Should I go with expensive preamp & leave compression/EQ-ing to Waves VST?
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Posted on Feb 20, 2010 11:46 am
SCL
Member Since: Feb 20, 2010
I'm building a home recording studio and I'm trying to figure out what are unnecessary luxuries. Would Waves Mercury plugins suffice for the lack of hardware? I want to spend around $500-$600 on the preamp alone. I'm able to record right now with my mic and usb mixer. My mic is in the $300 range, my mixer's not worth much though. I just want close to professional vocal recordings with only one good piece of hardware using Cubase 5 and Waves Mercury plugins. Is this doable? I'm thinking the end result will be: Preamp [to feed my audio into] (connected to) -> Usb Mixer [to get the sound into my computer. Is this at all possible? Any suggestions that are similar to this?
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pjkPrince CZAR-mingMember
Since: Apr 08, 2004
Feb 20, 2010 02:32 pm Sure, it's doable, but I'd suggest getting a better sound card. the USB mixer is doing your AD conversion, and it may be cheap. I'm not saying it is, but you didn't mention what it was, and suggested it was not much, so that's a concern.
Also, for vocals and mixing later, room treatment is often said to be the LARGEST improvement to the quality of people's tracks. If your mic is good, and preamp is good, and converters are good, I'd sure hope my room is treated well, and my monitor chain / room is good.
MassiveMastering on here has some strong opinions on this, and I agree with him. He's done this a lot longer, and a lot better that I, so I'd follow his advice (as much as you can, anyways).
Treat the room, spend real time, and real money if needed. Then look into upgrading hardware. (of course, this is only my opinion).
Ethan Winer is a good site for acoustics;
www.ethanwiner.com/acoustics.html
as is john sayers site;
www.johnlsayers.com/phpBB2/viewforum.php?f=3
John Sayers has a lot about studio design, poke around.
pjkPrince CZAR-mingMember
Since: Apr 08, 2004
Feb 20, 2010 02:33 pm Ok, that said, MM did have advice on a good preamp for 500$. I can't remember what it was, but a search on here should turn it up. P-Solo comes to mind, but I know there's a few others. They aren't Tube, either, if you were thinking that =).
Feb 21, 2010 01:21 am I can think of several. The P-Solo being one, Grace's m101, FMR's RNP...
But I have to voice a bit of confusion -- "Unnecessary luxuries" and "Waves Mercury" in the same paragraph...? Probably the MOST unnecessary luxury of all time.
You spent seven thousand dollars on a mediocre plugin bundle and you're talking about spending comparative peanuts on the things that really matter? I have to question your judgment on that one...
