diy guy

if thats your biggest problem, your doing alright. you could do something like download the free tapehead plugin from Massey and eff up the drums a bit, or put some grit in the vocal.

while i must say im continually impressed with the sound of the firestudio, everyone is right to say the drivers suck. nowhere near as stable as the firepod. random crashes when cpu gets intense, and problems with my daw recognizing it if i fire it up with the daw already open, unlike firepod. though i gotta say i only paid 350 for the firestudio, while the ff800 is what, nearly 2000. for that price......i dunno, tough call, especially if you upgraded pres for the firestudio.

+1

im not very good at hearing phase problems- what should I listen for, and how do you go about fixing them? could also have something to do with a mastering plug i was using- a stereo spreader. maybe i should take that off?

i'd say from your description, yours is busted, but i also wouldnt hesitate trading it for the fireface. that things sweet.

heres just a short little clip from one verse in a song im working on. preamp was the firestudio, mic was oktavamod 219. i used to have big problems with vocals on the firepod and always had to resort to drastic processing. while ive definitely gotten better vocal sounds with my rnp, its power source went missing so i thought i'd try it out. its passable yeah?

whereas i thought vocals through the firepod were unusable, ive found with a bit of tweaking and layering, i've gotten useable sounds with the firestudio. nothing that would trump my RNP, but this is definitely a step in the right direction. nice job presonus.

i wish i could point you to where i read exactly why tape sounds warmer. it has to do with the fact that its actually being distorted and compressed by the tape.

do you have an enveloper?

i double mic the guitar cab, then pan my two mics hard left and hard right (preferably different mics so they pic up the sound differently and make it sound spacey). it can work for the right song.

myspace.com/teamworkmammal i'd love some critiques for the song Masquerade. mixing, mastering, production etc. specifically, getting the vocals to 'sit' better over the instruments. thanks!

if you want to do it right, your going to need some professional monitoring speakers, otherwise you wont be able to hear what you have to do to make improvements. some things to think about after you do get monitors are, e.q. on nearly every track, and light compression on nearly every track. once you get logic pro, study logic pro's presets. they will automatically give you track presets for almost any occasion and instrument. they'll even give you mastering presets, but they only go so far. you'll definetely need a book to be able to master (which im sure someone here will recommend for you) but most people will tell you not to even try, a.) because you're room isn't tuned right and b.) because for proper mastering equipment your going to need to mortgage your house. if i were you i would go to the bookstore and buy some books on home recording.