mic/pre/interface recommendations ....

[ConcreteVampire]

Happy New Year! allright!

Current, mac, Logic X, Shitty Focusright 2i2, MXL V63M Mic, (By NO means a bad mic)...

Want to step up. One man band. Drums are Easy Drummer 2, or Logic, or loops. I play and sing everything else.

*Currently hot for the Shure Sm7B... I have a high driving Hard Rock voice... Or? Neumann 102? Or? Shure KS32? (Would prolly go used or NAMM pricing on all).

*Pre- digging the Warm Audio The Beast. It's bad ass! OR? throw some shit out there.... I also wouldn't mind the ART tube Mp... But the Warm Audio is sexy.

* Interface?? I like the Motu 16... Apogee seems spensive for what you get... I have no problem with this being in a rack. Not happy with that dongle shit...


Throw out ideas... new, used I don't care...

[nakedzen]

From having owned both the SM7B and KSM32, they sounded almost identical on my voice. Slightly preferred the SM7B. But it all depends on your voice and how the mic compliments it so I'm sure you'll end up going through a few. I sold the 7B and now use a Beyerdynamic M201TG for vocs (among other things).

Mic pres under $800 per channel are in my experience in the realm of "sounds different but not better" than your clean transparent interface preamps. Want some serious oomph? I'd recommend Great River ME1NV, sort of a modern take on a Neve style preamp. Extended low end and highs, very high headroom but you can also set it for drive.

Motu 16 seems overkill for one man band? It has 16 channels and only line inputs so you'd need to buy the preamps as well? If you only need max two channels of A/D I'd go for a Lynx E22 plus an external preamp.

This concludes my post of "buy the same stuff I happen to own right now".

[TurboPablo]

I just bought a Audient ID22.

It's sounds incredible.

[ConcreteVampire]

Thanks I'll look into those !

[ConcreteVampire]

From having owned both the SM7B and KSM32, they sounded almost identical on my voice. Slightly preferred the SM7B. But it all depends on your voice and how the mic compliments it so I'm sure you'll end up going through a few. I sold the 7B and now use a Beyerdynamic M201TG for vocs (among other things).

Mic pres under $800 per channel are in my experience in the realm of "sounds different but not better" than your clean transparent interface preamps. Want some serious oomph? I'd recommend Great River ME1NV, sort of a modern take on a Neve style preamp. Extended low end and highs, very high headroom but you can also set it for drive.

Motu 16 seems overkill for one man band? It has 16 channels and only line inputs so you'd need to buy the preamps as well? If you only need max two channels of A/D I'd go for a Lynx E22 plus an external preamp.

This concludes my post of "buy the same stuff I happen to own right now".

That lynx is a board I need tabletop... IMac + ??

[BroSlinger]

The sm7b rocks for male vocals.

Get one.

[ConcreteVampire]

So I have been looking at stuff for the past two weeks.

I narrowed it down to spend $1500 (My total budget) or $1000, which leaves me $500 towards the get a KSR Ares fund.

Tell me if the cheaper route is good enough for my application. I think it is, I don't think I've developed my ears enough to warrant spending money on things I cant hear yet. lol

I would be OK I think with,

Audient iD14 $300
ART Pro MPA $300
ART Pro Channel (Mainly for the Compressor, the extra pre and EQ is Gravy!) $300
PreSonus Fader Port (I have a woody for using a fader strip when working. It's metal, feels good and very intuitive. at NAMM I had it working for me within a minute) $129 It is being bought regardless of the other items.

About $1000 leaves $500 for Kyle's pocket.

I downgraded to that from,

Golden Age Pre 73, and Comp 54 (Chinese. and $200 more than top bundle...)
Apollo Solo ($250 more than the Audient, Plugins are expensive)

Started with

Warm Audio Tone Beast ($300! more) they do have a cheaper pre with no bells or whistles...
Warm Compressor ($300 more) $600 over top bundle


I think the first combo will help me learn tweaking stuff, and last for a while. The Apollo, Warm, and Golden Age items are Tits, but I think overkill till I know what to listen for...

