"THE" most important element in your recording chain?

[muthasmucka]

All righty then,

I'm interested in peoples opinions on what the most important element of the recording chain is.

For Example;

1. ADC / Digital Clock
2. Mic Pre
3. Microphone

or

1. Mic Pre
2. Microphone
3. ADC

Etc.

I realized that this is completely subjective. But if one were to start piecing together the ultimate recording chain, which element would you start with..

Thanks,

A.

[Joba]

1. room
2. monitors
3. microphone

[MJGreene Audio]

My most important piece of gear?

1. A great musician with great talent, touch and mastery of their instrument.

2. Virtually any piece of gear if I have the first one.

It always floors me how easy it is to record with anything if I have a great player in front of me. Of course I have nice gear to but it doesn't mean shnit if I don't have a great player.

As the old saying goes: "Garbage in, Garbage out"

Michael Greene

Listen to the music, not the gear

[muthasmucka]

thanks for your response

I'm not tracking alot of acoustic instruments. My projects are mostly electronic. A lot of keyboards, some guitar, Vocals. Electronica / Hip Hop.

My room is okay as are my monitors. I'm looking to improve my recording chain. Like running some synths or drum samples through a Preamp and into some good converters. As well, as vocals.

that withstanding. right now I've got a bit of money and would like to get either a really good preamp or some kick butt converters. Eventually, I'll get both, but for right now I'm having trouble making a decision.

Any help or opinions?

Thanks

A.

[drew]

If you're choosing between Preamp and A/D, and you're looking to impart a character on electronic stuff, preamps/eq's baby!!

[Dave Martin]

What Michael said - with a great performance, anyting in the signal chain will work; without a great performance, why record it?

[alphajerk]

musician. all else is bullshit.

[Brad Lunde]

Originally posted by Joba
1. room
2. monitors
3. microphone

I think this is right as far as recording technology goes. Musician and the engineer would be at the top as far as the "content" goes.

Brad

[muthasmucka]

Thank you all for your responses.

I understand and agree fully that the musician and the performance are key. After all, if it sounds like shit there is little one can do to make it better.

But let assume that we are indeed working with a great musician and you want to capture their performance. Let's say the room is acoustically sound and I've got a decent pair of monitors. I've got a couple of good microphone. I've got MOTU converters. My current Preamp is off of the Allen and Heath 20:8:2.

I want to improve the sound of my recordings?

Eventually, I will own a Great River, Chandler TG2, Otari MX70, and Apogee Rosetta. But right now I've a budget of $1500.

Where do I begin

I've got a budget of $1500. Where do I start?

[Jules]

Me & the band

[lucey]

Originally posted by muthasmucka

I want to improve the sound of my recordings?

...

I've got a budget of $1500. Where do I start?

mic, pre or A to D converter,

if you're using MOTU and you have $1500 ... how about a Benchmark ADC or a Mytek

[mpr3]

Originally posted by muthasmucka
I've got MOTU converters. My current Preamp is off of the Allen and Heath 20:8:2.

Which MOTU converters? Assuming they aren't older than @ 3 years I would invest in a preamp first, then upgrade the converters. The prosumer converters have improved quite a bit in recent years, closing the gap a bit between them and the high end converters.

IMO, the same cannot be said of preamp classes. The RNP is an anomaly.

[Joba]

Originally posted by muthasmucka

I've got a budget of $1500. Where do I start?

Perhaps not in the hi end forum?

Here you gotta have it all.

[Drumsound]

I'm not looking at the responses before I answer this, but I hope it's been mentioned already.

The most important element in my chain is...
































ME!

[zimv20]

yes, tony, you were already mentioned a couple times.

[Drumsound]

Ba dump bum!

We'll be here all week, try the fish.

[GYang]

Originally posted by muthasmucka

I've got a budget of $1500. Where do I start?

It is not a huge budget, but there are some pieces which proven in my work (although I have more epensive replacement for each of them):

-mic Rode NTK (list price ~990 street price 450-500) really great value for money, with good talent you can definitely yield world-class result with this one

-pre-amp with compressor or vocal strip (probably pre-owned solid state would be smart choice for lower budget, as you can get it cheaper without compromising quality) earlier JoeMeeks VC1Q or Drawmer in range 500-600 $

-AD-DA Apogee Rosetta is probably the best at price now

Also, if you'll be lucky (as one my friend) who bought recently AMEK DMCL for 1600 $ (list price was 3400) on Ebay (NEW!) as it is discountinued of production now. It is really superlative DUAL Mic, line and instrument pre-amp with usable (not perfect or the best I 've heard) compressor and very useful limiter + 2 CH ADC that is sonically in same league as Apogee PSX-100.
Later you can always add DAC.

