The road to audio hell is paved with good intentions...

jon_010101 · « **on:** 12 Apr 2006, 02:17 am »

Mostly a rant/ramble...

I offered to record for a friend's band, because it gave me an excuse to buy some new toys. I purchased a Mackie Onyx 1220 mixer with a firewire interface, some CAD M179 multi-pattern large-condenser mics, and some Shure SM57 dynamic mics, and recorded some nice tracks. Good times.

Well... I Decided to do the final mix on my stereo... big mistake. That darn mixer with it's fancy new firewire interface ... sounds 100% better than my CD player, even when playing back MP3's!

Not only that, the headphone output is insane! I couldn't believe it... I'd be shocked if a $529 "audiophile" firewire DAC + headphone amp could sound as good as this darn mixer does. What was more stunning was hearing the raw 24bit/96kHz files (!!!). I had no idea what I was missing.

So, now, it's over. My CD player is officially unlistenable to me (unless I can un-learn the sound of a modern DAC, and of raw 24/96 digital). Now, I'm afraid that if I spend any more time with pro audio gear, I risk ending up with a solid state rig ... In any case, this is very dangerous territory.

The wise audiophiles will avoid playing with pro-audio gear. Looks like I'll be buying a Benchmark DAC soon...

Russell Dawkins · « **Reply #1 on:** 12 Apr 2006, 02:31 am »

you might well have a look at the Lavry, while you're at it!

http://www.lavryengineering.com/index_html.html

more versatile, not so pretty, has stere/mono and polarity invert and sound quality is in the same ballpark.

jon_010101 · « **Reply #2 on:** 12 Apr 2006, 02:59 am »

Quote from: Russell Dawkins

you might well have a look at the Lavry, while you're at it!

http://www.lavryengineering.com/index_html.html

more versatile, not so pretty, has stere/mono and polarity invert and sound quality is in the same ballpark.

Oh No! Things get more difficult! I was hoping not to have to actually *choose* a DAC and just buy a Benchmark by default

In any case though, that Lavry is pretty neat...

Edit: Wow, from what I'm reading, the Lavry may be a good step up from the Benchmark! And the polarity switch would be very useful.

nathanm · « **Reply #3 on:** 12 Apr 2006, 03:21 am »

Doing your own recordings is a great way to understand what goes into making great albums from the 'other side of the speakers' as it were. I don't know if it is necessarily the equipment so much as it is the different perspective you have on what's coming out of the speakers. You are able to get your mitts on the controls whereas you can only sit and wish to change this or that with a straight hifi setup. Well, unless you count putting your microphone cables on various ceramic standoffs which is actually how most pro audio guys adjust frequency balance and panning, as Russell will surely tell you. Oh sure, many people might trip over the 30 foot run of cable going back to the mixer with chopstick standoffs every foot, and bybees every 4 feet; but they'll thank the engineer when they hear those pristine tracks so devoid of skin effect and strand jumping artifacts.

jon_010101 · « **Reply #4 on:** 12 Apr 2006, 03:43 am »

Quote from: nathanm

Doing your own recordings is a great way to understand what goes into making great albums ...

This is a great point. Hearing, for the first time, unprocessed, un-EQ'd audio tracks through my own system made me realize how much is changed during production. And it also made me realize how much compression is necessary for something to sound "normal" by rock/pop standards. None of the raw tracks I recorded would be usable in a car, or an iPod, due to the dynamic range etc. But the vocals sounded exactly as they did when I recorded them.

If anything though, this experience should make me *less* anal as an audiophile... knowing how much processing and "mediocre" cable even good recordings may pass through. But it has also turned me on to the idea of accurate vs. "sugar-coated" reproduction of sound... and my elderly CD player is apparently guilty of the latter. Even via headphones, I can now detect the glossy/smoothed-over coloration of my CD player that I was never previously aware of.

jon_010101 · « **Reply #5 on:** 12 Apr 2006, 06:31 am »

Okay, I need to slightly revise my statement...

I hooked up ye old parallel-push-pull organ amplifiers and loaded them with KT66's for an alternative presentation... the CD player is definitely warmer and "smoother", seemingly at the slight expense of dynamics and clarity, but it is certainly more-refined and listenable for day-to-day. I think the contrast just took me by surprise. Nevertheless, the headphone output changes this conclusion dramatically in favor of the mixer+firewire.

In any case... now that I'm looking at DACs I might just need to follow through.

Russell Dawkins · « **Reply #6 on:** 12 Apr 2006, 07:09 am »

My take on the Lavry is that the sound is comparable to the Benchmark, in that there are arguments as to which sounds "better", but what attracts me is the versatility for studio use.

For example, I have to have the ability to check my mixes in mono, yet many preamps which would otherwise appeal to me do not have this feature.

Absolute polarity also is something I want to be able to check, if I'm mastering someone elses mix. This is really hard to accomplish without sacrificing fidelity by inserting switching at speaker level or similar, yet this also is simple with the Lavry.

So, for me, the mere fact that the sound is comparable to the Benchmark - a company I hold in high esteem - makes the choice a no-brainer for my needs.

And Nathan, I have abandoned my old mic cables for long crystal cryo'd silver (nine nines) naked 18 gauge wires with air dielectric, suspended parallel to and 4 inches apart from each other in a helix down the centre of 12" diameter PVC piping that is covered with aluminum foil, which serves as the shield.
Sounds so much better, but I am getting tired of explaining the rationale to awestruck performers and camera crews.

James Romeyn · « **Reply #7 on:** 18 Apr 2006, 03:03 pm »

I participated in the recording & mixdown of a Roy Buchanan album. The sound of the LP vs. that of the 16 or 24 track (can't remember) master is so far out of whack there are no words for it. Producer Ed Freeman absolutely destroyed the sound in the mixdown process. That was the peak of the toilet age of rock studio work, where producers thought all the latest studio processors would improve the sound. Plus (them, not me) snorting coke like it was going out of style. It was the prologue to River Phoenix. Catered vegetarian lunches from a gourmet deli, then they smoked & snorted to work for about 22 hours a day. It's pretty hard to maintain any semblance of musical realism under those work conditions.

Oh my, but being in the studio live w/ Tower of Power was worth it! Oh, to stand directly in front of the horn flare of Doc's bass saxophone! Cures any indigestion problems immediately.