Cheap hardware additions that helped your work.

ooh, i could definitely use a mixer like that

 

as much as i hate behringer stuff

thing's cheap as all get-out

I grabbed an old (probably late 90s) Rolls RM203 line mixer off ebay cheap a couple years ago and these days that's all I mix on half the time. Do all my tone shaping in the synths, and then master in the computer, but sum everything live to stereo through the Rolls. Since I'm going for a kind of "soundtrack to a straight to video B movie" vibe most of the time anyway, it's perfect.

Not sure if this is 'cheap' or not, but ive just had a SSL G4000 clone made for me and it sounds the business for the cost.

 

£400.

 

(had my old compressor borrowed and then stolen from me! how nasty, took me a while to save to get another because i needed synths and desk and stuff)

 

 

 

wow, good hardware compression sounds nice

Edited August 7, 2015 by lala

  On 8/7/2015 at 6:09 PM, lala said:

Not sure if this is 'cheap' or not, but ive just had a SSL G4000 clone made for me and it sounds the business for the cost.

 

£400.

 

(had my old compressor borrowed and then stolen from me! how nasty, took me a while to save to get another because i needed synths and desk and stuff)

 

 

 

wow, good hardware compression sounds nice

 

That rules. This and a stereo pair of Pultec EQ clones are on my long list of stuff I want to build some day but probably won't have the time, skills or budget for.

Also forgot about this thing:

 

This thing is incredibly useful for eliminating ground loops that you can't get rid of and for noise reduction. It's also useful for eliminating some of the hiss in casettes.

For certain kinds of sounds, I've had a lot of luck using a DBX117 compander with the brick wall upward compression mod. You need to manually ride the ratio control to keep the line noise from getting pushed up during silent passages but it has a really unique sound, especially on drums. I don't know what the Internet prices are on them these days, but I paid $10usd for mine and use it constantly.

 

Another cheap harware trick is to pull the octal microphone transformers out of older PA mixers (depending on where you are these ca be hard to find or can be regular thrift shop junk) and use them as passive DI. Even the lower end stuff sound fantastic, and it's much cheaper than buying a good active DI that doesn't perform as well. The DuKane transformers I'e been using range from free to maybe $25 a channel if you have to resort to eBay and they sound great.

Edited August 7, 2015 by RSP

nice lala. Having a really nice pre really does put the quality of your work up a good notch I feel.

 

I have a rehoused Compander and have suspected it could be same as the dbx. Not sure, the person who I think made it or tinkered with is is no longer around. I did a favour for a mate who inherited it when buying a studio so I ended up with a few rack pieces that were not being used.

It does not work fully as an expander as it noisy as hell but the compressor works fine and works as a great distortion unit because it's faulty.

This thread reminded me that my main and only guitar now is a late 80's Japanese made Fernandes solid body electric guitar, that I got for ~$10 used. Good deal man...

fuck yes peace. fernadez are great guits.

I got my main guit for £190 about 18 years ago. Took me a while to find info on it. turns out it's from the same year I was born.

Yamaha SG. The les paul killer.

Jap guits are ace.

  On 8/7/2015 at 10:38 PM, Chesney said:

fuck yes peace. fernadez are great guits.

I got my main guit for £190 about 18 years ago. Took me a while to find info on it. turns out it's from the same year I was born.

Yamaha SG. The les paul killer.

Jap guits are ace.

 

Hell yes, 70s Yamaha and Ibanez are so nice!

 

I like those Digitech BadMonkey pedals for dirtying up monosynths, too. ACtually, I've gotten some ugly (in a good way) sounds by using he DI output into a guitar amp, too. Somewhere between the impedence mismatch and the chea speaker simulation you get a cool midrangey thing that kind of sounds like an old PA horn speaker.

  On 8/7/2015 at 9:56 PM, Entorwellian said:

Also forgot about this thing:

 

This thing is incredibly useful for eliminating ground loops that you can't get rid of and for noise reduction. It's also useful for eliminating some of the hiss in casettes.

