Gearslutz.com - View Single Post - Making a Hit Album with cheaper Equipment: Is Recording Equipment Over Priced?

steelyfan · 23rd May 2008

I think that this is a great question, and the poster is just trying to find out if all of you high end guys would admit that, yes, you can make a great albulm with a $500 mic pre. My answer would be, with great ears, and some experience of how to place your $200 perception mic, through your "insert under home mortgage payment mic pre", on a kick, snare, amp, you can get great results. I don't think he wants to put all then high end manufacturers out of business, just a little feel good about not needing to be in ABBEY ROAd to make a good sounding record.
My experience, @ 5 years ago, i was asked to engineer at a fancy studio
in my home town, using this beautiful harrison console, they asked me
to particiapte because they heard this music i produced, using C1000's
as overhead mics (muffled with some silk fabric to cut any piercing highs),
and sm57's , and a beta 58 on everthing else. Going into a presonusfirepod
into cubase. I had some pluggins for comp. and e.q. I mixed the albulm on
creative pc speakers ($149). When i got to the session, I didn't know how to use a 8 bus board! And everytime they tried to get a tone sounding "highend" i was always like, uhhhh. could you cut the mids and highs.The music was tracked with some $3000 mics (which i couldn't identify, due to inexperience, and uneducated high end knowledge), and they should have used some 58's, because they keep trying to fix the high end air, and crispness.It just needed to sound smooth. They used the best, and got the worse. "It's a $3000 mic, it has to sound good!" ...sure. Just don't track so hot next time, i"d love to hear this mic used the right way.

23rd May 2008	#14
steelyfan Lives for gear Joined: Jul 2007 Posts: 3,005	I think that this is a great question, and the poster is just trying to find out if all of you high end guys would admit that, yes, you can make a great albulm with a $500 mic pre. My answer would be, with great ears, and some experience of how to place your $200 perception mic, through your "insert under home mortgage payment mic pre", on a kick, snare, amp, you can get great results. I don't think he wants to put all then high end manufacturers out of business, just a little feel good about not needing to be in ABBEY ROAd to make a good sounding record. My experience, @ 5 years ago, i was asked to engineer at a fancy studio in my home town, using this beautiful harrison console, they asked me to particiapte because they heard this music i produced, using C1000's as overhead mics (muffled with some silk fabric to cut any piercing highs), and sm57's , and a beta 58 on everthing else. Going into a presonusfirepod into cubase. I had some pluggins for comp. and e.q. I mixed the albulm on creative pc speakers ($149). When i got to the session, I didn't know how to use a 8 bus board! And everytime they tried to get a tone sounding "highend" i was always like, uhhhh. could you cut the mids and highs.The music was tracked with some $3000 mics (which i couldn't identify, due to inexperience, and uneducated high end knowledge), and they should have used some 58's, because they keep trying to fix the high end air, and crispness.It just needed to sound smooth. They used the best, and got the worse. "It's a $3000 mic, it has to sound good!" ...sure. Just don't track so hot next time, i"d love to hear this mic used the right way.