to calibrate any tapemachine, how much is to be gained from getting calibration tapes and an scope? Can we use the computer as a scope? Both machines sounds just great, but there might be a reason for all the talk about calibration.
Mics: SM57, SM58, GA Project overheads, AKG D-112 for bass drum and budget Sennheisers and Beyer Dynamics.
Desks/preamps: a Fostex 450 and Behringer Ultragain for tracking and two old PA-desks for mixdowns (a bit noisy but sounds nice).
Which desks have killer preamps for a low price? We thought about upgrading the desk at some point but we'll be best off waiting till we find a desk suited for both tracking and mixing. Is it critical to get a 32-track desk? I'd imagine listening to a recent record in between takes could be a problem if the faders is the same as those used for input levels. An old pro desk with some caracter would be what we're looking for, but which one would offer the best sounding considering we're not even close to have the funds for a Neve? MCI doen't seem to exist in Europe, unless the owners just stick to them.
Mixdowns is made to a M-Audio Fast Track Pro. While it's a good card for the price the sonics seems to suffer slightly during mixdown - there's a bit of details missing. A mixdown deck or a sound card with better A/D conversions might be an option. There's a lot of Studers here relatively cheap but then we're facing the problem of cross-fading between songs. Any advice on this?
Hope you can help us out with some advice here. Sorry about posting shitloads of questions.
Question is what should be our next purchase or modification? We got nice instruments and amps, no need to change anything there.
Recorders: Fostex Model 80, Fostex G16
Half-inch tape is the most expensive tape we can afford unless someone offers us a 2" machine including tapes for next to nothing (won't happen), so upgrading the machine seems out of the question - but modifying the electronics to something with more character could be an option. We have yet to calibrate any tapemachine, how much is to be gained from getting calibration tapes and an scope? Can we use the computer as a scope? Both machines sounds just great, but there might be a reason for all the talk about calibration.
Mics: SM57, SM58, GA Project overheads, AKG D-112 for bass drum and budget Sennheisers and Beyer Dynamics.
Desks/preamps: a Fostex 450 and Behringer Ultragain for tracking and two old PA-desks for mixdowns (a bit noisy but sounds nice).
Which desks have killer preamps for a low price? We thought about upgrading the desk at some point but we'll be best off waiting till we find a desk suited for both tracking and mixing. Is it critical to get a 32-track desk? I'd imagine listening to a recent record in between takes could be a problem if the faders is the same as those used for input levels. An old pro desk with some caracter would be what we're looking for, but which one would offer the best sounding considering we're not even close to have the funds for a Neve? MCI doen't seem to exist in Europe, unless the owners just stick to them.
Mixdowns is made to a M-Audio Fast Track Pro. While it's a good card for the price the sonics seems to suffer slightly during mixdown - there's a bit of details missing. A mixdown deck or a sound card with better A/D conversions might be an option. There's a lot of Studers here relatively cheap but then we're facing the problem of cross-fading between songs. Any advice on this?
Hope you can help us out with some advice here. Sorry about posting shitloads of questions.