Tracking your synths

[3rd world order]

Originally Posted by Eterny99

How do you guys track your synths? do you run them through any specific pre-amps? or just directly into your AD / Tape / HD ?

Would throwing in a few high quality pre-amps in the signal path make tide turning differences and save me all the work to give it a "meat"?

generally start with an avalon DI, into a neve 3114 line input.. touch of eq.. sometimes compression with a smart C2.. into a cranesong HEDD, triode/pentode to taste.

sometimes i'll use a different eq.. sometimes i'll bypass the DI.. sometimes i'll run into an eventide 4000.. sometimes i'll use the passive eq on the avalon. who knows? but i'll sometimes use all of those in varying degrees.

if i had a bunch of amps and nice microphones i'd use those too... but i'm rather limited in that respect right now...

neve strips are nice to have around because you have some control over how much color they put out, and the eqs are rock solid. the eq points are very well thought out... we love clicky knobs.

[XHipHop]

Originally Posted by kingsalmonella

Not quite a DI, but I ended up buying a Synth Driver, basically 32 channels of line balancing with ground lift on each channel. It works great and remains hidden in the back of my equipment rack. I have a ton of synths and this seemed like a cost effective and clean alternative. At that point, you can still run synths into a DI/pre for coloration if needed. I usually end up tracking my Nord and Virus through a Distressor or running it through my Summit TPA-200B for warmth.

Here's a link:

http://www.sigt.com/Synth_Driver_Poster_Plus.shtml



--kingsalmonella

How much does that bad boy cost, out of curiosity?

[halfguard]

xhiphop, did you ever get the brick? if so what did you think? and what did you use it on?