Newbie - have some questions

[Patrick 'Rhythm' Daniels]

Hello there, my name's Patrick, i own a small studio just south of london as well as playing drums in a folk quartet and i'm new to the board so please go gently with me. I've not read the magazine as i'm in the UK, but stumbled across this site a few days ago and thought i'd venture some queries. I've been wondering about some mics and pre amps i've been reading about on this board over the last couple of days.

Firstly, octavas.. i've tried the 319 and a pair of 012s and just found the sound really dark and terrible sounding. Fortunately, i was able to return them to the shop and purchase a pair of neumann km184s and a u89L instead. I in no way mean to offend, but wonder if this is due to the quality of my pre-amps (largely Avalon 2022s, of which i have four -meaning eight channels), is it that these mics are really for low-end rather than pro use, a stop gap to buying higher-end gear, for 'lo-fi' recordings and the like?

Secondly, i've seen a lot of talk of Sytek pre-amps (thanks in part to the rather handy search engine) and wondered again if these are rather low-end pieces of gear due to the price? I would like some further microphone preamps and my parents are rather helpful with cash-flow shall we say, so i was wondering if these might be worth a bash for a few things? Seeing as i have the avalons, do you think the sound quality might suffer in my recordings if i were to go for a cheap option alongside my superior models? Again, no offense intended, i of course accept that not everybody has such affluent parentage. I'd be very interested to hear your views.

Thanks chaps.

[joeysimms]

No offense intended, but why do they call you 'Rhythm'?

joey 'cockblock' simms

[Disposable]

Couldn't tell you, as the "low-end" gear you speak of...
Is probably 10 times more "high-end" than what I use.

[sonikbliss]

(thanks in part to the rather handy search engine)

Ahh, newbies. So young and so innocent.

sonik 'word to yo mama' bliss

[sonikbliss]

Seriously though, just saying you're looking for some mics and pres is pretty vague. If you specify for what purpose and style of music you need this gear for it would go a longs ways toward answering your questions. The oktava mc012's are commonly used for OH's and tom's and various other instruments by many of the people hear who get great results with them.

[Patrick 'Rhythm' Daniels]

Thanks for the quick replies, though i'm very eager to read some answers to my questions if that's not too forward.

Disposable, i feel for you, really i do. Before i approached my parents for additional funding i found it rather difficult to buy more than one fair sounding microphone a month. Terribly difficult times as i'm sure you're aware.

The 'Rhythm' moniker is used in our group 'The Swallows' (a name that we chose to evoke the countryside as we endevour to play in the style of traditional folk music but with original material), and we all have such names. The guitar player is Charles 'Fingers' Morton for instance. I'll post some of our music in the MP3s section once we've mixed down our recent work, i have no doubts some of you may be very interested.

What an exciting message board! Glad to be here!

[mechanic]

Hey Patrick,

Do me a favor and let your parents know I'm up for adoption.


Only one mic a month; Horrible!
These things always seem to happen to the nicest people.

[Disposable]

I'm not complaining...
I have no aspirations to be a top engineer or any of that.

Buy a good mic per month?
I'm still waiting to buy one good mic...

[Patrick 'Rhythm' Daniels]

My apologies Sonikbliss, it seems that i were typing my response while you put forward your secondary comments.

The music recorded at my studio is often folk-related as none of my circle are particularly fond of brash music such as rock and dance. I attempted to use the 012s as overheads but found little of interest upon playback to be quite honest. I prefer a cleaner, crisper sound to my recordings as this surely produces a far more professional quality. Is this darker, thicker and muddier sound a trend at the moment? I am very happy with my avalons and would rather not 'slum it' as father puts it, but if these Sytek jobbies are half what the Avalons are then perhaps i could use them for things that will appear lower in the mix.

To be honest i've had rather a lot of money from my parents of late and i'd rather tell them i have found a bargain rather than just purchase more Avalon pre-amplifiers.

Thanks everybody for your kind responses.

[Patrick 'Rhythm' Daniels]

Golly, more replies! Very humourous Mechanic! Father will laugh aloud!

[trodden]

Thank your mom for her kind response last night.

Trodden "UTFSF" Metalhippyscum.

[cgarges]

Patrick,

Don't get wrapped up in whether something is "pro" or "consumer." I prefer to think in terms of "useful to me or not." I happen to like the MC012s and I wasn't knocked out by the 319. I also wasn't knocked out by the Blue Bottle (a gorgeous smic, but a little too gorgeous and when there's one around, I don't use it very much). I like the Syteks. I'm not nuts about Neve 1272s. It's all about whatever you can try out and find useful or not. There's a search engine at the top of this page that can keep you occupied for HOURS (if not days or weeks) and can help you determine what people are into. There are lots of verying opinions and if you read enough posts, you'll see where certain people are coming from. This can really help out in terms of making decisions about what gear you might want to check out, but ultimately, the decision is up to you and can only be made after you've had your own hands on a piece of gear under your ideal circumstances.

Good luck!

Chris Garges
Charlotte, NC

[sonikbliss]

if you've got money to burn i would check out some of the vintech stuff. http://www.vintech-audio.com/ They are based on some classic Neve preamps and have a very nice warm sound. Or something from API http://www.apiaudio.com/all_bycat.html Nothing like agood lunchbox. Father would be proud.

[No Wave Casio Kitsch]

Before i approached my parents for additional funding i found it rather difficult to buy more than one fair sounding microphone a month. Terribly difficult times as i'm sure you're aware.

Gosh, how extraordinarily awful that must have been for you!

No Wave "Behringer NOT UREI NEVE AMEK TRIDENT API TELEFUNKEN" Casio Kitsch

[trodden]

Gosh, how extraordinarily awful that must have been for you!

No Wave "Behringer NOT UREI NEVE AMEK TRIDENT API TELEFUNKEN" Casio Kitsch

Nice one i rate it a 10