best decision for a dramatic improvement?

[Mafiacondon]

Hi Guys , I've finally got some money to spend and i'm looking for some input. I run a Garage sized studio recording Drums Bass Guitars keys horns and vocals.

At present I have LP8 , a MOTU HD192 , tons of plugins (waves) 2x MC76 1xDrawmer 1961, UA solo610,summit mic pre(basic one) Focusrite ISA828 , ISA430 Neumann U147 , Ev RE20 , AKG 414x2 and a few other mics.

A few options i have in mind are , TL Audio M1 - would allow me to add some valve eq to drum mixs
Manley Vari-mu - master bus compressor (out of soundcard 1+2 and back into inputs) - fatten up some bus's too.
Avalon 747SP - same thing slightly cheaper and a tone control 4 fun
A new Audio interface , i need 16 inputs ideally if i change cards . I thought Aurora 16 with FW card from the states. OR a UA 2192 ( record the drums with the Motu and then Mix through the UA )

My Budget is £2000 ono.


Any ideas ?

[Colorblind]

Is your room treated?

[Mafiacondon]

yes , quite thorough acoustic absorption ,

[Jules]

You could hot rod your converters.. Motu Modifications


and (or) buy a 2 channel fancy D/A (there are lots to chose from) to play your sessions back

You might 'capture more' and be able to 'hear more' that way?

You seem to be thinking along those lines anyway...

TOP TIP. if you get a superior a/d / d/a unit - you can use its a/d as your 'golden channel' for all overdubs. (When tracking drums you might like to use it for drum overheads...)

[warhead]

What's the weakness in the end result you are experiencing? Does everything you own already translate well but you're missing ________ ability etc?

War

[Mafiacondon]

The middle of the mix particularly the snare is a bit cloudy and the top end lacks a bit of zing , like when a mix is over compressed. Vocals sound great though

[Drlove]

Great converters would make the most dramatic improvement in your set up.

I would suggest Rosetta 800 to handle all your A/D D/A needs.


Good luck

[Gone]

snare is a bit cloudy and the top end lacks a bit of zing

On the spend money side:
Drumagog. On principle I hate drum replacing. However, the positives FAR outweight the negatives in a home based setting. Even if you get a great snr sound, it isn't always the right one for the song. If you don't have 15 snares and a killer tech it almost always isn't.

The apogee won't hurt either. It will add the zing for you. good zing.

On the don't spend money side:
Work with better players. This will improve your output by leaps and bounds. I know this is the same ol' ganky-gank gs crap, but it is seriously true.

You have some solid gear. No need to spend more money.


Good luck.

D

[bcgood]

Korg MR 1000

[James Meeker]

I don't think that sample replacement or "more gear" is the answer for those drum sounds. Quite simply the balance levels are a bit off--not enough kick/snare close mics and what we do have is WAYYYY over compressed. (Sounds like an 1176 style plugin on the snare.)

Anyways, I think the big issues are more about production/mixing than anything else. They just went "too far" on the compression and choked it up.

Chances are they could go back and in ten minutes take care of those drums. I'd imagine the rest of the mix would come alive then.