Transparency on the tracks

[Shonsteez]

I believe most people on this forum do not have the sufficient top-level gear to even warrant an argument on "gear." Many people can't afford the top-level gear you speak of. They can only afford modest or budget improvements to a Mac-based DAW.

My idea of top level gear is something along these lines:
http://www.recordplant.com/facilities/SSL-1-specs.html

Perhaps your standard may be different.

But I have seen cats make some great recordings on budget DAWs because they knew how to use tools already at their disposal. Granted, budget gear does provide some issues, but a great engineer knows how to sidestep a lot of problems.

I'm all for better gear. But to have a discussion about REAL top-level gear when many people reading this don't have an extra $50,000 to spend on gear is not helpful to the conversation.

My opinion.

No dude I feel you, and I myself fit into that category of people that cant afford that top-level gear that I believe were both speaking of here hopefully, however I do think your even shooting higher then I was in regards to really top level stuff?!...lol....I was mearly trying to acknowledge that it does make a difference to a certain extent however. I thought that was the whole point of the question - does it make a difference? My answer would be yes for the most part.

Ive had the opportunity of tracking through waaaay nicer micpres and mics at a few studios and friends project studios, and the difference is immediately noticeable, which is what I thought Arkitekt was originally inquiring about - "Will better Pre's, A/D, etc. make a difference in the transparency of your audio getting recorded in?" - So that was my initial response considering Ive first hand heard a serious increase in quality in just the raw source files that were recorded in with no treatment whatsoever yet.
Mind you, Im comparing this to my subpar MOTU Ultralite A/D, my MPA Gold, and my GT MD1B-FET. In my case, this is the best I could afford for now and I get useable results, but if I were to compare the same recorded signal through my homies project studio gear for example (Neuman TLM 149, Avalon VT737ST, Apogee Ensemble) - the results are vastly different and are more organic and clear sounding, IMO.

Dunno what else to say? I know you clearly know your stuff and I wouldnt even doubt you have way more clockable hours in front of the board then I have since it sounds like you get to work at a studio for a paycheck, which by the way is dope - you have my dream job!..... So what im getting at here anyways is that Im not doubting your experience or advice, Im simply offering my 2 cents as well speaking soley from my own experiences in the studio comparing typical prosumer gear that most everybody on ill would use, to the nicer pro-level gear that Ive been blessed to mess with a few times thus far.

In the end, I think we both agree the engineer makes the track, not the gear tho

 

[God]

No dude I feel you, and I myself fit into that category of people that cant afford that top-level gear that I believe were both speaking of here hopefully, however I do think your even shooting higher then I was in regards to really top level stuff?!...lol....I was mearly trying to acknowledge that it does make a difference to a certain extent however. I thought that was the whole point of the question - does it make a difference? My answer would be yes for the most part.

Ive had the opportunity of tracking through waaaay nicer micpres and mics at a few studios and friends project studios, and the difference is immediately noticeable, which is what I thought Arkitekt was originally inquiring about - "Will better Pre's, A/D, etc. make a difference in the transparency of your audio getting recorded in?" - So that was my initial response considering Ive first hand heard a serious increase in quality in just the raw source files that were recorded in with no treatment whatsoever yet.
Mind you, Im comparing this to my subpar MOTU Ultralite A/D, my MPA Gold, and my GT MD1B-FET. In my case, this is the best I could afford for now and I get useable results, but if I were to compare the same recorded signal through my homies project studio gear for example (Neuman TLM 149, Avalon VT737ST, Apogee Ensemble) - the results are vastly different and are more organic and clear sounding, IMO.

Dunno what else to say? I know you clearly know your stuff and I wouldnt even doubt you have way more clockable hours in front of the board then I have since it sounds like you get to work at a studio for a paycheck, which by the way is dope - you have my dream job!..... So what im getting at here anyways is that Im not doubting your experience or advice, Im simply offering my 2 cents as well speaking soley from my own experiences in the studio comparing typical prosumer gear that most everybody on ill would use, to the nicer pro-level gear that Ive been blessed to mess with a few times thus far.

In the end, I think we both agree the engineer makes the track, not the gear tho

Here's where I disagree with you, if you can even call it a patent disagreement.

I believe with enough training in front of a DAW containing decent plugins, like a good WAVES bundle for example, you can do wonders.

Generally, the big studios are great for people that can afford them. They're great for recording with a deadline and for recording stability (lesser crashes on a PT HD system than a SONAR system.) Also, since someone like a record company is investing in your production, they have the money to pay for top notch shit (generally, this is changing in some cases.) You don't look like a "novice" when recording an allegedly professional act because your "gear isn't good enough and your software crashed for the umpteenth time."

But if you have enough time, own a pretty decent project studio and again... you put in enough TIME and learn the power of the tools you already have-- you can make very professional sounding tracks. It's about time and training. Get that down and you'll do great.

The weakness of many professional sounding demo tracks is the mic signal chain... specifically the vocal mic that's used. People pay a ton of money for plugins, random hardware processors and FX, but skimp on the vocal mic.

Secondly a weakness comes from not having a high quality monitor. For budget studios a decent monitor should generally cost $900 and up. The M-Audio w/subwoofer "monitors" are not sufficient for decent mixes and many people skimp on their monitors.

The vocals are probably the most important part of the track and monitors are what you use to reference your sound. It is what you use to judge your sound. Ultimately it's the producer's audio "judgment" that makes a good song.

People constantly vie for better gear or better plugins.

Fuck protools and stick me in a studio that's still stuck back in 1984 where I have a transport module with wheels to punch in your recording on the old Studer reel to reel. Give me an assistant AE who has to manually automate the EQ's.

It may take me four days of production to alter your vocals so you sing in pitch by speeding up certain sections of the song and splicing sections (fuck AutoTune) but the outcome will still be polished.

People need to realize HOW MUCH BETTER YOU HAVE IT right now.

Don't take your DAW for granted. You have a lot of power in that computer you're using right now-- put time in learning how to use the FX and filters YOU ALREADY HAVE and you will be amazed.

 

[Shonsteez]

Its prob just me, but it seems like were debating about 2 different things now? Cuz i totally agree with you 100% on knowing your DAW first. I couldn't agree more to be honest. So at this point im not quite sure what were disagreeing on!?...lol. But yeah, good info God.

 

[samuelock]

completely disregarding everything that was said before me because i'm too lazy to read,

planning out your mixes, and having a place in the frequency spectrum for each type of sound you have, plus having clean, nicely leveled sounds before you start messing with them all help to get transparency in a mix

if your thing sounds good even before you start messing with it, then i'm sure you can get it to sound pretty clean.