TALK @ PhilMusic.com - The Online Home of the Pinoy Musician
The Musician Forums => Music Technology & Pro Audio => Topic started by: starfugger on March 23, 2003, 12:58:32 AM
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THE PRICE IS RIGHT
While other digital recording studios charge not less than P500/hr, we at SoundKitchen remain dedicated to our commitment in giving you excellent quality CD's at the most affordable rate in the market. Only P450/hr. NO extra charges -- NO after six charges, NO tech fees, NO kidding.Book a minimum of three hours and you get a FREE CD master copy of your project. That's right. All high end instruments are at your disposal, again, FREE of charge. This is clearly the best deal in town. For a complete list of our services and rates visit the site (http://geocities.com/soundkitchen_ph)
If you want to sample a taste of SoundKitchen gourmet MP3's, click right about here (http://geocities.com/soundkitchen_ph/mp3)
or simply call Hazel at 4317985 or 0917 6971704
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uy dito kami nagrerecord. :)
astig tlga si hazel. :P
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how can you get a decent drum sound if you're monitoring in the same room you're recording in? do you just guess where to put the mics and hit RECORD?
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compress the hell out of it with pirated plugins. :wink:
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True, it IS a difficult situation but i manage.
anyway, good news, friends. SoundKitchen is upgrading. Plug-in's as follows:
Universal Audio UAD-1 Ultra Pak with:
LA2A
Pultec EQP-1A
Neve 1176 LN
Neve 1176 SE
Cambridge EQ
CS-1 (3 modules)
DreamVerb
Fairchild 670
Nigel Cabinet Modeler (8 modules)
Plate 140
Precision EQ
Pultec Pro
RealVerb Pro
Mic pre's:
Joe Meek VC1 Studio Channel
ART Tube MP
RME Class A Fire Face 800 Pre's
Microphones:
Shure KSM32
AKG D12E
E.V. RE20
Shure SM57's
Outboard:
dbx 165 OverEasy compressor
Instruments are
drums and percussion: Priemier XPK birch/maple with Gibraltar rack, , zildjian A cymbals, cyclone tamborine, bongos, etc., Rolad Drum Trigger Pads (double kick)
guitars: all original vintage 1964 Hofner Solid Body Electric
bass: Premier Forum (US made)
amp: Fender Blues de Ville all tube 4x10 and Marshall micro-amp
stomp boxes: Boss DS-1, Boss OD2, Boss MT-2
and more! Old rates of Php450/hr only until March, 2006. thanks!
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I've just been on the phone with Jerwin aka the real Emogeek. He says he is not this character "Jerwin Tanda" who obviously has a beef with Jerwin and is doing things to discredit him and our Band in the lowest fashion imaginable. Kindly disregard any post by this character "JerwinTanda". Thanks. BAMF
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how can you get a decent drum sound if you're monitoring in the same room you're recording in? do you just guess where to put the mics and hit RECORD?
huh?
you record the usual way with mics, of course, yet MONITOR with isolation headphones - any decent mixer should have contrl room outs that can be routed to headphones instead so you don't have a feedback loop going. sound leakage might be a problem but micing drums should not be guessed - placement is pretty basic are as follows:
-condenser drum mics to all toms, bass, and snare. dynamics to the bottom of the snare and the hi-hat for mixing drum dynamics later on.
-a stereo overhead condenser pair sitting on the left and right side of the drum set for ambient mixing.
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:)i have to admit, the shure ksm 32 condenser sounds good on my toms. but i'm not very brave (nor very rich) to use condensers on all toms. instead i will be using good ol' sm 57's on tom and snare top, then a pair of AT 4040's (large diaphragm condensers) as overheads, a KSM32 on hi-hats, and RE20 on floor tom, and an AKGD12E on kick, and if everything falls according to the new plan, a dual valve condenser (the SE Gemini) as room mic.
just an update, soundkitchen has acquired a couple of nice things already :)
Joe Meek VC 1 Studio Channel
Aphex 1100A stereo premium tube mic pre's (top of the line from Aphex)
dbx 165 Over Easy compressor (vintage classic)
EV RE20 large diaphragm dynamic mic (industry standard)
AKG D12E vintage large diaphragm dynamic mic (industry standard)
a pair of audio technica AT4040's (japanese large diaphragm condensers)
Shure KSM 32 side address condenser mic (large diaphragm mic)
3 Shure SM57's (dynamics)
ART Tube MP
Klotz MC 5000 high grade studio cables
Samson BL3 and TL3 boom mic stands.
Premier XPK fusion kit with Zildjian A cymbals, Sabian Hihats and ride
1964 Hofner solid body electric guitar (vintage)
Peavey Forum Bass (US made)
Fender Blues Deville all tube amp (4x10)
Marshall micro amp
Boss DS-1 Japan
Boss MT-2
Boss OD-2
Boss foot wah
and lots more!
so far so good. and coming very soon are more exciting additions. i'll keep you all posted!
http://geocities.com/soundkitchen_ph
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dude kala ko 380 lang bakit sa website mo nakalagay 450/hour?
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sorry dude. i posted that ad a long time ago. (*edits*). anyway, it's 450 per hour until the upgrade is done. after completion of the upgrade the new rate of 600 per hour will be applied. the price vs. quality ratio will still be awesome, and llive multi-track recording will be made possible. thanks.
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hazel ayus gamit mo ha kamusta yung shipping nung mga stuff you bought from the state malaki ba tax and duties sa costom???...
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hi plugzzz. like i said sa isang thread sobrang na freak out ako to have everything shipped from the states. the other stuff i sourced out here. yung iba naman from different suppliers dito sa asia. i will update you very soon how it goes :)
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update: i've added an alesis d4 drum module to my setup. my Roland TD-7K will rise from the dead! it is equipped with double kick triggers and will enable me to offer my clients an even faster recording experience. as always, i am finding ways to cater to clients who need demo's on a budget without having to scarifice the quality of my work. the d4 will serve as the "brain" for my electronic drums, translating actual drum hits into MIDI signals which will later be replaced by excellently recorded REAL drum sounds from high end models (sonor, ayotte, ludwig, etc).
i hope this works!
coming very very soon are the:
RME Fireface 800
Tascam US-2400 control surface (25 moving faders!)
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US-2400 arrived yesterday!
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im happy to announce that the tascam us-2400 control surface is working great! 25 moving faders ... very cool, plus aux, pan, and eq functions. now i dont have to reach for the mouse 2/3 of the time :)
also, for the first time yesterday, i hooked up the aphex1100 tube mic pre. was i blown away. it was reaaaaaally quiet and veeeery sweet. very very. i couldn't be happier. it offers 24/96 digital conversion (which i will be testing when the RME fireface comes in later). so far so good :)
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pix!
tascam us 2400
(http://geocities.com/nightskydrama/tascam.jpg)
roland td7k (double kick)
(http://geocities.com/nightskydrama/kit.jpg)
original 1964 Hofner Super Solid V2
(http://geocities.com/nightskydrama/guitar.jpg)
(http://geocities.com/nightskydrama/guitarfull.jpg)
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anong software gamit mo? anong audio interface gamit right now?
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ive never done computer based recording before because i have always been using the roland VS-840 multi-track recorder. but now im seriously considering getting cubase sx 3.
im migrating from a stand alone unit (the roland vs 840), to computer recording. i've purchase an RME fireface800. it's supposed to be equipped with very good A/D converters. i will be setting it up tomorrow.
perfect timing, since my vs-840 suddenly decided to go boinkers on me. i think im having zip drive problems.
oh well ... at least tomorrow i will have the firefce :)
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what's great about new equipment is ...
they come with BUBBLE WRAP ... squeeze .... squeeze ... squeezzzzz :lol:
im setting up the rme firefaceface 800 today, got it last night. many thanks to the local dealer mr. Mike Pedero of Tracks Studios, who picked up the last two remaining units from his supplier in Singapore (one for me and one for himself :))
i chose the fireface based on very good user reviews. everywhere i looked this unit always got three thumbs up :) the fireface was also used in critical recording applications such as recording of commercially released samples. a lot of people agree that this is probably the best A/D converters one can buy for the price, competely outdoing the converters on Tascam FW1884, MOTU HD, Digi 002, and M-Audio. i based my purchase decision on this, and the fact that it allows a lot of simultaneous recording inputs, including 4 class a preamps (and a separate phantom power for each).
plus i have another set of high end converters in the Aphex1100A tube mic pre's (max 96Khz). so that one will also be one of those things used for vocals and all.
well, im about to find out for myself if this unit really is what they say it is. *crosses fingers*
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Hail thee STARFUGGER!
I'm excited to record my solos in your newly upgraded equipment.
I've personally heard some finished products - really "PRO SOUND"
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very nice. any plans on relocating somewhere nearer makati?
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oops double post
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not at the moment glassjaw_jc. but i can assure you it's worth the trip to qc ;)
hey kanshooter. thanks! those samples were recorded with four mics on the drums and the roland vs-840. now, 10 mics on drums plus hi-end mic pre's and the rme is a quantum leap forward. so im really expecting a considerable improvement on the overall quality, especially in resolution, depth, and imaging.
update: most of the stuff is here. but there a couple more goodies on their way so stay tuned!
