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DontLetMeDrown

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  1. Not to mention they made it mono! Haha. Pretty funny. I haven't heard the remix. Does it sounds more modern? I can't help but wonder why they even bothered.
  2. Why are you saying "YOU GUYS"? Bear is the only one who has given a negative comment.
  3. Lots of the "crabs in a bucket" syndrome here. Lots? It's one guy.
  4. Despite the fact that I'm curious about what the results will be, I think I'd rather debate with Creationists all day than read through all that! I'm with you. That's why I've kept out of it. I guess I feel like I've already got the answers having used the aroura for about 4 months now. I just make music now and don't even worry about quality anymore.
  5. I guess recording is pretty easy if you compare it to building bridges with your bare hands. I expected the audio file to be atrocious after reading Bear's comments, but that recording is actually better than some of my early recordings. I agree that it is not amazing, but a lot of musicians don't require the best recording ever-- especially guys who are all about just having a fun time.
  6. Lol, I forgot about this thread. I finally upgraded from my Firepods to a TC Electronic interface. Holy {censored} does my D/A sound better! You'd have to be deaf not to hear the difference. No way Dan. According to Ethan, you couldn't possibly know that unless you've done a 100% scientific test. Some of you may be interested in the results of this thread: http://www.gearslutz.com/board/so-much-gear-so-little-time/395087-kenny-gioia-ethan-winer-test-converters.html
  7. Hey that reminds me, the most successful project I've ever worked on was recorded and mixed using a Firepod. It has been played (and is still played) on many radio stations and it was recorded four years ago. Definitely not my finest mix, but it's the one I'm most proud of. Most importantly, it shows that the song matters a lot more than anything else. I've had people ask me what I did to get that sound to which I reply, "I didn't know what the hell I was doing."
  8. whenever i receive unsolicited advice from music recording 'professionals', i ask them: "So what famous/hit/influential/killer-sounding records have YOU produced in your lifetime? Really, I'd love to learn from a pro." no offense, but if your oeuvre consists of radio ads for the duty-free shop, YOU'RE the one in need of advice. Haha. I admire your spirit, but you might not get far with that attitude. What if the stuff they worked on just isn't a hit yet? I wouldn't be able to pay my bills today if I had told everyone who gave me bad advice to "F off!" Some of the "professionals" that have shared PRICELESS info have also given me some "wtf?!?" moments. I find it's best to just keep my mouth shut while continuing to absorb the good nuggets of info. Maybe I should have done that in the thread with Ethan Winter:idea:
  9. Also about the triangle files, I don't care if I can see which is which, I was just curious if it would yield more audible differences to everyone who heard the other files. Mostly because I heard a huge difference in the drum performances I would capture after I did my upgrade. If you don't mind uploading I'd be interested in hearing them. BTW, I know it's Saturday and if you don't feel like doing that I completely understand.
  10. Alright, I'm not so good with this copy and paste stuff, but here goes... Email me from my site www.ethanwiner.com and send me a couple of short clips, maybe 30 seconds each, of your two tunes at 44/16. This is infinitely better than anything one could download from MySpace. Then I'll record both clips through my Delta 66 and my SoundBlaster, and post all six files. It's not quite as telling as recording a triangle at the cusp of overload, but it's still quite useful. If an entire complex mix can survive unscathed, that pretty well proves transparency. In fact, I could also take those clips over to my friend's house and run it through some of his high-end converters. I'm pretty sure he has at least a few other boutique brands beside the Apogee, and they're newer too. He's an hour away so it won't be tomorrow, but I could record your tune fragments through my two converters tomorrow. I also have the FireBOX I mentioned, and could do that too. It's not a Firepod, but it's the same family. Ok. I want to help, but I just have to make sure the artist is cool with it. Most of my clients sell their music and it's not really mine to give out. Also, I'm not very interested in how a 2 bus mix is affected since that has nothing to do with my workflow whatsoever. I just don't do that kind of work, so the information kinda has no practical use for me. I care less about accuracy and more about things just sounding good. I'm more interested in hearing a/b's from instruments that have decay--cymbals, snares, percussive instruments-- not just close mic'd sources.
  11. Ok, I think the forums are being screwey today. One of my posts apparently never made it and I'm seeing a post from Ethan that I didn't see earlier. Ethan, my criticism about the guitar was directed at the instrument in general, not about your playing or anything like that. Yes, I think a triangle is a much better instrument to use when we're comparing converters. I'd love to hear it. Room mics are the best way to go IMO. Let me hear how the converter picks up the sound bouncing around that room. I'm down to create some samples. The problem is that I've only got one computer. Firepod is FW and Aroura is PCI, but I've never tried installing both drivers at the same time. I'm thinking it would probably be better for someone else to do this since my place picks up a lot of noise from the outside world. I record mostly hard rock bands so it doesn't slow me down, but for a scientific test, maybe it's not the best place. In the meantime, I see that some of my Aroura mixes are now online. You can hear them here: http://www.myspace.com/graveslutmusic Maybe not everyone's cup of tea, but I recorded and mixed the first 3 songs using the Aroura. Check out "No Remorse" or "Lacerations". The cymbals (even their decay) survived the myspace rape process better than anything I've done so far. Usually it sounds like a bunch of loose change bouncing around, now it just sounds like lo-fi cymbals.
