I have the opportunity to buy an Altec "Birdcage" ribbon mic for around $800. I really know nothing about this mic, other than the fact it looks incredibly cool. Looks a little like Darth Vader - about the size of a squared-off softball. My question is: does anyone know about this mic? Is it worth the price, or might I be better off spending a few bucks more and just get a Royer?

I got a call to come pick up some old Macs at a school my wife works at. They've gone all PC, and they know I fix-up orphaned Macs. One was a 7200/75 but the other was a monster-rack-mounted Avid Media Processor. It booted up fine and turned out to be an 8100/100 with 64MB ram and a 1GB Seagate. It had a NuBus extender in it and a bunch of cards.

Here is an offbeat topic: what odd or unique sorts of voodoo rituals do you guys engage in as part of your mix routine? This could be something as simple as "I always patch the lead vocal to come up on console channel 24" to: "I always measure the mains voltage and print the master mix when it measures 119.95 Volts" Get busy and let me hear about some of ya'll's mixing rituals.

I have the opportunity to buy a Crown Dc 300 amp for $250. Is this a decent amp? Decent price? I have little experience with amps and I would appreciate your opinions. :confused:

Would 2 stereo linked 1176's (Purple or UA) sound good on a mix bus?

I have some nice tracking compressors (1176, Summit) but am using an FMR for stereo 2-bus. Not that it is bad but I would like to step up a notch. I'm mix to a Masterlink and do my own mastering (this is not professional just for my own enjoyment). So would I be better off getting a good analog compressor like the solid state Avalon or Smart or something like a Waves Maximizer L2?

Hi all,

What do you normally do to guitar solos? Do you put them right in the center? I am just looking for ideas. Do you take a different approach when there are no rhy gTRS behind the solo?...

I'm just curious here.

I know there are pro's and con's of EQing your room, but I wanted to get some feedback. I've been moving my monitors around, putting Auralex up (and bass traps), but I don't know if the overall effect of putting in a parametric or graphic EQ (with inherent phase shifts) is overall, better than dealing with frequency inadequacies and having to "learn the room".