OPINIONS PLEASE!

[Tortuga]

Apologies for the thread interruption...

Good to see ya online, Diego - any chance of you making the next SoCal AmpFest in March?

[ConcreteVampire]

Apologies for the thread interruption...

Good to see ya online, Diego - any chance of you making the next SoCal AmpFest in March?

Slammed Saturday's sorry...

[nakedzen]

Audient iD14 $300
ART Pro MPA $300
ART Pro Channel (Mainly for the Compressor, the extra pre and EQ is Gravy!) $300
PreSonus Fader Port (I have a woody for using a fader strip when working. It's metal, feels good and very intuitive. at NAMM I had it working for me within a minute) $129 It is being bought regardless of the other items.

Out of that I'd skip the ART's and just get some good plugins from Slate. In my experience you'd just be spending $600 on garbage that you'll sell in a year for $300.

Since you're on a budget just get the best clean interface you can, like the Roland UA-S10 or RME Babyface. It's much better in the long run to get one high quality item than multiple variations of meh.

[ConcreteVampire]

Audient iD14 $300
ART Pro MPA $300
ART Pro Channel (Mainly for the Compressor, the extra pre and EQ is Gravy!) $300
PreSonus Fader Port (I have a woody for using a fader strip when working. It's metal, feels good and very intuitive. at NAMM I had it working for me within a minute) $129 It is being bought regardless of the other items.

Out of that I'd skip the ART's and just get some good plugins from Slate. In my experience you'd just be spending $600 on garbage that you'll sell in a year for $300.

Since you're on a budget just get the best clean interface you can, like the Roland UA-S10 or RME Babyface. It's much better in the long run to get one high quality item than multiple variations of meh.

Thanks for the input!

That Roland is $399 at Zzounds... I like that.

Which slate Plugins would you recommend?

Any value in the Apollo's?

[nakedzen]

Thanks for the input!

That Roland is $399 at Zzounds... I like that.

Which slate Plugins would you recommend?

Any value in the Apollo's?

Since you don't have any yet I think their subscriber model is your best option. If you calculate that you'd buy one plugin from them per year it comes to the same amount as having them all for that $15/month. I use the VBC, VTM and VCC on every mix, on every track (well almost). They do have a "Slate sound" to them, all of their plugins sort of push the high mids a bit which I like. Just ymmv.

http://slatedigital.com/everything-bundle/

Out of the two I suggested the RME is the more solid option. The Roland is more of an unknown, not too many reviews.

Edit: I took a quick look around gearslutz and the verdict is not so great for the Roland:
https://www.gearslutz.com/board/music-computers/981742-namm-2015-roland-super-ua-audiophile-interface-mac-pc-3.html

I forgot to mention the Focusrite Clarett series. But your best bet is the Babyface Pro imo. Solid sound, solid drivers.

[ConcreteVampire]

Thanks for the input!

That Roland is $399 at Zzounds... I like that.

Which slate Plugins would you recommend?

Any value in the Apollo's?

Since you don't have any yet I think their subscriber model is your best option. If you calculate that you'd buy one plugin from them per year it comes to the same amount as having them all for that $15/month. I use the VBC, VTM and VCC on every mix, on every track (well almost). They do have a "Slate sound" to them, all of their plugins sort of push the high mids a bit which I like. Just ymmv.

http://slatedigital.com/everything-bundle/

Out of the two I suggested the RME is the more solid option. The Roland is more of an unknown, not too many reviews.

Edit: I took a quick look around gearslutz and the verdict is not so great for the Roland:
https://www.gearslutz.com/board/music-computers/981742-namm-2015-roland-super-ua-audiophile-interface-mac-pc-3.html

I forgot to mention the Focusrite Clarett series. But your best bet is the Babyface Pro imo. Solid sound, solid drivers.

Thanks man. Are you running the BF?

Can you recommend an alternate to the BF? (Cheaper?)

