New Mastering In Brooklyn and need help with converters

[nothingface7602]

I just finished my mastering studio. Modest, but reliable. any comments?

Now, I have a problem:

My Mytek converter does not have a firewire interface, so i was forced to gfet the m-audio (yuk) profire lightbridge and connect via adat. this is silly, but i did it anyway. now SoundBlade, which is the program i chose to use, does not see my myteks as converters, it only sees whatever the m-audio tells it to see, so i havent been able to play a stereo track on panels 1-2 or 3-4 and record on panels 1-2- or 3-4 i have tried several combinations, no success.

I am returning my myteks and getting converters that connect via firewire any suggestions?. thanks for your help.


Julian Silva

On Air Mastering.

[feedback]

Products :: Series 300 Main

[DSD_Mastering]

I know that Noah is selling a Lynx Aurora 8 with FW-LT for under $2k which is an excellent package!

Regards,
Bruce

[Thomas W. Bethe]

Originally Posted by nothingface7602

I just finished my mastering studio. Modest, but reliable. any comments?

Now, I have a problem:

My Mytek converter does not have a firewire interface, so i was forced to gfet the m-audio (yuk) profire lightbridge and connect via adat. this is silly, but i did it anyway. now SoundBlade, which is the program i chose to use, does not see my myteks as converters, it only sees whatever the m-audio tells it to see, so i haven't been able to play a stereo track on panels 1-2 or 3-4 and record on panels 1-2- or 3-4 i have tried several combinations, no success.

I am returning my myteks and getting converters that connect via firewire any suggestions?. thanks for your help.


Julian Silva

On Air Mastering.

I personally would question how really rock stable your speaker stands are...getting some concrete blocks, filling them with sand and putting a cloth over them would be much better than what you have Our speakers are mounted on granite blocks 5 inches thick. I think your overall setup and equipment looks nice but I personally would find it hard to go back and forth from the sweet spot to do something on the computer. Different strokes for different folks.

Best of luck!

[Cellotron]

Personally I definitely would keep the Mytek converters since they are very good and you already have them - and that if you choose to sell them it will be at a loss from what you paid for them. Instead I would look to get AES i/o capability for your DAW. AES has a great number of advantages for the mastering studio: almost non-existent signal degradation from longer cable runs & most pro digital equipment has AES i/o. The Sonic Studio (rebranded Metric Halo) boxes that "feedback" linked to could certainly work for this. Otherwise the Lynx AES-16 or RME AES-32 PCI cards should do the trick for AES i/o as well.

The studio shots look nice. While the Legendary Masterpiece is not my cup of tea due to a few things which to me seem like design flaws it still makes a very nice centerpiece for the studio.

I share Thomas Bethel's concern that the speaker stands look a bit unstable and agree that getting more solid stands (or blocks as he's suggested) would most likely be an improvement.

I disagree with Thomas' assessment that having the DAW to the side is an issue - I keep my analog process rack where I make my eq and dynamic processing decisions in the center sweetspot, and my DAW desk similarly offcenter (but well within easy reach) and haven't had problems resulting from this.

Anyway - welcome to the area - between Billyburg and Greenpoint seems there are a good number of mastering studios (including mine) in the neighborhood now.

Best regards,
Steve Berson

[nothingface7602]

what i was looking for with the stands is the minimum contact with the floor, and since nobody will be dancing or jumping up and down here, decided to get these, actually they are stools. SoundAway - Residential and Commercial Soundproofing has excellent decoupling options as well as thick mass loaded mats, and the speakers are standing on those.

hmm, so should i bite the bullet and keep the myteks?. The support i have been getting is, to be polite, substandard, given that i spent all this money, hoping to get the firewire card soon, as i was told, and instead having to deal with this consumer m-audio crap. today it just stopped working, it's so jittery it's unbearable. I did go the AES route, and am using a Henry engineering AES to SPDIF converter, then to freaking PT LE! can you believe it?. i do love my myteks, but this is just ludicrous.

any ideas?. i'd love to have a definitive solution, i thought that Mytek would be the solution, any thoughts about switching to aurora 8? thanks so much.

Julian

[Cellotron]

Originally Posted by nothingface7602

what i was looking for with the stands is the minimum contact with the floor, and since nobody will be dancing or jumping up and down here, decided to get these, actually they are stools. SoundAway - Residential and Commercial Soundproofing has excellent decoupling options as well as thick mass loaded mats, and the speakers are standing on those.

hmm, so should i bite the bullet and keep the myteks?. The support i have been getting is, to be polite, substandard, given that i spent all this money, hoping to get the firewire card soon, as i was told, and instead having to deal with this consumer m-audio crap. today it just stopped working, it's so jittery it's unbearable. I did go the AES route, and am using a Henry engineering AES to SPDIF converter, then to freaking PT LE! can you believe it?. i do love my myteks, but this is just ludicrous.

any ideas?. i'd love to have a definitive solution, i thought that Mytek would be the solution, any thoughts about switching to aurora 8? thanks so much.