Ah, I really need to get one of these. Currently my solution is to run offending gear through a double adaptor with the earth pin broken off, that can't be ideal.

  On 8/8/2015 at 6:28 AM, modey said:

 

  On 8/7/2015 at 9:56 PM, Entorwellian said:

Also forgot about this thing:

 

This thing is incredibly useful for eliminating ground loops that you can't get rid of and for noise reduction. It's also useful for eliminating some of the hiss in casettes.

Ah, I really need to get one of these. Currently my solution is to run offending gear through a double adaptor with the earth pin broken off, that can't be ideal.

 

A fire hazard for sure, but your method is 100x more IDM. :)

It's actually gotten a lot better since I removed the old Boss mixer from my setup; that thing seemed to be the main cause of ground loop noise. Great mixer though, probably as old as I am and still working even though the faders and pots are a bit scratchy!

For ground loop / hum problems, easy solution might be to attach offending gear to your body with a wire. Granted if your building's wire is fucked you could die, but you'll prolly be okay.

  On 8/8/2015 at 9:02 AM, peace 7 said:

For ground loop / hum problems, easy solution might be to attach offending gear to your body with a wire. Granted if your building's wire is fucked you could die, but you'll prolly be okay.

lol yeah, I've been keeping a finger on my mixer when recording.

ground loops are IDM

I used to have a vst eq called electri-q that had both 50 and 60hz ground loop presets, including overtones. That was pretty effective.

  On 8/7/2015 at 8:59 PM, RSP said:

 

  On 8/7/2015 at 6:09 PM, lala said:

Not sure if this is 'cheap' or not, but ive just had a SSL G4000 clone made for me and it sounds the business for the cost.

 

£400.

 

(had my old compressor borrowed and then stolen from me! how nasty, took me a while to save to get another because i needed synths and desk and stuff)

 

 

 

wow, good hardware compression sounds nice

 

That rules. This and a stereo pair of Pultec EQ clones are on my long list of stuff I want to build some day but probably won't have the time, skills or budget for.

 

 

Snap! i was thinking someone might make a massive passive clone, that was my exact next thought. apparently they are really hard to make... :/ Do you know anyone that would build a stereo unit?

 

 

 

  On 8/7/2015 at 10:18 PM, Chesney said:

nice lala. Having a really nice pre really does put the quality of your work up a good notch I feel.

 

 

 

The makeup gain on it adds some really nice treble back into the mix, and does that thing where the bass distorts the top end, but in a nice way.

 

 

Still a lot of a way to go to getting results like some artists i know, but another step closer. :) - oh the only downer with it is that it squashes the stereo field a wee bit due to it being perma-linked. not too much of a problem as i wanted it for drum and bass glue power

  On 8/11/2015 at 8:20 PM, lala said:

 

  On 8/7/2015 at 8:59 PM, RSP said:

 

That rules. This and a stereo pair of Pultec EQ clones are on my long list of stuff I want to build some day but probably won't have the time, skills or budget for.

 

 

Snap! i was thinking someone might make a massive passive clone, that was my exact next thought. apparently they are really hard to make... :/ Do you know anyone that would build a stereo unit?

 

 

I don't know much about what's out there already, to be honest, since it's all well out of my budget anyhow. If I end up trying a build I'll probably just do the Gyraf Audio version, since even a kit is really expensive but IIRC the Gyraf can be made for under $400 not incuding the chassis:

 

http://www.gyraf.dk/gy_pd/pultec/pultec.htm

 

I've built a couple of tube amps (well, more like 1 9/10 tube amps - the second one has been sitting almost-done in a box since the last time I moved) and I don't think a Pultec would be much harder than that, if at all. The trouble is when you get into the tube world parts are expensive and volatages are dangerous, and I may be decent at putting stuff toegether but I don't actually know much about electronics at all, so if I mess something up it's not that easy for me to figure out what went wrong.