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weeeeeee! the fireface is amazing! yep, it works alright (thank God!!!). it took me 10 minutes to get it to work in a DAW environtment, although i must admit im still a little confused about some things as this is all new to me.
i setup 8 mics on the drums (i intend to use 9 mics all in all but the 9th mic is still not here, my secret weapon!)
anyway, i ran 2 overheads, 3 tom mics, 1 snare mic, 1 kick mic, and 1 hats mic into the fireface, hit record and started playing the drums. everything went smoothly. playback was good with no hiccups. latency was 3.2 ms (whatever that means, lol). The included mixer software with RME (Total Mix) supports direct asio monitoring so this means no latency during monitoring (whatever that means again). anyways, what i saw was what i got as the cursor played thru the wave files. punch in and out using the us2400 was instantaneous. the jog wheel is a godsend. faders can be fully automated, eq can be tweaked using the knobs on the 2400. im pretty sure the rme slices, dices, and does one's laundry and dishes as well but i haven't gotten around the details yet. im happy.
well, 8 simultaneous recording tracks aren't the ultimate test though. i am almost certain playing 24 tracks with effects plugged in, while recording another 16 tracks simulatneously can be potentially disastrous with my current pc setup, so i intend to upgrade asap. plus, i still need to get things in order, build a table, an a rack, and get a couple of more items here and there. stay tuned!
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finally the UAD-1 ultra pak arrived today. :) classic gear inside my computer are the:
La2a Leveling Amplifier
Pultec EQ-P1A Program Equalizer
1176 LN Limiting Amplifier
Fairchild 670 Vintage Mastering Compressor
EMT 140 Reverb
Dreamverb Pro Reverb Design Toolkit
Pultec Pro
CS-1 channel strip
Cambridge 5-band parametric EQ
Nigel Guitar Processor with suite of 7 plugs
EX-1 Gate & Compressor
DM-1/DM1L Delay modulators
RS-1 Reflection Engine
cheers,
Hazel
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You will soon discover that the Pultec, LA2A, 1176, and EMT 140 will get the most use...
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i have no doubt Kit :) it's still money well-spent for the other plug-in's. i heard really good things about the cambridge, fairchild 670, and Dreamverb as well. it will be a while though before i can afford another ultra pak, and perhaps the next time i will just get either flexi or studio pak.
i'll be posting about the sound quality of the uad-1 tomorrow. cheers!
hazel
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I think you will find the UAD Boards (http://www.chrismilne.com/uadforums/index.php) to be quite helpful while you're setting it up. I'd like to hear the EMT in action myself; heard it was smooooth.
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ok, i tested it last night in the studio. now i understand why most people swear by the LA2A. Kit, it's AMAZING. i tried it on a rather problematic vocal track i recorded and mixed several months ago. i chose to test this plug using that vocal track because there were so many peaks and dips in dynamics it would take forever to automate it. i have tried alot of dynamic plug in's and nothng seemed to work on this particular track. it would be one hell of a test for the UAD-1 LA2A. a few clicks later ... HEAVEN. i couldn't believe my ears. Man, this thing has 2 knobs. how much easier can life get?!??!?!? they call the LA2A a "leveling amplifier" and that's right on the money. it smoothened out the peaks without changing the sonic quality of the vocals so much (unlike most plug-ins that muddy up a track or don't seem to catch the transients in time). it was just magic! now i don't really know what the hardware LA2A sounds like (although they say it's really close, the difference being slightly noticeable only when soloing the track), but if it is even better than this then i really did miss out these past few years. time to catch up!
as for the other plugs i havent tested them yet really (the la2a kept me up till 2 am!). i'll make sure to check on the EMT soon and give you some feedback. there is one native plug modeled after the EMT 140 that sounds quite good. timeworks.
anyway, i'll be back soon :)
ANNOUNCEMENT: the studio will be ready for recording next week. Most prpbably monday. we are now fixing up the place so that the recording process is painless and FAST :) see you there!
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what bass amp are you using?
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hi jc. i record the bass direct through a Joe Meek VC1 studio channel as DI box. it's really great with the bass guitar. Then I blend the direct sound with an amp simulated one. with bass its not very difficult to get great sounds even without an amp (most people really prefer DI). But recording rhythm and lead guitars is a different matter altogether :)
i still haven't gotten around trying the other effects. still in love with the La2a. tested it with an even more difficult vocal track. i have never heard native compressor plugs work this way. maybe i'll post mp3 clips here in the next few days :)
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i'll see if i can get my band to travel to lagro. i'm curious about the joe meek
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hi jc. carpentry work should be done by the end of the day. i will be posting pictures of the place and the gear tomorrow. also, i'll try to post sound clips in the next couple of days.
The Joe Meek is pretty popular for bass and low end stuff. i have yet to hear the VC1 in its full glory through the RME converters. im guessing it will be fun ;) the VC1 is pretty popular on bass if you do a search on google. One producer actually said it's the best bass pre he has ever used. Here's the link to his site, take a peek under BASSES:
http://www.playgroundstudio.com/studio/equipment.htm
here's a review of the Joe Meek VC1:
http://www.joemeek.com/vc1-parreview.html
particulars about the unit can be found in the manual:
http://www.joemeek.com/pdf/vc1hb.pdf
(right click and choose "Save As")
regards :)
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yeah, i've been reading good things about the joe meek since way back. i'm not familiar with the newer models though. pls do post sound clips.
good luck with the new and improved soundkitchen. kahit nung dati pa solve ako sa ginawa mo dun sa mga samplers sa site mo eh. lalo na dun sa fuseboxx yung may maikling bass solo. what more with the new equipment.
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Hazel,
Is the VC-1 still a Ted Fletcher design or a newer version? Fletcher left the company about a couple of years ago to start up his own so I wonder about this voice channel.
Btw, JoeMeek is also making some mics now... waiting for a review but I've heard some good comments.
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thanks jc :)
Kit, yes, i believe this is one of the older models, either '96 or 97. it doesn't even look exactly like the one in the joe meek manual or site. it's still a Ted Fletcher design. I don't know the story, but PMI which was the Joe Meek distributor in the UK took over in 2003. Fletcher's built a new company called TFPro.
regards :)
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Fletcher's built a new company called TFPro.
regards :)
Yeah, I know. The 2 preamps on my Emu 1820m were designed by TFPro and they sound ok.
Don't you just love it how the Joe Meek's dials go up to 11? 8)
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Don't you just love it how the Joe Meek's dials go up to 11?
LOL, i never noticed :) will take a good look tomorrow. the compressor on this thing is also very nice and very useful during tracking.
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:lol: you're right Kit, it does go all the way up to 11. i heard joe meek stuff have different dial settings than other boxes.
i'm waiting for the finishing touches to be done in the studio. cleaning up time din mamaya. dust dust dust everywhere! im glad i boxed all my equipment before construction began!
tomorrow is the official first day of operations :)
for bookings and reservations please call me at 4172967 or 09177894940.
pictures to follow shortly!
cheers,
Hazel
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i can speak for Cubase SX 3 and what it can do but I particularly love its ability to integrate well with MIDI. I've been with Cubase since version 3.1 and Steinberg just keeps on putting more and more useful stuff into their products. I currently use Nuendo 2 and SX 3.
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yes, cubase and nuendo are extremely powerful. i tried downloading the free version of protools and checked it out. took me a couple of minutes to realize it was too difficult for me :( i don't really know how much better or worse it is compared to steinberg products because i didn't seem to want to find out after the first 5 minutes. when i ran cubase the first time, i got it to work the way i wanted without having to search the user's manual. that's how intuitive it is in my opinion.
so my vote goes to steinberg :)
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protools is a bit harder to digest, i think, and the interface is weirder - I was able to adjust to it on my HD system fairly quickly because I had been doing Cubase for years so no big deal there. Still, I maintain that Cubase is a much faster working environment as a sequencer than ProTools even though I use both.
Congrats on the upgrades! I am particularly excited about the UAD-1 - that is a wonderful piece of kit to have in your studio.
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wow, u have a pro tools HD rig? do educate me about pro tools as i am very curious and am eventually planning to get there sooner or later (hopefully sooner than later). but it is all too confusing for me. all those accel cards, and what about conversion? where do i plug in all the cables? will it accept conversion from other sources (apogee, rme, etc)? do i need a mac for that? or can i run it on a pc? or will running it on mac be wiser? finally, the overall cost (including the computer and the cards an what not). will the system (hardware) work with other DAW softwares or is it exlusively for pro tools only? thanks!
the uad-1 is simply MAAAGIC (ala bugs bunny singing "MAAAGIC"). hopefully by the end of the day everything will be up and running :)
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i tried downloading the free version of protools and checked it out. took me a couple of minutes to realize it was too difficult for me :(
You tried out PT Free? That only works with Win 98/Win ME - won't work with XP no matter what you do. The full PT suite (what I call the REAL PT) does work with WinXP, so does PT LE though I find that version somewhat hobbled. IMO, PT works best when paired with Digidesign hardware. Then you have to factor in the plugs needed to make it shine. Sure it is the industry standard, but then you have to pay top dollar for the whole kit and caboodle.
You're better off with Cubase and the UAD; as a matter of fact, I prefer mixing audio in Cubase (inspite of the dongle).
