OT: Bob, why are you using ADA8000s?

[AudioAstronomer]

OK, what about this?
How many of you have had your hearing checked? I mean lately. Not back in the 5th grade by Mrs. Macalony. But after being in live shows (like two or three gazillion)? Headphone's up just a little too loud (for hours on end)? Think that your mom's wisdom is starting to catch up to some of us? Oh, and then there is the age thing.... I would really like to see how we stack up (hearing loss wise) to others, non musician types...

1 month ago, and Im only 23.

Despite having lots of fancy gear, and access to even more (and a lifetimes of experience with the equipment), I still think 98% of the time ada8000's are just fine.

[Sam C]

1 month ago, and Im only 23.
(and a lifetimes of experience with the equipment),

O.K. but a very short lifetime, so far.

[AudioAstronomer]

O.K. but a very short lifetime, so far.

More than most Immersed in the audio/music world since I was able to talk. Day and night everyday... Schooltime was music time, home time was engineering time. Playtime was learning to fix my instruments or make new sounds out of the stuff everyone else was playing with.

Im finally just now taking a break for the last few months. It's rather nice actually It helps to be "forced" into it otherwise I'd probably have totally burnt myself out

[Bob L]

I have lots of the Behringer stuff... a half dozen or more of the various small Euroracks... different model numbers... they have all been fine and 2 of them made it thru the fire after being completely drenched by the firehoses and sitting in the rubble for the 11 or so days it took to dig them out... they are still working after cleaning and drying the ciruit boards with a hairdryer.

I have one of their tube mic pres... one of their compressors... a few of their headphone distribution boxes... a reverb or two... everything is still fine.

I had a Mackie 24 x 8 board and my freind had the 32 x 8 board... both have failed in exactly the same way and we have repaired them twice... he is giving up on his... the fire took mine, so I don't have to repair it again...

I have owned many pieces of expensive gear over the years... some still works... some broke down... it all will break down eventually probably.... regardless of price.

As for mics, I use whatever mics the studio has... I don't have a studio anymore... in the case of my live recordings... I use mostly the stage mics... with a substitute for the main vocal if they let me and for horn solos... but that's it... my motto is to get in there with as little disturbance to the live performance as possible... yet the results have been awesome... at least I and my clients think so.

So again... buy what you need to satisfy your gear lust... but I would be willing to bet everything on the fact that the purchase of SAWStudio Full would be the best investment you could make for the most bang for the buck in the final product results... but of course I would say that.

Bob L

[alchemist]

1 month ago, and Im only 23.

Despite having lots of fancy gear, and access to even more (and a lifetimes of experience with the equipment), I still think 98% of the time ada8000's are just fine.

I'm also 23 . I can still hear up to 20kHz.

I've done some tests A/Bing different preamps. I'm an engineering student, so I don't fall for hype as easily (or so I think). I didn't believe the hype for preamps, but I can discern between a low-end mixer pre, a John Hardy pre and a Great River in a ABX test 95% of the time. There's "something" the Hardy does to the low-mids that seems very obvious, it sounds like a slow "modulation" that sounds gorgeous, I don't know how to put it more accurately. What the Great River does sounds more to me like equalization, a slight bump on the lows and little dip on high-mids.

BUT ... when a mix is finished, I CAN'T honestly differentiate between a mix done on a Neve or one done ITB with ADA8000 preamps. I once even felt there was something MUDDY about a Neve recording on an A/B test.

The logic of some engineers goes like this: if you have a good pre, the differences will be more obvious when you stack a lot of tracks recorded with that pre. I feel like it is backwards. The ever-so-slight "improvements" brought by high-end pres seem to be blurred in a mix.

But then again, I swear I can hear significant differences between high-end converters (Apogee vs Lynx Aurora).

So I think that yes, there are differences between high-end and low-end preamps (I can hear the differences very clearly on single tracks). However, in the overall picture, the color/quality that preamps impart is totally irrelevant (unless pres are very noisy). Low end pres may translate into a little corrective EQ here and there on the tracks, but that's hardly a deal breaker.

Maybe I contradicted myself

[Arno Jordan]

I think its always the same old story.

Its not the tool that makes you a master in your profession.
A master is able to achieve good results with whatever tools are available.
But if he has the choice, he chooses the best tools that he can get.
And that is always a personal decision.

[Steve L]

One thing to consider whenever you buy equipment is the availability of repair.
Everything breaks down, eventually. The disturbing trend for an independent servicer is the "factory only" service attitude, and the availabiltity to get parts (from China on a lot of this stuff). While I own an ADA8000 and it has performed well I have seen lots of other Behringer stuff that was unrepairable because of the lack of parts. Being a warranty servicer for a number of musical electronics companies has its advantages but does not guarantee parts will be there when you need them. The "good" thing about the ADA8000 is that if it goes down and you can't get it repaired you're out $230, if the same thing happens with a $2000 convertor you expect better service and usually get it.
I would rather work on a Peavey or Yamaha product because I know they will send me the parts. Line 6 on the other hand will not sell me parts because they have 2 service centers in the state (100 miles away).
Oh well, venting on a Monday morning .... back to that Mackie D8B with a power supply problem!

Steve L.
Audio-Video Electronics
Mountain View Recording

[Bob L]

The repair of products in the Behringer price range becomes kind of a moot discussion... any service cost would most likely be more than simply buying a new unit.

Of course, service on a $9000 converter would be an imporatnt point to consider before purchasing... another aspect of owning high-end gear... is it worth it in the end... that remains the $65,000 question.

Bob L

[prosodio]

Bob are you working with the ada8000 in studio? Could we listen to anything you´ve been recording? Lon Bronson is great in a live situation but I have never heard the ada8000 in studio.

Greetings

[PatrikT]

The difference between what's being accomplished by using either a M-audio 2496 card and a Lavry Blue 4496 for digital in and out has for me been more than subtle.

The difference between playing back the first track of the Buena Vista Social Club Cd, "Chan Chan", through the above mentioned pieces of gear is more than subtle. With the more pricey one I am almost physically in Cuba. With the low-end thing I hear the message and the tune but with the high-end thing I hear how far apart the two singers stand and I can better tell that the surrounding walls are made out of concrete, which I do not scent with the M-audio card.

These feelings has nothing to do with the pricetag. One unit delivers much more intermediate information. One unit makes me want to do much less tweaking with my own recordings, which I think is a good thing.

I'm all in for good gear at good prices but I don't think that poeple should be overly against gear that happen to cost a little more.

The reason Bob got fine results with the ADA8000 has of course nothing to do with the gear at all. It's all about the skill and the ear and at which distance a microphone capsule does pick up the vibrating air molecules. And especially how good technique the performing musicians have. An uncontrolled instrument will always tend to sound worse than one in total control. One more reson for Bob's good recordings might very well be a humble approach to effects. There are poeple around who add four to five plugins in a row for just a vocal track. What kind of madness is that? Can it possibly worsen the digital source? Yes it can and it will. People can create bad sounding music with Saw if they really want to.

I am now one of those suckers with an expensive AD/DA and the cheapest version of Sawstudio. Simply because there are no money avaliable for a higher version for the moment. But I am happy and I have no problems with my situation and I respect any musician with any type of gear.

The thing that makes me happy with Sawstudio is that tracks in combination seem to play WITH eachother, in contrast to other hosts where the tracks seem to want to kick each other out of business. I guess there are more who have felt this when doing a mix in Sawstudio.