Upgrades to “My Dream Home Studio”

October 10th, 2009

I have written 3 blog entries regarding how I went about planning, purchasing and installing my dream home studio. Since the original installation in 2006/07, I have since made several upgrades with both hardware and software. The purpose of this article is to explain these upgrades.

All the upgrades I have made to my dream home studio have been the result of seeking to get the most professional sound possible within the confines of the space and budget I have. I wanted to get some of “those” sounds I grew up listening to. Rich, deep, expansive reverb. Amazingly smooth stereo bus compression. Gorgeous synth pads with sound design capabilities that would go far beyond my talent for designing them. Additionally, my upgrades had to meet the expanding needs in my song writing, arranging, and mixing. New additions were primarily driven by the need to add new instruments, new processing, and new analog mixing capabilities. Below I will provide a brief description of each.

NEW INSTRUMENTS

When I had completed my original dream studio installation, I had many instruments at my disposal. Guitars, soft synths, one analog synth, space designer, and numerous midi instruments that came as part of Logic. Although I enjoyed a wealth of instruments at my disposal, I was missing a bit more control and variety in two principal areas: soft synths and drums.

In the area of soft synths, I was looking for a relatively easy to use, versatile, great sounding instrument. I am not a keyboard player and as a result did not want to invest in a high end synth such as Roland V-Synth GT, or the Nord Stage EX7, or the Access Virus. All more hardware than I felt worthy of. And yet, I wanted more variety of sound, and versatility. I also wanted a pattern sequencer, arpegiator, and flexible groove management.

I found all I was looking for and more in Reason4. I won’t go into product detail here, but it had it all, and it’s usage is sequencer based, something I am very familiar with.  With Reason4 I got an entire soft synth studio and it fit the bill perfectly in all areas including drums. However, I tend to write and record hard rock, progressive rock and metal. I needed some drum beats and kits that were specific to this genre and they had to be of the highest quality.

I researched several  drum sample and arrangement software packages including; Toontrack, Addictive Drums, Sonic Reality Ocean, and FXpansion BFD. Ocean and BFD had the highest quality samples in my opinion. While the other products offered excellent kit and beat management, the quality of their samples felt good as solid click tracks, but not as the stand alone drum tracks for entire songs.

I ended up going with BFD2, a wonderful product with more than 50Gb of kits. Additionally, it has it’s own powerful individual track mixer with high quality plug-in processing. I can also export individual tracks into Logic and work with them there. Comprehensive midi mapping is another great feature of BFD2, that makes altering exiting grooves or creating new ones, all available within the same program. BFD2 together with Battery3 provide me with a wealth of high end drum samples, kits, beat variety and processing. With time and practice, I was able to create high quality, real drum tracks for my compositions.

NEW PROCESSING

After I had rounded out my instrument inventory, I wanted to build up my processing arsenal. I researched numerous processing options. I looked at digital signal processors such as Yamaha’s SPX2000, TC Electronic Powercore, Lexicon, SSL, UAD, and Waves bundles.

Processing with any of the high-end software such as Waves Mercury can bring even a robust computer to a screaching hault. I wanted the best quality I could find that seemlessly integrated with my DAW without compromising the stability of my system. After reading about all the major units and hearing them as well, I landed on the UAD-1 system for great EQs, and classic compressors, Solid State Logic’s Duende for their renowned stereo bus compressor, and Lexicon’s PCM96 for reverb and delay.

The UAD-1 PCIe digital signal processing accelerator card came with a wealth of high end authentic hardware emulations. More than I could afford to buy individually. And even money were no option, space is, and mine is limited. The UAD system integrates beautifully with Logic and can now be further upgraded with new UAD-2 cards that offer many times more the processing power and speed of the original UAD-1 system cards. I tend to use the UAD-1 hardware emulations sparingly, and as such I have do not experience system slow downs or crashes.

The Solid State Logic Duende is based on SSL’s C series digital console technology. The unit comes with two plug-ins. The C200 series channel strip which has 4 band EQ, variable  hi and low pass filters, switchable EQ characteristics between E and G series EQ, soft ration compression, and dynamic side-chain processing. The second plug-in and the main reason I purchased the Duende is for the classic 1980’s G series stereo bus compressor. Although a pretty simple unit, it’s power and presence is amazing. It really brings a mix together, holding and delivering it with consistency, power, and smooth presence.

The Lexicon PCM96 is the culmination of all I ever wanted in a reverb/delay processor. With more than 28 different reverbs and delays, this unit also comes with new Hall and Room algorithms that are stellar. In addition to being able to be used as a stand alone digital signal processor, it can also function as a control-only insert or FireWire streaming audio plug-in inside my Mac. Now that’s cool. The best of both worlds with two channels XLR analog I/O, four channels of streaming FireWire, automation via FireWire or Ethernet, and sample rates up to 96kHz.

These three units took my sound to a whole other level of professional quality. Depth, smoothness, clean, and warm, these three units added processing beyond the borders of Logic and some of the other digital tools I used such as Guitar Rig 2, and the Line6 POD XT.

Although these new processing additions didn’t come cheap, their acquisition was cheaper than acquiring all of their hardware counterparts. Imagine having to buy a Pultec Pro EQ, a Neve 88RS channel strip, a UAD 1176 classic limiting amplifier, a Fairchild 670 compressor, stereo bus compression from SSL ’s G series board, and SSL’s C200 console channel strip, to name a few. I use all of these regularly and am pleased with their sound and flexibility. I can call up the right unit for the right sound in the right genre. It’s access to more equipment than I ever dreamed I would have.

I would surely love to have the hardware unit of all of these great pieces of gear, but that’s not going to happen any time soon due to a few limiting factors i.e., space, cost, and location. I live in Buenos Aires, Argentina, and getting all that gear into the country would not be easy or cheap. But with my UAD-1 PCI-e card, my SSL Duende, and my Lexicon PCM96, I could upgrade my sound, the versatility of my equipment offering, and the flexibility of its use, without changing my DAW.

ANALOG SUMMING MIXER

This was no easy decision. First, let me visit why I was even considering an analog summing mixer. I had developed a pretty great digital recording rig. My mixerless studio was built around a great Mac-based DAW running Logic and I was quite pleased with the results I was able to get. I spent years studying and practicing my mixing capabilities so as to maximize the equipment I had. I had always read that a great engineer could do a lot with a little, and could do more than a mediocre engineer with a ton of great equipment. Well I clearly fall in the latter category, but as I developed my skills and learned how to use the equipment I had, the one thing I didn’t have much of, was any analog electronics and circuitry within my signal chain.

I had been partnering with a guitarist and recording engineer in NY who worked in a wholly analog studio. He was now working through integrating a DAW into his studio, and was loving the experience of discovering all the digital world had to offer his work in terms of access and flexibility. He turned to me for advice and I spent months working with him to research and add just the right DAW, interface, and soft tools for his needs. All the while, I was blown away by the amazing warmth and sound his analog rig would deliver. I was coming from the other end of the spectrum and wanted to learn more about the analog world I grew up in, but had skipped over when it came to developing my dream home studio.

I began researching how I could add that analog sound and warmth to my rig. I could purchase a great analog console, but didn’t have the room. That was a big limiting factor. I then came upon summing mixers which provided the analog circuitry I craved, but left out the EQ and compression, leaving a tight rack space box I could more easily incorporate into my dream home studio. But which one? There were many on the market and they weren’t cheap. I looked at the API 8200, the Dangerous 2-Bus, the SPL Mixdream, the Tonelux V, and the Neve 8816 as well as many others.

This research required more than just reading specs, as words could not tell me how they sounded. Luckily there are a few great shoot outs available on line complete with sound clips of each of these units and clips for their use in different genres of music as well. Additionally, I read what professional engineers had to say about using these different units for different genres.

When all was said and done, I chose to go with the Neve 8816 analog summing mixer and have now incorporated this unit into my rig. I run all instruments into the summing mixer on their way to the DAW and can also channel signal back to it on the way out and mix down directly. I can use the Neve 8816 unit to either mix prior to the box, or to directly mix down finals, or for overdubs, or for any variation therein. The Neve 8816 unit also has great recall features with sixteen input channels including +15dB gain, level, pan, cut/solo and cue controls. The mix buss includes a unique “Stereo Width” (a professional mastering tool) feature, a post-insert mix function that can be used for mixing in a separate stem or blending the mix with a special effect, four monitor sources, two sets of speakers, independent monitor level control, talkback mic, cue send and headphone outs. All this in one tight 2u rack space helped to upgrade my DAW to a more professional mixing facility with that classic Neve analog sound.

SUMMARY

After installing and working with my dream “mixerless” mac/logic-based studio, I was ready to add software and hardware components that would take my rig to a more professional sounding level. Don’t get me wrong. My dream studio sounded great as it was, but as I practiced my mixing skills further, and listened to more equipment, developed my ear, and spoke with other enthusiasts, I began to notice the subtle, but important differences between good processing equipment and great processing equipment. Although I did not have the space to acquire and install all the analog hardware I would love to own, I was able to find a middle ground with the industry’s high end software versions of the classics combined with digital signal processing accelerators and the incorporation of a great analog summing mixer.

