Rate my GEAR!

J

JayRodYDG

New Metal Member
Mar 24, 2011
48
0
0
Bergen County, NJ
Not sure if im posting this in the right area, but im a newbie haha Anyway, i'm getting a lot of gear in tis next year. I just want to know if everything im getting is decent quality. please give me some feedback. Thanks!

Monitors: Adam A7's (w/Presonus central station)
Interface: RME fireface 800
Preamps: Great River; Universal Audio LA-610; Digimax D8 (drums)
Comp: Germanium Limited compressor

Misc: Pod xt Pro;

Mics
Shure SM57 (with Mod)
Shure sm7b
Audix i5
AT4040
Audix D6
Sennheiser MD-421 (x3)
Neumann TLM-103
Neumann u87
Neumann km-184 (x3)

Computer: PowerMac g5 Quad Core

software Cubase 5, waves plugins, UAD Nigel, UAD plugins.

Some of the stuff are things that i haven't got yet. so maybe if you tell me about the gear, it might either prevent me from not buying it or convince me more on buying it, if that makes sense lol.

Let me know what u think. And if you have have recommendations then i'm all ears :popcorn:
 
:lol: i'm sure if this stuff is good enough for joey to crank out the mixing he has been... it's hardly ever the gear though.
 
Yea, I knew someone was going to mention big Joe lol Although I'm an in experienced engineer, I fully understand that it's all about the button pusher. Have any recommendations? And thanks for replying Tim! I've learned a lot from reading ur posts in the past. Can't wait to learn more!
 
Will you be using the real drum tones in your mix or replacing with replacement from Slate, etc? If you're not going to keep the real drum tones then I'd ditch the D6, MD421's, TLM 103, U87 and just use triggers and / or SM57's. I'd also buy the MP2NV instead of the single channel ME1NV. This way you get really good OH Drum sounds and good on acoustics. I'd buy an awesome bass. I'd get pod farm platinum instead of xt pro. I'd get your fav tuning software (auto tune, melodyne) I wouldnt get the Geranium just yet. Learn to get really good sounds from your waves and UAD, then after a couple years you might start getting outboard gear. I'd suggest the Empirical Labs stuff. I'm also a big fan of FMR RNC's. I'd get some good headphones.
 
Dustin Morrison said:
Will you be using the real drum tones in your mix or replacing with replacement from Slate, etc? If you're not going to keep the real drum tones then I'd ditch the D6, MD421's, TLM 103, U87 and just use triggers and / or SM57's. I'd also buy the MP2NV instead of the single channel ME1NV. This way you get really good OH Drum sounds and good on acoustics. I'd buy an awesome bass. I'd get pod farm platinum instead of xt pro. I'd get your fav tuning software (auto tune, melodyne) I wouldnt get the Geranium just yet. Learn to get really good sounds from your waves and UAD, then after a couple years you might start getting outboard gear. I'd suggest the Empirical Labs stuff. I'm also a big fan of FMR RNC's. I'd get some good headphones.
Click to expand...

Wow thanks for the recommendations! And I'm going to be tracking real drums...and then possibly blend in some samples via drumagog. I'll look into the MP2NV, because I really think it would help my acoustic tracks and OH, like u said. And I actually got a bass today!! American fender jazz bass! Don't know if it's that good but, it'll get me some decent tones. I have the full Antares autotune, and I'm getting better at graphing the vocals on there. Thanks for the input mang!
 
JayRodYDG said:
Although I'm an in experienced engineer
Click to expand...
JayRodYDG said:
I just want to know if everything im getting is decent quality.
Click to expand...
JayRodYDG said:
Not sure if im posting this in the right area, but im a newbie
Click to expand...

Somehow I don't agree with Oli's wording, but with the message behind it. That bunch of sentences stuck out like a sore thumb, because the list pretty much sounds like a Joey wannabe setup. Even tho I personally have nothing against getting all of that, but unless you really want to cash in ~50k, what I suggest is that you get the bare minimum first and/or use what you have and LEARN TO FUCKING USE THEM. I personally _haET_ when I see and hear comments in veins of "this and this gear/plugin sucks, but this other thing rocks and would make my production 384% better", when they don't even grasp the basic concepts of how and why for things like like EQ, compression, gain staging, balanced or unbalanced connections, what is a DI-box and what does it do or even fucking ROUTING. _WAY_ too common.

I made a test and I could make the Cubase stock plugins and some freebies do exactly the same thing (except Waves Rbass, that I haven't found a free alternative for) and they sound 90% the same. The Waves plugins did sound slightly better, but so does Mesa Dual Recto compared to ampsims. Also we have made several Y-cable tests at university (like this one on a bit more higher end pre's) even against stuff like 2000€ Avalon preamp and 38€ Art Tube MP pre's so the incoming signal is exactly the same and the difference of just the preamp was once again 5-10%, at max. But is it worth the price difference, some might ask? Some think it is, some think it isn't.

