Need HELP from an expert on recording equipment

[rabbit8]

Hey I have the M-box but the sound is not good. So I just got the Roland VS 2400cd digital recorder board and when I plug in the mic the sound is really pro, but the same mic on the M-box sucks. I dont know what to do, buy a good pre-amp?? replace the m-box with 002 Rack?? What would make the sound quality professianl CD quality (without any mixing)? I can still return the board, so I need help from someone experienced on what to do, keep it, or get something for pro-tools...

Thanks

[Slim Shady]

I can't imagine the Roland pres would be better than the Mbox, which definitely has better pres than the 002s. I played with a client's VS-1680 recently, and the preamps were terrible, even worse than a Mackie, but maybe they've improved things in the newer models. Maybe it's just a gain issue...? - are you getting enough signal into PT? The Mbox contains 2 excellent focusrite preamps, and is the best sounding of the PTLE interfaces in my opinion - if you get an external compressor and connect it to the inserts, you can improve your input signal w/o clipping which might help. However, if you want to avoid mixing, then you have to use something other than ProTools - it only records in mono or dual-mono, neither of which is a CD-burning ready format, so you have to mix it to a stereo interleaved track before you can burn it.

[MrBibidy]

I will second the Roland pres sounding excellent, I had the vs 2400cd way before PT and I was putting out ECCELLENT sounds, It did take me a littler bit to get good sounds out of the Mbox but it CAN be done. Those pres are nice. Believe it or not I ran a tube pre before the Mbox once and it was horrible in comparison to the Mbox alone, try futzing around some more with the Mbox before giving up on it, the only other option (if you really love the roland pres) is use the roland before the mbox (utilizing the rolands direct track outs) as a pre.