Advice on next purchase?

[AaronD]

Hello there. I have lurked here for a long time and finally made the choice to register. I have been recording for about three and a half years and have recently gotten a house with friends where I have treated and turned two rooms into my studio.

Well, I just need advice on what would be a good next purchase, this doesn't need to be cheap, but at the same time, I'd like to keep it under a grand.

Two Presonus Firepods
ART MPA Gold
Two MXL603s
Two MXL990s
EV Cobalt CO4
Two Shure SM57
Sennheiser e609 Silver
Sennheiser e835
Audix I5
Audio Technica Pro25
Audix D6
CAD M177
Wharfedale 8.2A Monitors
Behringer Headphone Amp
Numerous Vic Firth and AKG headphones

As far as my computer, I run a Toshiba Laptop with a Dual core processor, and 4GB ram. I use Sony Vegas with various free plugins, and a few others like Drumagog, Waves SSL, and the Waves Renaissance Series.

I was considering the following.. UAD PCMIA card, LDD, LDC, or preamps.

[NathanEldred]

I don't see any ribbons on the list (I might be missing it)...but I find it important to have at least a pair of ribbons at my place. My favorite all arounder is the AEA R84, but for bang for the buck the Crowley and Tripp Naked Eye can't be beat. Both (as a single mic) are under your stated budget. Good luck.

[AaronD]

Ah, I completely overlooked getting a ribbon mic.. To be completely honest, I've yet to use one, but will look into it!

[Ethan Winer]

Originally Posted by AaronD

I just need advice on what would be a good next purchase

Bass traps.

--Ethan

[AaronD]

I've already built numerous bass traps, in various sizes! That is the main meaning of what I meant as treated... I was possibly thinking about purchasing a few diffusers though.

[djbrough]

Monitors. The wharfdales are definitely the weakest link. For $1k look at ADAM A7's, Event ASP8's, or Dynaudio BM5A's.

[AaronD]

Wow, I never thought of my monitors.. Are they just inaccurate or what is not good about them?

Would you suggest selling and upgrading, or just picking up another set and still use the Wharfs as another reference?

[madcowvt]

Tough decision huh? Too many things, too many ideas and as always...not enough $$ :-)

What kind of projects do you do. Also, do you ever find yourself needing somthing every time you do one of those projects?

If your getting by ok with what you have now it may be good to work on the room, upgrading monitors etc. Things that help you to hear what’s going on so you can make better judgments on tracking, eq, mixing etc.

just my .002

[Sizam]

Originally Posted by NathanEldred

I don't see any ribbons on the list (I might be missing it)...but I find it important to have at least a pair of ribbons at my place. My favorite all arounder is the AEA R84, but for bang for the buck the Crowley and Tripp Naked Eye can't be beat. Both (as a single mic) are under your stated budget. Good luck.

another great ribbon for the cash is Cascade's Fat Head II

[AaronD]

My room is treated very well right now, in my honest opinion.. As much so as I think I can do without doing real construction (renting this house)...

I will look into monitors, and I also looked at the Cascade Fathead, I may be able to get both considering the Fatheads budget pricing.

I don't feel like I have a void when I record but I feel that with some better equipment I could do even better work. I typically record full bands, mostly heavy rock/metal/hardcore as that is the biggest part of the music scene around here.

[djbrough]

Originally Posted by AaronD

Wow, I never thought of my monitors.. Are they just inaccurate or what is not good about them?

Would you suggest selling and upgrading, or just picking up another set and still use the Wharfs as another reference?

I'd keep the wharfdales as a secondary monitoring source. They're not going to give you a flat, full range representation of your recordings, but they will give you an idea of how your recordings will translate on less expensive consumer systems. Just pic up another set to go along with them. I'm not sure if the firepod gives you more than one stereo out, so a cheap monitor controller may be in order as well.

[warhead]

I agree on the monitors being addressed first...

War