GEAR: In the long run, every little thing adds up. You're stacking nickels trying to make a dollar. Higher quality converters (along with most other gear) won't *make* the recording sound bigger, they'll *allow* the recording to sound how it should.

MASTERING: While getting a recording to sound "big" wasn't really the realm of the mastering engineer in the past, it's falling more and more to the M.E.'s on a lot of home & project studio stuff. If a mix really sounds good, but seems a little "bland" (for lack of a better term), an experienced mastering engineer might be able to tweak it up considerably.

Obviously the very top priority is getting the best sound possible at the source.

Have all the medical tools money can bye and you still do heart surgery? what makes you think it's mostly about having the right scapel? And fixing it in mastering isn't even close to a real option either in all truthfullness.

maybe a stereo-imaging plugin like the Waves-bundle has, will help a little?
i never use it though.
but the interface looks pretty cool :?

Some good points...

ideally I am assuming it must be possible to get it at source.

Has anyone ever tried taking a project studio multi-channel recording - lets say recorded in Pro-Tools... and mixed it down using an SSL console or NEVE at a pro studio? I wonder if that would help, seeing as u could affect given channels with some high-end EQ and maybe soft-clip to a certain extent, giving more apparent loudness and/or stereo spectrum.

The vocals sound awesome in this case with my Avalon VT-747 mic pre and Neumann U87, so its not like we are talking about using some $100 mic... however in my opinion the Yamaha 03d is where im gettin killed in the chain... maybe bypassing the mixer and going straight into the MOTU would improve things... but weather the 03D converters are inferior to the MOTU 828 MKI converters is something I would like to discouver.

thanx for the insight ;)

-LT

be aware that mastering the whole thing using some limiter plugin like the wave l1 or l2 or l3 or sony inflator or such will bring up the out-of-phase sustaining components such as pads considerably which might also yield a more lively stereo spectrum...

lordtekken wrote: Has anyone ever tried taking a project studio multi-channel recording - lets say recorded in Pro-Tools... and mixed it down using an SSL console or NEVE at a pro studio? I wonder if that would help, seeing as u could affect given channels with some high-end EQ and maybe soft-clip to a certain extent, giving more apparent loudness and/or stereo spectrum.

Stacking nickels again. 8-) It *can* be a good thing. Some swear by it, some swear at it. One thing is for certain - Top quality conversion is a must for this technique. Most SSL equipped rooms probably have it, so it's certainly not out of the question.

Still keep in mind the apples / oranges thing - Of course, I have no idea the raw quality of your tracks, but big-buck / big-room productions with big-buck / big-name talent (in front of and behind the board) and state-of-the-art gear... You know where I'm going here I'm sure... All things being equal, the project with the most stacked nickels will sound better.

I know there will always be a gear debate but this is what I have found. If you run direct things into a real good DI (I like radials di's) and then into a real good pre amp (focusrite red or avalon or neve) keys and direct bass or direct acoustic gtrs sound much more open then using the line level inputs of less than ideal mixers or converters.