Pt hd1. We need more power!!!

[Marsdy]

Originally Posted by Dism

I don't see how it's possible.

64 samples of latency is about the same time it takes for the sound of a guitar amp to reach your ears from 5-6 feet away. If you can hear that delay, you've got some super hearing.

Just as an aside....

It seems to me that you need to hit the "Low Latency" button in Logic otherwise the latency is higher than the buffer setting would suggest. This disables your reverb returns! Annoying. This "feature" appeared in version 8 I think.

I was never happy in Logic post version 8 at 64k unless "Low Latency" mode was on. It was fine before version 8. Something funny happened there!

Buffers of 32/64 in Logic are all very well but you're not going to get very far with VIs at those settings.

[David Pye]

I've never noticed a lot of difference in latency between having low latency mode on or off, mainly only if a mix is already underway and there are a lot of large latency plugins running, those will be bypassed. I find Space Designer isn't effected by LLM though, and that's what I use most of the time for reverb.

One clients machines has been set to 64 sample buffer for over a year now, his music is almost 100% VI's, samples, loops etc, never hit any kind of limit with playback yet.

[Keybeeetsss]

Originally Posted by jeremyroberts

Any of you "LE is just as good as HD" guys do work with singers, guitarists, any musicians where attack latency is crucial to the performance?

I do it everyday allday without any prob, latency, errors, etc. & I track bands & groups|choirs on a regular; Usually run 5 mixes which is usually the most I need but of course I can do more & "I do hav an HD rig"...

I run @ 64buffer & this is even after sessions are complete & I need to add more vocs etc. & I ALWAYS hav VI's on any session I'm doin...

[jeremyroberts]

PTLE (003) guys:

How do you work with only 8 channels of i/o?
I barely squeeze by with 16 active i/o channels.
Between cue mixes and hardware inserts and and slave machine inputs, I have my 192 maxed out. What's your secret? What did you find to be unnecessary?

[Dism]

Originally Posted by jeremyroberts

PTLE (003) guys:

How do you work with only 8 channels of i/o?
I barely squeeze by with 16 active i/o channels.
Between cue mixes and hardware inserts and and slave machine inputs, I have my 192 maxed out. What's your secret? What did you find to be unnecessary?

003 has 18 channels.

[O.G. Killa]

Originally Posted by BradLyons

So are you saying that you will achieve better results in a great room with say a Shure SM57 on a vocal through a VTB1 pre into the input of a MacBookPro---then say in a so-so room using a Blue Bottle through a VoxBox into an Apogee Rosetta200?

Yup. That's EXACTLY what I'm saying. Well, moreso the mic preamp and converter.

The mic does change the sound a little bit. Moreso if the mic isn't very directional. It's like a subtle EQ. But, if you put a 57 on a vocal thorugh a VTB1 pre into a macbook, then compare that to a blue bottle thorugh a voxbox into an apogee, do you really think it's going to change the singer from sounding bad to sounding good? It might sound like you added a couple dB of top end (althought the blue bottles I've used were always really dark, regardless of capsule, so maybe not). But the singer's voice is the singer's voice and moving the singer 1" in any direction in relation to the mic will have a more significant impact on the sound than switching the mics. The changes in tone in the singers voice from one take to the next will have a much more significant impact on the voice than the mic, preamp or converter.

One other thing to point out... the albums that were recorded in houses, boats, etc that are hailed as actually sounding GOOD, were all acoustically treated before recording.

Just because someone can record in their house and put the album up on itunes does not mean it is the pinnacle of fidelity. Compare the first John Mayer album to his last one. Which one has better fidelity to the recording? But does any of that even matter to the album sales?

We all tend to get caught up in the gear as a means to an end. But in the end, the only way to get a great recording is to practice your instrument a tremendous amount, and then perform in an acoustically pleasing space.

No amount of DSP or CPU processing power is going to make you a better performer, a better songwriter, or a better producer.

So give me that SM57 with a VTB1 preamp into a macbook, and a good room and I'll give you back a killer album. Why? Cuz the tools don't make the final product. I do. And I know how to manipulate the environment to capture a good performance, and I know how (and who to get) to get good performances.

[Keybeeetsss]

Originally Posted by jeremyroberts

PTLE (003) guys:

How do you work with only 8 channels of i/o?
I barely squeeze by with 16 active i/o channels.
Between cue mixes and hardware inserts and and slave machine inputs, I have my 192 maxed out. What's your secret? What did you find to be unnecessary?

002 & 18i/o here; my average tracking sessions are 15 tracks & as said, each band member will hav their own mix...

[DigiTechSupt]

Originally Posted by O.G. Killa

It's like a subtle EQ. But, if you put a 57 on a vocal thorugh a VTB1 pre into a macbook, then compare that to a blue bottle thorugh a voxbox into an apogee, do you really think it's going to change the singer from sounding bad to sounding good? It might sound like you added a couple dB of top end (althought the blue bottles I've used were always really dark, regardless of capsule, so maybe not). But the singer's voice is the singer's voice and moving the singer 1" in any direction in relation to the mic will have a more significant impact on the sound than switching the mics.

O.G. - I'd like to comment on this, as we did a 'mic shootout' a few years ago with a singer and had drastically different results from mic to mic - even taking into account mic placement, there were standouts as far as overall 'quality' (for that singer) and usability in the mix. Certain mics just sounded wrong no matter where you put them, or were difficult to make sound good in the mix.

And, in the end, it wasn't the mega-expensive mics that won.

So - I'm curious what your thoughts are on that?

No amount of DSP or CPU processing power is going to make you a better performer, a better songwriter, or a better producer.

Truer words have rarely ever been spoken.

Cuz the tools don't make the final product. I do. And I know how to manipulate the environment to capture a good performance, and I know how (and who to get) to get good performances.

Not to mention knowing how to use the gear and get the best out of it....

[Intini]

Mics don't just have a frequency response.
They also have:
a) transient response - that varies with frequency
b) subtle (or not) resonances - that also depend on frequency
c) non-linearities - again, varies with frequency
d) subtle (or not) distortion - and that, too can vary with frequency

All this have to do with the pre-amp (inside the mic) electronics, casing, capsule/diafragm/ribbon shape and support. Because different manufacturers use different techniques, they tend to have a different "character". It would be almost impossible for two different mics to sound exactly the same. How one may perceive this difference is another story.

DigiTechSupt also touched the subject of a MIC matching one's voice, that is when the combination of the voice's "character" with the MIC's "character" would give something "pleasing" to one's ears.

As an example, I am not a great singer, but when I was tracking on my Neumann U87 on a Focusrite ISA430MkII it sounded amazing compared to the same set up with a Rode NT1-A - that sounded like if I was in a box when compared to the Neumann.

Anyway, I miss my HD3....I had to move country and had to sell it. Using a small LE rig at the moment and decided to wait now for the next HD.

[TOM@METRO]

Oh my, I won't go so far as to say mics and Preamps don't matter but back in the eighties we tracked the lead vocals on an entire album (at the artists request) with an SM57 and the album sold pretty well. It's typically not my go-to vocal mic, but it did happen. And we had a pretty good mic closet even then.