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i tried downloading the free version of protools and checked it out. took me a couple of minutes to realize it was too difficult for me :(
You tried out PT Free? That only works with Win 98/Win ME - won't work with XP no matter what you do. The full PT suite (what I call the REAL PT) does work with WinXP, so does PT LE though I find that version somewhat hobbled. IMO, PT works best when paired with Digidesign hardware. Then you have to factor in the plugs needed to make it shine. Sure it is the industry standard, but then you have to pay top dollar for the whole kit and caboodle.
You're better off with Cubase and the UAD; as a matter of fact, I prefer mixing audio in Cubase (inspite of the dongle).
I agree with KitC, although ProTools is the industry standard, it is handicapped by the fact that it is solely proprietary. My TDM system is great to work under, however, the freedom of working with Logic, Sonar or Cubase is a much more lucrative option because you are free to upgrade specific parts of your setup as you wish AND you have the option of accepting VST and DX plugs. There are not as many thirdparty people coding VSTs for TDM systems so you are limited with what you have. With VST compatible systems, you have companies as well as smaller independents who are very creative just churning out lots of wonderful pieces of programs. In my opinion, as long as you have reliable converters, you should be doing great. As far as the cost for Hd systems, last time I checked HD 1 went for around 7K US, the HD 2 for about 9 or 10 K and the HD 3 for about 11K. The price should vary but I don't know how much vendors can play around with prices on HD systems.
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Kit, yes, for a while there i would not use xp even if it had been out for a couple of years. i was pretty comfy with 98 because most of my softwares ran happily and you know how the saying goes, "if it ain't broke, don't fix it." i shifted to xp around 1 and a half years ago. something mustve broke though i don't remember what exactly. or perhaps it was the LE version i tried? i remember downloading it from the net so it must've been the free version.
i'm happy with cubase. really. correct me if im wrong, but i am under the impression that with pro tools HD, latency, hiccups, and hardware problems all magically go away. i'm guessing that you can record and play so many tracks, insert fx to your heart's content, automate, etc etc in HD without experiencing so much as a blink.
my experience with ordinary sound cards and cubase were very painful :lol: inserting a couple of plugs and mixing 24 tracks or so will cause the cursor to jump from time to time, play back stops once in a while, and then if you're really lucky everything hangs in the middle of a mix (actually not in the middle, more like when ur 5 minutes away from hitting the "mixdown" button). :lol:
now with the rme i really don't know how it will perform. perhaps quantum leaps better than the old setup, but i'm guessing i will hit the limit sooner or later, as most of it is still dependent on pc hardware. is there a big difference in performance using HD? or is it the same thing with yopur cubase and sonar setup (what hardware do you use with your cubase and sonar rig)? i'm under the impression that HD is so much more powerful in terms of simultaneous record and playback tracks, the ability to insert plug in's etc. if that is the case, then the $$$ expense is justified. if not then im sticking with the reason why i did not purchase digi 002 in the first place ---> there are better options for the same money.
thanks everyone. almost done. clean up proves to be the most daunting of tasks :lol:
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yeah, the HD does have the benefit of having the DSP engine take most of the load when yoou do recording. I don't have sonar personally, but I have worked with it on other people's setups. I run a Nuendo 2 and Cubase SX 3 setup under a Creamware Scope Pro platform. It works well for me and I have not had problems with that setup since I put them together.
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The beauty of ProTools?
Gapless editing - audio hardly ever hiccups, zero latency monitoring, excellent converters, and easy portability from one PT studio to the next. If a system ever goes down, a Digi rep will be there in a couple of hours and he'll make sure the problem gets resolved before he leaves.
I'm the one with Sonar. Hardly a problem but I anticipate better performance as soon as I go dual core.
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I admit, the HD hardly ever hiccups but I really do feel silly with the rep support. I mean, unless someone has an ICON or something, I would imagine phone support is alright. I do my own tech work on the stuff but its so hardy that you really dont ever touch it once you've set everything up.
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If it's just a little problem that you can DIY without voiding their warranty, I guess that's ok (what they don't know won't void your warranty :wink: ). I have a friend here who has a HD Accel system and his G5 suddenly crashed and PT wouldn't launch. Now THAT required a call to Tech Sup. And who said Macs don't crash? :roll:
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ok yesterday was the first real recording session i had. i used up all 10 simultaneous analog tracks for each song, 8 mics on drums, then bass, and scratch vocals.
everything went by smoothly. without any hiccup whatsoever during recording and playback. moving forward and back using the jogwheel is a cinch. no hiccups there either.
guys, i can't seem to figure out what the buffer sizes are for though. i understand it's for latency, but i cannot perceive any difference in delay between 48 samples and higher samples. everything is happening in real time whatever buffer size i use (playback and monitoring). the cursor position and the signal are tightly in sync (i set the buffer at 128 samples).
thanks guys :) so far so good with the rme.
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guys, i can't seem to figure out what the buffer sizes are for though. i understand it's for latency, but i cannot perceive any difference in delay between 48 samples and higher samples.
It will come into play the moment you use a lot of native plugins and softsynths/samplers. Of course, lower buffer sizes means lower latency but a higher load on the cpu. If you decide to add softsynths and samples to a project, this will place additional demands on the processor to a point where audio will start breaking up. The solution to this is to add more buffers thereby lessening the load on the processor to process everything at once. Since you have the UAD, the use of other native plugin fx are secondary for you.
EDIT: I forgot to add that 48 samples at 44.1 kHz samplerate corresponds to 1 ms latency. At 128 samples, that's around 2.9 milliseconds. You usually start hearing latency at 10 ms and above so that's usually at 512 samples and over. You can hear latency when mixing the delayed signal with the direct monitor signal. It usually starts out as a phasey kind of sound, progressing to a chorusy sound when you increase buffer sizes until it becomes something like a slap back echo.
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Hazel, I forgot to ask if you were using multiple UAD-1s..I am interested in using 2 UADs but have never tested it in an actual machine, though I know that UAD supports multiple cards especially with the version 4 release of the software upgrade, I don't know just how well this will integrate in XP Pro. The reason for the multiple UAD platform in my system is geared towards working with film scoring. I will be scoring an indie film for a friend and if having another UAD in my system will help hiccups from happening while I apply plugs, I would like to go that route. As with everything, I am researching this thoroughly before doing any purchases.
You may have also been informed by UAD that they are currently working on some Neve designed stuff for use with the UAD-1 cards - I am very interested in seeing how those come out.
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@abyss: Are you using an Intel system? I've been following the threads in the Sonar forums, it seems the UAD works better with Intel than with AMD. I'm still researching on how well the UAD works with dual core systems - I think the jury is still out although there are some working Intel/UAD systems out there. As for AMD, existing chipsets have proven to be problematic with the UAD except for the Uli chipsets; too early to tell as the Uli is relatively untried for DAW use. My experience with Nforce chipsets have been favorable in general, but I've read reports of Nforce4 users having problems. Word on the grapevine is that UAD is coming out with a pcie version of the card. I know the Mac is PCI-X so I can't say for sure how this will impact newer Macintel machines.
I'm trying to decide myself whether to get the UAD or go firewire with the TC Powercore.
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I am on an Intel Prescott platform Kit. Thanks for the info. I will listen a bit more and see how these things integrate so I don't have problems down the line.
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EDIT: I forgot to add that 48 samples at 44.1 kHz samplerate corresponds to 1 ms latency. At 128 samples, that's around 2.9 milliseconds. You usually start hearing latency at 10 ms and above so that's usually at 512 samples and over. You can hear latency when mixing the delayed signal with the direct monitor signal. It usually starts out as a phasey kind of sound, progressing to a chorusy sound when you increase buffer sizes until it becomes something like a slap back echo.
SCARY. i have yet to find out. thanks Kit.
Abyss, no, i have but one card as of now. the ultra pak is quite heavy on the pocket :lol: i figgered i'd use one with all the available effects then pick out the most useful effects and purchase a studio pack or flexipak in the next couple of months. i'm also on xp pro and so far so good, but i havent really done any industrial strength mixing yet. i didn't have any problems with installing and registering my uad. it was a cinch. JUST BE WARE OF CHEAP COMPUTER CASINGS. the first time i installed this, it was my in home computer with internet access and A grade casing. easy. then when i brought it to the studio, all hell broke loose. the casing was kinda defective to a point where i cannot seem to completely push my precious down into the pci slot. it took forever as i was being extra careful.
anyway, abyss, i will wait for those neve plugs. the people in UA are quite special really.
thanks guys!
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Hazel, thanks for the note. your option to purchase an additional card with not as many plugs to supplement your Ultra makes a lot of sense. right now, I plan to use the second card mainly as addition send effects. i am waiting anxiously for th Neve UAD bundle as well.
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don't forget to post pics of your rig!!
kaw na rin kit and abyss :)
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this pic sucks, but here it is for the mean time. :)
on top: ART TUBE MP, Peavey Unity 300 Monitor Mixer
RME FIreface 800
Joe Meek VC1
Aphex 1100A
dbx 165
ALesis D4
(http://geocities.com/soundkitchen_ph/rack.JPG)
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Hazel,
Check this out! The Fireface 400 (http://www.rme-audio.com/english/firewire/ff400.htm):
(http://www.rme-audio.com/images/firewire/ff400_front.jpg)
Finally! I hope this one's gonna be more affordable!