  On 8/11/2015 at 8:20 PM, lala said:

 

Still a lot of a way to go to getting results like some artists i know, but another step closer. :) - oh the only downer with it is that it squashes the stereo field a wee bit due to it being perma-linked. not too much of a problem as i wanted it for drum and bass glue power

 

 

Yeah, in the box stuff will always sound wider I guess because everything is so much narrower and has more room. I prefer the full "glue" sound personally like an old album that sounds unachievable to replicate. It's all taste though.

  On 8/12/2015 at 1:42 AM, RSP said:

 

  On 8/11/2015 at 8:20 PM, lala said:

 

  On 8/7/2015 at 8:59 PM, RSP said:

 

That rules. This and a stereo pair of Pultec EQ clones are on my long list of stuff I want to build some day but probably won't have the time, skills or budget for.

 

 

Snap! i was thinking someone might make a massive passive clone, that was my exact next thought. apparently they are really hard to make... :/ Do you know anyone that would build a stereo unit?

 

 

I don't know much about what's out there already, to be honest, since it's all well out of my budget anyhow. If I end up trying a build I'll probably just do the Gyraf Audio version, since even a kit is really expensive but IIRC the Gyraf can be made for under $400 not incuding the chassis:

 

http://www.gyraf.dk/gy_pd/pultec/pultec.htm

 

I've built a couple of tube amps (well, more like 1 9/10 tube amps - the second one has been sitting almost-done in a box since the last time I moved) and I don't think a Pultec would be much harder than that, if at all. The trouble is when you get into the tube world parts are expensive and volatages are dangerous, and I may be decent at putting stuff toegether but I don't actually know much about electronics at all, so if I mess something up it's not that easy for me to figure out what went wrong.

 

 

im not a very good DIYer with simple modular stuff. No way am i going near DC. If you ever decide to build any, i'd love a stereo EQ :)

 

  On 8/12/2015 at 10:36 AM, Chesney said:

 

  On 8/11/2015 at 8:20 PM, lala said:

 

Still a lot of a way to go to getting results like some artists i know, but another step closer. :) - oh the only downer with it is that it squashes the stereo field a wee bit due to it being perma-linked. not too much of a problem as i wanted it for drum and bass glue power

 

 

Yeah, in the box stuff will always sound wider I guess because everything is so much narrower and has more room. I prefer the full "glue" sound personally like an old album that sounds unachievable to replicate. It's all taste though.

 

 

im hoping that my current chain will make some badass samples (already getting great snares before the SSL) then im going all old school with the samplers. ive got akai, emu, roland, elektron. I hope the roland works it had coke spilled in it years ago and it goes crazy sometimes..

 

and im paying for some drumming theory lessons from my mate, as that area im lacking in

  On 8/12/2015 at 10:51 AM, lala said:

 

 

im not a very good DIYer with simple modular stuff. No way am i going near DC. If you ever decide to build any, i'd love a stereo EQ :)

 

 

I wouldn't bet on it happening any time soon, but if you're ever looking for a guitar (or a guitar-like instrument) I've been making those recently and I'm starting to get pretty decent at it.

Edited August 13, 2015 by RSP

Damn that looks great RSP. What's that fancy mechanism at the bottom end?

  On 8/13/2015 at 1:58 PM, th555 said:

Damn that looks great RSP. What's that fancy mechanism at the bottom end?

 

Thanks! It's only my second electric, and the acoustic I made before them was done in somebody else's workshop with a much better selection of tools - I hardly use any power tools at home, they're just too loud and messy and expensive and bulky for a living room. This one came out a lot better than the first one, and the pickups are my first try at making my own, so it's pretty satisfying that it sounds better than the Gibson it was designed to replace.

 

 

Thatmechanism is a vibrato. I was planning to put a regular Bigsby B7 on it since even though those were designed for thicker guitars I've seen them on Gibson SG's before (which is about how thick the one I made is at the edge); turns out even though you CAN do it, it doesn't really work very well so I sold it and bought a Deusenberg (basically the same thing but can fit thinner guitars no problem), seems OK so far.

Edited August 13, 2015 by RSP

That looks lovely RSP! I've thought about getting into making stringed instruments, but considering I have 10 guitars already, it probably wouldn't be a good idea..