jimmarchi1's forum posts 8022

Let's say $1000, give or take.

I stand by my original list.

My closet is already full, Jim. Homes must be larger in Philly.

https://tenor.com/vVNQ.gif

that looks a lot like my walk in... very difficult to walk into right now

He took the equipment with him on the road during his tours and has already made several multi-platinum hits in hotel rooms (obviously untreated) using only macbook pro, tlm 103, ua apollo duo and a ath m50x. So there is no point in having the best monitors on the market, if you dont have the experience to get the best out of them.

Ah the 103, the hip hop mic of choice back when it came out. I would try to convince rappers to try one of the other mics at the studio we worked at but they usually had to hear that one first and become disenchanted to give an AKG or Audio Technica 40 series a shot, let alone a re20 or sm7 but man those guys were not into broadcast mics at the time, now maybe.... gotta learn with your own ears. The 103 excels at a very specific vocal timbre, like a less versatile 87. I prefer not to EQ a vocal much so there's a lot of positioning but also just picking a mic that's going to capture the good bits so you're not dickering with the midrange so much.

I still discourage headphone mixing, I have 2 pairs of m50Xes and also the 40s from the early 2000s and those are great but deceptive headphones, you're better with semi opens like the k240 or something, still less of a good idea than low level monitors in an untreated room... but sure, overall agreement here.

I've been at this for a long time and I make equally good mixes in my home to ones I do in a nice control room... I know my setup really well (even with it growing like a weed) now that its been covid for over a year and I'm faster setting things up here even if its nice to have even more outboard and maybe a real EMT plate or something... really I have what I need with spares of everything for outboard, if not a bunch of fancy pants varimus and what have you. If I'm not getting on with a set of speakers for a particular project I have 3 pairs wired up to choose from and if I really need to I can change a pair out for another pair from the closet. I never get rid of monitors when I buy new ones and suggest that everyone should have a collection.

Up!! Frequency response graphics are undoubtedly a great parameter for choosing the right equipment.

no no, schematics, published response curves, particularly for, say, speakers, are often misleading ;-) in other equipment, for example compressors? some of the coolest units have pretty miserable THD specs but they sound awesome. My favorite stereo EQ right now goes all the way up to 40k which no one can hear, maybe dogs, right? None of the source idea artists sends me has info up there anyway as hardly any consumer grade gear passes signal above 20k even if you have good converters and are running at 192k sample rate.... that great bandwidth spec is limited in usefulness by the people you work for and the rest of the gear in your own studio.

but for alternatives a schematic comparison is worth a thousand words.

l preference. And also remembering that if there is no treatment in your studio, the monitors will not be used correctly..

there's a lot of mythology about how much treatment you'll find in the average commercial control room or post room.... the fact is that apart from some very swanky places that are big enough for film work or mastering labs, high end ones, that are treated for a fairly narrow sweet spot in a purpose built room, even places with bass traps, diffusers etc are kinda thrown together. If an actual acoustician is involved they make compromises for a wide 'sweet spot' to acomodate the client and help the engineer hear when he's wandering around setting up hardware controls. Those needs limit what can be done anyway. The level of treatment is having most effect when the sofit mounted speakers are blasting to impress the client. If you're working alone the first rule is don't turn the volume up much. Only to make sure your bass isn't louder than you think it is or isn't overcompressed where instead of getting exponentially louder as you turn up it actually never gets any louder as you turn up ;-) even then just for a sec to get relative levels. If you mix low you don't hear the amplification working, you avoid ear fatigue and you don't run much risk of creating nulls, standing waves or just driving the room resonance. These are best practices everywhere you go. If you don't have an SPL meter then download an app, there are a few for free that are very good. Even a nice commercial facility tends to have a sound in the control room. A good balance engineer avoids mixing into the room whether its at home or in a swanky commercial space. Oddly, one of the best studios left in Philly where I live (the city, not the studio) has a highly treated control room for tracking where the rare neve desk is and a few choice pieces of gear.... then past the machine room where the studer and ampex machiens live there's a spare vocal booth that's half closet and then the post room. The post room ahs a gorgeous SSL G and all the really good outboard like bluestripe 1176es etc. This room isn't very treated if at all. Magical things come out of there. The less you know what you're doing the more treatment you need. I've been back there with the owner (grammy winner, not name droping) and he monitors hella low and knows his space. I think he's using a pair of NS10s and a pair of questeds or something like that.