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wow - nice Kit! If you do recordings with those, make sure to let me hear them! The Fireface has great reviews.
On a different note, I also wanted to add in that the Universal Audio people are GREAT - I was adding a second card today and had a bit of a system glitch where I wasn't registering under the MY.UAD system as having an additional card so my plugs were't getting authorized on the second card. Not only did these guys keep on calling me back until my authorization got posted online, they answered all my routing and EQ questions along with some suggestions to try out. Their customer service is GREAT!
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I always wanted to know if adding a 2nd UAD will require another free IRQ for the card. If so, that will be a big problem with today's mobos; might have to disable the usb ports just to get a free irq.
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apparently you don't have to disable anything because it seems UAD cards get recorgnized under these clusters they call "Groups," under which you could run 2 cards under a group and have a maximum of 2 groups (4 cards) in your system. The UAD cards are able to handle quite a bit of plugins...at least 32 compressors at once and a bit more on top so, having another card will give you some bit of flexibility and additional processing power for your sequencer.
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Interesting resource management. My guess is that each group requires an unshared irq; I know the UAD's are picky about these things but I know I can manage another free irq on my mobo.
Btw, anyone peeked under the hood of the UAD? I know they use video processors for their, uhhh... processing. I always wanted to know if they used Nvidia or ATI chips on the card.
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wow, wait a minute. do you mean to say that i just need to purchase the cheapest card and then have the plugs i have on my first card run on the 2nd card as well? that's amazing! i seem to be able to run just a couple of plugs on my first, quite frustrating. getting a 2nd card is really the way to go.
another thing about the uad that i just discovered. i tried running the precision multiband. great sounding! nothing like other native multibands out there. it sounds very very musical, and warm might i add. UA rules!
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yep, thats the way it seems to work...you can run plugs across a max of 4 cards. however, i've never tried running the max number of plugs on my card but if i remember right, UA indicated that you should be able to run somewhere around 32 compressors, about 15 EQs and 2 Dreamverbs. the company should have some kind of blurb on this but i didn't take note of exactly where it was written. but still, having a second card should be a great help for those heavy mixing projects.
the 2 favorite tools on the card that i love are the LA-2A and the pultec suite - really nice stuff.
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that's great news. what second card did you get? can you buy just the card without plugs? thanks.
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(http://geocities.com/soundkitchen_ph/rackclear.gif)
(http://geocities.com/soundkitchen_ph/studio.gif)
(http://geocities.com/soundkitchen_ph/mics.gif)
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Kit, the FF really looks sexy. lol. wonder if it can work as an add on for the ff800. but then again maybe my pc can't handle so many simltaneous recording tracks. i finally got around to mixing. the pc just couldn't handle 10+ tracks of plugs at the same time. i still had to bounce a lot of tracks. im planning to get a more powerful pc that will host native plugs, and hook it up via LAN, and a second UAD card. i heard somewhere that this can be done using an ingenious LAN software especially made for audio. i'll experiment on this in the next couple of weeks.
Btw, i havent gotten around to purchasing my second IDE HD yet. I have just one HD running both DAW software and the main audio files. will getting a 2nd HD improve the performance dramatically?
abyss, how many plugs do u insert at a time? with your non po tools hd rig, do find the need to bounce a lot of tracks?
thanks!
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The easiest solution would be to upgrade your processor providing you can find one. The hard part is getting the right upgrades locally.
I've been thinking of building an Intel system to supplement my AMD pc, but the mobos and cpus we have here are insufficient. Specifically, for an Intel, I perfer the 955 or 975 chipset; all we have available are 945's at most. The Intel cpus we have are still from the old 90 nm core process - volcanoes on a chip! The newer Conroe cores or Core Duo (65 nm process) are more preferable to me (and they operate at much cooler temps).
My lament with AMD is the lack of 939 pin dual core Opterons (165/175), especially since I was informed that none are slated for the Philippine market. :cry: At least I can get a 3800+ or 4200+ X2 so there's some light at the end of the tunnel. The bad: I can't use a UAD with my mobo/cpu combination. :evil: Worse, Sonar and the UAD don't go well together! ](*,) At least, I have Cubase...
To quote Emil La Cuesta (aka Rex Navarette), "Next question..."
And btw, if you're going to use that LAN software, use FXTeleport. I'll experiment with Steinberg's VST System Link as soon as I have my other (older) Athlon 2600+ pc up and running again.
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errrrr. english please? lol sorry i have to educate myself first. so u think if i go dual core i'll be a much happier mix engineer?
yes that's fxteleport! gawd, im itching to test this i swear. hook up all the pc's i have ever owned :lol:
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errrrr. english please? lol sorry i have to educate myself first. so u think if i go dual core i'll be a much happier mix engineer?
We all will be. Cubase seems to operate well using dual core (but with hyperthreading disabled).
Sorry about the geek speak, but I've been checking the available Intels here and the fastest dual core is the 830 3.0 GHz Smithfields; the single core 640 tops out at 3.2 GHz. Not the fastest, but let down by the available mobos which are all based on the Intel 945 or 915 chipset. DAW builders seem to prefer the 955 over the 915/945 chipset (the older 865 was also preferred but those don't support dual core). A good place to see benchmarks is at http://adkproaudio.com/benchmarks.cfm - notice that AMD machines score higher.
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that's great news. what second card did you get? can you buy just the card without plugs? thanks.
I got the Studio pack on top of my Ultra pack. Originally, I thought that I would need another Ultra for the same plugs to work but I am glad I clarified that with UAD first - that leaves me with more headroom money for the oncoming Neve plugs:)
Hazel, how does the Electrovoice RE-20 mic sound on vocals? I have heard SO much about those mics because they seem to enhance the baritone of th male voice well. I picked it up from an interview with Duncan Sheik that he uses one a lot on his new release, White Limousine." In the context of his songs, I have an idea how the RE-20 sounds but I've never compared it with other dynamics like, say, a Shure Sm58. Your thoughts?
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this is info heaven for me :)
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lol, ive maxed out 40 gigabytes in leass than 2 weeks! well, waddayaknow. with my old recorder it used to take me months before i had to clean up the same HD.
abyssinian the RE sounds really "big" on male VO, capturing a lot of "chest", while the all too familiar 57 captures a lot of "throat" (mid range). i really prefer the RE20 for that god-like hollywood movie trailer VO. even over a LDC like the KSM32. the RE won't capture the sheen like the KSM 32 would, wich is exactly what we want for VO. i still eq out some bottom though, as it can get quite exagerated.
on guitars. the RE captures a lot of low-mid tones without abandoning the mids completely (yes it's still there) ... really nice. the 57 captures mostly the "bite" of distortion guitars. on clean guitars though i'd be more inclined to use the 57 and the KSM32. but then again if i wanna back it up a little i'd mostly use the RE signal to give it a less imposing sound, specially if the clean tone grabs too much limelight (which is meant for vocals whenever present). i've read somewhere that everything is EQ. mic selection, mic placement, amp selection, guitar selection, etc... that's all eq (and it's true when i think about it). while one can eq out certain frequencies, sometimes i like to use microphones instead of eq plugs (not to mean i dont eq!!!)
i have another LDD, a vintage AKGD12E which was what they used on kick before the 112 came out. it's quite difficult to find an AKGD12E these days, but i've read somewhere that it is THE king of low end resonance. it's really good on kick, and IMO a lot more solid than the RE is on kick. i haven't tried it on voice or guitars yet.
i will post sound clips of different sources in the next couple of weeks to demo the difference between the RE, 57, D12E, and KSM32 :)
about the UAD-1, i have ordered a project pak already and it will be here in a couple of weeks. I NEED IT. lol. im a little bummed about the precision multiband though. i have 12 days remaining on my demo. i've tried the c4 before and the PM is more intuitive and WARMER. i don't know if im being deceived by the graphic interface. lol.
anyways, time to get that HD. later!
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yeah - i would be interested in hearing how an RE-20 compares to something like a KSM because I can easily find an RE and wouldnt mind having something like it for variety in my mixes even though I don't do voiceovers at all.
yep..that HD space does go fast. I have a 250GB for Audio and another 250GB for Video stuff and I make it a point to clean it out regularly, archiving completed projects as I go along.
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I think the RE-20 is great for those 'voice-of-God' types of voice-overs. Another great mic I've been told are those Shure SM-7's used also in DJ booths. The RE or SM-7 used in conjunction with a Peavey Kosmos or the Aphex Exciter with the Big Bottom would probably give you a huge sound.
abyss, do you save to external HD? I know of some studios who have caddy-mounted HDs that can be pulled out whenever the data HD becomes full. Since SATA drives are hot-swappable, I was wondering if there were those 5 1/4 pull out trays that use SATA drives in your neck of the woods. The ones I've seen here are PATA.
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actually, I don't have an external HD. I separate SATA drives for media projects that I keep my music/ video project stuff on then I just archive those to DVD media once the project is done. I know they have hot swappable drives but I've never actually looked into them. The studios I've been in have networked drives (servers) that permanently archives stuff from sessions in addition to hard media backups.
Since I don't do very many projects, I opted for direct hard backups once I complete my projects. However, I have been thinking about setting up a personal server such as a Mirra server for accessing my files offsite such as session files and other things. After having worked in research for a while, I've come to trust hard backup copies as the only sure-fire backups for my projects but even then, you still have to make sure the session DVD burn went ok. I try and never assume my CD/ DVD burns went well so I always make sure I verify the burn after the main burning session is done.
