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I agree with you analog gear rips some fierceness on many sources. When I got my first few outboard compressors it was a game changer. When I got my first parametric analog eq it was also another game changer.
Console/interface - Presonus StudioLive 16.4.2
Software: Logic Pro X; Garageband, MainStage, Audacity on a MacBook Pro.
Outboard: ART ProChannel II channel strip; tc electronic M300 reverb/delay processor; ART patchbay; Focusrite headphone amp/splitter, ART power supply, SansAmp RBI - all sitting in a rolling rack unit.
Mics: Shure SM57/58s, pair of M-Audio Pulsar II small diagphram condensors, Audio Technica AT2040 large diaphram condensor.
Output: AKG K240 headphones, Mackie MR5mk2 studio monitors.
Instruments: Fender P and J basses; Fender Tele; Yamaha, Ibanez and Taylor acoustics; Guyatone 8 string console steel, BMI s10 pedal steel, Yamaha KX49 midi keyboard controller, various percussion.
Amps: 1964 Gibson GA-19 RVT, 1965 Gibson GA-19 RVT, Peavey Nashville 112, Ampeg PF500+PF115.
FX units: Line6 Pod (original), Zoom MS50G, Strymon, Voodoo Labs, Electroharmonix, Fulltone, Boss and tc electronics stomp boxes. (mostly overdrive, echo/delay or boost pedals).
Pretty decent non-pro home hobbyist practice/recording setup for my own "compositions" as well as recording solo/duo stuff (without drums).
Prior to the Presonus SL, I was running a MOTU 828 mkII interface into Garageband/Logic OR into 2x Alesis 8-track ADAT machines (also in the rolling rack unit). Prior to that, was running: M-Audio Mobile Pre into Garageband (on Mac) and before that Cakewalk Guitar Tracks Pro (on Windows)
My next addition will be something in the 500-series preamp/compressor/eq/limiter area...ideally setting up a nice lunchbox and get rid of the large rolling rack outboard stuff.
Software: Logic Pro X; Garageband, MainStage, Audacity on a MacBook Pro.
Outboard: ART ProChannel II channel strip; tc electronic M300 reverb/delay processor; ART patchbay; Focusrite headphone amp/splitter, ART power supply, SansAmp RBI - all sitting in a rolling rack unit.
Mics: Shure SM57/58s, pair of M-Audio Pulsar II small diagphram condensors, Audio Technica AT2040 large diaphram condensor.
Output: AKG K240 headphones, Mackie MR5mk2 studio monitors.
Instruments: Fender P and J basses; Fender Tele; Yamaha, Ibanez and Taylor acoustics; Guyatone 8 string console steel, BMI s10 pedal steel, Yamaha KX49 midi keyboard controller, various percussion.
Amps: 1964 Gibson GA-19 RVT, 1965 Gibson GA-19 RVT, Peavey Nashville 112, Ampeg PF500+PF115.
FX units: Line6 Pod (original), Zoom MS50G, Strymon, Voodoo Labs, Electroharmonix, Fulltone, Boss and tc electronics stomp boxes. (mostly overdrive, echo/delay or boost pedals).
Pretty decent non-pro home hobbyist practice/recording setup for my own "compositions" as well as recording solo/duo stuff (without drums).
Prior to the Presonus SL, I was running a MOTU 828 mkII interface into Garageband/Logic OR into 2x Alesis 8-track ADAT machines (also in the rolling rack unit). Prior to that, was running: M-Audio Mobile Pre into Garageband (on Mac) and before that Cakewalk Guitar Tracks Pro (on Windows)
My next addition will be something in the 500-series preamp/compressor/eq/limiter area...ideally setting up a nice lunchbox and get rid of the large rolling rack outboard stuff.
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If you want to get into the 500 series there is a ton of great stuff if you are willing or decent at soldering that for not too much money can be very high end Ala api, ssl, neve clones built into 500 series and built diy.
I have a Focusrite Saffire Pro 40, essentially the same unit as the 18i20 but Firewire. I used a MacBook Pro for a while but felt cramped with the small screen, now using a 27" iMac instead.
I use Ableton Live and Cubase.
Lol capi gear comes to mind as api clones that are very well done. You can get 500 dual rack units in a single rack space from dan deruloo at collective cases he has other 500 racks. Seventh circle has some cool stuff. Capi gear has a 500 rack lunchbox and you can buy a psu from him as well capi-gear.com lastly check out the groupdiy.com forums and search around there for a plethora of 500 projects.
There's a few others out there collective cases has tons of pcbs and cases for some very cool pieces of gear sontec eqs, api preamps Ala 3124 esque, 1176 projects etc. Pcb grinder has some cool boards as well ssl 4k compressors boards etc etc. Jlm audio makes a great psu called the powerstation which is an adjustable 3 rail linear psu for 60 bucks great psu to use for pres comps and eqs etc. Jlm also has some 500 projects, hairball audio also has some 500 projects as well floating around. If your feeling randy and have a few grand to spend you could build a mastering grade drip electronics Fairchild 670 recreation. Gyraf audio has some cool projects with documentation you have to etch your own boards or source them thru pcb grinder and Dan at collective cases has some of the boards for the gyraf.dk projects including pultec, ssl stuff, Neumann broadcast stuff. Google all these company names dig up on a few, establish a budget and start building. I've made quite a few pieces of kick ass projects mostly pieced together from many sites and sources and have custom additions or breadboarded mods, but you get into it a little at a time hang out at group diy and learn some stuff and you'll be building some awesome gear.