I think a lot of places make the treatment colorful, put up pointless wood panneling etc just to impress the client, its heping but not that much. especially in a boxy control room. If your room is boxy and you're worried the first thing to do if tis already carpeted is to consider getting the ceiling out of the equation, this is the only time auralex is worth a damn. Corner traps and diffusers can be made from cheap materials at the hardware store. Really the drywall and shape are most to blame and that's hard to change. Its the rare studio that has a non perpendicular control room with a slanted ceiling like a mastering lab.... go look up peerless mastering or the lodge and look at the shape of those rooms... that's treatment. Everything else is a bandaid. Others will disagree.... but take a look at some studios of old, the mom and pop labels like motown in berry gordy's basement or sun? you going to tell me those records weren't good?

edit: I also want to point out that deadening your room is a bad idea too.... if you've ever been in the dead room somewhere its pretty creepy and its going to really throw you off. Building broad traps, diffusers, putting down tick carpet and auralexing the hell out of your side walls and ceiling will probably be too far towards dead without solving the problem of decoupling your floor and decorelating the walls which is another story entirely, an architectural story.... great for recording a really dry signal but not where you want to make a balance, my young friend. Make peace with you speakers and space, then develop best practices to work effectively in them. Know your tools, whatever they are, from the recorder (DAW whatever) to the compressors and equalizers you have at your disposal, really understand those problem solving tools.... and then have fun and stop worrying.

If we're talking about a supporting image that is a side-by-side annotated schematic comparison... you're speaking my love language right there.

you know that I know that you know that's what I mean!

but back to the point, I think a video is good but lets allow photo evidence too... its pretty impractical to compare same loud amps on video unless you happen to be filming in a studio with adequate microphones to really hear the things and the ability to turn them up where they shine.... but if I throw the schematics of those 2 amps up you're going to find they're basically the same amp

I find it to be interesting how gibson was going bankrupt so they got out of it and bought other companies, what an all american business strategies....

Have the acquired any companies since exiting Chapter 11?

KRK was acquired 2011, Gibson bankruptcy was 2018.

wow, I thought it was the other way around? my memory is not good anymore

I find it to be interesting how gibson was going bankrupt so they got out of it and bought other companies, what an all american business strategies....

Have the acquired any companies since exiting Chapter 11?

KRK was acquired 2011, Gibson bankruptcy was 2018.

wow, I thought it was the other way around? my memory is not good anymore.... I guess they were just hovering on the brink for a decade! its that robot guitar and firebird X, no guitarist would want that, certainly not a gibson man

I'm in no way recommending KRKs in this situation or any other, just adding a recent story of a positive KRK outcome to balance the blanket statement that KRKs are all hype.

sure.... the rokits are pretty bad though, not accurate.... I could enver udnerstand why every electronic musician would have them over the similarly priced event TR8s when they both came out. The yamaha HS8 and affordable powered JBLs were far in teh future.... anyway

I find it to be interesting how gibson was going bankrupt so they got out of it and bought other companies, what an all american business strategy... what we were doing was not working so lets reign in our stupid guitars but keep doing the same whacky stuff with our profits

who was given a pair of the newest KRK V8s by a contact at Gibson, and they've converted him from a fellow KRK hater to a fan. I've heard these V8s at his space, and it was hard to believe I was hearing KRKs. This friend also recommends classic (old) passive Tannoys and a good amp as the ultimate in studio monitoring, FWIW. Anyway, perhaps Gibson's ownership has been a positive influence on KRK... anecdotally, their products seem to be improving dramatically as of late.

...doesn't mean KRKs are suddenly the best choice in a given situation, but I felt these strides were worth noting.

The V8s aren't terrible but I think they're pretty pricey, if you're paying for them then they're not much of a contender because at that price point there's lots of better options. If you're spending 600 bucks for used vers1s? go JBL or Adam.... the new one's I've not heard, they improved them supposedly, they look different and they cost almost a grand new for a pair if I recall, at that point there are WAY better powered options. You could buy 2 sets of better options for a grand to 1200 as far as I'm concerned.

edit: 8" woofers are probably going to blow out an untreated room even at low levels, they're good to have but they're not a sole monitoring solution.