[nakedzen]

Honestly I think spending less than $700 won't get you anything better than the 2i2 you already have. I have a 2i2 myself as well which we use for extra tracks on drums. At home I'm running the Lynx E22 right now but I don't think it would suit your needs since it's more of a monitoring solution than recording.

[ConcreteVampire]

Honestly I think spending less than $700 won't get you anything better than the 2i2 you already have. I have a 2i2 myself as well which we use for extra tracks on drums. At home I'm running the Lynx E22 right now but I don't think it would suit your needs since it's more of a monitoring solution than recording.

I really appreciate your answers. I'm looking at the Apogee now, although I hate the dongle shit. (Logic and all)That and a Wave pack (For the Comp/EQ)
with a GAP Pre, (I'm an analogue boy and need to drive a SM7B) should do it. You've been honest, let me have it. : )

tnx!

[nakedzen]

Just my personal experience, but I'd advice against Waves just on the basis that their lisence manager is a complete pain in the ass. I'll never buy another Waves plugin because of it. Companies like Fabfilter and Izotope give you the same stuff but without the broken copy protection.

[ConcreteVampire]

Just my personal experience, but I'd advice against Waves just on the basis that their lisence manager is a complete pain in the ass. I'll never buy another Waves plugin because of it. Companies like Fabfilter and Izotope give you the same stuff but without the broken copy protection.

The catch for me being the 35% discount on bundles I would get with purchase...

Was this recent?

[ConcreteVampire]

Opinions on UA Apollo Solo, and DUO's if anybody's listening.....

['63-Strat]

There's an apogee duet 2 for $375 on CL right now man. That will do exactly what you want.

...and I would suggest low balling him hard

[ConcreteVampire]

There's an apogee duet 2 for $375 on CL right now man. That will do exactly what you want.

...and I would suggest low balling him hard

I work downtown too...

He'd have to bring his laptop to prove it's not dead!

[nakedzen]

Just my personal experience, but I'd advice against Waves just on the basis that their lisence manager is a complete pain in the ass. I'll never buy another Waves plugin because of it. Companies like Fabfilter and Izotope give you the same stuff but without the broken copy protection.

The catch for me being the 35% discount on bundles I would get with purchase...

Was this recent?

It was a couple months back. Long story short I bought a new plugin from them, installed it. Boot up daw, it says none of my waves plugins are lisenced. Reinstall and lisence all of them. Still not working. Remove all waves plugins, install, run lisence software. Still not working. Repeat maybe 15 times and finally I got them all working again. I'll never want to go through all that again, it was an absolute nightmare.

[JerEvil]

I just got he Clarett 8pre and so far I love it. Much clearer imho than my Saffire pro24.

I'd also skip pres unless you are getting into some higher end stuff and use emulation. Who cares if you can't write to track with it. I'd rather have it in pst anyway.

I was looking at the ToneBeast rack. Where the hell did you find it for $399???

Only problem is I need at yeast 2 or 3 pres as I want 2 for guitar and 1 for vocals. I have the Slate bundle so I am just sticking with that for now.

I will grab the UAD Apollo Quad before year end for sure. You and I both have pretty high voices. Seems a trend in mic recommendations in the thread I posted was the SM7B wit or without the Cloud Lifter. I have the ART TPS-II I'd let go of for cheap if you want to test out a mic pre.

[ConcreteVampire]

Hey Jer,

The TB is $599. I mentioned it was $300 more than the GAP Pre. $399 was for the Roland interface.

I'm definitely going with an SM7B!

Re: Apollo's, I'm going to lowball my Sweetwater rep on the DUO, as the price will drop eventually due to the new models they debuted at NAMM. Don't pay retail!

Pm me on the ART!

[ConcreteVampire]

Thanks everyone for the replies!

Got an Apollo Duo demo from SW today, $650. Free lightning cable.

Enough internal horsepower to run the Plugins from the interface, and then on behalf of the daw as well.

2 eq, 2 comp, tube Pre, channel Strip, and Amp pack plugins included.

Can optical in 8 more channels

The types of tones I desire, Cheaper than most options. 2x UA's warranty.

Stoked!