I wholeheartedly thank you all for your kind replies. I've owned quite a number of interfaces and a couple of pres in my life (and sold them all in turn). I'm sold to the idea of waiting to get the right gear. I'll let those comps pass. You know, the weakest link if one's chain is the whole system weakness. My Universal Audio 4-710d preamp is one week away from delivery, and I can really make do with my Apollo Twin and all the UAD stuff I already have. However, I'm not buying any more plugins for now. Spending 300 bucks on UAD Shadow Hills is a no go. I'd rather wait till I save up for a hardware compressor and then have quality hardware on the way in and out.

Once again, thank you all. Peace.

 

To re-enforce what @subGENRE has said, as a retired BSEE if you have any propensity toward detailed mechanical skills, don't be afraid to tackle DIY kits. Practice up on soldering techniques & maybe read up on some basic electronics details (resistor color codes, capacitor numbering, diode directions etc) so you feel comfortable with instructions.

It can be very rewarding & in many cases much cheaper to go this route. Most of these kits use standard through-hole components which are large with relatively spacious PCB layouts. To any n00b, I would suggest staying away from any kits using surface mount devices (SMD), that's likely a failure waiting to happen for the inexperienced. Good luck if you choose this route and thanks to @superliquidsunshine for the Capi link, didn't know this existed.

 

Good choice to save up and buy something professional!

 

i Def agree..... wise choice ;) cost doesnt always matter on the Box you choose but whats inside does ;) ive got a SSL clone i built for Lil over $700 an well worth it \m/

 

@superliquidsunshine you dream killer! We wanted to sound like a million dollar studio with $500 worth of gear! Is that really so much to ask?

 

@mercurysoto .. I wish I could be there to see the smile on your face when that 4-710d finally flies over and lands in your happy outstretched hands. It is going to be awesome.

 

Yes, thanks to all who contributed on this post. I used to save for MIDI controllers and software that I though I needed, but already have. Now Im saving for a clone(s)/real hardware, which I really needed from the start.
Whats a good forum for clone building?

 

Last edited: Sep 17, 2016

Yeah. It's just a brief wait away. It's already in customs. I'm buying it from the distributor with a full warranty and all. I'm not paying as cheap as from eBay or so, but it's a fine piece of equipment so I'm not taking any chances.

I feel you. I've been doing a quick search and it's a big world out there. It's hard to sort out the amount of information around.

I just have one more question, especially for the dudes that have been longer in the audio world. There are second-hand import shops in my country that bring audiophile equipment in containers from Japan. There's lots of funky junk for sale at cheap prices. Is there any of that audio equipment that can be used for studio work? Some of those units in the likes of Sansui, Technics, and so on are supposed to be fine quality. I remember my dad had a tape recorder that just took any cassette recorded to sonic heaven. If lucky, I could run into one of these gems. But I'd have to know what to look for.

 

Nakamichi tape decks were the best. Pick the unit up, and if it weighs a ton it is a good onel. My friend had the Dragon model and it was about 20x better than any other tape deck that I had ever heard, totally pro. I had him dupe a bunch of cassettes for me back in the mixtape era. Grab it and do what you need to fix it up as it will be worth every peso and bit of solder that you drip onto it. I know that a few other Japanese companies made reverb units, Sony and Technics come to mind but I don't remember the models. Happy hunting.

 

Sorry brother for squelching your dream, but for $1000 of the right stuff you could sound like a five hundred thousand dollar studio though.

 

I dont really spend any time in forums bro This one is bout it ... Man I just grew up with alot of musicians and producers not on the Big scale but the Birth Place of Country Music... Bristol Tn ;) No im not really a country music fan but where im from theres alot of Bluegrass and Country music ;) Theirs alot of dif Genre of music there but its known for country like Nashville and Knoxville TN Bristol is of the like ... anyway i learned from workin with other producers... pickin up tips hands on... if i needed to know somthin i just asked somone who knows ;) i played banjo and guitar then got into Heavy Rock an Metal i guess you could say and was in a few bands in the past...studio time was pretty high $ so like many i Decided to do the recording myself... i got a Fostex 4 track and it sucked lol... after that got a few good mics a few descent preamps a cheap board and some old ADAT machines and thats how i started doin it then ;) back in the late 80s and early 90s it cost alot of money to make a shitty sounding Album REAK TALK haha.... \m/ Alot easier to make a good Record Today on cheap stuff then it was back in the day \m/\m/

 

I'm considering upgrading my vocal chain soon. Might go with used Audient or used RME... depending on budget. The Gearslutz classifieds opens up a whole new world. There's really nowhere else on the net where people sell used stuff at real 'used' prices, and for the most part I trust that the guys on there aren't dropping their stuff all over the floor, etc.