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Yeah, CAPI has me intrigued. Some interesting lower cost stuff from Warm and Radial are also interesting. Still trying to figure out the "necessisities" for my needs - channel strip vs. dedicated eq/compressor/preamp vs ??? so many choices!
if you are using it for just yourself channel strips are more suitable, if you are recording more than one source and need choices then having dedicated preamps, eq, and compressors is a must and will give you a diverse pallete of colors to choose from. CAPI stuff is very good sounding most of it is 70s era api clones with either a twist or added functionality example being the 526 compressor which is a 525 api compressor using 2520 opamps and an 1176 output transformer based stage. It sounds very lovely i run one in my bass rig currently with my warwick and fender bassman 1200 pro creamy delicious smash with aggressive behavior.
BTW the capi stuff is priced very well i bought the 526 kit to build for 400 and bought the 500 series dual 1 rack unit rack case running one of dan deruloos power supply's for about another 200. im gonna put one of his api parametric eqs in that bad boy as well to have control on where to dip out the signal compared to my guitar players frequency selection. playing technical death metal requires a lot of controlled processing sometimes needs to be very carved and meticulously setup in relation to the other instruments to sit well and be heard but not overpower the guitar.
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Love it to pieces. Although I like the GAP stuff too, the GAP stuff is an intelligent compromise in cost/quality realtionship. Warm Audio is nearly no compromise.
If I had to buy stuff again, I would buy the WA76 first. Makes a huge difference. Then I would buy the EQP.
If I had a lot of money left, I would eventually buy the tonebeast again, but could live with the GAP DLX as well.
I record all sort of stuff, not only bass, so here's my equipment:
Computer: HP Intel i5, 3,1 Ghz, 16 GB with Windows 10
Instruments: Ibanez Mikro bass, Aria Pro II Laser Electric Classic bass (modded as sort of baritone slide bass), Epiphone Special SG electric guitar, Santana 3/4 acoustic guitar, kalimba, harmonica, toy melodica, old partly broken accordion, Technics living room organ, Kids Music Bomtempi KM40 keyboard, various percussion.
Microphones: Supreme TU-97 condenser tube mic, Gatt Audio LD-5 condenser mic
Effect Pedals: EHX Black Finger optic tube compressor, Boss MT-2 distortion, EHX Tube Zipper (only the fuzz part works, so that is what I use it for), Zoom B3 multi effect, Boss LS-2 line selector, Boss FV-50 H volume pedal
Midi: M-Audio Oxygen 8 keyboard
Pre-amp: Behringer Tube Ultragain Mic100
Amplification: Behringer Eurolive B212D or through the microphone input of my living room organ
Audio Interface: Edirol FA-101 firewire (set to 96 Khz, 24 Bit)
Audio editing/recording/programming software: Reason (for programming), Fruity Loops (only used rarely), Cubase (as main DAW), Reaper (as secondary DAW mainly used for some of the effects), some wave generator and text to speech programs.
Headphones: Sennheiser HD 380 Pro
Usual signal path for mic: Supreme Tu-97 directly into the mic pre-amp of the audio interface input 1
Usual signal path for guitar, bass and keyboard/organ: EHX Blackfinger (always on) > Boss MT-2 > EHX Tube Zipper > Zoom B3 (BassPre always on in third position) > Behringer Tube Ultragain Mic100 > input 2 of my audio interface
Handheld recorder: Further more I got a Sony PCM-D50 handheld recorder for recording sketches, notes, rehearsals and field recordings/samples
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Computer: HP Intel i5, 3,1 Ghz, 16 GB with Windows 10
Instruments: Ibanez Mikro bass, Aria Pro II Laser Electric Classic bass (modded as sort of baritone slide bass), Epiphone Special SG electric guitar, Santana 3/4 acoustic guitar, kalimba, harmonica, toy melodica, old partly broken accordion, Technics living room organ, Kids Music Bomtempi KM40 keyboard, various percussion.
Microphones: Supreme TU-97 condenser tube mic, Gatt Audio LD-5 condenser mic
Effect Pedals: EHX Black Finger optic tube compressor, Boss MT-2 distortion, EHX Tube Zipper (only the fuzz part works, so that is what I use it for), Zoom B3 multi effect, Boss LS-2 line selector, Boss FV-50 H volume pedal
Midi: M-Audio Oxygen 8 keyboard
Pre-amp: Behringer Tube Ultragain Mic100
Amplification: Behringer Eurolive B212D or through the microphone input of my living room organ
Audio Interface: Edirol FA-101 firewire (set to 96 Khz, 24 Bit)
Audio editing/recording/programming software: Reason (for programming), Fruity Loops (only used rarely), Cubase (as main DAW), Reaper (as secondary DAW mainly used for some of the effects), some wave generator and text to speech programs.