Assuming that you record modern (pop, rock) music and not classical or jazz with lot of acoustic nuances, mentioned AMEK with Rode NTK for around total 2000 will provide you with front end in all quality you'll probably ever need.

Good luck

GYang

[maskedman72]

a/d d/a

[Kestral]

I'm going to do you the favor of not making the wisecrack about player or myself being the most important element.

Given the choice in terms of gear:

1. Preamp
2. Microphone
3. Converter

As someone else said, garbage in garbage out. If what's coming from your mic and preamp sound like crap, then the converters will just be converting crap and it'll sound like crap.

For coloration imo, preamp makes the most difference, especially if you're recording mostly non-live instruments with vocals being the major live sound source.

That being said, $1500 is too lean a budget imo. For a preamp, I used to use a Summit MPC-100A tube preamp/compressor for exactly the same reasons as yourself - recording mostly synths and vocals. They sound great imo much better than the Avalon VT737 and can be had for ~$1000 USD.

As far as mics go, I've used an old Shure SM57 or SM58 and it's worked great but for large diaphragm condenser, the best low budget mic imo is the Rode K2.

Converters, imo Apogee is the way to go, whether it's PSX-100 or Rosetta 200. Or if you can find a Metric Halo box second hand for a good deal.

That would be my "bare bones" and it'd go over your budget, so you're probably best picking one of the items (my suggestion is preamp) and then slowly expanding as you can.

[Jason Poulin]

The source




Jason

[muthasmucka]

Thanks to everyone for the useful advice. It's definitely given me a direction to move forward in.

I think I may go with a better clock and a preamp.

Anybody use the Lucid GenX6 clock? If so, How does it sound? As good as Apogee (excluding the Big Ben)?

As far as a Preamp, any suggestions? Someone has suggested the Summit.

I've heard the Chandler TG2 and the Great River, but a bit pricey right now, but definitey on my list.

Anything with color, (not looking for the ultra transparent, so the RNP is out)?

I've been thinking of building a Hamptone.

I've also heard some buzz about the Sebatron. Anyone try the VMP2000e?

Thanks again everyone. Even you guys with the cheecky answers

I really appreciate it.

[obostic]

Replacing the weak LINK in your chain!!! In other words, the whole chain is the important element.

[lucey]

Originally posted by zimv20
yes, tony, you were already mentioned a couple times.

yea, Tony is the most important link in my chain!

no clients ... no dinero.

[meteor]

Originally posted by muthasmucka
, not looking for the ultra transparent, so the RNP is out?

I've also heard some buzz about the Sebatron. Anyone try the VMP2000e?

to my ears, the RNP is would be better described as neutral, rather than transparent (transparent being of the earthworks or grace category). it has definitely got a little color but in a very non-obtrusive way.

Seb VMP2000... well, their marketing sucks and might even be slightly unethical (you can read about the history on several different forums), however, i bought one in a firesale out of curiosity and now i use it all the time. i find it to be very flexible and to have a broad range of colors.

finally, the TG-2(with imp. switch) is my favorite almost ever, but it would not be my first pre under most circumstances. The Great River, if you have the scratch, is a brilliant first preamp and has a fab D.I. that sounds great on almost everything.

cheers,

[faeflora]

1. my ears and that brain thing
2. musician
3. monitors
4. mics
5. room
6. pre, converter, comp, eq, fx

[Tim L]

.... Autotune?

...(runs for cover! )

[Kubilay]

Your problem is, you have all-weak links. and a low budget. I haven't heard the console of yours, so for now I'll assume it's not that great.

an RNP-Lucid AD9624 chain will sound better than what you have and cost just under $1500. May leave you with enough bread to buy one low-cost mic of decent quality, or an RNC?

The Rosetta 200 for instance runs $1750, and if the console pres are mediocre, it'll do you no good.

I have fairly recent model MOTU AD's (2408mk3) and the Lucid smokes them, even though it's certainly not the nicest converter out there. I have not heard the new Rosetta, but I did not like the old one one bit.

The RNP will be a workhorse for decades to come, can't go wrong with it.

And yes, this is not a "high-end" post...

[deft_bonz]

my mouse and the center folds

[loudist]

Whats on the input side of the mic or DI box.

Everything else is optional.

[junior]

what about the metric halo uln-2? that'll cover 2 good preamps and ad/da for under a grand. then pick up a decent mic with the money that's left over...

or, there's also the rme fireface but doesn't leave you much money for a mic...