Today, I have an integrated analog/digital rig that delivers the best tools for each job and suited for my level of capability. I needed time to develop my skills before I could appreciate these new tools, and know how to use them. But as that time arrived, I was ready for the challenge of choosing just what to purchase out of an ocean of offerings. I have told you a bit more about my story and my choices. I hope you enjoy your journey and choices as much as I am enjoying mine.

If you would like to hear this equipment in action, please visit the following sites where you can hear some of my work:

Albert Vinasco Official Website

www.albertvinasco.com

Albert Vinasco on Facebook

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Albert-Vinasco/111169211476?ref=mf

Gabriel

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Gabriel/114233064345

DNA

http://www.facebook.com/pages/DNA/102702390641?ref=mf

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Holiday Guide 2008 : Core i7 The future of DAWs.

November 28th, 2008

So another year has come and gone. I’m 21 years old. The world looks like it might be ending, and I’m writing a article on how you can burn your money on toys in the midst appending dooms day. Intel and AMD have both launched new CPUs, though Intel has expanded  dominant position in the market. The introduction of Intels latest CPU  the Core i7 means that whats availible for those of us looking to build hardware now and through next year will be drasticly different, from those who built over  the last two years. In this article I’ll go into a brief whats to know about intels new CPUs, as well as what looks good for those of us looking to build computers.

I.Introduce Nehalem: Nehalem or by its Common name the Core i7,  is the first major change in Intel Processors since the introduction of the Core 2 at the end of summer 2006. It does a number of things differently from traditional Core 2. First the Processor is more similar to AMD’s Phenom in some ways, predominately the use of an unified Quad core, integrated memory controller, and cache hierarchy.

Intel effectively uses a unified quad core essentially meaning all cores are on a single die, instead of have two dual cores on a single piece of silicon for intels previous quad core. In previous generation this seperation meant less effective communication between cores, in addition a core 2 quad had two seperate sets of caches for all its processors, and effectively had more power sitting idle at various points, as processors could not access the other cache. The Core i7 reintroduces intel’s Hyperthreading technology effectively allowing it to work on 8 threads at once, instead of just 4.  (Hyperthreading allows a core to go work on a different process during a Cache miss, where normal CPU’s would have been waiting for a process to simply finish ). Intel platforms also feature turbo mode, which auto oveclocks CPU if the processor runs cool enough, or when cores are idle by  turing off core, and overclocking used core. This is a benifit if you payed 60$ for an after market cooler like some people.

CPU finally moves away from a seperate memory controller VIA northbridge to an integrated controller like AMDs. This will significantly improve memory bandwidth.  The draw back to this is that each generation of CPU is locked to a memory standard in Intel’s case a DDR-3, and new memory standard will only be introduced with new CPUs as opposed to New mobos. This poses a problem for budget users in some ways, if any of your remember the Pentium IV in early days, expensive ram bus memory made it near impossible to afford for average end users. As new chipsets and Motherboards came out, the same Pentium IV CPU could be accross several different generations of memory standards.  SD-RAM, DDR, DDR-2, Dual Channel DDR. Whats more many of these transitions may not have happened, with out third party development of chipsets (VIA released the first DDR Chipset for Intel, effectively was sued for intel for lack of liscence), which forced the DDR standard on inte platforms.  The i7 uses tri channel DDR-3 to achieve peak bandwidth, meaning for peak performance you’ll need 3 or 6 sticks. The integrated memroy controller puts a limitation on careful overclocking as raising the voltage to high risks destruction of the whole CPU. Standard spec on DDR-3 at this point  is @ 1.5V  7-7-7 for DDR-1066. and 9-9-9-24 @ 1.5V for DDR-3. The memory for this is quite affordable. There is a notable performance increase to DDR-1600 however there is no standard spec for DDR-3 1600. Not all mobos will be compatible with all mdoels, and voltages will be unlike standard and latency varied. It will also cost a premium. It is my faith that DDR-3 1600 will be coming in the future with a standard spec, for now due to my own policy I will not be looking at any DDR-3 1600 sticks. Keep in mind if you choose to find DDR-3 1600 you should look for memory that operates at 1.65Volts or less.

The last major change is a Cache hierarchy similar to AMDs with a small L2 Cache (1MB) and a L3 Cache instead (8mb). The draw back to this is this does not benifit many typical desktop applications, rather large code based operations typically run on server environments. This cuases the i7 to net mixed results on many of todays applications, or common applications.

The effective consequence of all this jargon is the i7 is really well designed for multicore computing. However the net results of its performance is 10-40% performance increases in many tasks with huge potential future improvements if multicore takes off.

The Core i7 (bloomfield) range from 300$-1000$ and are readily available. the most affordable model is the 2.66Ghz 920  which range 3.20 which is 300$-1030$

II. The existing Core 2 Quads provide a great value as Nehalem has come out. Their is some price drops, but one of the more interesting phenomena is the introduction of lower midrange quad cores, that are designed for those who have tighter budgets. Intels CPU remain an overall better value at this point. Offer a great performance for those of us not ready to jump ship. Core 2 CPUs range from 180$ in value to 550$ for a Q9650. The more expensive QX9770 extreme is still 1550. The major benifit of the Core 2 Quad is the cheaper ram, and motherboard (you’ll spend more on the mobo for the i7  you’d spend for both the motherboard, and ram for a core 2 Quad, and most of the i7 mobos cost 300$ a pop).

III. Cases. Not much has changed in department of Cases. For silent cases antec remains the standard, but aluminum cases seem to have gone out of fashion. The top cases still remain the Antec P180, P182, Cooler Master Cosmos. The Antec Solo and Sonata designer have significant deals

IV. The Power supply market has exploded in size, and there are many silencing options. Antec Signature,Seasonic, Corsair (made by Seasonic), Enermax,   made provide cost effective solutions for quiet power supply’s. Antec Earthwatts and Thermaltake provide some decent cost effective options.

V. The video card wars have left us with a myraid of video card choices compared to last year where DAW just settled for lowend graphics, as most highend cards were to expesnive and to noisy for making DAWs. The ATI RADEON HD3800 series changed this and created a nice actively cooled midrange offering in graphics, at a bearable noise level. However the introduction of the NVIDIA 9600GT has created a low power consumption video  which can be passively cooled for a mere price of a 120$, that has fairly decent gaming performance. There are also passively cooled 9800GTs and 4850 with fairly good reputations. Giving gaming DAWs a massive expansion The 9800GT from ECS is a 160$ is getting fairly decent reviews.

V. Motherboards. As far as motherboards go there isn’t a lot of maturity to the existing i7 models, but Gigabyte continues to make boards that have features sets that are great for DAW. The initial reviews seem positive. On the i7 Platform they remain the dominant player, and my top choice. All gigabyte biards feature Ti Firewire, and Silent Pipe technology

VI. Hard Drives. 32mb Cache has become a standard with some decent drives being available. Price drops have caused 640GB and 1TB Drives to be extremely affordable.

VII emerging technology. 2009 should see price reductions that make certain emerging technologies extremely affordable to the mainstream. High speed solidstate disks are dropping rapidly in price, though still quite effective. This technology has much faster read write than most hard drives and will have drastic potential for power users who record lots of tracks simultaneous or people who just want things to load up faster.  In addition Blu Ray is falling price as well with DVD+/-RW Blu RAy combo drives approaching 150$. Burners still remain pricey at 225-400$ but approaching more affordable prices rapidly

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Some ideas Upper Midrange i7 Rig 1900.00

Antec P180/P182

Seasonic S12 650watt PSU

3x Scythe S-flex D120mm Casefan

Intel Core i7 920 2.66GHZ

Gigabyte GA-EX58 Motherboard (300$)

3×2GB DDR-2 1333MHZ Corsair XMS Memory (CL9-9-9-24) 1.5Volt (225$)

3×1TB 7200rpm Western Digital w/32mb Cache (120 each)

1x Gigabyte Passively Cooled ATI RADEON HD4850 (Passively cooled Gaming, Good airflow is a must)

LG 6x BLU RAY Burner (225)

Pioneer 12x DVD ROM and 6x Burner (150$

Microsoft Windows Vista Business 64 (downgrade to XP if preferred)

$ 2000.00

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Antec Sonata

Antec Earthwatts 500 Power supply

Scythe 120mm Case fan & Scythe 92mm Casefan

Intel Core i7 920 2.66GHz

Gigabyte GA-EX58-UD5

3×1GB DDR-3 1066z Crucial CL7-7-7

2x 640GB Seagate 7200rpm w/32mb Cache

Pioneer 20x DVD+/-RW

ATI RADEON HD2600XT HIS Hightech Fanless

Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition SP3

$ 1233.00

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The Home Studio – useless chatter

October 10th, 2008

Well I don’t have anything to really base a topic on, I just feel like talking about the studio.  It’s my way of unwinding I guess.

Here’s some things I’ve come to understand and realize in the past little while that may be of some use to anyone starting up their own little studio:

- Get a good tuner that people like to use.  It’s very hard to record over out-of-tune scratch tracks, and also annoying if you realize your last amazing take is not in tune.  Use this one tuner for everyone.
-Don’t take it personally if potential clients back out or don’t reply to calls or emails/msgs.  It’s the name of the game.  Network yourself, but realize that some of the younger clients don’t have the social maturity to do you the courtesy of being on honest with you.  They would sometimes rather not deal with telling you that they are going to go elsewhere or do it themselves (hehe).