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Same here. I always verify after a burn, and I don't use generic media for critical data. I've grown partial to Taiyo Yuden, TDK and Verbatim media over the years, but it's only now I'm going into DVD because of the promise of dual layer (even though the media is still rare). I'm actually thinking of getting those lightscribe drives because they're getting cheap.
One thing I NEVER use are those stick-on labels. I've found out that some shrink over time, ruining the aluminum reflective layer making the discs unusable while those cheap paper labels probably haven't had the bleaching acid washed out from them. You can see the acid eating out the aluminum layer. This is the main reason why I'm going lightscribe.
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ok, so i got a 250 Gig HD a while ago bt i havent installed yet. m too tired for that now.
Kit, what would be the most powerful AMD specs that you can recommend? you think i can FXTeleport and intel box and an AMD box? thanks.
about CD's. Buyer beware. i agree with KitC. those stick on labels can ruin your CD AND your drive as well. they peel off, or sometimes form bubbles. not good. for labeling i use a casio thermal printer.
Hazel
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ah - so using those label things are pretty dangerous huh? Good thing I never got into them then:) I actually just have a trusty CD label pen (black and blue) and a log sheet for all the tracks in the CD as well as other info such as miscellaneous settings for the mixer, plugs and any weird plug-in arrangement I may have used to get a special sound. Thank god they have save mixer settings on DAW sequencers these days, otherwise, imagine saving all your mixer settings on paper!
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Kit, what would be the most powerful AMD specs that you can recommend? you think i can FXTeleport and intel box and an AMD box? thanks.
I highly recommend an Nforce3 mobo but if you intend to stick the UAD into 1, go for an Intel board for now. The 2 N3 mobos I prefer are MSI K8N Neo2 Platinum and the Gigabyte K8NS Ultra 939. Although I use the MSI, I'd go for the Gigabyte because of it's 1394b Firewire standard - fits the Fireface to a 'T' (or should it be'F'?). An alternative to the 2 would be an Asus A8V based on the K8T800 chipset, quite stable for DAW use although I never saw that mobo marketed here. All of the above require 939-pin based cpus and can accomodate dual cores. Bear in mind that all these mobos are no longer in production although there are still a few floating around out there. Another alternative is the Uli 1689-based chipset; Asus and MSI make mobos based on those but all I see here are based on the 754 pin cpu - you don't want that since the 754 is discontinued. UPDATE: For the Uli, you want something with a 1695 chipset, like this (http://www.asrock.com/Product/939Dual-SATA2.htm).
Recommended cpus are Athlon 64 3500+ and above for single core while 3800+ and above for dual. The sweetspot for the dual is the 4200+ in terms of price and power. Now if you can manage to get a hold of some dual core Opterons, the 165 and 175 are very much recommended.
Bear in mind that AMD is coming out in June with a new chipset called the M2 which can accomodate the newer DDR2 memory. These have bus speeds that can do the 1.066 GHz mobos abyss was talking about. EDIT: I forgot to mention that I'm operating my N3 Neo2 Platinum at 1.0 GHz Hypertransport bus.
For Intel mobos, always choose a 955X chipset. I think the 975X chipset is DDR2 also so you might want to consider that for commonality of ram between 2 sets of computers. I'd always go for an Intel built mobo but I haven't had probs with Asus either.
I don't see probs if you want to FXTeleport an AMD and Intel machine since FXTeleport is practically an ethernet protocol. What you would really want is for both mobos to be Gigabit-ethernet ready. Audio over ethernet does take some serious bandwidth and although the standard 100 megabit ethernet is OK, you'd be flying with gigabit. Most of the top-of-the line mobos offer that feature.
Hazel, if you need help spec'ing out an AMD machine, I'd be happy to assist you. For Intel mobos, you might have to order from Newegg or similar due to lack of local chipset models as well as cpus.
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Hmm...Hazel, Kit...do keep updates on the FX Teleport option as I am interested in this also but I unfortunately know very little about it and I know even less about who actually has hands-on experience with the protocol. If this can free a bulk of my resources by allocating VSTis on my Cubase / Nuendo rig to a separate machine, then that would be an option to look into for the future. Right now, I am fine because I bounce a lot of the MIDI corrected files to audio after I time correct it, however, backtracking with VST's is a bit cumbersome when you are working with a lot of tracks as you guys may know:)
My Asus mobo right now has an 800 bus but I can only imagine the power I may be able to take advantage of if I get a 1.066 bus board with an upgraded processor and a great set of DDR2s. If I do upgrade soon I wiwll most likely stick with Intel since I have had good experiences with it so, as the old adage goes, if it aint broke don't fix it.
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thanks so much Kit. my hunt begins next week as i have a lot of work to do (PAINFULLY) this week. Lord, Abyss, backtracking is HELL. at worst, id have 6 DAW files of the same song in one folder. something to this effect:
ordeal.cpr
1ordealmix.cpr
2ordealbounceddrums.cpr
3ordealbounceddistortion.cpr
ad infinitum
i can't keep working this way. i need one powerful pc to plug in 36 inserts of the heaviest IR and UAD plugs in the face of the planet. i exagerate of course. but it'd be swell if that was possible at all. of course we bus fx and all, but i really really gotta insert plugs.
abyss, they say fxteleport is one of the solutions. one guy actually said he had hooked up 7 computers via fxteleport and wrote a whole orchestral arrangement or something using gigastudio and vsti's. :shock: the whole thing sounded like God according to him (why the obsession in sounding like God?!). glitch-free. it's worth looking into.
all this technotalk. i can't even hook up the freaking HD i bought yesterday. my nerves are shot ... ok. the master disk goes to the black connector right? and then the slave is hooked up using the gray connector which is closer to the blue connector hooked up in the mother board (as tthe IDE cable has two connectors). ok. i jumpered the 250 gig drive to cable select (no jumper settings for slave was indicated -- only master/slave off, cable select, and disable large something). ok so that went well. booted up. i see the HD during start up. BIOS had detected it as slave. nice. windows opens up. it doesnt show up in My Computer. hmm. right click my computer> device manager,>hard disks> there it is, on top of the master 40 gig drive. hmm. wazzup? so i tried all jumper settings except master (which isn't what i want). still no go. i tried to take out the jumper. zilch. i wanted to do a hand stand while singing Baba Black sheep at the top of my lungs just to see if that might work but my voice isn't at its diva best.
any idea guys? i got this off the net: run>compmgmt.msc>storage>disk management>right click hard drive>format. i'll give it a shot. hope that works.
btw, do you guys have an idea how much it costs to send say a UAD card through johnny air? it sells for only 350 usd on ebay. abyss, btw, why not a project pak instead of a studio pak (as the project pak is the cheapest)?
thanks guys.
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I think Hans Zimmer is the guy who runs the computer farm. He's using the EWSQ Orchestral series as well as the entire Garritan collection from what I've read.
If I read your HD right, leave the jumpers disconnected to set it to slave and put it on the same cable as you master drive. Typically, you want your HD's to go on IDE bus 0 while the CD/DVD burner is preferably the master on the other bus; you don't want the HD to share a cable with the burner because burners usually slow down the bus speed. If you have SATA, I suggest using busses 3 & 4 before connecting to 1 & 2.
Typically, Disk Management is accessed from Start > Control Panel > Administrative Tools > Computer Management. I wish I knew what mobo you're using so I can check the IDE port assignments though I wonder why the no jumper setting caused a disappearing act. What HD did you get, anyway?
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holy crap! 7 PCs? Man, if he can run that many PCs on something as system taxing as gigastudio, then FX teleport should do wonders for me. However, I am only planning on running a second PC for heavier VSTis. My HD rig doesn't have this problem because there are not very many TDM plugs available so it works out well that I don't get tempted to look more into VSTs. what can I say? I am a complete sucker for VSTs.
I got the Studio pack because I had some store credit and the place only had a Studio Pack in stock.
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hehe. comp management worked. :) thanks kit. your advice about the pc should give me an idea where to look.
@abyss, i had the same reaction. lol
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btw, Kit, the HD is a 7200 seagate barracuda. thanks.
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Hmmm... I've always wondered how long it takes to defrag 250 gigs.
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enough to read through a newspaper, if it's at half full. :)
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When our bassist gets here from Singapore and we walk back into the Soundkitchen to finish our album, and if you haven't installed the HD yet, our drummer can help you install the HD.
Can't wait. The mix of our first song you did made me sound like God (nyahehehe private joke). Don't tell your pop that I said that ooops.
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excellent - make sure to post some sound clips so we know what the new stuff is like in action:)
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enough to read through a newspaper, if it's at half full. :)
You sure about that? I have an 80 gig drive partitioned to two 40 gigs (actually about 39 & 37 something gigs because of overhead), and it took one partition about an hour to defrag. The partition with the swapfile usually gets highly fragmented. Doing a LOT of edits on an audio file will seriously fragment the data drive that's why it's usually recommended to defrag before a session. Eventually, I'll set up a RAID 1 system so that I don't easily lose any data. Makes me scared to defrag my 160 gig data drive because I didn't partition that one.
