Recording

I use Adobe Audition for recording. A little glitchy, but good sound quality.

I record vocals through an AKG C414 B-ULs microphone into a tube pre direct into m-audio delta 1010lt cards - with two of these cards loaded into a P4 PC with 4 GB DDR RAM I built myself (from a barebones kit I bought from Tiger Direct), I've got a decent 16 tracks simultaneous recording PC that works. Except when it wigs and freezes mid-recording, which makes me want to go go Godzilla and destroy everything.

 

Boards:

Mackie 1604 VLZ Mixer (nothing but problems, I hate it, but the mic pres are good). However, I only use it for playback when recording: everything goes direct to digital and I use the internal mixer SO MY SOUND IS CRYSTAL FUCKING CLEAR, it never leaves the digital realm. And because I always record at 32bit/96kHz, and I only use wave plugins (like the stunning Abbey Roads J37 tape saturation O.M.G.). Say what you like about Hi-Res audio, I don't care, the sound quality speaks for itself. But for those of you who say high-resolution is all BS, here are some things to read and think about.

 

Monitors:

Klipsch LaScalas my great friend Paul Becker built for the studio that sound so good my ears frequently burst into flames, with a crystal clear TEAC AI-101DA Amplifier that I CANNOT SAY ENOUGH GOOD THINGS ABOUT (which Paul also just gave to me, because he's the greatest friend a guy could ever have). And he's a little bit crazy. Also crappy (by comparison) JBL 4206's, Tannoy Reveals, Samson Resolv subwoofer, and an Alesis reference power amp for A/B-ing the sound (basically: Klipsch=good, everything else=shit).

 

Microphones:

AKG C414 B-ULs, Cad E-100, Shure SM 58 Beta, [7] SM 57's, Shure SM 81 Shotgun (for Hi-Hats), AKG D-112 (kick drum), [5] AKG C-418 (for horns and percussion), [3] Sennheiser MD 421 II (for toms), [2] MXL 990 large diaphragm (for overheads).

 

FX:

T.C. Electronic G-Major , T.C. Electronic M-One XL, Alesis Quadraverb, Yamaha GEP 50, Korg rack tuner, Heil Talkbox, a bunch of foot pedals fx (mostly modded BOSS, but I've got some distortion pedals like the Love pedal and the obligatory Tube Screamer - but not the Hendrix perm or the inevitable pinhole burns all down the front of my favorite satiny shirt) and a crybaby wah-wah.

 

Guitars:

Roland-ready Fender Strat, Modified Kramer with Kahler super-tuner tremolo, EMG pickups and GK2 Roland Midi pickup (for my Roland guitar synth), Takamine Acoustic.

 

Basses:

Gibson Grabber and a Fender Jazz Bass Special that I removed the frets from and loaded with vintage P-bass pickups.

 

Amps:

My beloved Mesa Boogie Mark III Limited Edition, Gallien-Krueger 400 Bass head with a cabinet loaded with a 15" JBL and 2 EV 10" speakers, and a Fender Blues Deluxe that I did some mods to.

 

Keyboards:

Korg Triton and E-MU Proteus. The E-MU is also running the Proteus X emulator module via a Pentium 4 PC with 4 Gb RAM and it is sweet. The grand pianos are simply amazing.

 

Drums:

Tama Rockstar (with the Star-Cast tom mounts - it makes a HUGE difference suspending the toms by the rim rather than a mount on the side. The side mount just kills the natural resonance), Zildjian Cymbals (a huge old K ride, New Beat 14" hi-hats, an A 16" Fast Crash, an 18" medium crash that sounds kind of shitty live, but really good mic'ed, and a trashy cheap Wuhan China that sounds great), DW Double Bass pedal, and Ludwig, Tama and Pearl snares. Also LP congas and bongos and a bunch of percussion items like cabasa, fish, tambourines, chimes (all LP) and a cowbell (just because).