- If you want that huge tight wall-of-guitar sound, it’s more easily achieved using the same rig and player.  Often the two guitar players in a band will want to each track a rhythm part, meaning two guitars, and sometimes using two different amps, and always two different playing styles.  Completely different doesn’t equal giant singular sound when double tracking and whatnot.  If the guitar player whom you want to take a backseat during the rhythm parts is offended, get him to try his hand at it and then show him the results.  Worse thing that can happen is that the band will discuss and decide which way they want to go.
-  Having a nice desk relaxes clients!  It’s sad, but soooo true.  I had a PC desk from Office Depot that I used in the studio for awhile.  It was ok, did the job.  However, I could tell that some potential clients were put off because my setup did not have that professional studio desk look (you know, those guys that think you must have Pro Tools to record their record that they only want to spend $1-2k on).  I got an Argosy desk, and suddenly my clients began to listen to me more closely and the potential clients who came to check out the studio were always excited when they saw the setup.  I thought it was just my head playing games, but I swear that the appearance of your studio does in fact play a part in the whole scheme of things.

-  Put a light air freshener in your control room.  Nothing crazy, but one of those Glade plugins that give off a small amount of nice scent.  Relaxing… and better than body odor of the drummer who just finished laying down some tracks.  Nobody wants to work in a stank room.

-  Go to see your potential clients play live at shows.  They will be impressed that you came to see them and it will definitely help your case in trying to get their project in your studio.  Otherwise you will only be recording your friends whom you already know and they will probably want a discount ;)

-  Try to stay away from “I want to sound like this band”.  I mean, I always ask about influences, fav records, etc…. but I try to not let the client think that they can spend pennies on a song relative to what the band they are referring to and get the same results, especially since quite often Andy Wallace or Randy Staub or CLA or TLA or etc etc mixed the cd.  I can get their project to sound good and make the client happy and excited to get their music out there, but you have to be realistic.  If you can come to peace with what you have, work on your abilities within your room and space, and not promise the client what you cannot achieve, then you’ll be ok.

That’s about it from me.  Random, very random, but all of this has helped make my studio life a little bit better as time goes on.

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Blocking when tracking

August 23rd, 2008

Sometimes when a novice begins a recording project they don’t stop to consider the usefulness of recording the performance in bits and pieces and then assembling those pieces together to create the illusion of a live, single take performance. In an ideal world overdubs and multi-tracking would be largely unnecessary because each performance would be perfect on the single live take and all of the levels would fit just right and everything would be fine. In reality there are a few challenges to overcome with tracking a performance for a commercial release.

For starters there’s the room that one is tracking in. While a certain reverberant character might be suitable for tracking drums, it might not work ideally or as well for vocals or guitar and bass. So the engineer finds herself in the predicament of having to put instruments that are supposed to be playing together in separate rooms because of the desire for the ambiance of the performance space to fit the tracking goals for the instrument. While it would be ideal if every recording facility had the option of having many rooms to work with simultaneously, each with a different character that would suit each instrument in any given ensemble, this is not always the case. Along with the performance space being a challenge, there’s also the ability of a performer to remain consistent in their level of performance accuracy and feeling throughout the entire song, which is a difficult feat to achieve. Another issue to contend with is dynamics in a performance. Dynamics, refers to the changes in the perceived volume of a piece. While ideally all dynamics of a song arrangement can be performed in one take, in practice it’s difficult to get it all right at once so for all of these problems we find ourselves separating the parts of a song into sections. I call this specific practice recording in blocks or simply blocking.

Essentially blocking is taking the piece to be recorded and tracking the instruments that have to be captured in a certain way separately from everything else, in their own little arrangement block. Instruments that you want to be captured with a reverberant space are recorded in a reverberant space by themselves. The same goes for other types of room ambiances. Also, you break the song into manageable performance pieces so that the performer doesn’t have to remain consistent from start to finish of the song. They play in sections that allow for them to focus on the difficulties of the particular section at hand until they get it close to perfection. Finally, you break the song arrangement down into the quieter and louder sections so that you can allow for the adjustment of instrument settings and effects. This allows for the dynamics to really jump out at the listener when the need be. It also allows an engineer to keep a better handle on tracking levels, because they can adjust the preamplifier settings for each section.

What blocking does is allow for more control over the song elements. That’s a very good thing when a wide audience is the target. It’s always helpful to be able to tweak each element to the fullest if the need be. What you will end up with is a lot more tracks to mix but that’s generally not a big problem once you get used to it. I have always found that it helps to have the extra tracks to work with when I need it.

Happy recording,

Liz Corin

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The ’secret’ of getting great drum sounds

August 14th, 2008

People all over the net ask “How do I get my drums to sound professional”? Often, these people have a low-end or mid-level kit, record amateur drummers, and have sub par gear on which to record them. How do I know? I was one of these people.

Here’s my three keys on having a good drum sound in order of importance
- Have a good drummer
- Tune the drums properly
- Have some good drums

Ok, here’s why….
1. Good drummer
A good drummer can make a bad kit sound decent. A good drummer can also make a badly-tuned kit sound better. A good drummer can set up in a room, allow for mic movement, cymbals higher/lower, moved drums, clicktrack, dynamic control, etc. That means once mixing starts, it’s simply turning a golden sound into an even better one. Makes your life SO easy. Even if you have to replace a kick drum with a sample, snare enhancement with samples, etc at least the original drums in the overheads and close mics will be in time and sound dynamic!
I’ve had a crappy drummer on a well-tuned $6k DW custom kit that hit like a pansy for metal music, and it was stupid. I’ve had 17 year old kids who can play my studio mid-level kit and I was able to get great sounds with minimal work.

2. Good tuning
A well-tuned crappy drum set can sound absolutely usable. No doubt. However, an amazing $6k kit tuned like a piece of horsepie will definately make your mix a challenge.  Put a great drummer on a well-tuned kit and you’re almost golden.  Almost.

3. Good Kit
This is last because you can get away with a bad kit when having the first two items and still get a usable drum sound.  But if you put all three of these things together, then you just set up your mics, get healthy levels, and press record and smile.  But without either of the first two, this last item is worthless IMHO.

So many a-newb do not want to hear ANY of the above.  Why?  It takes work and/or cash to get each of these keys in order.  It takes work to get good at drums, and we can’t always tell those who we have as clients to practice more before they enter the studio.  It takes work to learn to tune drums, and even still each drum is different.  It takes money and knowledge to get a good drum kit!  So that’s why it often takes awhile, in my experience at least, for a new person interested in recording to really admit why they can’t get the drum sounds they want.  There ain’t no magic process to get a great drum sound.  Tricks and tips to help?  Yea sure, but the honest truth is: You can’t shine a turd.  Everyone’s read that, and there’s a reason people say it.  You gotta get the basics down first, meaning a good musician on a good instrument.
Obviously, having some good mics and preamps… gear in general… will help.  I upgraded from Behringer to Mackie to API preamps.  Huge step up each time.  Same with conversion from Delta 1010 to Lynx Aurora 16.  Mics from chinese Apex to Shure LDCs, 57s, Audix, and Sennheiser.  I can’t afford to have a mic selection that will not get used, so I carefully selected the best mics I can afford for the stuff I record… which is heavier rock music, metal, etc that have full drum kits and large amps, and loud vocals.  Thing is, I can use a lot of my mics for multiple things.  But that’s another topic (one that is rather important for small project studios I might add!).

Also, a good/great room.  My studio is fairly popular with those who have played in it.  Drummers love it cause the drums sound huge, even though it’s a fairly small room.  I guess they are used to playing in boxy rooms that sound like hell, but I know how to use my room and it works for me.  But once again, without the first 3 things up there, the room means squat.

For anyone who thinks I’m full of hot-air, here’s what happened recently:
I recorded a young hardcore band.  They tried to do stuff on their own, then came to me.  Cool.  We tracked the drums and they were pumped, as was I because the drummer had a nice vintage kit, tuned properly.  He was also a fantastic drummer, especially for a 17 year old kid!!!  Super mature and well-behaved, and played well and hard, which you need for the type of music.  So we got a great sound.  I got some samples from his kit just in case.  I told him what I was doing cause I don’t hide the fact that some things may need enhancement or replacement.  I EQ’d the kick in a standard fashion with a UAD 1074 and compressed with an 1176LN, mostly so we could get a close sound to what we wanted to hear after things were done.  Also known as, the metal clicky kick ;)

They came back the next day and the drummer says “Wow man the kit sounds huge!  What did you replace with samples?”
I replied, “Nothing man, that is all you.  Exactly what went down yesterday.”

That’s all there is to it.  I could have left the drums as-is.  In fact, after tracking said band, I could have given them the rough ‘mixes’ the last day of tracking and they would have been happy.  Why?  Cause I get things to sound good before processing… get things good while tracking.

I’m still learning, as is anyone else.  If you have anything to add to what I said, or if you care to discuss the order of importance feel free to comment on the forums.  Maybe I can learn a thing or two from those with more experience.

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Take it one piece at a time and educate yourself

July 29th, 2008

So many times I see people thinking about upgrading their audio rig and they always wonder which of several places in their signal path that they should begin upgrading. I’m of the mindset that once you have a working recording rig that gets it’s basic function of tracking and mixing done well, then you only have to upgrade further as absolutely needed and one piece at a time.

