Considering Defection . . Need advice

[ChuckLogan]

My current Computer is a high end I7 running at 4.2Ghz, Win 64, 6 gigs blah blah blah . . and I have a 002 . . After building my I7 I have started to notice all of my prior recordings are slightly dull and kind of mushy sounding.

I have nice mics (U87 and others), OK pre's, and great sounding monitors, V88 w/sub.

When playing back purchased music over my monitors the good recordings sound awesome, but my 002 sessions are not getting it. I record mostly rock guitar, synth drums, vocal . . and tons of broad freq spectrum synth overlays . . Never more than 2 channels at once.

I am thinking sound quality problem is simply the limitations of my 002. In addition to the dullness, I really think the lack of ADC is making my drums, bass and hat work unaligned and causing some of the mushyness. I am not a prof musician nor will I ever have to deliver a PT session with 8 stems for mastering.

So . . I was thinking of selling off my 002, w/rolling stand, full 12' 12 chnl 1/4" normalized cables w/ patch bay and going in another direction.

Not wanting to spend Apogee money, nor switch to Mac/logic.. I was thinking RME, ADI-2, FF400 or possibly the new RME Babyface. For the DAW softwaree I have been considering "R . . . er" , FL Studio , and C .. base . . But I need guidance . neither of the software programs look like they are a fully an adequate replacement to PT. But I am a novice and could very well be wrong. . Any advice on the hardware and software would be greatly appreciated..


Thank you

[Hotcrazyfruit]

Well digi is deffinatly seeing new interfaces soon. With the sneak peek thing going on with online dealers with the mbox 3 mini, im sure more options arent far around the corner.

Nick

[Inthewoods]

Hi,
Not sure I understand what you mean by things sounding different with the new computer??
While the 002 is not a high end converter, there's no reason why anyone can't make very good recordings with it. If your drum sounds are crappy then have you: replaced the heads, tuned them well, experimented with mic placement, treated the room, tried different sticks (seriously). Do you have a friend who's a pro drummer who can bring in his kit, mic it up and play while you record? The same drumset will sound better in the hands of a pro. Once you have a good capture, a good drum mix is something that's truely an art. It all takes a lot of experimentation so be willing to put in the time. Other software won't make a difference. If you have great capture then I can see looking into various compressors that might add a little something and there's so much that will work in PT.

[TCM]

I agree with hotcrazyfruit,
let's hope... Hope is dying last...

and with Robin Hood (Inthewoods)

Why should your previous recordings sound suddenly dull?

Did you improve your room acoustics?
Did your auditive discernment improve (experience)?
Did you have different reference mixes?

I am confident that the 002 and PT provides enough for good recordings!

AND don't underestimate the skills and experience of a trained engineer (which I am not).
But you can learn! And of course it takes time.
You can have the greatest and latest technology, but you need to know how to use it!

my 2c

[albee1952]

If the 002 is the rack version, send it to Black Lion for their upgrade. All my reading tells me that it makes a huge difference.

[Kenny Gioia]

Define "OK" preamps.

To me, that can be a pretty bad weakness in the chain.

While the Digi 002 is nowhere near top of the line, it can be used to make great sounding recordings. I've made great recordings with an Audiomedia III card.

Unfortunately, engineering is not learned in just a few short years. I wasn't proud of anything I did in the first ten. So it takes time.

I remember when I first started working on a Neve console with a Studer tape machine and great mics. My boss told me that the excuses are gone. If you can't make great sounding records here, then you need to get better.

So be patient and don't go out so quickly to buy new gear. Although, I am a strong believer in great mic preamps.

[galvman]

I'm not sure what you mean by 'prior recordings sounding dull' but I can tell you what I have experienced. My prior recordings were recorded with an Aardvark Q10 and Adobe Audition V3 and they sounded superior to my recordings with PT V8 and a 003 Rack+. I'm using the same mics and techniques but I was very disappointed at the lackluster sound I was getting. I experimented with using the clock from the Q10 to drive my sessions and I noticed an improvement in sound quality. So I did some research and decided to bypass the converters on my 003 Rack + with an Apogee Rosetta 200 via spdif and also use the clock from the Apogee at 24bit and this made an extreme difference in the sound. Now my recordings are clean, & crisp with definition and depth of field. I could then retire my Aardvark Q10 since it was unsupported. By the way I'm still recording under Windows XP with a Pentium 4 single processor which is hyperthreaded. I'm hitting my cpu limits and will be upgrading as soon as possible. Good luck in your decision making!

[galvman]

I forgot to mention I'm not using the mic pre's in the 003. I'm using outboard mic pre's such as an Avalon VT 737sp, Focusrite Voicemaster Pro, and a Focusrite ISA One. I was using the Avalon before migrating to Pro Tools. I have now settled on Pro Tools as my primary workstation, all other software compliments PT. The point is, take great care in selecting components for your signal chain, starting with your mics if you haven't done so already!

[TOM@METRO]

Originally Posted by ChuckLogan

My current Computer is a high end I7 running at 4.2Ghz, Win 64, 6 gigs blah blah blah . . and I have a 002 . . After building my I7 I have started to notice all of my prior recordings are slightly dull and kind of mushy sounding.

I have nice mics (U87 and others), OK pre's, and great sounding monitors, V88 w/sub.

When playing back purchased music over my monitors the good recordings sound awesome, but my 002 sessions are not getting it. I record mostly rock guitar, synth drums, vocal . . and tons of broad freq spectrum synth overlays . . Never more than 2 channels at once.

I am thinking sound quality problem is simply the limitations of my 002. In addition to the dullness, I really think the lack of ADC is making my drums, bass and hat work unaligned and causing some of the mushyness. I am not a prof musician nor will I ever have to deliver a PT session with 8 stems for mastering.

So . . I was thinking of selling off my 002, w/rolling stand, full 12' 12 chnl 1/4" normalized cables w/ patch bay and going in another direction.

Not wanting to spend Apogee money, nor switch to Mac/logic.. I was thinking RME, ADI-2, FF400 or possibly the new RME Babyface. For the DAW softwaree I have been considering "R . . . er" , FL Studio , and C .. base . . But I need guidance . neither of the software programs look like they are a fully an adequate replacement to PT. But I am a novice and could very well be wrong. . Any advice on the hardware and software would be greatly appreciated..


Thank you

Copy a Wave file of your favorite song from a professional CD into your 002 and play it back. Do you still notice the same inferior qualities that have been bothering you? It may have nothing to do with the converters or the computer.

[Keybeeetsss]

jus being candid, if the recordings sound dull now, they did then too; They're defiinitely not gonna sound much like your fave "finished" CD for lots of reasons...