Julian

The real solution to me is to get a DAW that can have AES i/o go directly to the soundcard. Firewire is nice for mobile or project recording and for reading extrernal hard drives but to me is severely limited solution for a mastering studio, Get a computer that has PCI slots and get a card that has AES i/o. Problem solved!

Best regards,
Steve Berson

[nothingface7602]

Originally Posted by Cellotron

The real solution to me is to get a DAW that can have AES i/o go directly to the soundcard. Firewire is nice for mobile or project recording and for reading extrernal hard drives but to me is severely limited solution for a mastering studio, Get a computer that has PCI slots and get a card that has AES i/o. Problem solved!

Best regards,
Steve Berson

\
\



Oh, how nice it would be to have the money!

[ed littman]

Originally Posted by Cellotron

The studio shots look nice. While the Legendary Masterpiece is not my cup of tea due to a few things which to me seem like design flaws it still makes a very nice centerpiece for the studio.

Just curious Steve, what do you think is lacking in the masterpiece.
I don't remember anything that gave me that impession while checking it out at aes. Maybe your commenting on the older version with a noisy power supply?
Ed

[nothingface7602]

alright, so im looking for a power mac g4 and they are NOT expensive at all, so maybe ill just get one, get pci and forget about all this SHIT.


thanks a lot, i didnt wanna go that way, but looking on it, i think i might...


and yeah, what is wrong with the masterpiece? i have done tons of excellent work on it, and i dont think Rupert is gonna put out something with his name on it that is flawed...

[Cellotron]

Originally Posted by ed littman

Just curious Steve, what do you think is lacking in the masterpiece.
I don't remember anything that gave me that impession while checking it out at aes. Maybe your commenting on the older version with a noisy power supply?
Ed

To reiterate my previous criticisms:
* input and output gain knobs on pots instead of stepped switches
* reordering of eq & dynamic modules requires physically pulling them out of the chassis and placing them back in - to me a couple of relays and a button would be much better for this
* HPF & LPF values are much more suited for mixing or broadcast and are useless for mastering to me with their stock values (I believe this could be customized to be made more to the orderer's liking though)
* many controls are on smallish pots that are fairly "tweaky" feeling to me - so small changes and recalls are potentially more difficult

Then again I'm in love with the sound of my Rupert Neve designed Amek Medici (which I had customized to upgrade all the caps and to replace the input gain pots with stepped switches) which unless your lucky is extremely difficult to source now - so if someone was looking for a similar sounding mastering eq then the Legendary Masterpiece is really the only other way to get this.

Best regards,
Steve Berson

[nothingface7602]

i agree with the input and output stepped, but when you need real fine tuning, not stepped is the way. you just get used to what you have, i guess. Now, mytek just told me i have to get another box to connect via pci!

julian

[DSD_Mastering]

Nothing wrong with the Masterpiece II here. I use outboard EQ and Comp in the insert as well for different flavors. You'll have to pry my cold dead hands......

Regards,
Bruce

[nothingface7602]

oh man, i have no patience for this, just talked to mytek and i would have to buy a new computer, display, etc... get a rme pci card... and i'm all set. so sad i had to choose one of the best names in converters that don't have support for what i need

[Cellotron]

Originally Posted by nothingface7602

i agree with the input and output stepped, but when you need real fine tuning, not stepped is the way.

Well - if you just want to pass the signals side matched as they already exist on the source mix and don't want to have to always run tones to check this then switches for input and output gains are way better.

Franky I've been replacing any input or output pots on my processors here - the output pots on my Pendulum OCL-2 are the next to go. The input pots on my Medici never could match each other easily closer than .1dB - replacing with inexpensive Grayhill switches got tolerances to within .01dB! And as far as "real fine tuning" - to me having steps in the analog realm limited to 1/2dB actually eliminates a lot of work flow interrupting futzing.

you just get used to what you have, i guess.

Hey - if it works for you then that's awesome. I was just trying to explain why I personally didn't sell of my rack or processors in order to get a Masterpiece.

Best regards,
Steve Berson

[Cellotron]

Originally Posted by nothingface7602

oh man, i have no patience for this, just talked to mytek and i would have to buy a new computer, display, etc... get a rme pci card... and i'm all set. so sad i had to choose one of the best names in converters that don't have support for what i need

But the problem is that nearly any "mastering" calibre AD/DA converters (i.e. Lavry, Mytek, dcs, Cranesong, DAD, Burl, etc. etc.) will require you to do the same! Personally I would just bite the bullet on this one - a DAW is heckuva lot cheaper than premium converters!!

Best regards,
Steve Berson

[nothingface7602]

Originally Posted by Cellotron

But the problem is that nearly any "mastering" calibre AD/DA converters (i.e. Lavry, Mytek, dcs, Cranesong, DAD, Burl, etc. etc.) will require you to do the same! Personally I would just bite the bullet on this one - a DAW is heckuva lot cheaper than premium converters!!

