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Jeemy 21 May 2009

OK, I have a few demons to service here.

I need to spend GBP £2-£3,000 to make my studio 'look better'.

I have what I consider to be a perfectly fine signal chain - Buzz Compressors, Sebatron s, TMP8, Fireface, usual semi-pro mics; K2, gefell m930, Audix and AKG drumsets, studio projects c4s, running into Cubase on a Mac G5. Monitor system is Dynaudio 6s and a carver amp, with some smaller Yamaha MSP5s for comparison.

Now. I have a big project coming up for the Scottish Arts Council which will garner a lot of press. I need people to get the 'wow factor' when they come into the place, and at the moment a white keyboard and a bundle of esoteric rack stuff doesn't do the job.

I know what I'd LIKE to put in to make things sound better - perhaps better converters, a ViPre or some Great River pres, and some tasty mics - thinking of the Soundelux iFet7 and a set of Josephson stereo SDs.

But in fact what I need to do is put a big facking desk in. This is compounded by the fact that one of my engineers can't stand the thought of working on a desk - he does dub, 2-step, ska and beats programming and wants instant recall on the input system - he gets that anyway, just skip the desk, but whatever - if there was a big-ass 32-channel desk with recall faders I'd put it in.

I'm hoping some of you can suggest a solution for me. I'd like ideally to buy an iFet7, the Josephsons, and put a Toft 24-channel desk in - but at $6k from mercenary, that desk eats my budget before mics.

The trouble I have is I know what the project needs is to sound good - and a few new mics is all I need. But it needs to look good as well - we'll be putting in new windows, lighting and generally rewiring the patchbays and so forth, and I need some kind of placebo desk - if it served a purpose, all the better.

Anybody got any ideas? Or something they wanna sell me?

Comments

Kapt.Krunch Thu, 05/21/2009 - 18:04

Big project coming up? You know how to get good stuff out of what you have? And you want to take the chance of mucking things up with unfamiliar equipment, and leaving a bad impression?

"Wow factor" is in the sound, isn't it? Do you envision using that desk extensively after you get it? I sure wouldn't drop a ton of money on an "impression". Sure, spruce up the place, but....buy a board for looks? :?

I'm just sayin....

Kapt.Krunch

Jeemy Thu, 05/21/2009 - 23:31

I know, I know. But sometimes synchronicity is a wonderful thing. I'd obviously browsed the forums for a while and saw Davedog recommend somebody with a similar problem, a Ramsa WR240 or some such.

While Googling Ramsa, I managed to find one of these:

http://www.soundonsound.com/sos/feb99/articles/ramsada7689.htm

I'm just awaiting the guy getting back to me; but what we have here is what I did not think existed; a motorised desk that will do what my breaks guy wants it to; that doesn't have to figure in the audio chain if I don't want it to, FOR PENNIES!

Oh happy day. Fingers crossed..... this leaves me enough for the ViPre, iFet7, Josephsons.

So ViPre or Great Rivers? Actually I might consider putting in the SeventhCircle or an API box now. Oh happy, happy day.

Boswell Fri, 05/22/2009 - 02:25

Jeemy wrote: I need to spend GBP £2-£3,000 to make my studio 'look better'.

Now. I have a big project coming up for the Scottish Arts Council which will garner a lot of press. I need people to get the 'wow factor' when they come into the place, and at the moment a white keyboard and a bundle of esoteric rack stuff doesn't do the job.

But in fact what I need to do is put a big facking desk in. This is compounded by the fact that one of my engineers can't stand the thought of working on a desk - he does dub, 2-step, ska and beats programming and wants instant recall on the input system - he gets that anyway, just skip the desk, but whatever - if there was a big-ass 32-channel desk with recall faders I'd put it in.

Anybody got any ideas? Or something they wanna sell me?

There are a couple of medium-format DDA consoles currently on Ebay (UK) that might be of interest to you. One is a spares/repair job for under £1K that could make good eye candy while waiting for you get round to putting it in working order!

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