Take the time to make sure that you have fully exhausted the capabilities of the pieces that you’re working with. This is a big deal as you have no reason to spend money if you’ve already got a good thing going that you don’t use fully. So in short, use it fully. Take each piece to the max. If you still need more then you’ll know exactly where you need to start upgrading and you’ll be in a much better position to want to research the specifications and capabilities of the piece that you’re interested in. There’s no need really for someone with experience to constantly be asking questions of others about what they might think of one’s upgrade ideas. Only you know exactly what you need and you’ll know that for sure when you use what you have to the fullest.

Say you have a pair of entry-level monitors. After a few weeks or months of mixing on them and fighting to figure out why your mixes don’t translate to the widest variety of playback systems then you will naturally seek out exactly why this is so. You will likely come upon the issue of room treatment and then you’ll notice that before any monitor can be fully useful it must be placed well in a well treated acoustic space. Thus, proper room treatment becomes a priority on your upgrade list. So you write down, “room treatment”, and you get on with the business of researching the types and costs of room treatments that will work for your acoustic space. After a while you will have a definite plan of action for what you need and you’ll know what you want without having to constantly ask people to tell you what you want. That’s the professional approach in my opinion.

The same goes for anything. Say you have a microphone that you use for vocals and you notice that everything that you record comes out sounding a bit harsh in the high end of the frequency spectrum. After deliberation you will likely start to research microphones that don’t sound harsh in the high end. You will likely come to the conclusion that many cheaper microphones suffer from this problem and that it’s difficult to find a cheaper alternative that happens to keep a smooth, classy sound when you’re shopping for microphones. That’s when you start looking to spend more money on microphones. Because you’ve found that you’re just not satisfied with many of the cheaper alternatives. You never had to ask people, “How much should I spend on a mic?”, because you already know that you’re likely to get what you pay for,(with a few notable exceptions). Also you easily know what to put on your upgrade list because you’re not just buying things to say that you have them. You’re purchasing because you know what you need and you’re not satisfied with the quality of the sound coming from what you already have and use all of the time.

When you take the time to go to the manufacturer websites and read about their products, go to the respected gear magazines and read their reviews, go to the forums and do searches for gear info. You educate yourself. You educate yourself not only about the gear you have in mind, but also the techniques of use and esoteric info surrounding that gear. That’s how you become aware of what you need and how to implement it in your rig.

It’s not enough to buy a piece. You need to know how to use it and how to integrate it into your setup before you put your money into purchasing it. That means that if there is a piece that you think you want, you should take the time to research how it’s used before you buy it. Trust me. It saves a lot of time and it makes you a better engineer. You’re no longer a wannabe who’s buying gear. You become an experienced user who knows what they need and want and knows how to ask for it and discuss it’s proper use. That’s commitment to your practice and education. That’s what needs to be done.

Specifically regarding signal processors and plug-ins, don’t go buying the hottest thing on the market if it isn’t going to be “the answer” to your problems. The vast majority of the time it isn’t going to be anyway so why are you fooling yourself? I recently saw somebody’s rig that had multiple thousands of dollars of big name, outboard signal processors and yet this person was using entry level monitors to mix with. I don’t get that. I think that if you’re going to be using expensive signal processors then you’d probably want to use some decent monitors so that you could hear what you were doing without having to second guess. Why spend thousands on processing stuff but only hear it through a couple hundred dollars in monitoring? It doesn’t add up to me.

As far as plug-ins go, why would one purchase a bunch of high dollar, big name compressor, EQ and reverb plugs when you can only master the use of a couple at a time? I find that I use the same two EQ plugs on about 80% of everything that I mix. What can I say? They work and they sound great. That’s why I keep using them. I can’t even imaging having to figure out the sonic differences between a dozen different EQs or compressors. I figure one should use a couple and master their use. After a few weeks of use on several mixes you will really start to get a feel for what they can and can’t do well and what they actually sound like and are doing to the sound. Then you’ll be in a better position to know what to look for in an upgrade. Also, when you compare them side by side you’ll know the differences between your plug-ins, and the new ones without having to second guess because you’ll be so familiar with them. That helps you by making you an “expert” on the use of your chosen software. You’ll know what to look to improve upon and what happens to be just fine. There’s no need for a million plug-ins when you’re, realistically, only going to use a few regularly. The rest is marketing hype that suckers those that don’t know any better. Don’t let it happen to you.

The bottom line is for you to use what you’ve got and use it to it’s fullest. Then research anything you wish to upgrade. Make sure you know how it works before you buy it and make sure you know exactly how to incorporate it into your rig. That’s the way to make smarter decisions on gear without having to be spoon fed by someone else.

Happy recording,

Liz

Posted in All Blogs, Enlightened Hand, test | No Comments »

Holiday Guide for Designing a new DAW.

July 27th, 2008


– by nanashiwanderer Ive been on a week long hiatus. and over the week I had a good chance to really look the computer hardware market, and coming up for christmas. I have to say Im a lot more enthused about the current hardware market than I was about the hardware market 3 months ago or 6weeks a month. Intels new chipsets are very solid, amd finally seems to have some good options for motherboards, and competitive for lower end DAWs. Manufacturers have realized theres a high demand for silent PCs and have really ramped up the Market for silent cases, with Antec Leading the way, but also a nice offering from cooler master. PC Power & Cooling, and Antec (seasonic) both have released quiet energy effecient Power Supplys.

This time around I’m not going to give a fixed template of what to build but general guidelines. These selections are untested, and made from a general knowledge of how hardware works, and an understanding of PC Design. The designs them selves are untested and any one who chooses to do so builds at their own risk. Before reading this article I suggest some, particular novices to DAW design, read my first article on how to select DAW, which would give one an idea of what to look for in DAWs.

Cases & Power Supplies. Power Supplies are probably the most important core component over looked in most peoples PCs. Since on paper, they seem to have no tangible effect, on the PCs power. However, Power supplies have a drastic impact on stability of PCs. After ram, the power supply is the second leading cause to PC instability.In general for my philosophy when designing a DAW, Stability, compatibility, comes before power. In todays market, the power most DAWs far exceed the ordinary engineer or musicians needs, with the given software. As new and inventive things come , we may need more power, but you can always buy a DAW for those days. No matter what PC you buy theres a finite life. For this reason I dont recommend skimping on the power supply for a bit faster CPU or a nicer video Card. Other than the Quality of the Unit itself, the two biggest factors that one should consider when purchase Power Supplies is the size of the unit (how much wattage does it provide), and the noise level. There are several manufacturers.
How much power does one really need ? Cheaper power supplies often underrate the value of their power which provides more power at a lower temperature levels. The problem is most computers are not room temperature, particularly sparsely cooled systems like DAWs. At the minimum most DAWs today use A Dual Core Processor, with 2GB of RAM, Dual Hard Drives, a DVD Burner, and a low end to mid range graphics card. This means most computers at a bare minimum will need A very effecient 400watt Power Supply. Higher End units, which use Quad Core CPUs, 3 or 4 Hard Drives, a Mid range Video card may want as much as 500watts.

So what are my selections for power supplies ?
PC Power & Cooling Silencer Seems like a solid choice for many people particularly, ones who aren’t buying one of the new Antec Cases. With a long standing reputation for making some of the best Power Supplies in the Industry,The Silencer 470 is 83.00$ and just the wattage one would want to cover most midrange DAW’s running a modest graphics card.
Antec has released a new line of energy effecient power supplies from Seasonics called Earthwatts which are of extremely high caliber and very low noise. (Seasonics is the leading manufacturer of quiet power supplies, and makes Power Supplies for Corsair, Antec and other companies). The best thing about the Earthwatts Series is the 500watt (price stand alone at a modest 80.00) is being included with many of the Sonata Series Cases, which are top choices for DAW.

Antec as of late has stepped up on the quiet case market, and has paid some attention to our own DAW market, with the introduction of the Studio Series Cases. While the Studio-Series is nothing to write home about. The Performance series has been. With 4
models, the P180, P182,P190, and now the Sonata III Designer. The Series has a number of features for quiet which can be found in reviews. The major ones are a dampening system on the side doors (Which makes these a monster to lug around, these are fixed install), and rubber grommet suspension system for the Hard Drives, which isolates the drives stopping that annoying popping and clicking sound. The Cases are equipped with 92mm or 120mm fans instead of standard 80mm. Which allows the user to purchase slower fans, 92mm and particularly 120mm fans push much more air at much slower speeds than traditional DAW fans.

A recent addition to the market of mainstream Quiet Cases is Cooler Masters new cosmos which also has a “sound proofed” side panels. The main aspect of the case it is large, spacious, and luxurious it has the type of features that will make it more of a pleasure to work with than Antec, which tend to be vanilla. Cooler master construction on their highend cases are usually flawless. But at 210.00 with out a Power Supply. It doesn’t come with out a price.

Antec’s new sonata III . Is a midtower case and has a variety of models, including the Sonata 3 Designer and Sonata Plus, the differences can range from size of the fans, the model of power suppy but all use Highend Power Supplies manufactured by Seasonics and have at least 500watts of power. They share majority of the core features of the Performance Series making them an astounding value. Sonata III which ranges from 140-160$ in price (including shipping.) It has room for 2x 120mm fans, and comes with an Antec Earth watts 500..

and can use 3 Isolated hard Drives, (or carry 4 total using normal mounting) and has 3x 5.25″ Drive Bays. The biggest complaint is the removal of the Firewire header that is present in its larger Performance 18x Series Cousins.

