after years of buying budget, the best thing i did was invest in a single quality recording chain. if you can, instead of spreading the resources thin on a bunch of budget gear, buy one nice, well researched and tested mic that works with your voice (i'm assuming you sing...) with a nice pre or pre/compressor combo. the mic will likely work well for acoustic guitar and other instruments, and the mic pre/compressor will help your other mics to live up to their full potential and be a great DI for bass (but be careful not to color EVERYTHING in the mix with the same pre...)
i noticed a huge improvement in my recordings and now spend way less time messing with eq and such to 'fix' sound that should have been properly recorded in the first place, or trying to get things to 'sit' in the mix.

i am, however, curious as to why you track with PT, but don't edit or mix with it...

I don't sing but I do record vocals, also strings, drums, piano, horns, bass, guitar, vibraphone, percussion, and sometimes 3 or 4 instruments simultaneously.

I usually save the PT sessions and send out to my friend with better computer and equipment for editing mixing mastering, I have the room for tracking, he has the room for mixing...

I changed nothing as far as my hardware goes, but simply treated my room. I noticed right away that my mixes (and raw tracks) translated better. Even though it's not the best there is, the improvement was well worth the money.

Right after that I went out and bought better monitors. I traded my KRKs for a decent pair of Events. After that, my mixes (and what I was recording) translated even better.

I would first make sure your room is giving you a good response, then trade in those monitors. There's no reason you shouldn't get great results with the mics you have.

fourone3 wrote: .....
Right after that I went out and bought better monitors. I traded my KRKs for a decent pair of Events. .........

? Events better than KRK?

I treated my room too.
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I would like to improve the chain, but it is confusing because except for the mics "they do sound all different" all the rest sound the same.
For example, I can't hear any considerable difference between my mic pres, which is odd because the M80 should sound considerably different...

I read many good reviews about my speakers ,
peoples compare this with Mackie, etc...
I guess peoples have different opinions about speakers because they do sound all different and each room is different.

But what about the rest of the chain?
Except for the mics and the speakers, I can't tell any considerable difference between the rest of the equipment in the chain!

AudioGeezer wrote: [quote=fourone3].....
Right after that I went out and bought better monitors. I traded my KRKs for a decent pair of Events. .........

? Events better than KRK?

Hahaha. I had the Rokit 5s and ended up with the ASP8s, so yes I feel as though as it's an improvement.

Not to knock the Rokit 5s too much, though. They weren't horrible - I've heard much worse.

ineedtolearnhowtorecord wrote: I treated my room too.

WHOA... (a BIG red flag goes up)... that's all you devote to the single most important aspect of the recording process?? One line?... and then continue with 3 paragraphs on budget gear.

I realize this is a budget gear forum and not the acoustics forum, but you can go a LOT further with budget gear if your acoustics are in order. High end gear is great, but it only makes a real difference when you start with a great source in a good sounding environment.

Gimme half a dozen 57's, a Smackie 1608, a decent converter and a GREAT room over all your gear (or even two control rooms of high end pro gear) and a shitty room.

You should be able to make some decent tracks with what you have... and you should be hearing a pretty significant difference between all the pieces you have. If you aren't, I'd be highly suspect of your room either having a lopsided frequency response and/or issues with nodes and modes... up to and including flutter problems.

Sorry if I devoted just one line for the room
I have superchunks in all the corners, 10 inc panels on the walls, clouds and diffusion. Below 40 hz is not flat jet, but I'm working on it.

My pres sound all the same for real! Not because I'm on a null...
I f I was on a null, my mics should sound all the same too!
I don't understand this..

OK... It sounds like you've got something else going on then.

I gotta ask... is everything pretty much running through the Eurorack BEFORE it hits the Delta?

That's about the only way I can envision that everything would be that bland... either that or your Presonus is wanked.

No... I disconnected the Eurorack and connected the speakers and headphones directly to the delta 1010.
I recorded some mono tracks from the direct outs of both pres, same Mic , same position etc.
I spent at list one hour listening, I also did more tests with one speaker connected directly to the interface out and the second running trough the Eurorack, both ways sound OK and both pres sound the same, if I play with the M80 IDSS control I can add some color but that's all, and I usually prefer it without...

At this point can only be:
1) the Eurorack pres are very good
or
2) the m80 is defective
or
3) somenting is wrong with the delta 1010 or protools
or
I have no idea!

Hmmmm.... I doubt it could be SloStools... the Delta shouldn't care about or create nor degrade color from a pre.

Maybe the Presonus just doesn't sound any different than a Behringer.

I wonder how someone from Presonus would react to THAT statement... :-?

Sorry...
Instead playback from protools and delta I connected the direct out of the pres directly to the monitors,

Now that the direct out of the pres is directly connected to the powered monitors I can hear the difference.

It is almost impossible to hear the difference from the recording playback, especially if everything "including speakers" is running trough the Eurorack and the playback is music at moderate volume,

The difference is mostly noise and gain.
Both pres sound very similar but the m80 is better.

The Eurorack direct out is very noisy.
The m80 has a lot more gain to work with and better bass, (9 am on the m80 = 3pm on the Eurorack)...

I just removed the Eurorack from my desk.

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Just curious , on a budget, what can be better than my m80 and compressors?