The sm 57 and a moving blanket are two cheap pieces I use all the time.

I do question the use of a cheap monitor controller and re amp box though in your article.

Those things effect significantly the sound your recording and hearing. For instance a mackie big knob is a cheap monitor controller and really degrades the sound. Monitoring is sooo important, I don't think anything in the monitoring chain is a place to be skimpy. In fact I think your better off without the cheap monitor controller.

It doesn't have to be the most expensive one out there but it's got to be up to a certain standard to remain neutral in the signal path. It seems +$600 price point is where you get something truly worth using. Something like from Audient.

Same for a re amp box. A $100 passive unit from radial is about as cheap as it gets.

Something cheap that's passing signal is gonna degrade it significantly.

If you get away w a budget controller or keyboard midi controller that's cool because it doesn't affect the sonic integrity. Fwiw I have a presonus fader port on tap when I do my next gear order.

kmetal, post: 441498, member: 37533 wrote: The sm 57 and a moving blanket are two cheap pieces I use all the time.

I do question the use of a cheap monitor controller and re amp box though in your article.

In fact I think your better off without the cheap monitor controller.

Same for a re amp box. A $100 passive unit from radial is about as cheap as it gets.

Something cheap that's passing signal is gonna degrade it significantly.

If you get away w a budget controller or keyboard midi controller that's cool because it doesn't affect the sonic integrity. Fwiw I have a presonus fader port on tap when I do my next gear order.

For reamping I disagree with you to some extent. Under specific circumstances yes you want minimal sonic degradation -- however if you're reamping through even one stompbox you're immediately beating the frak out of your audio signal. That means the cheapest you can get away with is what you want until you feel like dropping the 600+ on dedicated gear for the job (I have an Eleven Rack. It is great.)

I say this because when reamping there is no concern for the "feel" of playing, thus if you can just "reamp" entirely in the box that is the best way to do it. Brainworx sells a bunch of incredible stomp box emulations for super cheap, and Waves GTR3 is like 120 bucks and you can do some incredible stuff with it. That is a better value in the ~100 dollar area than getting a higher quality passive DI.

I couldn't agree more about the cheap monitor controller if it is for your primary monitors. However, if you just need to spit out foldback and talkback in quantity for the performers, then they're super useful. I advocate completely discrete foldback and monitoring signal paths anyways.

Faderports are awesome. :)

- Jas

JasAudio, post: 447040, member: 50345 wrote: For reamping I disagree with you to some extent. Under specific circumstances yes you want minimal sonic degradation -- however if you're reamping through even one stompbox you're immediately beating the frak out of your audio signal. That means the cheapest you can get away with is what you want until you feel like dropping the 600+ on dedicated gear for the job (I have an Eleven Rack. It is great.)

I say this because when reamping there is no concern for the "feel" of playing, thus if you can just "reamp" entirely in the box that is the best way to do it. Brainworx sells a bunch of incredible stomp box emulations for super cheap, and Waves GTR3 is like 120 bucks and you can do some incredible stuff with it. That is a better value in the ~100 dollar area than getting a higher quality passive DI.

I couldn't agree more about the cheap monitor controller if it is for your primary monitors. However, if you just need to spit out foldback and talkback in quantity for the performers, then they're super useful. I advocate completely discrete foldback and monitoring signal paths anyways.

Faderports are awesome. :)

- Jas

I own waves GTR3, and have an avid eleven rack on its way this spring. I put one in my cousins studio years ago. Highly underrated price of kit. Nice amp sim sounds.

To me the re-amp box becuase even more important in a re amp situation becuase your already re converting DAAD. w pluggins this isn't an issue. I understand that re amping means you want to change the sound anyway, but I still say doing so with less artifacts is better, unlesss for special effect.

To me a decent re amp box that is quiet and matches the impedance for me gives me more artistic control with the pedals and amp choice.

I've personally settled on a radial jd-7 for my new rig, to handle DI and Re amp neatly with minimal fuss and high signal integrity.

I personally enjoy mixing both re amped amps and pluggin based amp sims, which both can sound phenomenal and have their own place. I don't thing one is better than the other in general, it is circumstance based.