AMD or Intel, at the current moment Intel and AMD are admidst of a price war, and Intel has a firm grasp of the the highend crown. Price of Processors are lower than ever due to massive price cuts in the last year. A Quad Core 2 Duo @ 2400mhz (1066FSB) is right now 280$. and fast Dual Cores like The E6750 (2.66ghz 1333FSB) @ 195$. Intel’s processors clock for clock are 30 to 50% faster than AMD’s. Making Intel pretty much the only choice for highend. AMD hopefully will have more competitive processors once there new Barcelona desktop edition is availible. However at the given prices theres still place for AMD on the modern processor market. @ 65$ Athlon X2 4000+ gives a fair bit of power, for those of us on a budget. To top it off nicer AMD Boards can be found for 85 $ or So, versus nice Intel Boards costs 200- 2800$. Where money is tight AMD Can fill a gap. With the Price drops, there processors are right now a somewhat viable alternative. Factoring in that the cheapest Core 2 DUO 800mhz costs over 130$.
The Penryn Intel’s next generation architecture has been revealed at this point and will work with Intels exisiting X38 and P35 Chipset. Benchmarks show it to be a small improvement 5 to 10% over existing core 2s and quad cores, but much more over clockable. Since over clocking is generally a feature DAW users avoid this won’t be excitement to most people. The Penryn is a 45nm Die Shrink of the Core 2, and increased cache. Launching at a 3ghz and 1000$ the Penryn won’t be the choice processor for most new DAWs.

Processor Chipsets. Currently for Intel on Audio PC’s the top choice is their own chipsets. Though not in favour by Maximum PC and the like for a lack of SLI support. A simple troll through newegg will reveal why… Intel retains dominance in the Audio world. If one compares the reviews of the top choice NVIDIA boards, for the intel platform, such as the Asus Striker, and EVGA, one will be over whelmed by the abundance of negative reviews, this is a stark contrast to what one will read when one looks at top Choice 975X and P35Boards like the Bad AXE2, the New Gigabtye boards, and Abit IP35Pro. Intel’s own chipsets tend to be the most reliablie, fairly generous in terms of features, and motherboards based on the chipset, seem to have easier time integrating with DAW hardware. The only area that they are truely defecient in the eyes of many enthusiasts, are the lack of SLI Technology.

Intel Boasts two Chipsets for Audio that have similair features. The X38 and the P35. Both Chipsets have demonstrated very good performance and have a selection of motherboards that are Ideal for DAW use. The platforms are accomodating for the future as they offer both options for the current DDR-2 standard and DDR-3.

The X38 is intels luxury platform, while the P35 targets the upper midrange crowd.

For AMD a variety of options exist but the Nforce 5 with a good Firewire card is probably the best choice at the moment.

Memory in the current market, memory is with in a transition, DDR2 Prices are approaching their lowest prices, and DDR-3 has been introduced. Currently DDR-3 like most newly introduced version of DDR offers a lot of bandwidth, at the expense of latencey and a high price. Most Intel Processors don’t benifit too much from DDR-3’s performance and often do worse, at significantly higher price and AMD is a now show on the platform at the moment. As bandwidth increases and prices fall DDR-3 will replace DDR-2 (though DDR2 will be availible for many moons even once its no longer the standard.) Factoring, cost, and performance DDR-3 simply is not worth it in today’s market.
Current DAW Standard still uses Windows XP Service Pack 2 32bit, as Vista’s launch has been a nightmare (a resource hog, and annoying). With the life of Windows XP extended till at least this june. I suspect DAW’s will be running XP for quite some time. As a result the ideal amount of memory is Dual Channel 2 Gigabytes. (meaning two 1xGB sticks, or on some older motherboards 4x 512mb Sticks). The defacto spec that is compatible with most new computers is DDR-2 800mhz CAS 5 1.8V is considered standard spec in todays market. and will work with most new motherboards, provided its bought from a reliable company (corsair, crucial, kingston, mushkin, patriot, twin mos, samsung ect.)

The Hard Drive market is in full swing, with 32mb Cache drives already floating around newegg. In general a bump in cache size means a bump in speed. and at not much of an extra cost, these drive are worth jumping on. Seagate’s Barracuda 11 which features this 32mb Cache and 500Gb of ram costs around 125$. Making it well worth jumping on. With a 5 year warranty, Seagate and an excellent track record is still probably one of the safest companies to bank on.

Graphics cards… Direct X10 offerings are availible from both ATI and NVIDIA, at every price point. While power full graphics aren’t needed for DAWs, a Direct X10 card is a worth while investment, to ensure smooth transition, when we finally must move to Vista. Mid range graphics cards are of interest to those of us who also use PC’s as a general entertainment computer, most of the midrange cards such as the 8600GT and ATI X2600 Pro /XT have the power for light gaming, and features such as a hardware decoder that oddly higher end video cards lack, are of interest to those of us watching planning too watch HD movies. My personal Choices for Video Card would be a passively cooled NVIDIA 8600GT. Which seems to have a better track record than the ATI Cards. Though the ATI Cards have there merits, the 2600 Series is a better performer, and actually lower power consumption (though the 2900 is not) than its Geforce rival.

Motherboards. The motherboard market is looking good today. For intel Gigabyte and Abit have a number of boards with DAW features. The two of my particular interest. are the Abit IP35 Pro and Gigabyte P35-DS4. Both of these boards have Intel P35 Chipsets and ICHR9 which has a number of nice features, like lots of USB 2.0 ports, Built in SPIDF I/O. Lots of SATA Ports. The biggest strength of these boards though is they all have built in Texas Instruments Fire wire, which is a must have feature for those of us using external Firewire interface.

For those interested in the best of the best, utilizing Intel’s Flagship X38 chipset theres the Gigabyte GA-X38-DQ6.

For AMD Boards my suggestion doesn’t have my fullest confidence. Particularly because the Nforce chipset is hit or miss with some audio interfaces (presonus comes to mind). However with a fairly good track record for audio, for the budget concious the Nforce chipset could still be a viable choice. The MSI K9N4-SLI is the first AMD board I’ve seen in a while that has pretty solid ratings all around. MSI lacks any firewire which means someone would have to add their own firewire card. For that the best option is probably Siig NN-440012-S8 Texas Instrument Card.

Heres Some Ideas for DAW availble today this ones 675Antec Sonata 3 140
AMD Athlon X2 4000 65
MSI K9N4SLI F 85
2×1GB DDR-2 800mhz PC-2 6400 CAS5 1.8V Memory 61
2x 250GB Seagate Barracuda w/16mb Cache 70
Samsung 20x DVD+/-RW PATA 28
Arctic Silver 5 & Vantec Stealth fan 120mm Case 23
MSI 8500GT 256mb PCI-E Passive Cooler 75
Windows XP Home 95
Siig Texas Instruments Firewire 33
Or How about this for 2480?Antec Sonata 3 Designer w/Earthwatts 500
Intel Core 2 QX6850.
Gigabye GA-X38-DQ6 Motherboard
w/Arctic Silver 5 2x Scythe 92mm Stealth Fan
2x 1GB DDR-2 800mhz PC-2 6400 SD-RAM 1.8V CAS5
2x 150GB Western Digital Raptor (RAID 0) 16mb Cache (audio Write)
1x 500GB 7200rpm Seagate Barracuda 11 w/32mb Cache (OS/APPS)
Samsung DVD+/-RW 20x
3ware 8006LP-2 Hardware RAID Controller (more Reliable Better Performance)
MSI NVIDIA 8600GTS Passively Cooled 256mb
Microsoft Windows XP Home
Acronis True Image 11 (you better factor this in on A RAID System)
Microsoft Works 8.5
Microsoft Natrual Keyboard 4000
Logitech G5
Mid range model total price is 1150ish with a Core 2 Q6600 is 1230 or so. 1145
Antec Sonata 3 Designer 140
Intel Core 2 Wolfsdale e8400 195
GA-X38-DS4 or GA-P35-DS4 185
Arctic Silver 5, 2x Scythe 92 mm Case fans 35
2x 500GB 7200rpm Seagate Barracuda 11 w/32mb Cache 250
Samsung DVD+/-RW 20x 28
MSI NVIDIA 8600GTS Passively Cooled 256mb 156
Microsoft Windows XP Home & Acronis True Image 11 140
2x 1GB DDR-2 6400 PC-800 CAS5 1.8v SD-RAM (mushkin) 61
Upper Mid Range for 1600.00-1650Antec Sonata 3 designer w/Earthwatts 500
Intel Core 2 Q6600
GA-X38-DS4
Arctic Silver 5 2x Vantec 120mm Stealth Fans
2x 1GB DDR-2 800mhz PC-2 6400 CAS5
2x 150GB Western Digital Raptor (RAID 0) 16mb Cache (AUDIO WRITE)
1x 500GB 7200rpm Seagate Barracuda 11 w/32mb Cache (OS APPS ECT)
Samsung DVD+/-RW 20x
3ware 8006LP-2 Hardware RAID Controller (more reliable, better performance)
MSI NVIDIA 8600GTS Passively Cooled 256mb
Microsoft Windows XP Home

PC Power & Cooling Silencer 750
Cooler Master Cosmos
Intel Core 2 QX6850.
Gigabye GA-X38-DQ6 Motherboard
w/Arctic Silver 5 w/Zalman CNPS9700NT
2x 1GB DDR-2 800mhz PC-2 6400 SD-RAM 1.8V CAS5
2x 150GB Western Digital Raptor (RAID 0) 16mb Cache (audio Write)
2x 500GB 7200rpm Seagate Barracuda 11 w/32mb Cache (OS/APPS & Backup)
Samsung DVD+/-RW 20x
3ware 8006LP-2 Hardware RAID Controller (more Reliable Better Performance)
MSI NVIDIA 8600GTS Passively Cooled 256mb
Microsoft Windows XP Home
Acronis True Image 11 (you better factor this in on A RAID System)
Microsoft Works 8.5
Microsoft Natrual Keyboard 4000
Logitech MX Revolution

$ 2950.00
Apr. 15th, 2008 @ 05:37 pm

Posted in All Blogs, Nanashiwanderer, test | No Comments »

Daw For the Holiday Season.

