Gearslutz.com - View Single Post - Album made using only Mbox 2, FMR RNP Preamp, mics under $500

romromulus · 23rd October 2010

wow thanks everyone! i dont go on here that much but i noticed thru bandcamp that we were getting a ton of plays and downloads from here

ill try to answer everyones questions:

hi, what guitar amp plugins did you use? are the drums real or plugin? did you have it mastered?

the drums are real son, theres a video of us tracking it on our myspace if youd like to see. guitars are real aswell, although i think i may have put a few tracks through eleven free to give them a bit more bite. we didnt get it mastered professionally but i did do a bit of 'mastering' in protools

On the engineer side of things, is your vocal chain a SM7b into FMR rnp into line in on mbox2 (using the mbox's convertors)?

yes, but the thing is, even though it inevitably will go through mbox preamps, the RNP is doing like 90 percent of the amplification, and the signal is hitting the RNP before the mbox. in other words, the mbox pres dont really have to amplify at all, but yeah, it goes through them anyways. I just turn the gain on the mbox all the way down.

i wonder about this too & also , did the FMR make that much of a diference in quality?

it helps alot. its like going from a solid state crate guitar amp to a tube fender deluxe reverb, if that makes sense. just way less digital sounding. Actually, i got the RNP after we already recorded most of the record, so its only really used on vocals and some bass/guitar overdubs.

Can you describe your mics and how you used them?

from what i remember, it was something like this:

drums: AKG D112 on the kick, SM57 on snare, 2 overheads: an Audio Technica AT2020 and an Apex condenser (i dont remember which kind, it was my friends. its big and blue). no tom mics.

for some of the songs, i mic'd the bottom of the snare instead of the top. this really helped give the snare more 'crack', and the top of the snare was being picked up from the overheads (one overhead was placed directly above the snare drum)

bass: straight into the mbox. I used the free sans amp plugin on protools to give it some more beef.

guitars: we experimented alot, lots of different amps were used (mostly a fender hot rod deville and a marshall jcm800, sometimes a fender champ) usually we used an sm57 or sm7b. the cab for the marshall is open backed so sometimes we would mic both sides and phase invert the back mic.

Wow. That is a really good sounding album. Way to rely on your ears and work with what you have. Bravo / This backs up what many of us around here have been saying, gear is a tool how you use it is another story. Very nice.

thank you so much, honestly. coming back to this thread and seeing so much great feedback is making me pretty gitty.

How can I donate money?

woah really? i better make a paypal button on our myspace. Ill get back to you on that!

one more note: i recently got the waves murcury suite and plan to remix the whole album from scratch. stay tuned for that, it would be a good way of showing the comparison between protools stock plugins and waves plugins.

THANKS AGAIN!

23rd October 2010	#16
romromulus Gear interested Joined: Jun 2010 Posts: 18 Thread Starter	wow thanks everyone! i dont go on here that much but i noticed thru bandcamp that we were getting a ton of plays and downloads from here ill try to answer everyones questions: hi, what guitar amp plugins did you use? are the drums real or plugin? did you have it mastered? the drums are real son, theres a video of us tracking it on our myspace if youd like to see. guitars are real aswell, although i think i may have put a few tracks through eleven free to give them a bit more bite. we didnt get it mastered professionally but i did do a bit of 'mastering' in protools On the engineer side of things, is your vocal chain a SM7b into FMR rnp into line in on mbox2 (using the mbox's convertors)? yes, but the thing is, even though it inevitably will go through mbox preamps, the RNP is doing like 90 percent of the amplification, and the signal is hitting the RNP before the mbox. in other words, the mbox pres dont really have to amplify at all, but yeah, it goes through them anyways. I just turn the gain on the mbox all the way down. i wonder about this too & also , did the FMR make that much of a diference in quality? it helps alot. its like going from a solid state crate guitar amp to a tube fender deluxe reverb, if that makes sense. just way less digital sounding. Actually, i got the RNP after we already recorded most of the record, so its only really used on vocals and some bass/guitar overdubs. Can you describe your mics and how you used them? from what i remember, it was something like this: drums: AKG D112 on the kick, SM57 on snare, 2 overheads: an Audio Technica AT2020 and an Apex condenser (i dont remember which kind, it was my friends. its big and blue). no tom mics. for some of the songs, i mic'd the bottom of the snare instead of the top. this really helped give the snare more 'crack', and the top of the snare was being picked up from the overheads (one overhead was placed directly above the snare drum) bass: straight into the mbox. I used the free sans amp plugin on protools to give it some more beef. guitars: we experimented alot, lots of different amps were used (mostly a fender hot rod deville and a marshall jcm800, sometimes a fender champ) usually we used an sm57 or sm7b. the cab for the marshall is open backed so sometimes we would mic both sides and phase invert the back mic. Wow. That is a really good sounding album. Way to rely on your ears and work with what you have. Bravo / This backs up what many of us around here have been saying, gear is a tool how you use it is another story. Very nice. thank you so much, honestly. coming back to this thread and seeing so much great feedback is making me pretty gitty. How can I donate money? woah really? i better make a paypal button on our myspace. Ill get back to you on that! one more note: i recently got the waves murcury suite and plan to remix the whole album from scratch. stay tuned for that, it would be a good way of showing the comparison between protools stock plugins and waves plugins. THANKS AGAIN!