Personally I would rather get good tube guitar amp and a cabinet (you can find second hand Peavey 6505 and a 4x12 cabinet for like ~$800 at graigslist) instead of using $600 for UAD + Pod Farm. Relying only to using ampsims is really shortsighted, but learning how to mic a guitar amp is not. Even Lawd Andy Sneap was totally an ITB guy for a good ~5-10 years when it came to mixing, but now he returned to mixing on an SSL console. Believe me or not, but this hyperedited-podmetal -craze is just a phase, as was the 1980's gated reverb, or 1990's Eurodance, or rapping and cursing on metal like in the early 2000's numetal. Everybody was doing it for a good while, but about 5-10 years later, nobody is/was doing it anymore.

Also that setup you suggested is missing really basic but vital stuff like microphone cables, multicore patch system, mic stands, monitor stands, tables, racks, acoustic treatment, headphones, headphone amps, snakes and many many other stuff that even I forgot for now. Getting good quality cables and stands even just for a 16 input system cuts your budget like $1500.

My suggestion is that you rather get something in veins of this:

- a pair of monitors and 2 headphone systems for musicians
- interface + preamps + 1 single ch channel-strip for vocals (like the UA 610 for example)
- DAW of your choice (mac + Cubase, it seems?)
- a lot of acoustic treatment
- Drum microphone setup (say 2 x for snare, 3 x toms, 1 x kick, 4 x SDC's, 2 x LDC's + possibly 4 something else and triggers), 1 slightly more expensive LDC, 2 DI-boxes and a reamp-box
- Things to mount and connect all these
 
olif8 said:
I get the feeling you're full of shit.
Click to expand...

About what? The gear? I dont have all of it yet, a lot of the stuff are things I still need to buy. I'm just trying to get advice/learn from this forum, so if your going to try to bash me then just go to another post. Oh btw, thanks for your input :p
 
ahjteam said:
Somehow I don't agree with Oli's wording, but with the message behind it. That bunch of sentences stuck out like a sore thumb, because the list pretty much sounds like a Joey wannabe setup. Even tho I personally have nothing against getting all of that, but unless you really want to cash in ~50k, what I suggest is that you get the bare minimum first and/or use what you have and LEARN TO FUCKING USE THEM. I personally _haET_ when I see and hear comments in veins of "this and this gear/plugin sucks, but this other thing rocks and would make my production 384% better", when they don't even grasp the basic concepts of how and why for things like like EQ, compression, gain staging, balanced or unbalanced connections, what is a DI-box and what does it do or even fucking ROUTING. _WAY_ too common.

I made a test and I could make the Cubase stock plugins and some freebies do exactly the same thing (except Waves Rbass, that I haven't found a free alternative for) and they sound 90% the same. The Waves plugins did sound slightly better, but so does Mesa Dual Recto compared to ampsims. Also we have made several Y-cable tests at university (like this one on a bit more higher end pre's) even against stuff like 2000€ Avalon preamp and 38€ Art Tube MP pre's so the incoming signal is exactly the same and the difference of just the preamp was once again 5-10%, at max. But is it worth the price difference, some might ask? Some think it is, some think it isn't.

Personally I would rather get good tube guitar amp and a cabinet (you can find second hand Peavey 6505 and a 4x12 cabinet for like ~$800 at graigslist) instead of using $600 for UAD + Pod Farm. Relying only to using ampsims is really shortsighted, but learning how to mic a guitar amp is not. Even Lawd Andy Sneap was totally an ITB guy for a good ~5-10 years when it came to mixing, but now he returned to mixing on an SSL console. Believe me or not, but this hyperedited-podmetal -craze is just a phase, as was the 1980's gated reverb, or 1990's Eurodance, or rapping and cursing on metal like in the early 2000's numetal. Everybody was doing it for a good while, but about 5-10 years later, nobody is/was doing it anymore.

Also that setup you suggested is missing really basic but vital stuff like microphone cables, multicore patch system, mic stands, monitor stands, tables, racks, acoustic treatment, headphones, headphone amps, snakes and many many other stuff that even I forgot for now. Getting good quality cables and stands even just for a 16 input system cuts your budget like $1500.

My suggestion is that you rather get something in veins of this:

- a pair of monitors and 2 headphone systems for musicians
- interface + preamps + 1 single ch channel-strip for vocals (like the UA 610 for example)
- DAW of your choice (mac + Cubase, it seems?)
- a lot of acoustic treatment
- Drum microphone setup (say 2 x for snare, 3 x toms, 1 x kick, 4 x SDC's, 2 x LDC's + possibly 4 something else and triggers), 1 slightly more expensive LDC, 2 DI-boxes and a reamp-box
- Things to mount and connect all these
Click to expand...

Wow man! Thanks for the input! I will definitely take your advice on a lot of stuff. After all I'm still learning and I need some constructive criticism sometimes. But I just font want to keep running through equipment you know? I'd rather buy some decent equipment that's going to last me a while. I Have seen a lot of the people on here that seem to believe that the gear is EVERYTHING, but obviously I know it's about the engineer and his knowledge. Honestly I know it's hard work and I'm taking all the advice in like a sponge! But thanks for your input, it really helps during the beginning stages of my little engineering career! Hope to hear from u soon! And btw! I have a 6505+, and the Mesa is coming this week. I'll be sure to post threads about some techniques about mic-ing n such. Thanks!
 
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