  12. What I'd love to see are correctly-performed experiments that show the opposite. In other words, if Ethan's results suggest that there is little difference between converters on some sources, I'd like to see experiments showing that a large percentage of people can identify the difference on other sources. Yes, me too. Does anyone have the ability to perform the test I mentioned? I have the Firepods and the Aroura, but I only own one computer and I don't have the tools to do a proper mult. Kenny Giola did a test on Gearslutz using a Digi192 and an Aroura 16, but it used two different performances. Not so scientific but the results were pretty audible-- I really don't think the drummer's performance nuances accounted for all of the stuff I was hearing. Also, like another poster said- A/D is only half of the equation. The best thing about my new conveters is the D/A. It allows you to make better decisions when you are working on a mix. Mixing is like 1000 (or more) tiny decisions and I feel like the improved D/A helps me make each decision a little better. BTW, all of the samples currently on my website are pre 2009 and use Firepod conversion (except for the 1st track which is Digi192). I will have some Aroura samples up in the next week. The main difference I hear in my mixes done with better D/A is that the cymbals and snare drum sound more "right" and the guitars are easier to carve.:poke:
  13. Alright, so I finally got a chance to listen to Ethan's files. As soon as the first one started rolling, I couldn't help but facepalm. One thing I learned from my recent upgrade is that there are two sources that aren't very susceptible to cheap conversion: vocals, and (you guessed it) close-mic'd acoustic guitar. Matter of fact, when I did my upgrade, I was working on an album where I had already finished recording everything except vocals using the Firepod conversion. I did record vocals for 2 songs with the firepod, but the remaining 12, I used the Aroura. When it was all said and done, nobody could ever guess which 2 songs had their vocals recorded with the Firepod. I feel like this really is the weakest example you could give to argue this point. on the flip side... Drums and Bass guitar are two of the most difficult sources to record and they are VERY susceptible to the effects of poor conversion. May I suggest a recipe for your next test? Setup a snare drum with a close mic on it. Now setup a room mic pointed at the wall. Have someone start hitting the snare and move the room mic around until it is in phase with the other mic. Now record THAT to both converters and let's hear the difference. My point here is that cheap converters will capture less of the decay and low frequency content-- two very important elements of a good drum sound. If the example you've given is what's forming your opinion on this subject, then you are really doing yourself a disservice. Who knows, if all you will ever need to record is vocals and AC GTR, then you will probably be fine with any converters, but for most people that is not realistic. I certainly can't speculate which converter is which since I have never used either one before. Obviously for a single close mic'd guitar, the results are very close. However, I seriously doubt that a person that's in the market to purchase an AD16x is planning to record only acoustic guitar. Also Ethan, you keep metioning bias, but what about YOUR bias? It seems that your main argument is the almighty dollar. I think that is my biggest beef (that and the fact that you spam these boards EVERY SINGLE DAY). For instance, when you posted the files you metioned that one converter is $25 and the other is $6k. Is that not a direct injection of bias? BTW, I'm not aware of any gear from Apogee that sells for $6k. Like I said in the other thread, for the kind of music you record, it certainly wouldn't make sense to drop a lot of cash on converters. Obviously your drum loops and DI Pod guitars aren't going to benefit much. Things are much different when it's your job to record other people. I think it is irresponsible for you to preach your methods as absolute gospel simply because it's what makes sense for YOU.
  14. Ethan If you consider good enough to be good enough for what you do its absolutely fine with me. Some of us can actually hear the differences between live amd memorex quite distinctly will continue to strive for perfection. I dont know if the cost justifies some of the high end stuff. The prices on some stuff for what you're getting is a joke when you break things down to its parts, but its a small industry without a whole lot of competition. I know if I were rich I'd own the high end stuff but I opted to own real estate. I consider that Placebo thing you talk about to apply more to pot heads and amatures who really dont know what they're hearing or what they;re doing to begin with and does not apply to pros who have spent a lifetime doing this. Many who have a full background in audio including electronics degrees years do know the difference. Asking us to not notice its there is pretty rediculous. For those of us who know how it influences an entire composition know its the sum of the parts not the percentage of a single part that drives us to inprove our equipment in order to obtain higher transparency of the music we work with. In the mean time we deal with it best we can with it and use all the tricks in the box to work or around many different shortcomings. I agree completely.
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