Best regards,
Steve Berson

yeah, it's just that when i talked to Michal about it, he assured me that the FW card was coming soon... so i waited, and waited. now i only can connect via aes or lightpipe, and the lightpipe is so jittery is annoying.. oh well.

[Cellotron]

Originally Posted by nothingface7602

yeah, it's just that when i talked to Michal about it, he assured me that the FW card was coming soon... so i waited, and waited. now i only can connect via aes or lightpipe, and the lightpipe is so jittery is annoying.. oh well.

Yeah - I've been burned in the past by broken promises for delivery times of new capabilities for audio products (both hardware and software) - so now I only base my purchase decisions on any products current capabilities. It makes life a lot easier!

Best regards,
Steve Berson

[jdg]

since you are running soundblade, i suggest one of the sonic 300 series processors.
they are amazing! ( i run a 304, its on par as the mytek and lavrys i've run in the past)
plus, its firewire.

i also think some cement blocks under your speakers would help!

your space looks great tho!

[Thomas W. Bethe]

Originally Posted by nothingface7602

what i was looking for with the stands is the minimum contact with the floor, and since nobody will be dancing or jumping up and down here, decided to get these, actually they are stools. SoundAway - Residential and Commercial Soundproofing has excellent decoupling options as well as thick mass loaded mats, and the speakers are standing on those.

hmm, so should i bite the bullet and keep the myteks?. The support i have been getting is, to be polite, substandard, given that i spent all this money, hoping to get the firewire card soon, as i was told, and instead having to deal with this consumer m-audio crap. today it just stopped working, it's so jittery it's unbearable. I did go the AES route, and am using a Henry engineering AES to SPDIF converter, then to freaking PT LE! can you believe it?. i do love my myteks, but this is just ludicrous.

any ideas?. i'd love to have a definitive solution, i thought that Mytek would be the solution, any thoughts about switching to aurora 8? thanks so much.

Julian

Best to use something that will not let your speakers move. You could use these -
Adjustable Monitor Stands | Speaker Stands | Studio Stands | Amplifier Stands or the cement blocks filled with sand. You want to hear the speakers NOT what they are standing or sitting on. Big HINT the cement blocks/sand cost a lot less and do what you want done.

As to converters and a DAW. Best to get a professional sound card with AES/EBU inputs and outputs. The Lynx and the RMEs are very good.

Best of luck!

[Thomas W. Bethe]

Originally Posted by Cellotron

The studio shots look nice. While the Legendary Masterpiece is not my cup of tea due to a few things which to me seem like design flaws it still makes a very nice centerpiece for the studio.

I share Thomas Bethel's concern that the speaker stands look a bit unstable and agree that getting more solid stands (or blocks as he's suggested) would most likely be an improvement.

I disagree with Thomas' assessment that having the DAW to the side is an issue - I keep my analog process rack where I make my eq and dynamic processing decisions in the center sweetspot, and my DAW desk similarly offcenter (but well within easy reach) and haven't had problems resulting from this.

Different strokes for different folks. I have never seen two mastering studios setup the same exact way. Everyone has their personal preferences. What works well for you maybe something that another engineer would find hard to use. Best set up your space for what works for YOU!

Best of luck!

[klaukholm]

Originally Posted by nothingface7602

I just finished my mastering studio. Modest, but reliable. any comments?

Now, I have a problem:

My Mytek converter does not have a firewire interface, so i was forced to gfet the m-audio (yuk) profire lightbridge and connect via adat. this is silly, but i did it anyway. now SoundBlade, which is the program i chose to use, does not see my myteks as converters, it only sees whatever the m-audio tells it to see, so i havent been able to play a stereo track on panels 1-2 or 3-4 and record on panels 1-2- or 3-4 i have tried several combinations, no success.

I am returning my myteks and getting converters that connect via firewire any suggestions?. thanks for your help.


Julian Silva

On Air Mastering.

The AD in your rack looks like the Mytek 8x192 right?
How about simply buying a firewire card for it?
Mytek Digital 8X192 Firewire DIO Card | VintageKing.com

[nothingface7602]

Originally Posted by klaukholm

The AD in your rack looks like the Mytek 8x192 right?
How about simply buying a firewire card for it?
Mytek Digital 8X192 Firewire DIO Card | VintageKing.com

i have had the myteks for 6 months, and still no news of the card, this is the whole issue, that mytek has not yet released it, and i had to resort to all kinds of gimmicks to make it work...

[klaukholm]

I did not realize the card had not been released.

[Ben F]

Originally Posted by nothingface7602

I am returning my myteks and getting converters that connect via firewire any suggestions?. thanks for your help.


Julian Silva

On Air Mastering.

RME 400 and 800 are very good and rock solid on the Mac. Both have ADAT. No different to PCI in terms of reliability.

M-audio will give you nothing but headaches, their drivers have never worked on OSX properly. Also, I'm not sure how well Soundbalde integrates with Core Audio.

Alternatively, you could ditch both and go for the Prism Orpheus.