Studio in a box!

[RocketMusic]

I've been mildly embarrassed about letting my F1X and FastTrack Ultra 8R USB interface just sit loose on a counter. Our recent investment in video production pushed me to add a couple components, and that lead me to break down & get a rack for it all, too.

So here is all the rack gear for Studio A here at Rocket Music (that's the one I use, right next to the cash register out front!). Add a laptop and a set of studio monitors or headphones, and you're ready to rock!



The new acquisitions are:
- Monster Power PRO-3500 Power Conditioner
- Shure P2TR wireless in-ear monitor system
- Shure PG188/PG185 dual wireless lavalier mic system

Hopefully, cleaner power will lead to even better recordings. The wireless lav mics should help us record our voices better as we do video sessions, and the wireless in-ear system will let us hear playback material without bleeding into the live mics.

And the best part?!? The rack has wheels and a handle!! I can disconnect the studio monitors and a USB cable and be ready to take the entire studio rack home with me.

Hopefully that's everything we need! I've got to put my credit card away, it's melting my wallet...

[VroomVroom]

Wow, Greg. That's a heck of a setup. Very, very nice.

You mind sharing more detailed thoughts on the power conditioner? I've heard everything from voodoo to amazing to shenanigans. Yours is an opinion I'd trust.

[RocketMusic]

I haven't noticed a huge difference, but I also don't have much use time with it yet. My system was pretty quiet to begin with, which is why I didn't break the bank on the power conditioner. This one is kind middle of the road to low end on the price spectrum...

It does have got some nice features that have me considering another one for our PA system. It's got separate outlets for digital, low power analog and high power analog devices. Not only are the three types of outlets filtered differently for noise performance, they also have different turn on and turn off times. So your power amps (high power analog) would turn on last and turn off off last (there's like a 6-second delay). Right now I have to manually turn off all the power amps and then shut everything else down after waiting for the caps to discharge. It'd be nice to just have one switch to turn everything on and off...

As for noise performance and any sort of tonal impact, I'll try to get some more experience with the unit and report back. I guess it could conceivably help my recorded bass tone? I'm not expecting that, but I'm open to the possibility.