Btw, Hazel, I hope you have a UPS powering your system. I can't tell you how much my APC has saved countless hours of work.
EDIT: HA! The swearbot edited out p.a.r.t.i.t.i.o.n
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Meron kasing t.i.t.i sa word na yun eh nyahehehe
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Meron kasing t.i.t.i sa word na yun eh nyahehehe
I know. Pero kapag nakikipag-usap ako sayo, bakit lang edit? unfair naman, hehe...
Dapat i-update nila mga swearbots. You should check out Profanisaurus (http://www.viz.co.uk/), as in thesaurus. Here's a new one:
"rectoplasm n.
Something that comes out of your bum which is so scary it makes you shyte yourself.
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enough to read through a newspaper, if it's at half full. :)
You sure about that? I have an 80 gig drive **** to two 40 gigs (actually about 39 & 37 something gigs because of overhead), and it took one **** about an hour to defrag. The **** with the swapfile usually gets highly fragmented. Doing a LOT of edits on an audio file will seriously fragment the data drive that's why it's usually recommended to defrag before a session. Eventually, I'll set up a RAID 1 system so that I don't easily lose any data. Makes me scared to defrag my 160 gig data drive because I didn't **** that one.
Btw, Hazel, I hope you have a UPS powering your system. I can't tell you how much my APC has saved countless hours of work.
EDIT: HA! The swearbot edited out p.a.r.t.i.t.i.o.n
sabagay, mabigat nga magdefrag. but I can defrag my almost full 60GB in under an hour. siguro nga masyadong defragmented dahil for audio use. meron naman ako 20GB dati na halos 1 hr madefrag. :?
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excellent - make sure to post some sound clips so we know what the new stuff is like in action:) but even with my 200+ GB drives in array, it doesnt take that long to defreag them all (1.25 terbyte array)..maybe 45 minutes at the most and that includes me dilly dallying.
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you guys are hilarious. :lol:
im glad the compmanagement worked. i had enough hair left at least.
yes i intend to get an apc soon. very very important especially when updating firmware. someone mentioned that the rme can get seriously and permanently damaged in case of power outage during firmware update. this could be true as i know for a fact that the roland will definitely croak under this condition. and it's not the kind of problem that can easily be fixed. they usally replace the whole board or something, which is almost like buying a new unit.
BAMF i have the remix coming soon :)
it took a while to format. i didn't par.t.i.t.ion (although i think i should have) because i didn't have the time to figger out the most efficient sizes. formating the whole 250 gigabytes costed me 18 gigs! i don't know where all that space went. the total unused space amounted to 232.something gig. hmm. do you guys partion a drive this large?
soundclips coming very soon abyss. im still figgering out which goes where. hehe.
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you guys are hilarious. :lol:
im glad the compmanagement worked. i had enough hair left at least.
yes i intend to get an apc soon. very very important especially when updating firmware. someone mentioned that the rme can get seriously and permanently damaged in case of power outage during firmware update. this could be true as i know for a fact that the roland will definitely croak under this condition. and it's not the kind of problem that can easily be fixed. they usally replace the whole board or something, which is almost like buying a new unit.
BAMF i have the remix coming soon :)
it took a while to format. i didn't par.t.i.t.ion (although i think i should have) because i didn't have the time to figger out the most efficient sizes. formating the whole 250 gigabytes costed me 18 gigs! i don't know where all that space went. the total unused space amounted to 232.something gig. hmm. do you guys partion a drive this large?
soundclips coming very soon abyss. im still figgering out which goes where. hehe.
NTFS (the native file system of Windows XP) has very high overhead which it uses for some neat stuff like password-protecting folders and stuff like that. It's also more robust than FAT32, data-wise. Slower albeit, weighed down by its features.
If you're using your HD merely as a TEMP (oh no!!!) you could consider using FAT32 for speed and low overhead. BUT IMHO...I guess 18 Gigs is a small price to pay for data integrity.
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Actually, you have to differentiate how marketing and engineering approach a 'byte'.
Normally, we equate numerical prefixes such as mega- and giga- to the decimal system where mega is 1 million or 1,000,000, while giga is 1 billion or 1,000,000,000. Bytes, however, are based on the binary system.
Since binary is base-2, someone decided that a kilo (which should be 1000) could be expressed as 2^10 or 1024, which is close to a thousand; that became the basis for a kilobyte.
Things just sort of grew from there where a megabyte, which is actually a thousand kilobytes, was expressed as 1024 x 1024= 1,048,576 bytes. A gigabyte then becomes 1,073,741,824... ang gulo, no?
Here's where it gets tricky. For marketing, a thousand bytes IS a thousand bytes; 1000, NOT 1024. A 250 gig HD will give you exactly (or close to) 250,000,000,000 bytes, no more. Divide that by 1,073,741,824.... it equals 232.830 gigs. Makes you feel kinda shortchanged, di ba?
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Honga no. Ang galeng ! Ang [chewbacca] ko ! :D
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Honga no. Ang galeng ! Ang [chewbacca] ko ! :D
No way, pare! just looking at the diezel thread, I can tell otherwise.
Mas masahol pa nga when you part.i.t.ion a drive. I have an 80 gig seagate as my system drive na pinart.i.t.ion ko into 2 40 gig 'drives'. When adding the total bytes of the 2 part.i.t.ions together, total size was 81.956 gigs! :shock: WTF?! No way am I going to find out why! I'm just gonna enjoy the 'extra' bytes. 8)
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(/me still pounding himself in the head) ironic lang. I teach computers and computer networking in the LaSalle system. I should be one of the first to know (or remember) that 1 kilobyte is actually 1024 bytes. UGH !
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yes i remember reading about this when learning about networking. that's why we have to compute for the most efficient sizes, i think. but as for Kit's extra bytes ...hmmm ... weird.
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i'm uploading the preliminary mix of a song i recorded for a christian band (Pillars). we really had to work very fast as their budget for all 10 songs was very limited. a challenge indeed. i thought, as long as i can surpass the quality of their previous album (which costed them over a hundred thousand) for about a quarter of the price then i'm halfway there.
recorded and mixed in 24-bit, 48Khz. encoded at 192 kbits/sec, the file is 1.5MB large as it spans about 1 minute and 7 seconds of the whole song. this one is still up for mastering though.
right click and select save as :)
http://geocities.com/soundkitchen_ph/ikaw.mp3
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the file is corrupt, i think, have another file?
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hmmm. i didnt try to download it. i think i'll mastert that one first. it's the first time i brought it out of the studio yesterday and heard it elsewhere. noticed a couple of things that needed adjustment :)
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Hazel,
Did you check the UAD site? I think you might find this interesting:
http://www.uaudio.com/webzine/2006/april/text/content5.html
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mine is the FET based model. LOL.
i'm uploading the same clip that i eq'd and optimized. still havent mastered. mastering is a totally different can of worms. multiband compression can make or break (meaning, if it ain't makin', it's breakin :lol: ).
anyway, still encoded at 192 kbits/sec.
http://geocities.com/soundkitchen_ph/ikaw2.mp3
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mine is the FET based model. LOL.
Don't you just love April Fools jokes? :lol: Gotcha!
Hey! Something's wrong with the download! Suggestion: try yousendit.com or even rapidshare.
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yep, i saw a post the other day on the UAD forums by some other user asking if this was for real. hehe. electronic musician magazine has their version of this and they publish at a certain date once or twice a year. try looking for presta products. :lol:
i'm still uploading Kit. should be done in a bout a couple of minutes.
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as i stated in my other posts... instead of going DIY with a SB Audigy... support your local studios... :)
what are your updated rates?
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DIY and pro studio have their places in the scheme of things :D .
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indeed. the DIY approach has its place for those that, I think, want to learn more about the technology aspect of the studio. I don't rent my equipment out at all (use it as a business) and mainly use my studio for personal work and collaborative sessions, and that was the original intent of having my own studio: to be able to roll out of bed run into a room that had what I needed to make music and....not come out for hours on end:)
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ditto, BAMF and Abyss. the reason i got into this is because i had my own band way back and wished to make better demos for us. the band broke up and i surprisingly found myself hooked on this even more than playing the drums.
jplacson, yes we really need to support eachother if we want to grow as an industry. right now the recording scene in philippines is still at its teething stages. i for one am still learning to get a grip on all this technology. anyway, the updated rates are 600 per hour.
abyss, are you in the states? i downloaded some mp3's from a guy who makes home demo's there in the US. i was pretty blown away by the quality of his work. it is a lot better than even the commercially (local) recorded cd i compared it with. have you ever done a recording here in the philippines? if so did you notice any difference in the quality of your work here and there (using the same equipment)?
thanks.