Headphones: Sennheiser HD 380 Pro
Usual signal path for mic: Supreme Tu-97 directly into the mic pre-amp of the audio interface input 1
Usual signal path for guitar, bass and keyboard/organ: EHX Blackfinger (always on) > Boss MT-2 > EHX Tube Zipper > Zoom B3 (BassPre always on in third position) > Behringer Tube Ultragain Mic100 > input 2 of my audio interface
Handheld recorder: Further more I got a Sony PCM-D50 handheld recorder for recording sketches, notes, rehearsals and field recordings/samples
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I like that part about that mic input of your living room organ
Although I have a bass amp at home, I just use it to power my pleasureboard and always listen through monitors or sometimes headphones.No monitors? Do you mix everything just with your headphones without controlling it through monitors or at least a hifi. Never worked for me.
I like that part about that mic input of your living room organ
No monitors? Do you mix everything just with your headphones without controlling it through monitors or at least a hifi. Never worked for me.
The thing is I do not really own any studio monitors or even a stereo with regular speakers, all I got is my headphones.
So they will have to do for now, and then I just have to cross my fingers my mixes wont sound too off on a pair of regular speakers.
Luckily my headphones are quite decent though and made with studio and music production in mind.
I know it is not quite the same as using studio monitors or testing your mixes on a stereo, which of course would be ideal, but at least it is better than had it been the other way around.
I mean at least a mix sounding good in headphones is more likely to sound good on regular speakers than a mix sounding good on speakers necessarily will in headphones (Or at least that is what I have been told).
Most engineers would say it is the other way round. Esp. problems with low frequencies can't be solved with headphones in my experience. But I guess more music is listened to on headphones than on speakers today anyway.
3 JB's all diff pups and woods
adam a7x
rme ff400
mac mini
dbx 166xs
cal76 cb (nowadays)
heil pr48
2 sm58's
cubase elements
slate vmr
sonnox inflator
mogami and belden cables
audio technica m70
akg 141
shure srh440
radial j48
sansamp vtdi (not the DI bit)
broughton hp/lp
crown xls1500
tc electronic rs210c
parker (les paul replica)
Start (warmoth neck)
adam a7x
rme ff400
mac mini
dbx 166xs
cal76 cb (nowadays)
heil pr48
2 sm58's
cubase elements
slate vmr
sonnox inflator
mogami and belden cables
audio technica m70
akg 141
shure srh440
radial j48
sansamp vtdi (not the DI bit)
broughton hp/lp
crown xls1500
tc electronic rs210c
parker (les paul replica)
Start (warmoth neck)
I've just got things to a point where the workflow is seamless and the technology is stable. I'm relying a lot on VSTs at the moment, but I'm OK with that. It's a Win7 custom build.
This is just the recording setup.
Ins/Converting
Focusrite Scarlett 18i20
M-Audio Octane
TC M350 Effects Processor (and effective AD converter)
Mics/Pres/DI (* = shared)
SM57 x2
SM58 x3*
Beta 52*
AKG P170s x2*
5 peice apex Mic kit
Radial JDI
Radial RMP
Art Tube MP
Other Notables
Python 24/6 split snake
KRK Rokit 6's
MAudio Oxygen 49
Gemini PL90
This is just the recording setup.
Ins/Converting
Focusrite Scarlett 18i20
M-Audio Octane
TC M350 Effects Processor (and effective AD converter)
Mics/Pres/DI (* = shared)
SM57 x2
SM58 x3*
Beta 52*
AKG P170s x2*
5 peice apex Mic kit
Radial JDI
Radial RMP
Art Tube MP
Other Notables
Python 24/6 split snake
KRK Rokit 6's
MAudio Oxygen 49
Gemini PL90
I would agree that speakers, even some rather limited ones, are generally more useful for overall mixing than headphones. Headphones give an unrealistic stereo image and a false sense of enhanced clarity and intimacy that speakers won't have.
However, I find that very good headphones are an essential tool for checking the low end, since most rooms have significant inaccuracies in the low end caused by room modes.
Otto
This is my current home recording set up. Pretty modest but it works!
Computer: 2015 MacBook Pro
DAW: Logic Pro X
Audio Interface: Motu 828x Hybrid
Preamp/DI: Avalon U5, GT The Brick, Radial ProDI, Sansamp BDDI, Aguilar DB924
Outboard: 2x DBX 160x Compressor
Microphones: Rode NT1-A, Shure SM57
Headphones: Audio Technica ATHM50, Sennheiser HD202
Monitors: KRK Rokit 6's
Computer: 2015 MacBook Pro
DAW: Logic Pro X
Audio Interface: Motu 828x Hybrid
Preamp/DI: Avalon U5, GT The Brick, Radial ProDI, Sansamp BDDI, Aguilar DB924
Outboard: 2x DBX 160x Compressor
Microphones: Rode NT1-A, Shure SM57
Headphones: Audio Technica ATHM50, Sennheiser HD202
Monitors: KRK Rokit 6's