July 27th, 2008

Holiday Guide for Designing a new DAW.

– by nanashiwandererI’ve been on a week long hiatus. and over the week I had a good chance to really look the computer hardware market, and coming up for christmas. I have to say I’m a lot more enthused about the current hardware market than I was about the hardware market 3 months ago or 6weeks a month. Intel’s new chipsets are very solid, amd finally seems to have some good options for motherboards, and competitive for lower end DAWs. Manufacturers have realized theres a high demand for silent PC’s and have really ramped up the Market for silent cases, with Antec Leading the way, but also a nice offering from cooler master. PC Power & Cooling, and Antec (seasonic) both have released quiet energy effecient Power Supplys.

This time around I’m not going to give a fixed template of what to build but general guidelines. These selections are untested, and made from a general knowledge of how hardware works, and an understanding of PC Design. The designs them selves are untested and any one who chooses to do so builds at their own risk. Before reading this article I suggest some, particular novices to DAW design, read my first article on how to select DAW, which would give one an idea of what to look for in DAWs.

Cases & Power Supplies. Power Supplies are probably the most important core component over looked in most people’s PC’s. Since on paper, they seem to have no tangible effect, on the PC’s power. However, Power supplies have a drastic impact on stability of PCs. After ram, the power supply is the second leading cause to PC instability.In general for my philosophy when designing a DAW, Stability, compatibility, comes before power. In today’s market, the power most DAWs far exceed the ordinary engineer or musicians needs, with the given software. As new and inventive things come , we may need more power, but you can always buy a DAW for those days. No matter what PC you buy theres a finite life. For this reason I don’t recommend skimping on the power supply for a bit faster CPU or a nicer video Card. Other than the Quality of the Unit itself, the two biggest factors that one should consider when purchase Power Supplies is the size of the unit (how much wattage does it provide), and the noise level. There are several manufacturers.
How much power does one really need ? Cheaper power supplies often underrate the value of their power which provides more power at a lower temperature levels. The problem is most computers are not room temperature, particularly sparsely cooled systems like DAWs. At the minimum most DAWs today use A Dual Core Processor, with 2GB of RAM, Dual Hard Drives, a DVD Burner, and a low end to mid range graphics card. This means most computers at a bare minimum will need A very effecient 400watt Power Supply. Higher End units, which use Quad Core CPUs, 3 or 4 Hard Drives, a Mid range Video card may want as much as 500watts.

So what are my selections for power supplies ?
PC Power & Cooling Silencer Seems like a solid choice for many people particularly, ones who aren’t buying one of the new Antec Cases. With a long standing reputation for making some of the best Power Supplies in the Industry,The Silencer 470 is 83.00$ and just the wattage one would want to cover most midrange DAW’s running a modest graphics card.
Antec has released a new line of energy effecient power supplies from Seasonics called Earthwatts which are of extremely high caliber and very low noise. (Seasonics is the leading manufacturer of quiet power supplies, and makes Power Supplies for Corsair, Antec and other companies). The best thing about the Earthwatts Series is the 500watt (price stand alone at a modest 80.00) is being included with many of the Sonata Series Cases, which are top choices for DAW.

Antec as of late has stepped up on the quiet case market, and has paid some attention to our own DAW market, with the introduction of the Studio Series Cases. While the Studio-Series is nothing to write home about. The Performance series has been. With 4
models, the P180, P182,P190, and now the Sonata III Designer. The Series has a number of features for quiet which can be found in reviews. The major ones are a dampening system on the side doors (Which makes these a monster to lug around, these are fixed install), and rubber grommet suspension system for the Hard Drives, which isolates the drives stopping that annoying popping and clicking sound. The Cases are equipped with 92mm or 120mm fans instead of standard 80mm. Which allows the user to purchase slower fans, 92mm and particularly 120mm fans push much more air at much slower speeds than traditional DAW fans.

A recent addition to the market of mainstream Quiet Cases is Cooler Masters new cosmos which also has a “sound proofed” side panels. The main aspect of the case it is large, spacious, and luxurious it has the type of features that will make it more of a pleasure to work with than Antec, which tend to be vanilla. Cooler master construction on their highend cases are usually flawless. But at 210.00 with out a Power Supply. It doesn’t come with out a price.

Antec’s new sonata III . Is a midtower case and has a variety of models, including the Sonata 3 Designer and Sonata Plus, the differences can range from size of the fans, the model of power suppy but all use Highend Power Supplies manufactured by Seasonics and have at least 500watts of power. They share majority of the core features of the Performance Series making them an astounding value. Sonata III which ranges from 140-160$ in price (including shipping.) It has room for 2x 120mm fans, and comes with an Antec Earth watts 500..

and can use 3 Isolated hard Drives, (or carry 4 total using normal mounting) and has 3x 5.25″ Drive Bays. The biggest complaint is the removal of the Firewire header that is present in its larger Performance 18x Series Cousins.

AMD or Intel, at the current moment Intel and AMD are admidst of a price war, and Intel has a firm grasp of the the highend crown. Price of Processors are lower than ever due to massive price cuts in the last year. A Quad Core 2 Duo @ 2400mhz (1066FSB) is right now 280$. and fast Dual Cores like The E6750 (2.66ghz 1333FSB) @ 195$. Intel’s processors clock for clock are 30 to 50% faster than AMD’s. Making Intel pretty much the only choice for highend. AMD hopefully will have more competitive processors once there new Barcelona desktop edition is availible. However at the given prices theres still place for AMD on the modern processor market. @ 65$ Athlon X2 4000+ gives a fair bit of power, for those of us on a budget. To top it off nicer AMD Boards can be found for 85 $ or So, versus nice Intel Boards costs 200- 2800$. Where money is tight AMD Can fill a gap. With the Price drops, there processors are right now a somewhat viable alternative. Factoring in that the cheapest Core 2 DUO 800mhz costs over 130$.
The Penryn Intel’s next generation architecture has been revealed at this point and will work with Intels exisiting X38 and P35 Chipset. Benchmarks show it to be a small improvement 5 to 10% over existing core 2s and quad cores, but much more over clockable. Since over clocking is generally a feature DAW users avoid this won’t be excitement to most people. The Penryn is a 45nm Die Shrink of the Core 2, and increased cache. Launching at a 3ghz and 1000$ the Penryn won’t be the choice processor for most new DAWs.

Processor Chipsets. Currently for Intel on Audio PC’s the top choice is their own chipsets. Though not in favour by Maximum PC and the like for a lack of SLI support. A simple troll through newegg will reveal why… Intel retains dominance in the Audio world. If one compares the reviews of the top choice NVIDIA boards, for the intel platform, such as the Asus Striker, and EVGA, one will be over whelmed by the abundance of negative reviews, this is a stark contrast to what one will read when one looks at top Choice 975X and P35Boards like the Bad AXE2, the New Gigabtye boards, and Abit IP35Pro. Intel’s own chipsets tend to be the most reliablie, fairly generous in terms of features, and motherboards based on the chipset, seem to have easier time integrating with DAW hardware. The only area that they are truely defecient in the eyes of many enthusiasts, are the lack of SLI Technology.

Intel Boasts two Chipsets for Audio that have similair features. The X38 and the P35. Both Chipsets have demonstrated very good performance and have a selection of motherboards that are Ideal for DAW use. The platforms are accomodating for the future as they offer both options for the current DDR-2 standard and DDR-3.

The X38 is intels luxury platform, while the P35 targets the upper midrange crowd.

For AMD a variety of options exist but the Nforce 5 with a good Firewire card is probably the best choice at the moment.

Memory in the current market, memory is with in a transition, DDR2 Prices are approaching their lowest prices, and DDR-3 has been introduced. Currently DDR-3 like most newly introduced version of DDR offers a lot of bandwidth, at the expense of latencey and a high price. Most Intel Processors don’t benifit too much from DDR-3’s performance and often do worse, at significantly higher price and AMD is a now show on the platform at the moment. As bandwidth increases and prices fall DDR-3 will replace DDR-2 (though DDR2 will be availible for many moons even once its no longer the standard.) Factoring, cost, and performance DDR-3 simply is not worth it in today’s market.
Current DAW Standard still uses Windows XP Service Pack 2 32bit, as Vista’s launch has been a nightmare (a resource hog, and annoying). With the life of Windows XP extended till at least this june. I suspect DAW’s will be running XP for quite some time. As a result the ideal amount of memory is Dual Channel 2 Gigabytes. (meaning two 1xGB sticks, or on some older motherboards 4x 512mb Sticks). The defacto spec that is compatible with most new computers is DDR-2 800mhz CAS 5 1.8V is considered standard spec in todays market. and will work with most new motherboards, provided its bought from a reliable company (corsair, crucial, kingston, mushkin, patriot, twin mos, samsung ect.)