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ditto, BAMF and Abyss. the reason i got into this is because i had my own band way back and wished to make better demos for us. the band broke up and i surprisingly found myself hooked on this even more than playing the drums.
jplacson, yes we really need to support eachother if we want to grow as an industry. right now the recording scene in philippines is still at its teething stages. i for one am still learning to get a grip on all this technology. anyway, the updated rates are 600 per hour.
abyss, are you in the states? i downloaded some mp3's from a guy who makes home demo's there in the US. i was pretty blown away by the quality of his work. it is a lot better than even the commercially (local) recorded cd i compared it with. have you ever done a recording here in the philippines? if so did you notice any difference in the quality of your work here and there (using the same equipment)?
thanks.
starfugger, I am. i didn't get into recording before leaving the phils but I did have an idea aboout how records between the US and Phils sounded since my Dad has always been an audiophile. i grew up around hi fi equipment so, although I didn't have a good background with the music technology aspect growing up, I was able to contextualize how records sound the way they do once I got deeper into music production and engineering mixes. for the most part, I don't think the equipment used between DIY people in the US and in the Phils is the one-all-end-all in the grand scheme of things. Rather, the main difference is in the actual engineering of the music and the performance. a lot of home studio owners in the states - at least the ones that spend a lot of time in the music scene as DJs, producers, and engineers - spend a ton of time with sound design aspects of music production such as EQing, learning the limitations of the gear, and how to get as close to a solid commercial sound with the most basic off-the-shelf gear. in a lot of cases, playing out a lot here lets you cut your teeth in a large part of music production mechanics because they have a lot of sound engineers that don't just work clubs, a lot of them work in professional studios as well or are gigging musicians too. through this scene, an emphasis on sound and tone is emphasized because the audience (the music market) are very fickle and, unless you have your sound together, you aren't going to get very many gigs and you will be criticized for your poor sound quality.
when I first started posting around here on Philmusic, one of the first things I noted was how the sound in the Philippine produced CDs kind of sounded unfocused or not punchy enough in comparison to some of the imported UK and US records I eventually grew up listening to. This does not go on to say that the Philippine sound is bad - just different - especially since the "sound" seemed to be how a majority of the records were mixed down - but in comparison to records from labels in the UK and in the US, the Philippine "sound" always sounded like it needed a lot of work to bring out the best in the different aspects of the mix. I later found out that it wasn't in the equipment since a lot of the places had comparable gear to a lot of homsestudio owners in the states...the difference was in the knowledge behind the engineering of the mix - the usage of frequency differences, the exploitation of space in the mix to create ambience, and the use of the song's mood to arrange a mix to suit its genre.
If I had the chance, I would love to have the chance to record back home and just see how people are doing music recording in the Philippines. I would love to share tips, gain a bit of knowledge from fellow music enthusiasts, and just help spread things over from what I've learned working with producers and studios here. Moreover, I think the musicianship is, and has always been, top notch at home but a lot has to be done to show the world that Philippine music can hang with the best of them in the world. To accomplish this, I think its just a matter of time.
I've always dreamt about working with local musicians such as Joey Ayala and Freddie Aguilar and maybe collaborating with them on some downtempo track for a neo-soul kinda vibe. Our country has such a rich heritage that it is sad to see people aren't sharing it a lot more...in fact, I am really aching to collect indigenous Philippine instruments to use in tracking such as the kulintang and those other interesting instruments from Baguio.
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that's good news abyss. it tells us that there's room for improvement. although i think are some engineers here who really went abroad and studied the art of recording and mixing. but so far the sound is the same. maybe it will really take a lot of time. i do hope audio engineering as a course can be offered locally.
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that's good news abyss. it tells us that there's room for improvement. although i think are some engineers here who really went abroad and studied the art of recording and mixing. but so far the sound is the same. maybe it will really take a lot of time. i do hope audio engineering as a course can be offered locally.
oh yes, there is room for improvement, always - even here in the States - but I think in our case, the Philippine sound just needs a bit of work to compete on the global audio engineering scene. we have good gear, we just need work polishing our tracks consistently.
i was just surprised to find the amount of emphasis music engineering classes here put on the theoretical knowledge of frequencies, arranging, and tweaking. at least at Berklee, they break everything down to its most simple components so students don't just "know" what makes up a good mix from the basic building blocks of harmonics, levels and whatnot, they are able to tell you what a mix may be missing just from listening to it on a wide variety of home speakers/ monitors. I think that sensitization conditions us behind the board much better and gives us a more complete view of the mix and how to enhance it constructively.
I am looking forward to audio engineering being formally offered in the Phils and making good, world class gear available to students in those programs. Once you know the ropes on those, translating the work to a smaller DAW is much easier because you have the fundamental parts of the system to work with - the EQs, the recording resolution, the methodology of how to record properly, and how to arrange everything so it sounds appealing in a mix.
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Berklee offers online courses that are still very expensive for your average pinoy. and i don't think it would be same as hands on training on big world class gear. but then again im not even after world class gear anymore after hearing that foreign-mixed home studio song. i would be quite happy just to get the same upfront punch and overall clarity.
about indigineous instruments, i'd also like to collect some myself. i figured if you left those lying around in the studio the bands will get curious and creative. it's one good way to inject our Filipino heritage back into pop music, and ultimately help mainline it into the consciousness of our generation.
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hi hazel i read that you have a joemeek vc1, i also have a joemeek vc1 but i bought this used and its a single channel vc1 in a half rack space do you know any info about this i bought this for only 5k four years ago and i cant find any info about this half rack space vc1. do you have any?
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wow! that's a steal! that one's THE original brick audioslave. hang on to it for dear life :)
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THE PRICE IS RIGHT
While other digital recording studios charge not less than P500/hr, we at SoundKitchen remain dedicated to our commitment in giving you excellent quality CD's at the most affordable rate in the market. do you just guess where to put the mics and hit RECORD?compress the hell out of it with pirated plugins.(http://images/smiles/icon_wink.gif)True, it IS a difficult situation but i manage. but i'm not very brave (nor very rich) to use condensers on all toms. instead i will be using good ol' sm 57's on tom and snare top, then a pair of AT 4040's (large diaphragm condensers) as overheads, a KSM32 on hi-hats, and RE20 on floor tom, and an AKGD12E on kick, and if everything falls according to the new plan, a dual valve condenser (the SE Gemini) as room mic.
- - - www.yafll.com - - -
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ummm, huh? the new rate is 600 per hour. micing begins with a good idea of where to put the mics, then experiment, not very difficult since there's another room now. no pirated plug ins or software here (the OS, DAW, and all plugins are licensed and paid for). the Gemini and the other UAD-1 card are on their way, by the way. :)
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finally the Gemini arrived the other day. the package weighed about 10.5 kilos. most of that is the flight case, though. the mic itself weighs around a kilo (according to the salesguy). i've had the chance to test it on female a capella and compared it side by side to the Shure KSM32. they are both very sensitive mic's, but the main difference is that the Gemini sounded more "open" and had a more natural frequency response. with the KSM32 there were several undesirable buildup around the low-mid frequencies. the Gemini remained flat in this area. well that's about it so far.
pics!
(http://geocities.com/soundkitchen_ph/se2.JPG)
(http://geocities.com/soundkitchen_ph/set.JPG)
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hi hazel..nice studio and gear..
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good god looks expensive :P
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it IS huge. that pic is still smaller than the actual size! :lol: it has a couple of tubes inside :shock: and it gets pretty hot after some time. which leads to the question, how does one reposition a tube mic? it's not supposed to be moved when hot (or right after use, diba?). what are the basic guidelines when handling a tube mic? thanks!
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They say that tube mics are supposed to be positioned upside down so that the rising heat doesn't affect the diaphragm. At about 1 kilo, you'll want to make double sure that the Gemini doesn't slip out of it's shockmount.
Never heard of movement restrictions during use; you definitely don't want to jar the mic because of the tube elements, though.
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thanks Kit. yes, i was told before not to move my tube guitar amp right after use because the heated filament might break. thank God this thing has a better shock mount than the Shure KSM 32. handling it still makes me nervous though. :lol: will take pix of it side by side the shure KSM32, and also sound clips of raw vocals (male and female) side by side the KSM32. thanks.
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hey starfugger were did you get those???.....abroad pa ba inorder yan hmmm...looks very interesting how much mo na bili yan including shipping and tax etc... pm mo nalang sakin value...ok ba syang gamitin???... post naman some samples...
thanks
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you can move tube amps kahit in use. with care of course. just don't kick it or jolt it or the like, the tubes can hold it's own. i would suppose you can also move tube mics.
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hey! congrats on the Gemini! I didn't know you were getting a Gemini before I browsed the thread. The mic is wonderful. I have been using my Gemini for a while now and between the Rode NTK and this, these are the two main mics I use when I want that warm in-your-face sound for vocals and acoustic guitars. SE makes some great small condensers as well such as the SE1a pair...i passed those though in place of a pair of SM81s that I got for a better deal.
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pwede ba makisingit?
sa mga nabasa ko..some people just put a paper bag over the mic para hindi DAW magkaroon ng condensation- from being cold sa storage to being warm..saka para mabawasan yung SHOCK..i am talking about a NEUMANN U87 and the like.. mga sensitive na diaphragm.. tutal nakalagay naman sa shock mount yun at kung walang makiki alam na paglalaruan yung mic...mas maige na nakasabit lang. well according lang sa nabasa ko.. :roll:
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TO WHOM IT MAY CONCERN :
pwede ba maka TAMBAY jan sa studio mo pag nakauwi ako? gusto ko lang makita set up mo.. at baka me matutunan din ako.. i am new to this kasi e ( hobbyist ako) ..don't worry hindi ako competitor..
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thanks abyss. so u also have a Gemini! i have a new name for it. i call it "the jar". lol. that's how it feels like in my hand, a jar full of, um, marbles. :lol: it does sound nice on female vocals. haven't tried it on guitars yet. they say the titan sounds nice on vocals too. i'd still want a German mic later though (i wish!).
plugzz, i had this shipped. it's a hassle buying nice things here in the Philippines. shipping and taxes. ngrr.
