Help! My Roland VS Studio never sounds good.

Posted: Tue Apr 17, 2007 1:03 pm

Has anyone worked on a Roland VS Studio before?

I have a VS-1680 and no matter how I mic any instrument or vocal the recorded sound is always uneven, boomy and has no definition (muddy bass / zero crack of the snare / no 's' sound on the vocals). I am using the onboard preamps.

When mixing I have to use tremdus amounts of EQ in order to get any of the instruments to sound distinct. But even after that the sounds do not blend well and it sounds totally flat and dull.

I'm not expecting any Glynn Johns recordings but when I was using an 16 channel Seck Mixing Board & a Fostex Model 80 (8 track 1/4 reel-to-reel) my basement recordings sounded like Abby Road Studios in comparison.

Posted: Tue Apr 17, 2007 4:46 pm

I've never used one of those units but like many similar units, your record time dictates amounts of data reduction and audio frequency bandwidth limitations. It sounds like you have selected "longest record time" as opposed to "highest-quality"? So you don't get something for nothing in this case. It's all a compromise on what Fidelity level you are willing to accept. The internal hard drive is only so large and your track count and frequency response are limited by that. And when you have severely limited the frequency response, no equalization can bring it back once it's gone and so your problem.

I'm always telling people LESS IS MORE. But I don't mean that when speaking about frequency response, in most cases. You need to select the highest-quality settings throughout the 1680 device otherwise, it should make lovely recordings at full bandwidth, which will obviously limit your record time and/or track count.

Keep on keeping on
Ms. Remy Ann David

Posted: Tue Apr 17, 2007 6:21 pm

I've heard some excellent recordings that were done exclusively on Roland VS studios. What kind of mics are you using? Maybe your preamps or some other circutry is malfunctioning. How long have you been recording? Are you recording inside a box of gummy bears?

Posted: Wed Apr 18, 2007 3:17 am

I also have heard several mixed recordings done from various people that use the Roland boxes. In all cases, the mixes lacked depth, clairity, detail and openess and had cloudy/muddy low end artifacts. Now this could very well be the result of the skill of the wankers using the Roland box, but I still think it is a direct result of poor performance of the Roland unit in general that also is related to the Roland data compression format. If your Roland unit has the ability to turn that data compression crap off, try that along with a very good mic and very good external preamp. Try to avoid using the Roland DSP plugs/effects as much as you can.

Posted: Wed Apr 18, 2007 8:50 am

"Are you recording inside a box of gummy bears?"
Thats a freakin' great idea! LOL

Posted: Wed Apr 18, 2007 2:34 pm

i had a vs 1880 for a while. it never sounded good and was very difficult to operate. i think, for the price of a decent notebook comp and audio interface, you could move into the world of daw recording and live happily ever after.
i did. Smile

Posted: Wed Apr 18, 2007 3:04 pm

First off, thanks to you all for your help.

I'm using a range of AKG mics and some sm57's. They all have sounded great on other equiptment so maybe it is the preamps.

The recording speed may be an issue. There is one speed above the one one I am using (5 speeds in total), however it limits your tracks to 8 opposed to 16.

The room I'm recording in is the dreaded drywall so I've been close miking the drums, DIing the bass, and putting the guitar amp in the shower. I should be able to get a pretty average garage demo out of it but everything comes out like muck.

I haven't witnessed any gummy bears in the studio but I may want to check my ears.

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