Yamaha X KRK, and others. Hype!

having monitor uncertainty eh? neither, the HS series are okay but riding on the udneserved rep of another white coned speaker by yamaha and KRKs are all "hype" and responsble forsome of the worst sounding music for like a decade or more....

old passives; tannoys, ARs, B&Ws or (sick of these but they can be useful) NS10s (yeah yeah) and a decent amp, it doesn't have to be a bryston or mcintosh, but if you can score one... and do like a pair of little genelecs or IK iLouds with the room correction as a second reference.... and if you can afford them after those guys go ahead and grab some JBL 306es or adam TV5s or 7s.... I don't tend to go for the 5" woofers but the adams aren't too bad if your room is small, I prefer the JBL's in the larger woofer,, they have a wider image, not my first choice of monitor for just mixing but if you're kinda tracking some at home they're great. Everything sounds balanced allover the room, no sweet spot

what about extra pictures... like service schematics

Thanks for clarifying. It may be worth noting that the site guidelines suggest the alternate and should probably be changed. Specifically "Please make sure you are submitting the actual item, or the closest available item, used by the artist." should be "Please make sure you are submitting the actual item used by the artist." It would maybe push the use of the gear recommender tool and alternate options on the gear to be updated more than the artist pages.

Cheers!

the gear recommender is maybe 2 months old

I love mau5 for keeping it real. I think you two would be friends.

I didn't know that this mainstream EDM guy was as pissy as I am about the downside of the internet and computer recording for musicians where its despecialized everyone to the point where its amateur hour. I could see myself having a good chat with this guy over tapas and sangria or something

you know, I feel like people who don't want to learn from basic principles, tediously and laboriously how sound as 1s and 0s or gauss on magnetic dust turns into voltages that then drive a transducer and push air back at you are shortcut people. They think there's a fast route to everything and a formula. They also have this idea of a perfect mix, but there's no 1 perfect mix for even the same song. THere might be a number of great ways one could do it. Anything that puts it forward well is a valid proposition and they could be pretty different.

Lately I don't even do things the same way 2 days in a row. I'm so far from a formula for anything.... I'll listen to a mix project really carefully and get a feel for it and then if its weird like a lot of stuff from my clients tends to be? I open up by drawing an oblique strategy card and that's how I decide where and how to start or if I should be using a typical drums up process but consider looking for transitions or maybe think of the sections individually or whatnot, you let the random card determine your initial focus. Sometimes I draw 2 in a row and use both. Then I try to apply my technical skillset creatively and hope my interpretation of the music and the card(s) leads me in a direction that is good for the artist. I don't even wait to get stuck anymore, I know I won't, i can do something adequate in an hour.... I assume that and short circuit it right out of the gate. THis stops me from going "giant kick go boom!" or whatever.

Hacks only cause myopic thinking & a distorted view of your capabilities.

yeah, the hack is to make yourself listen to the whole thing intently and treat it sympathetically whether you liked it going in or not, right?

Honest question about how this site views adding gear to artists that they did not directly use, but the items are replicas of those items. For example almost anything for the Jimi Hendrix page. Current production Fuzz Faces from Dunlop/MXR and the many branded series of products are being flagged as "completely incorrect" even though these are new production of models he supposedly used. I thought this site is meant to be a resource not simply, "if it isn't the exact model and year then it's not right". Seems counter productive to the listed "contributor guidelines". What the communities thought here?

my opinion is that they are completely incorrect as stated but that you could find those new versions using the gear recommender tool and marking them up as "newer version" and "simialr sounding item" although some of those dunlop effects sound nothing like old ones. They don't sound bad for a guy looking to make his own sound and I encourage that attitude but if you're starting a hendrix tribute band then you might want to dig a bit deeper gear wise. Not to mention all the roger mayer claims and stuff....s eriously, hendrix is minefield enough without promoting dunlop's marketting propaganda.