Baldo, i used to leave my mics mounted, until lately. i figure it will have a longer shelf life if i keep them in storage after every session. i leave the shock mount on the mic stand though for easy assembly. u wanna come over? sure thing. maybe i can learn a thing or two from you too.
jc, thanks for the advice.
so now the only thing left to do is LEARN how to use all this stuff. hmm.
abyss, when using the gemini, how far away from the ic does the vocalist sing? what genre do you usually record using this mic? thanks!
i spent the whole afternoon listening to alanis' last cut in the jagged little pill album, that a capella number. and then tried to recreate it. :lol: of course i never could sing like alanis (ever) but here's what i learned. the UA plate 140 sort of comes close to her reverb on that song. but it's still not as dense and "smooth" as the one she used. plus i think her reverb responds in a different way (or could it be i am singing in an ever so subtly different manner than she does :lol: ). the pultec pro sounds good, even when left untweaked. Cambridge eq can do magic. alanis must've sang that song considerably close to the mic (and i realized this a little late already) because there was a bit of proximity effect there and some plosives. and finally, it's virtually impossible to exactly recreate a particular sound using a different set of tools but it could be a great learning experience. try it guys, it could be fun. ask your sisters/girlfriends/moms/grandmas to sing that song plug away!
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yeah, i've had a gemini for a while and i really like it for R&B, trip hop, acoustic folk, and acapella singing - styles where a warm and strong vocal finish is needed. i usually try and keep tube mikes away from more plosive heavy styles such as rock because the vocal end up being too overwhelming. for such tracks i use a TLM 103 running into either the avalon 737 EQ'd as minimally as possible or a Focusrite Voicemaster Pro with only the opto compressor set. If I do need to run the mic signal through a Tube Tech compressor, I set it at the requisite 2:1 ratio for those just in case moments.
i've found that the mic does pretty well with singers around 1.5 to 2 feet away from the mic sounds pretty good; the sound is not too overwhelming in the resulting mix and you really don't have to work with the vocals too much to make it sit just right in with the rest of the song. you really have to play around with the mix placement because it depends what angle and position the sweet spot for a given singer is located at...just make sure to use a weighted mic stand - a heavy one with a sturdy base - to make sure the thing doesn't tip.
this item is HUGE, you are right. my brother calls it a mortar shell:)
i rarely ever leave mics out on the stand because the biggest phobia i have about mics is damaging the diaphragm on them rendering it useless. same goes for small condensers and any other piece of gear that might fall, get hit or get trampled.
some albums that give a pretty good idea of the ability of this mic are:
-Alanis Morisette (UNplugged Jagged Little Pill)
-Any Esthero album
-soustice
-vocals on any slower Ani DiFranco song (ie, Napoleon, 32 Flavors..)
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hi haze! wow! dami new gears mo ha. would like to drop by dyan pag gumaan na load dito sa studio. :)
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wow thanks sa invite.. matagal pa siguro kasi anjan lang ako last january..sayang nde ko agad nakita itong site na ito..well sa mga na discover ko na tips sa recording eh eto.. yung neumann e ok sa vocals kasi wala ngang proximity effect - i am talking about tlm 183.. yung tlm 103 e mas ginagamit ngayon..nauna ko lang kasing nakita yung 183 3h hehehe.. saka i use behringer denoiser..it works very well sa guitars esp kapag puros distortion.. sa compressors - ok ang alesis 3630 compressor/limiter.. ano pa ba.. ah shure sm 57 works very well so guitar amp micking saka sa snare drum.. saka shure sm 81 sa cymbals at high hat
( although patay na patay ako sa neumann mic para sa cymbals kaso mahal e hehehe). has anyone tried the CAD equitek? ok din yun kapag manipis ang boses.. akg c414 superb sa sax trumpet at trombone..
ps
pero i still believe it is still the man behind the mixing board that matters the most instead of the hardware. i heard song recorded on a NEVE console na gasing laki ng lamesa ( table for 8 ha ? hahahha) with genelec speakers as mastering monitors saka a lot of expensive stuff..pero ala pa din..also with a studio na me 42 inch screen na monitors ng computer with 16 ins/outs soundcard ( 8x2 breakout boxes), DW drums and roland V drums pa na tunog lata pa din hehehehe.. kaya yung mga recording afficionados, don't be discouraged..
big example is THE BEATLES.. done on 2 tracks / 4 tracks later on, their recording still sounds " golden " ika nga.. just train your ears well.!!!
oo tama ka Hazel ba name mo? sorry ( gumana na naman ang sexist attitude ko hehehe kasi nde ko alam na me babae pala na magiging interested sa field na ito)... kung yung mga home made demos here sounds so good..siguro dahil kapag nasa music store ka e ..the salesman ( the good ones) usually gives you the lowdown on the products you need..saka they dont carry products that are crap..well yung mga refutable na stores. pasensiya na sa train of thought ko at kulang sa tulog..parang plaka sa pudpod na karayom na turntable.. hehehe..ok see you when i get there..
btw saan ba yang place niyo? oo nga pala sa Ny ako..nde cubao ha..
:lol: :D
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abyss, thanks for the advice, i tend to record vocals a little closer to the mic, about 6 inches. i've never tried 2 feet before. i'm a little wary about the room as my ceiling is just as low as any ordinary house's in the Philippines, and the walls are not splayed. that's next on my list though, a proper recording and mixing space, 4 other mic preamps (hopefully API or Gordon <--- yeah right!!!!), and a pair of good ribbon mics for drum overheads. it's gonna take a while before i get there though.
BALDO you're quite lucky to have access to all that stuff. ako i had to make do with the vs-840 and 4 mics for years. i kind of learned (and am still learning) by the things that DON't sound good to me, as opposed to having access to great stuff and being mentored. it's all DIY here and am having fun :)
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abyss, what difference did you notice in trying to lower the gain on the mic pre instead of having the singer sing at 2 feet away from the mic?
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glassjaw, starfugger,
the use of the 1-2 foot distance was something that basically worked itself out because of my iso booth. if you have a bigger space, you may need to position the mike a little bit closer to strike a better balance between the singer and the mic. you want the gain just up enough to get a good and strong signal from the singer.
if you dont have an iso booth, you will have to make sure the gain is a little bit higher but not so much that it picks up everything in the room in an unnatural way.
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I've seen and read of some who like to go as close as 6 - 8 inches in order to take advantage of proximity effect. Like abyss says, let the room determine what you want to hear from the mic. Make sure you got a good pop shield/spit guard. Does the Gemini have a pad? You might want to engage it if you have a 'screamer'. (Thank God it's a condenser, not a ribbon.)
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hi erwin! sige daan ka minsan! kumusta na?
glassjaw_jc, sometimes it's quite easy to overload a microphone, hence the source has to be positioned farther away from the mic. also, if you dont like the proximity effect (which cannot be completely eq'd out) then put the source a bit further. the Shure KSM32 can handle loud signals pretty well, while the Gemini is a bit more sensitive. most sensitive of them all are the AT4040's. i always have to engage the pad. the gemini doesnt have any pads, unfortunately. i know it's not the same, but at least the Aphex1100 has a pad, and a very useful polarity switch. so far screamers sound ok on the KSM :)
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hmmm.. so ganun pala yun.. thanks! :)
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Starfugger
i sent you the soundfile..check your email.. dont forget to answer my question ha??? yung totoo lang... :lol: 8)
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hmmm sa dami ng natututunan ko dito naadik na ako ..HELP!!!! hahahahaa.. :lol: 8)
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Hazel, abyss,
You guys might want to check out the UAD site. They have an on-going sale on UAD plugs right now. For ex., the Pultec Pro is going for $67.15 and the Cambridge EQ is $81.95 now.
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hey thanks Kit. will check it out. had my eye on the precision multiband. by the way, the UAD forum was inaccessible for a couple of weeks. now it's working!
so hello again guys. was out of town for a while. to my clients, sorry for the delay. and see you soon!
:D
those who wish to send me an SMS for free may do so thru my contact page: http://geocities.com/soundkitchen_ph/contact.htm
(messages sent thru my contact page are automatically forwarded to my mobile. i'll try to get back to you as soon as possible)
regards,
Hazel
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something interesting i had the pleasure of experiencing a while back was what might be tape compression (i say "might" since i have never really heard tape compression before). im not talking about 2-inch 24 tracks or anything like that. im talking about a cassette tape transfer of a mix i did this afternoon. it was weird. during louder vocal passages the signal from the cassette actually sounded like it was going thru a compressor ... it was getting ducked! no distortion of anything, just that it was basically getting compressed. i listened to the digital version and true enough louder vocal passages remained consistent, unlike on tape. amazing!
:)
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Hazel, baka good old tape dropout lang yun. :-D
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haha! could be. i haven't had much experience with tape and wouldn't really know what drop out nor tape compression sounds like. just that it sounded much like compression.
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new demo soundclip:
http://geocities.com/soundkitchen_ph/sulyap_clip.mp3
this is the latest song from a band called jack in the box.
note: if you have a problem downloading the clip, just pm me your email address and i will gladly send it to you. :)