Focusrite's take on the 8-channel mic preamp, the Platinum Series OctoPre, has everything one would expect in an outboard mic preamp, including good sonic performance, a clean user interface, and a...
I am a compression junkie. I admit this freely and without shame, because I've found that certain boxes give me a character that I can't create any other way. This is the reason 1176, LA-2A, BA-6A and...
The Soundcraft M12 is one of many compact, budget "utility" mixers on the market. The biggest differences from the other mixers are the digital output, the 100 mm "big console" faders, and - my...
The 220 is my first choice for anything I want or need to sound transparent. It has that ultra clean character that sounds great on acoustic guitars, shakers, hi-fi vocals etc. Functionally, this unit...
The DM-24 is Tascam's latest offering in the world of affordable digital consoles. The DM-24 features 32 channels and 8 busses, 24-bit resolution, 44.1/48/88.2/96 kHz sample rates, EQ/compression/...
My three fave plug-ins + an interview with Dave Amels of The Bomb Factory In the last six months I've been forced to learn my way around Pro Tools a bit while mixing some budget projects. Sonically,...
Like it's bigger brother, the Summit TLA-100 and the venerable LA-2A, the TLA-50 has a less-is-more approach, with only two knobs, gain and gain reduction, on its half-rack space panel. There are...
This is the Holy Grail of limiters - the most transparent limiter I have ever used. This is not a plug- in, but a dedicated piece of hardware that does all its own number crunching at 48 bit. It's...
Avalon was kind enough to grace me with the presence of their solid state/tube compressor/limiter which also includes a 6 band EQ. The first thing that impressed me about the unit was the sound of the...
We track a lot of bands in my studio that end up taking their rhythm tracks home and finishing overdubs and mixing in their home PC based studio. After using our mic and preamp collection, my clients...
The PreSonus Digimax is an ingenious device. I purchased it initially as an interface with my Pro Tools LE rig at home to provide eight more 24-bit clean converter channels rather than rely on the...
Chandler is making a buzz for themselves as the small company that builds Neve-based mic pres and compressors. The LTD-2 is a Class A, single channel compressor based on the Neve 2254 (and similar to...