Honest question about how this site views adding gear to artists that they did not directly use, but the items are replicas of those items. For example almost anything for the Jimi Hendrix page. Current production Fuzz Faces from Dunlop/MXR and the many branded series of products are being flagged as "completely incorrect" even though these are new production of models he supposedly used. I thought this site is meant to be a resource not simply, "if it isn't the exact model and year then it's not right". Seems counter productive to the listed "contributor guidelines". What the communities thought here?

my opinion is that they are completely incorrect as stated but that you could find those new versions using the gear recommender tool and marking them up as "newer version" and "simialr sounding item" although some of those dunlop effects sound nothing like old ones. They don't sound bad for a guy looking to make his own sound and I encourage that attitude but if you're starting a hendrix tribute band then you might want to dig a bit deeper gear wise. Not to mention all the roger mayer claims and stuff....s eriously, hendrix is minefield enough without promoting dunlop's marketting propaganda.

That's just one moderator's opinion, but I'm pretty detail oriented.

Yess! We need more artists from different countries.

there's a lot more international users than you think, particularly Spanish and Portuguese speakers but my Spanish is rusty as heck, mostly about finding the bathroom or staarbucks and otherwise based heavily on a couple years of latin that's also rusty... and I literally know ZERO Portuguese unless its something I overheard in a bosa nova tune and then i just know how to sing along and don't know what it means. Like people who get asian characters tattooed on them.... so if people would translate if they know some english that would be swell, I would read your reviews and be able to approve your sightings then. The odds I'm going to elarn another language properly at 41 are pretty low.

Good idea

and in parenthesis it could be like (leave more headroom, you're not a mastering lab)

this guy is really right and really hysterical, I feel like this ALL THE FUCKING TIME when [people get me to listen to stuff:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Bzu8xNp5X4

On the sub pharry, with the sub oscillator and the distortion or drive knob or whatever you can get all the classic bass tones of the model D Most of those are fairly unison so detuning on oscillator works and there's enough grit to get that overloading the filter thing. Sometimes too much of it.... but its not that fun to explore. I eman the model D isn't that fun either. I haven't been using my SE1 much lately. Maybe its just that I really want polyphony or insanity :-)

its pretty dirty and it removes mix options, its a sound you commit to and know it will be very forward. Its not on a stand either, is it not played because its in a case or is it in a case because I don't want to play it?! What came first, the spam or the rat? also in 2 oscillator synths it doesn't have the discovery angle of my arps, the odyssey does bread and butter, although not THAT bass, but its a fun discovering strange new textures synth in a way the subphatty just isn't. Its a nice isntrument but its a bit boring, I'm sure the sub37 or subsequent are more versatile but probably not odyssey versatile....

there's one: ARP odyssey

immediate discovery of cool new sounds, huge tuning range, FM, ring mod, 2 noise sources etc etc.... and a real player's delight in full size keys, heck I even like my son's mini key reissue to play. I just always feel so freeform and experimental on an odyssey. Its inspirational. And it just sounds so good too. Everyone should have one..... almost anything can do great bass. I've got tons of bass machines for traditional sounds, but nothing that makes me feel as exxcited as tweaking the odyssey while playing.

• Early Juno (but which ones exactly?)
• Korg Polysix
• Dave Smith Mopho x4
• Dave Smith Prophet '08
• Dave Smith Prophet REV2
• Korg Prologue
• Novation Peak (but no keyboard here)

early juno? like the 6, I specifically got a 6 over a 60 because of the fully variable high pass, I really care about having that shit. Who needs patch storage? the 60 is more moddable for midi, the 106 has midi but doesn't sound as sweet although tis really he sound of 90s techno over the 6 and 60. I still prefer the 6. Its prettier too. The alpha juno is way better than the 106 sonically and featurewise to my ear but the interface is no fun at all. In my heart I'm like 6. Juno 6. Just the 6 and nothing but the 6. Its the bees knees. I think I'll play it right now. Its a players, performance synth with a precise, twangy sound and the lushest stereo chorus.

Strike the x4 and '08 and replace them with the prophet 6 rev4 or the 6 and the ob6 I guess... unless you need small and want 2 sub oscillators the x4 is probably not worth seeking out and unless money is an issue the rev2 kills the 08 all day... if money's really no object you can't beat the VCO prophets with a stick and the ob6 is no slouch although tis doesn't sound that much like an obx to me, its more like the ob8 which is also good though, but less distinctly oberheimy, that was the turning point where the oberheim sound disappeared and was replaced by really good feature sets with a more generic sound.

I have a subphatty, I almost never play it. Its a beast though. The little phatty is cleaner but terrible interface... then you have the new ones like the subsequent and the little 25 key guy and they're in between. Honestly you could probably just get a minitaur if you just want bass.