The Hard Drive market is in full swing, with 32mb Cache drives already floating around newegg. In general a bump in cache size means a bump in speed. and at not much of an extra cost, these drive are worth jumping on. Seagate’s Barracuda 11 which features this 32mb Cache and 500Gb of ram costs around 125$. Making it well worth jumping on. With a 5 year warranty, Seagate and an excellent track record is still probably one of the safest companies to bank on.

Graphics cards… Direct X10 offerings are availible from both ATI and NVIDIA, at every price point. While power full graphics aren’t needed for DAWs, a Direct X10 card is a worth while investment, to ensure smooth transition, when we finally must move to Vista. Mid range graphics cards are of interest to those of us who also use PC’s as a general entertainment computer, most of the midrange cards such as the 8600GT and ATI X2600 Pro /XT have the power for light gaming, and features such as a hardware decoder that oddly higher end video cards lack, are of interest to those of us watching planning too watch HD movies. My personal Choices for Video Card would be a passively cooled NVIDIA 8600GT. Which seems to have a better track record than the ATI Cards. Though the ATI Cards have there merits, the 2600 Series is a better performer, and actually lower power consumption (though the 2900 is not) than its Geforce rival.

Motherboards. The motherboard market is looking good today. For intel Gigabyte and Abit have a number of boards with DAW features. The two of my particular interest. are the Abit IP35 Pro and Gigabyte P35-DS4. Both of these boards have Intel P35 Chipsets and ICHR9 which has a number of nice features, like lots of USB 2.0 ports, Built in SPIDF I/O. Lots of SATA Ports. The biggest strength of these boards though is they all have built in Texas Instruments Fire wire, which is a must have feature for those of us using external Firewire interface.

For those interested in the best of the best, utilizing Intel’s Flagship X38 chipset theres the Gigabyte GA-X38-DQ6.

For AMD Boards my suggestion doesn’t have my fullest confidence. Particularly because the Nforce chipset is hit or miss with some audio interfaces (presonus comes to mind). However with a fairly good track record for audio, for the budget concious the Nforce chipset could still be a viable choice. The MSI K9N4-SLI is the first AMD board I’ve seen in a while that has pretty solid ratings all around. MSI lacks any firewire which means someone would have to add their own firewire card. For that the best option is probably Siig NN-440012-S8 Texas Instrument Card.

Heres Some Ideas for DAW availble today this ones 675Antec Sonata 3 140
AMD Athlon X2 4000 65
MSI K9N4SLI F 85
2×1GB DDR-2 800mhz PC-2 6400 CAS5 1.8V Memory 61
2x 250GB Seagate Barracuda w/16mb Cache 70
Samsung 20x DVD+/-RW PATA 28
Arctic Silver 5 & Vantec Stealth fan 120mm Case 23
MSI 8500GT 256mb PCI-E Passive Cooler 75
Windows XP Home 95
Siig Texas Instruments Firewire 33
Or How about this for 2480?Antec Sonata 3 Designer w/Earthwatts 500
Intel Core 2 QX6850.
Gigabye GA-X38-DQ6 Motherboard
w/Arctic Silver 5 2x Scythe 92mm Stealth Fan
2x 1GB DDR-2 800mhz PC-2 6400 SD-RAM 1.8V CAS5
2x 150GB Western Digital Raptor (RAID 0) 16mb Cache (audio Write)
1x 500GB 7200rpm Seagate Barracuda 11 w/32mb Cache (OS/APPS)
Samsung DVD+/-RW 20x
3ware 8006LP-2 Hardware RAID Controller (more Reliable Better Performance)
MSI NVIDIA 8600GTS Passively Cooled 256mb
Microsoft Windows XP Home
Acronis True Image 11 (you better factor this in on A RAID System)
Microsoft Works 8.5
Microsoft Natrual Keyboard 4000
Logitech G5
”Mid range model total price is 1150ish with a Core 2 Q6600 is 1230 or so. 1145
Antec Sonata 3 Designer 140
Intel Core 2 Wolfsdale e8400 195
GA-X38-DS4 or GA-P35-DS4 185
Arctic Silver 5, 2x Scythe 92 mm Case fans 35
2x 500GB 7200rpm Seagate Barracuda 11 w/32mb Cache 250
Samsung DVD+/-RW 20x 28
MSI NVIDIA 8600GTS Passively Cooled 256mb 156
Microsoft Windows XP Home & Acronis True Image 11 140
2x 1GB DDR-2 6400 PC-800 CAS5 1.8v SD-RAM (mushkin) 61
Upper Mid Range for 1600.00-1650Antec Sonata 3 designer w/Earthwatts 500
Intel Core 2 Q6600
GA-X38-DS4
Arctic Silver 5 2x Vantec 120mm Stealth Fans
2x 1GB DDR-2 800mhz PC-2 6400 CAS5
2x 150GB Western Digital Raptor (RAID 0) 16mb Cache (AUDIO WRITE)
1x 500GB 7200rpm Seagate Barracuda 11 w/32mb Cache (OS APPS ECT)
Samsung DVD+/-RW 20x
3ware 8006LP-2 Hardware RAID Controller (more reliable, better performance)
MSI NVIDIA 8600GTS Passively Cooled 256mb
Microsoft Windows XP Home

PC Power & Cooling Silencer 750
Cooler Master Cosmos
Intel Core 2 QX6850.
Gigabye GA-X38-DQ6 Motherboard
w/Arctic Silver 5 w/Zalman CNPS9700NT
2x 1GB DDR-2 800mhz PC-2 6400 SD-RAM 1.8V CAS5
2x 150GB Western Digital Raptor (RAID 0) 16mb Cache (audio Write)
2x 500GB 7200rpm Seagate Barracuda 11 w/32mb Cache (OS/APPS & Backup)
Samsung DVD+/-RW 20x
3ware 8006LP-2 Hardware RAID Controller (more Reliable Better Performance)
MSI NVIDIA 8600GTS Passively Cooled 256mb
Microsoft Windows XP Home
Acronis True Image 11 (you better factor this in on A RAID System)
Microsoft Works 8.5
Microsoft Natrual Keyboard 4000
Logitech MX Revolution

$ 2950.00
Apr. 15th, 2008 @ 05:37 pm

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So much to think about, so little time

July 21st, 2008

Once again, it’s been a long while since I came over to this site. Not too many people are posting, which is odd to me…. I’d have figured that anyone with a little studio would be posting their thoughts and experiences with the recording arts. O well, more space for me!! I like to ramble, keeps me sane hehe.

First of all, a band that I tracked some live-off-the-floor demos got signed! They haven’t set it in stone, but I was told that they presented the demos to the label they were going for and it helped them secure the deal. Seeing as it was my first real session of live recordings in my small studio I was pretty happy. I hope to have a song from the sessions up very soon on my website… as soon as my studio is done going through a small renovation this week =)

Recently, I’ve been advised to start running my studio as an actual business in order to be able to benefit from the financial side and keep things legit when it comes to paying clients and purchasing gear that I could possibly benefit from come tax season. My significant other’s mother is a book-keeper and knows her stuff, and she has helped me more than I could have hoped for in this regard. She has started her own business on the bookkeeping front, so she told me where to go to register myself and whatnot. She is also doing all my tax work for free (I’m going to pay her whether she likes it or not)! I gave her ALL of my music-related receipts I’ve kept since the beginning of time, and I will be able to apparently reap the benefits once things are lined up. She did work for a buddy of mine who has a PA rental business, and his first tax return was something along the lines of $4k that he used to upgrade his rig. I could definitely use a return like that… wow.

So with my business in order, an invoice system put together, everything organized, a website up and running, and a steadily-growing client list, I’m ready to go!

However no studio owner ever goes a few months without a sever case of GAS (gear acquisition syndrome). So I started to think about my next large gear purchase. Monitors were on my list, as my Yorkville YSM1p’s lacked the low-end detail and hi-end clarity that I need in order to step up my game.

I’m very happy with my mic collection after purchasing two Shure KSM44’s, AKG D112 to go along with my Audix D6, i5, bunch of 57’s and 58’s, and a 421. The only mic I’m missing is a good ribbon such as a Royer 121. I figured maybe I could grab a pair of Fatheads for significantly less, but I know that I’d eventually get a great ribbon so why not skip the intermediate step?  Obviously, I’m not including a vintage LDC because it simply isn’t in my budget and I can get by without one.

