http://www.proaudiosolutions.com/product-p/urssaturation.htm

I usually find a good transformer based EQ is one of the best ways to add some analog mojo to your sound. I mix on an analog console but my fave EQ for adding that mojo is the A Designs EM-PEQ

I have been dealing with the same issue. My protools recordings were technically ok, but lack warmth, depth and presence.

Several friends told me that they had this problem until they got a good tube preamp. I am told you need to spend at least $500 to get something that sounds better than the built in preamp in your recording gear, preferably with tubes.

I researched it and built a tube preamp (Telefunken V-72 copy) from Dripelectronics.com. They also sell a copy of the redd-47. It makes all the difference in the world.

The process has made me realize that in recording we don't just want good specs. We want to enhance the sound to where it sounds like what we are used to from a good analog studio.

Now I am finding that compressors plugins seem to degrade the sound and lower the gain, and am thinkin of making one of the drip tube compressors.

Thanks for the input guys. That preamp you got isn't available right now cause they're "upgrading" it i guess. I'll keep checking back though.

I just want some more warmth and coloration. I was thinking tube preamp would probably be my best bet. I'd need a few though. lol

I don't know if this is relevent to you, but Anamod's Tape Simulator thingy received a glowing review in a recent Sound on Sound magazine.

http://www.anamodaudio.com/

And it costs something like 3500$. Ouch.

The most famous/widely used analog consoles (e.g. Neve, Api) have no tubes. My favorite bang for the buck rack of nice warm analog preamps is the [url=(dead link removed) 3124[/url].

apstrong wrote: I don't know if this is relevent to you, but Anamod's Tape Simulator thingy received a glowing review in a recent Sound on Sound magazine.

http://www.anamodaudio.com/

And it costs something like 3500$. Ouch.

For that price you should just buy analog equipment and be done with it, sheesh.

Yeah, I can't spend quite that much. lol. But I am willing to spend a little for a decent sound. Keep it coming guys, what else do you guys use?

I'm not quite sure why this was moved to DAW Pro Audio. It concerns mainly external preamps, EQ, etc. Oh well, just saying...

Just to add to the confusion, there's the Empirical Labs [="http://www.zzounds.com/item--EMPFATSO"]EL7 Fatso[/]="http://www.zzounds…"]EL7 Fatso[/]

Or if that's way out of budget, UAD-2 has the [[url=http://="http://www.uaudio.c…"]Fatso as a plugin[/]="http://www.uaudio.c…"]Fatso as a plugin[/] now. Of course that would mean you would have to buy the PCIe card but at $400 for the card and $300 for the Plugin, you could run as many instances as the card can handle. The better the card, the more instances. The UAD-2 Quad runs at $1500! Steep for a DSP card maybe but the potential plugins might be worth it.

Any way you look at it, it's gonna be an investment.

I would look into PSP audioware's Vintage Warmer plugin. This thing really brings the warmth.

Hey,

You should check out the newly released plug in from Wave Art - Tube Saturator. They have a demo and I love it. I've used it on all kinds of things with great success. It is a CPU hog but any plug that is very accurate unfortunately needs to be. In addition to that I would check out Universal Audio's UAD2 line of plugs - nice flavors there too.

Hope that helps!