I eman, what's the budget? do you want quantity or top shelf quality? Or variety? Or what? I shoot for a balance of quality, quantity and diversity. I also have a thing for getting synths my friends have had that I was jealous of.

does it need to be new? because in polysynths it doesn't get simpler than the early Juno family and the polysix. I have both, they're dead fast and both have a great sound. The easiest to patch polysynths ever. Not particularly versatile but they each have a really distinct sound and a broad use case scenario. I have both and I never regret them. When I think "what do i want to play?" I usually turn on the polysix first actually. Its syrupy thick, plays great....g et one with the kiwi midi retrofit that's hopefully also been serviced recently though ;-) Junos may be too much money, that market is crazy.

New stuff that's easy? I like all of dave smith's synth on a chip ones, I have a mopho x4 but the prophet 08 and rev2 are also great, easy to patch but can go deep if you want. The whole fmaily is a colelction of riffs on a single chip synth engine where each has a different feature set, everything pre prophet6/ob6 is related like this except the prophet12 and the evolver which are kissing cousins and maybe worth considering too as their pallettes are very broad. They have a very specific sound that's like a punchy DCO thing but NOT a juno/jx sound... I also love the korg prologue. I just used it 2 days ago for a friend who wanted me to play on something. It is the best new keybed in my view though I've not tried the new rev4 prophets or the moog one. The main VCO based synth engine is very simple and limited but if you want some more texture you have the user oscillator, look that one up. But the synth itself excells at oberheim OBx type sounds and can do some pretty good vangellis sounds in the CS80 camp. It has some voice modes that alow you to create really deep bass patches in mono that's endlessly useful. Good enough digital effects if you want to play into the effect. The midi and analog clock implementation is glitchy on the arpeggiator though. Its very disappointing, but the arpeggiator is very primitive anyway and not worth using. If you really care about the arpeggiator and stuff go sequential.

Nothing else I own is easy. Modal's argon is endlessly cool and inspiring but its not easy to grok. I actually had to brush up my math to understand the manual. Its like a dx7 or k5 level of complexity but they gave you a lot of knobs. You probably want to avoid that.

Then of course there's the peak/summit which can be easy, layut's a poly minimoog on the front panel basically....its the most versatile thing out there if you deep dive. Again I've discovered some little firmware glitches in the summit but its really tweaky little stuff like the prologue arpeggiator, I can't even remember what they are. i think peak is better worked out. It sounds great in a very distinctly novation way. It has a lot of sound design potential if you want it but you can also just make some regular old patches that sound good. You read my review. I find I use the summit very little and it hasn't paid for itself. Its great bt can be a major time suck as you get lost in the endless possibilities... even the simplest task can turn into a ridiculous sound experiment, not because tis hard but because its actually pretty intuitive even the menus. Its not conducive to getting stuff done quickly. I found the peak to be almost as versatile and a lot less distracting.

I really think with your parameters in mind the top choices at a reasonable price today are peak, prologue and the rev 2... now the prologue is keyboard only and the peak is no keyboard unless you double up to the summit and its expensive then, and the rev2 you lose some knob per function in a module.

if money's no object by a rev4 prophet 5 or 10 and have done with it. I want a 10 so bad I can taste it but wow, I would have to sell my summit and then dump more money in!

Dont worry, I was just testing the tool. It is very useful for people who know little about equipment

ah ha!

Exactly, I put “Studio Monitors” on Gear Recommendation. Suggestion: when people select “Studio Monitors” in Gear Recommendation, a message could appear “The studio monitor you need depends a lot on the treatment of your room” or something like that

I like that.... and we could also put a second sentence "stop mixing on headphones!"

I wish more non-english speakers would do this! I know that's very bigoted, but hey.

no no, you can only buy an old amplifier if you're a member of a secret organization of vintage amp guys, we run the whole market and we don't let just anyone buy one, even an undesirable japanese amp, you have to pass a test on basic electronics theory and also be willing to get an embarassing tattoo of a 12ax7 pinout diagram.... I'm joking of course.

yes, I would expect you could find one in, wait for it.... Tokyo

https://en.japantravel.com/tokyo/ochanomizu-guitar-street/4658

there's probably several around there at any given time

Japanese tube amp head that I think was meant for bass, not sure of the circuit but I believe its about 85 watts from four 6L6 power tubes with a bunch of 12ax7 preamp tubes. If I recall correctly there are 4 in total although one might be an AT7. I would guess based on their smaller amps that look like fenders that its a showman clone. I think it was meant to be mated with 15" speaker cabs that look really weird just like the head itself.