One actual instrument I’d like to consider is a nice amp!
When a client walks in and see’s a Mesa Triple Rectumfrier, the response is ALWAYS “Hey wow!!   Is that yours?  Can I use it when I record?  When can I come in???”  My old guitarist in my band (that’s been getting airplay on the local radio even since we broke up from a demo I recorded) owned one of these amps, and since it was at my studio I was able to use it.  It always produced a usable tone and often a great tone no matter what guitar was used.  I own a Marshall JCM 2000, but it doesn’t match up when recording hard-rock acts.  The Mesa will bring in clients, meaning anything else on this list won’t be far behind.
Another thing I’d like to look at doing is getting a great outboard compressor. Candidates are the API 2500, Smart C2, 1176, and the Distressor. I own an FMR RNC, but to be honest it’s so transparent that it does nothing for me or my tracks. I can get better sounds for the song quicker by using UAD compressors compared to running things through a patchbay messing with the RNC to get what I need (not transparent comp sounds), and then back into my PC. Blah. If I go through the trouble of wiring stuff up, I want to give the sound something special. With a box like the 2500 or the C2, I could also use it on the 2-buss to add some glue and vibe to the mix. I spoke with my mastering guy, and he told me that if it actually does give the mix some vibe he’d be all for it as long as I print a safe mix as well. He also told me he’d go for the Distressor because it’s so versatile and is a bread-n-butter type of unit. I have to find a store in Canada that will ship me some of these units to test them, and then just ship back what I don’t want. If anyone knows of a place, please PM me!!

Another item(s) I’m also considering is some of the ceiling panels from Real Traps for above my drum kit and mixing position. I have very low ceilings, and the drop ceiling isn’t the most absorbing material, although it’s not as bad as a drywall ceiling. So perhaps spending some cash on a few panels would be money well spent… but with something like this where so few people actually have them makes me very cautious. I doubt I could just return them after installing them and using them for a few sessions. The PVB from Real Traps has been great for my studio, so I’m sure I’d love the panels… we’ll see. It’s definitely in the future.
Also a few more panels from Gik… maybe a few of the diffusers would suit me better. We’ll see what Glenn or his staff have to say when I bring it up.

And finally, a desk!
I’ve went from wanting this crazy desk with room for my Axiom 61, desk space galore, racks upon racks etc… to wanting more of a mastering desk. Small footprint, simply rackspace, enough desk space for keyboard and Alphatrack and mouse, and that’s about it! I don’t need more in reality. I need the rack devices I do have right in front of me, and access to those three desk items. Problem is, it seems these desks cost more than the mixing desks. I went to local shops and it seems that they would even charge me more than ordering & shipping online from the US! So I think I’ll wait until I can afford it, and then make it happen by ordering from Sterling or Argosy. If this were to happen I’d have some planning to do anyways…

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What I’ve Learned During a Project – Pt. 2

July 18th, 2008

Well it’s been a little while since I’ve been around the forums. The good news is because the studio has been busy and my day job has picked up! I just wanted to share an update of sorts on my previous post that was based on learning from a very challenging project. My work since has been very fulfilling and has really allowed me to confirm my insights that I previously stated. Some of this is a bit rehash, but I wanted to convey that I’ve taken some big steps in the right direction and my ideas brought before have helped me and held up over time as I’ve worked with better artists and worked on more projects.

To start, I have upgraded my studio quite a bit in the past year. I went from 2xDelta 1010’s to a Lynx Aurora 16 w/ a Lynx AES16. This really made a difference. The signal that gets to my hard drive is the signal that came out of my preamp, meaning it does not lose anything at the convertors. No more digital haze. Then I upgraded my preamp section to an API 3124+. So I now have an API 3124+, FMR RNP, and then a Mackie 1604 VLZ for any extra tracks I may need to record at one time. Having both of these MAJOR upgrades has allowed me to create a mix with a more defined soundstage, and give me some more confidence that the sounds I’m getting to/from my monitors are going to be what I hear in the outside world.

Speaking of translation, I also dropped a bunch of cash on some Gik Acoustics treatment. 18 pieces. My room has never sounded better, and my mixes have never translated as well as they do with the treatment. This was actually the first thing I did after my last little article on these boards. When a client walks into the studio, they now KNOW it’s a studio that means business. Sure, they don’t know why I have the stuff on the walls, but they see it and think “This isn’t just another basement studio”. They see the treatment and make a connection in their minds to the studios they see on TV or whatever. I can relate, I was the same way when I was inexperienced in a studio. I didn’t get treatment for this reason, and it’s actually worth it to get yourself some treatment just like everyone says it is… but I wanted to share that little bit because it’s a big benefit from doing up your room well. Make it look nice and people will notice and take you much more seriously. Even the Mackie 1604 gets a LOT of attention from clients. They see a decent sized mixer and assume it’s going to be used a lot; they don’t know it’s mainly extra pre’s for drum and used mostly for headphone mixes!

Another upgrade that has helped me is moving to learning and using UAD plugs. Putting the 1176LN and Pultec/Neve on a kick drum often is a good starting point for the rock mixes I do. The LA3A is probably one of my fav compressors. If only I had the cash to spend on one or two of these in hardware-land… ;)

So here’s some updates based on my last article:
The last time I wrote, the artist in mind was not well rehearsed. I’ve recorded some bands since then with all my new gear and I’d had much more experience, but the projects still turned out like junk (to my ears) because the bands or artists were just not tight with their material. I’m not one to sit and edit a song for 4 hours before I start to mix, which is simply my choice. I’ve realized that I enjoy mixing songs like the artist play them, as in I want to mix what the mic hears. Sure, I’ll put some delay on the vocals, dirty up the bass, get the kick to sit nicely in the track… but I’m not going to change your drummers horrible timing in every bar or pitch your singer’s every word if they can’t sing. The band who I’ve worked with who know their sh!t can come in, lay down their tracks with ease, experiment a bit, take my advice on tone or parts played, and leave happy. The guys who come in not knowing their stuff leave pissed at themselves or their bandmates every single time. The process is not fun when these ppl come in. Recording is meant to be fun and new for most of the people I work with, not something to frown while doing. At the end of the day, those who know their stuff are basically mixed before I even touch a fader.

The artist from my last post made me do 9-song in two weeks… including a home-brew mastering. I have a day job and a band of my own that plays out a lot. So when I get home, I do want to mix 9/10 days, but if I want to see my girlfriend I’d like to tell her that we have the night to hang out. If I get pissed off or over-worked, I notice that the work suffers. I rush through it or don’t make smart intuitive decisions. On a long project you will get sucked into using ‘presets’, that is, the settings from your first mixed song for the other ones. That often leads to a boring bunch of tunes because by the time your done everything sounds a bit the same… but hey at least you overworked yourself and made the deadline! Sure, you should work hard at your studio to make the client happy but the difference is when the artist is one of those who aren’t tight and yet ask for a rush job. Things add up to create either crap or gold!
If the artist knows the game, they will let you take your time. Most of the bands I’m currently working with simply tell me to take my time and be done when I’m done. That doesn’t always happen, but it’s nice when it does… and I usually work longer and harder for those people.

At the time of my last post, I would tend to rely on getting a workable source and trying to tame it later on. Now I take the time to dial in the amp, move the mic to the right spot, and just get it going right from the start. The thing is, this takes some experience because you have to keep in mind the sound you are going for in the end. You wouldn’t have the guitarist in a heavy metal band crank the gain, lower the mids, and later try to EQ the mids back in. If you want a clicky drum sound, get the right mic, get it in the drum, and make it happen while tracking. So now when you mix, you can sit there and say “Does this sound really need much at 5k? Do I really have to set the attack time so high on my compressor?” I often track distorted guitars and leave them as-is without any compression ITB or much, if any, EQ. If it sounds good, it IS good. Having said that, if it doesn’t sound good after tracking, then I try to get another sound.

In a nutshell…if you play like junk, your recording will sound like junk cause I’m not spending 4 hrs of my time fixing junk. You could say “Well then get them to play it until they get it right”. I charge by the project, not by the hour. One of the reasons is because I expect you to be ready to play when you come in. If you can’t play, then I’m recording your best performance I can get from you, but it’s still probably not top-notch. I can usually tell when someone isn’t going to be playing well after their 1st or 2nd take… and I’m sure most of you can as well… so once again why waste your time? Give them their recordings the way they played them.

I usually listen to a similar artist that I enjoy during the same time period as the project starts, give it a rest during the actual tracking process. then listen again before I mix. I don’t really listen heavily to a reference during the mixing session or anything because then I’ll try to ‘copy’ that artist. I’d rather have the ideas and concepts in my head while I mix so I end up with an original sound that fits the artist. This goes hand in hand with ending up with a recording that sounds like how you played.

This next point is painful for some people to realize and get across. You can’t be band X on the radio. The band you are recording loves their kick sound, is influenced by them, and wants their guitars to be as deep as band X, but you have to realize (or help THEM realize) that you aren’t in a million dollar room with a grammy-nominated mixing engineer and producer. Of course, you don’t say that… but a reality check is sometimes needed. Sure, I have API, some damn good mics, Lynx convertors, and now a decent ear… but that doesn’t mean I can put out the same quality as Andy Wallace working on an SLL. You get more than what you paid for when you come to me (IMHO), but there’s a limit. Apparently it’s hard for some people to say that… I’m always hearing crap from bands who go to a studio and are told they will sound like gold, spend a fortune, and come away peeved.

So those are some of the thing I’ve learned, and reinforced, in my little project studio.  It’s been real fun, and I have more to write and ponder over but it’ll be posted in a separate blog probably very soon.  I hope my thoughts have been entertaining to you.  Cya ’round the net!

- Erik

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