I did this last year, just after I started realizing how important the ADDA quality is. With practice I plan on getting better at comparisons and admit I've learned so much more since this and have so much more to go.
Digging this up today I thought a few of you would be interested to hear why I love Lavry so much and why I rant so much about GOOD converters being the most important piece of gear. I'm not dumping on the FF800. I'm specifically pointing out how most of us are judging products, recommending gear and making decisions over and over while we're using AD that are effecting more than we might realize. I'm betting the majority of our gear and mixes would sound a hell of a lot better if we used better converters from the get go. I read so many threads about people needing this and that for a better sound and see they are using converters that basically suck the life out of you.
The Classics: spending lots of money on plugins when our converters lack. Blaming microphones for being too muddy or harsh when the converter lacks. Wanting a tube pre to warm things up when the converter "". It goes on. Of course better mics and preamps are absolute important but if we are going to invest thousands on gear, get your converters in order first. You'll get to the truth of your sound a lot quicker and accomplish a lot more with less than you think.
Here are two off the cuff demo's of my 12 year old daughter playing the piano. She is pretty accurate on this song so I used it. Piano's tell me a lot. Dangling keys is another one I did that really exposed the high end. I'll try and dig that up some time or do another next time using my QS's vs Lavry.
I used 2 Royer R-122's and a Millennia M-2b mic preamp and never touched mic placements. I had to adjust the gains, did it as best I could and this is what I got. Here is the A/B between a FF800 and a Lavry AD10 Black .
I'm close Micing here because I'm looking for that sound.
You should hear a distinct openness in the bottom end on the Lavry (big). The FF800 sounds like the bass is rolled off and the mids are in your face. If I didn't compare the two, I would think the FF800 was great, and it is but in the big picture, its plagued with midrange. At full bandwidth, its really apparent how wide and smooth the Lavry's are. Using those give more room for everything.
After this comparison I woke up, sold one of my FF800 and starting looking for better converters. I couldn't afford 16 IO of Lavry but the RME ADI-8 QS's are close so I bought those. I still have one FF800 left for backup but its up for sale and I'm seriously thinking about selling everything I have too, to get stellar converters. It just makes life, mixing and sound so much better. Instead of needing 6 db of eq, 3db is enough now. Vocals sound sweeter and so on.
I couldn't help think how I would have been constantly trying to get a fuller sound using various pres and mics when all it took was switching to a better converter. Bass and openness is one thing I struggle with. I love bass and it doesn't come easy.
Imagine how many people are blindly spending money on the wrong things or, spinning their wheels with EQing and problem based solution. Blaming products because they don't live up to the specs or hype.
24 tracks of middy converter and you have a lot of mids going on so what do we all do.. Start eqing and searching for greener grass on the other side of the fence.
And the FF is a pretty nice converter already. Anyway, not trying to be a star or a shill here, just my little comparison to help point a few more towards better converters.
This is a FF 800
http://soundcloud.c… Sneaky-FF800 by audiokid on SoundCloud
This is the Lavry AD10
http://soundcloud.c… Sneaky-LavryAD by audiokid on SoundCloud