I don't know about the actual gear recommender code, but studio monitors are more space specific than artist specific.... is your room treated? Is it large? Is it boxy or rectangular? Are the ceilings high? Is it carpeted? Price range?

my suspicion on the gear recommender is that perhaps the artists you put in haven't been spotted with a specific set of speakers by the community, but I may be way off there.... @michael ?!

as far as a recommendation ic an give you one if you answer some of my questions.

I mean, I was just thinking how there's a good classic starting point on a lot of gear... from pricey studio gear to the lowly tubescreamer.... and anything that isn't a digital type interface in synth word will have a few classic patches you can recognize by eye, as juno guys we know this better than most.... it would be so cool if there were pictorial suggested settings on the gear pages.

long term every piece of equipment on this site should have a demo, a list of famous users and if applicable some classic settings and applications like 1176 on a snare at 8:1 with attack and release at 10 and 2 or 9 and noon

this is in fact an impossible task, but that's probably what the goal should be

its all context.... objectively the poly800 I guess but I liked it anyway despite it really being paraphonic and chintzy.... would I trade my polysix or 61 for another one? no, but it did some things they don't like a poor man's mono poly.... maybe the tx81z was worse it cna really sound harsh but again context, the thing is more than lately bass...

wait, the roland D20, that's the worst, what a piece of garbage! totally useless... I wouldn't pay $50 for one

I try to make a live pass I'm at peace with, the mix is the performance for a long session! I like to have a glass of wine and just record while I manipulate this stuff.... so you like the drums? I was worried. I mean some of the timbres are due to post manipulation I did, overloading line amps, whacking with 160s and 1176es.... sometimes the compression was secondary to the weight of the in and out line amps the mu samples respond interestingly to my outboard.....

EDIT: this is my second pass. the guys thought my first pass was too clean so I dialed back my converter returns and red lined everything, eectrical taped over my clip lights.... they were right, the upgraded power rails on my desk didn't collapse as I was worried they would. the double voltage caps provided ample transient response while I saturated my busses. Its also partially brauerized with 2 submixes into parallel compression busses.... bus A is a fast attack bus utilizing neve diode bridge compressors into pultecs boosted 4dB at 4000c/s and 2dB at 8k being hit with a boosted output from the unlinked compressors.... the sustain bus is bus C which is a pro vla mk1 at auto attack and 6 to 1 or so low threshold with a maxed return output for additional saturtion. B is split mono fx and D is lexicon reverb. Channels 15 and 16 are also reverb to C and master from a circuit bent digitech I performed as a 4th member ofthe band which they actually gave me as a gift in march to see what I would do with it! but anything might be routed to any bus at any time and not permanently.

right now I'm in a catch up phase with these guys who have over a years worth of stuff at an hour a week.... imagine that. As I catch up I'm going to address the drums fully with all this midi data.

emu or ensoniq late 90s machine, maybe an ASRX? not sure which one at the moment. I didn't do any drum replacement or anything like that I'm trying to get some of these ones with multitracked drums done before I have to do the ones with just recorded midi.... I'm not in love with a lot of the emu sounds floating around, but I have a backlog of work to do and if they don't specifically ask me to I'm just mixing. If you build in sound design you could spend your life doing these and die with some incomplete

I mixed this as a live continuous performance like they did it back in december.... no automation and only the tiniest piece of editing

https://soundcloud.com/user-498492965/trashgodz20201203jim2-limit/s-BOufjUdfmsK

I mean he was 99.... and I suspect there's a loose jaw bone on the floor of his bedroom from when he punched death in the face prior to going off with him.

I'm really surprised death got him. I expected him to live forever. I mean, he retired from public life and probably toned down his diet of rusty nails and dry martinis... but he was still an old school viking badass who really didn't seem like he was going to go without a fight.... or unless he was IN a fight. I feel like they should put him on his yacht in the north sea and set it ablaze with flaming arrows!