Budget around 5k

[sour dan]

I"ve got a little project studio. This is what it's comprised of:

Pro Tools Digi 002 (will change but not for a year or so)
Blue Robbie, NT1, Bluebird, AKG c1000s, Audix om7, Audix 3bx, 2 sm57's, sm58, 2 beta 52's, 3 CAD tsm 411's, CAD kbm 412, a variety of decent chords, stands headphones, and m-audio sp5b monitors.

I'm looking at:

GR me1nv, event precision 8 monitors (not set on this one), fmr rnc, and a royer 121. Around $3400

In addition I'm looking for a good vocal/overhead condenser (possibly even a matched pair), and a modestly priced channel or two of eq. If I don't get two condensers then I'll look at some cheaper pairs of overhead mics. The $5000 budget is slightly flexible and the eq is not absolutely necessary. The vocal mic will be used on many different vocalists. Any input or experiences would be appreciated.

Thanks,
Ty

[Dot]

We've been testing out various monitors in the $1K range and the Dynaudio BM5A's keep winning out. Some excellent general LDC mics are Gefell 930, Gefell UMT70S FET, Peluso 22 251, Peluso 2247, Soundelux U195, AKG 414, ADK TC, ADK TT. You might want to consider the AEA R84 for a ribbon mic. EQ is tricky for that kind of money. I'd skip the EQ altogther at this point.

What kind of projects are you recording, Ty?

[maskedman72]

if you are running a digi 002 without an external converter/clock than that shoud be your first priority.

i have a 002r and when i bought a new a/d converter and clock my sould improved altogther.

i would suggest a mytek adc or a lucid or the universal audio adc/dac unit.

than i would go with a dual channel pre.

mp2nv and chandler tg2 come to mind also the 4 channel 1 rack space api unit.

for mics, a soundelux u195 cant be beat for the price($850 new)
you could get all of those things and still have cash for monitors.
i would look at some dynaudios.
-jay

[sour dan]

Thanks for the replies.

Dot: Have you had personal experience with the r84? That was one of the first ribbon mics I looked into and I keep on going back to it. I'm thinking that I want at least an omni option on the ldc. Any experience with the umt70s?

Maskedman: Are the converters in the digi 002 really that bad? Good idea about the dual pre. I really want the dual version of the GR, but I'm not sure if I can afford it at this point. I can always pick another one up later.



Ty

[sour dan]

I forgot to mention that I'm currently recording three projects. Rock, pop rock and punk. The only thing that's left to do on the pop rock project is a little bit of "mastering" in sound forge 7.0. The other two are at the beginning stages of tracking. In a week I'll be doing a live recording of a rock band and then two more rock projects are going to get started at the beginning of next month.

[zimv20]

Originally Posted by sour dan

Are the converters in the digi 002 really that bad?

i used my 002r converters for some time before i picked up a rosetta800. yes, the apogee is better, but i was able to get perfectly good sounds through the 002 using decent mics and pre's.

you already have the unit, what do you think of the conversion?

[sour dan]

I think the conversion is fine for the level that I'm at. These are the best converters I've tried in my studio so I can't compare them to anything else. Truthfully, I was a little surprised that someone would recommend new converters given my current gear list.

[zimv20]

my opinion is that you should get a nice 2-channel pre (in addition to the GR, the phoenix drs-2 and BAE 312a's come to mind) and spend some money on treating your room, with Real Traps, for example.

[sour dan]

Zim-
I tuned the room a few years ago for our band. It started out as a jam room and I eventually built a control room within it. I've been recording myself and friends for 4 or 5 years and in the last year I decided to take it a little more seriously. A few people heard our band's demo and asked if I would record them so I said "yes." hehe