Where are your Limitations?

[kslight]

My day Job.

I have to agree with that. Here's my feedback loop:

If I didn't have a day job, I'd have the time to be able to replicate my income by engineering. But because I spend my income from my day job on bills, I don't have adequate equipment to do what I want to do. I can freelance in another person's studio, but I can't make any money off it because they don't really want to work deals with outside engineers (and have much more fancy gear than I really need). I might be able to find an internship, but I can't give up my day job to devote my whole life for a no pay job.


That's going to change this year...getting my tax refund on Friday, paying off the last of my credit cards, and I already set my direct deposit at work to shave off the "credit card bill" cash into a separate account so I can save.

Then my limitation will be the room...or lack thereof. So instead I'll be hunting down decent rooms to rent.

I think back to the threshold of a 52-input SSL like we had at Master Control. Tracking/Mixing sessions with 24-busses, 6 headphone mixes, etc. went smoothly. Lovely outboard gear like a Neve Sidecar, a rack of Trident A-range modules and a plethora of API and Pultec gear made things sound really good. We had ample supply of pretty much every kind of mic you could imagine.

In doing this now under different circumstances, the main bottle-neck for me is with computer power. Short of a full-blown HD system or some alternate program, what's the answer?

I've been there (on a 52 in SSL, not Master Control) and it just has always seemed to really push my needs quite a bit. I'd hit many many walls before I'd ever think that my lack of that kind of board is my limitation

As far as computer power goes...have you looked at "other" hardware accelerated options?

[solo-bration]

This whole 'only 24 hours in a day' bs.

Oh, and CPU.

[@?,*???&?]

Oh, and CPU.

This is crucial.

At some point in the future we will finally get to the point that we won't have to audiosuite tracks or print effects and be able to work in an insert environment like you'd have on a console.

We'd be able to actually replicate instances of signal flow that we aren't capable of doing now- at least not in the numbers we'd like to.

Anyone who has stood in front of a rats-nest patchbay, chock full of TT connectors knows what I'm talking about.

For you HD system users out there, how often do you max out your systems during a mix?

Also, why is a Quad Mac Pro faster than the Octo Mac Pro?

[trodden]

My day Job.

I have to agree with that. Here's my feedback loop:

If I didn't have a day job, I'd have the time to be able to replicate my income by engineering. But because I spend my income from my day job on bills, I don't have adequate equipment to do what I want to do. I can freelance in another person's studio, but I can't make any money off it because they don't really want to work deals with outside engineers (and have much more fancy gear than I really need). I might be able to find an internship, but I can't give up my day job to devote my whole life for a no pay job.


That's going to change this year...getting my tax refund on Friday, paying off the last of my credit cards, and I already set my direct deposit at work to shave off the "credit card bill" cash into a separate account so I can save.

I hear you loud and F'ing clear. I had a similiar feedback loop for awhile.. now i'm just broke as fuck, working odd jobs, and interning..

Tax return, saving my ass.. wanted to use it on my credit card bills (which are my dental/health insurance plans...) but in the middle of building a new room.. and green glue, redco/cable/patchbay orders, and rigid fiberglass add up along with other building materials.... kinda wanted to have my ai-3 finally BLA modded...

[rocky]

I'm running HD3. I'm maxing out on almost every mix.
I can remember switching over from a mix+ system and thinking "I'm never going to use all these tracks/plug ins" but I do and I wish I had more. But if I got more, I'd probably want more again.

The biggest studio limitations that I've become aware of from clients lately have been a toaster and a rack tuner.

Personally, I think that better headphone mixes, more ins, a few more outboard pres, comps & eqs, a better console, a few new microphones, would really improve what I could do for the artists in my studio.

I don't think there'll ever be a day when I don't feel I have limitations, either in set up or ability.

[aitikin]

Also, why is a Quad Mac Pro faster than the Octo Mac Pro?

Depends, but generally it's because coders haven't really made the software for it to utilizes those extra cores properly. That and the 2009-current Mac Pros are bad for audio...

http://arstechnica.com/apple/news/2010/ ... -audio.ars

Of course, there's plenty of other reasons possible...

[chris harris]

Jesus!!! Why are you guys having to use so many plugins?? Is this just for mixing songs tracked elsewhere? Or are you maxing out the CPU on songs you've tracked too? I like using and abusing cool processors as much as the next guy. But at some point, you're "creating" a sound more than capturing and mixing sounds. And, at some point, you're doing more harm than good & banging your head against a wall.

To solve the CPU problem, track better sounds, incorporate some UAD cards and a few select pieces of outboard and never worry about CPU again. I'm in the shitty position of having to upgrade a G5 that's plenty fast enough, just so I can get pci-e slots and an intel processor that will allow me to stay on top of software updates.

[@?,*???&?]

I'm in the shitty position of having to upgrade a G5 that's plenty fast enough, just so I can get pci-e slots and an intel processor that will allow me to stay on top of software updates.

Ah yes, that Intel thing...damn those guys.

[route-electrique]

Day job, my company and ability to play only two instruments.

[Jess P]

I think all my problems would be solved if I knew how to play drums.

[MoreSpaceEcho]

that would just open up a whole world of new problems for you. like trying to play a convincing shuffle.

[nortstudio]

I find myself wishing I had a better headphone distro system. When I bought the furman I currently use, it was $550 for brain and 4 boxes. The next step up is over $3000! Ugh.

But man, it would be awesome to have a few more inputs...and a little less "can I get more...."

[suppositron]

My budget.

[trodden]

I find myself wishing I had a better headphone distro system. When I bought the furman I currently use, it was $550 for brain and 4 boxes. The next step up is over $3000! Ugh.

But man, it would be awesome to have a few more inputs...and a little less "can I get more...."

woah, not happy with the furman? It does give individuals options for creating their own mix right? I"m sure its limited, but there is some flexibility though right? a main mix plus four other input options?

At my place, everyone gets the same mix, but most of the time everyone is in the same room together.. and we work it out so everyone can get with it..

[Jess P]

that would just open up a whole world of new problems for you. like trying to play a convincing shuffle.

I can't even imagine a situation where I would need to play a convincing shuffle...