My big hangup about either of those is I really want two headphone jacks. I could get a Focusrite 6i6 for that, but it's not particularly a step up in quality then.

 

Whats your vocal chain now, bro? If you are satisfied with your current chain and it's just about more headphone outputs, then you might want to try Presonus Monitor Station. I had the previous version and the enhancement in workflow is really tangible. Swapping monitors, cueing 4 headphones, a talkback system and LED metering in one affordable box. I sold it just because I bought a Qu-16. It was one of the happiest purchases. Even with your chain upgrade that Presonus box is a good purchase. Here's a review on SOS of version 1. If you're letting go some stuff, I might step in the way, you know.

 

Only the best super low end stuff money can buy

In all seriousness though, the monitoring station looks sweet but $300 is an awful lot for convenience in my current budget. I'm running an ART Voice Channel through a Mackie Blackjack. I'm actually pretty happy with both seeing as (and I've made a big deal about this in a bunch of threads but off I go again) the Blackjack has direct monitoring which is almost essential for any fast rapping. It's really pretty tough to stay focused when your monitor is actually more of a slapback delay.

 

Since I don't believe you are using any additional out board gear beside your one mic pre, your need for additional mic or line inputs will be able to most probably afford you a used Babyface as people seem to be upgrading to the newer Babyface Pro. If you could deal with the breakout cable your eyes will pop out in amazeent of the difference in clarity, depth and width that the change from your present kit will give you. I went from a Focusrite Saffire to the BF and that was my experience. It even took me a few days to get used to it, it was like waking up in a new and strangely wonderful land. I like the preamp on the BF and prefer to use them with my Electrovoice RE-20 for vocal applications over both the Warm Audio Tonebeast and Daking Mic Pre One I currently am using, both of which are pretty kick ass. If you could pick up a Babyface for $300 or even less you would in my opinion become a walking happyface.

 

There are some on GS for $350-400. I guess I may have to do it

 

For your information, The Babyface has two headphone jacks, one jack on the unit itself and one coming out of the breakout cable. You cannot create a second mix for the second phones (I think), but you will have one for you as well as your brother to monitor through. Also, TotalMix FX , the software that comes bundled with the BF, might take a few minutes to become comfortable with how to route (me am a idiot when it come this to), but it is pretty dang good, giving you the ability to monitor with either reverb and/or delay without printing it. If the person selling you the Babyface no longer has the install CD you can download it from the site. Customer service is both knowledgeable and quick to get back to you if they are needed. The driver for it is solid as a rock. It hasn't enough power to drive my RE-20, which is hungry for juice, just like your SM7B, so needs that Fethead or Cloudlifter to boost it up until your mic begins to sing.

By the way, the majority of people over at GS are just like people everywhere, so buy with caution and make sure that they are on the up and up concerning the condition of anything you buy. There are rip-off dickheads everywhere and closer than you imagine, kind of sorta like what they say about spiders, you are never more than 6 feet away from at least one. Eyes open, ears listening for even the tiniest hint of bullshit, and sniff the wind in order to smell it's fetid retch coming from the proverbial mile away. 'Nuff said, 'cause you know all that already anyway.

 

hahaha that's great. I figure the $20 entry fee at GS weeds out some of the bullshitters, but there are also feedback pages. You can see if your seller is a regular poster, and if the people who have given him feedback are regular posters. A lot of these guys have studios, mixing/mastering services, or some other music related product to sell. I assume everyone is full of shit until proven innocent, but I expect that people who are representing a business won't screw me of all people because I will follow them to the ends of the earth and tell everyone.

 

I'll have to make sure that I walk the straight and narrow and never, ever cross swords with you, for to followed by a perpetually scowling Cav Emp to the ends of the earth sounds like the worst hobby a feller could hope to entertain in this life or onwards toward the next, LOL.

 

@superliquidsunshine, please buddy, comment on this. A follow-up on my search for the holy grail of transformers on a budget to warm up the mix bus led me to his: JHS Colour Box. It offers a Neve sound on a pedal chassis. It's a preamp box with bandaxall EQ that features a Lundahl transformer. It has line level and mic impedance inputs and outputs. It serves as a pre, a DI box and a distortion unit. At $400 a piece, buying a pair to include a transformer stage at every point from recording to two-bus processing sounds awesome. Here's a review from Tape Op. Any thoughts?