PT vs Xp Media Center...NOT!

rockstah · Post by **rockstah** » Thu May 11, 2006 1:48 pm

* clears throat * welcome to the digital domian my friend. u will encounter many trains of thought on this. im not to sure about the statement of protools making things sound flat. i feel its a generalization of all digital studios. in other words star cant possibily mean protools sounds flat but cubase doesnt or protools sound flat but nuendo doesnt. i believe hes making a general statement of the digital domain. and yeah u have heard people say they like records better than cd's - same thing applies here. but like george says it makes a huge difference what goes in and all your hardware in the chain. did u think the demo song sounded bad? then dont worry about it.

i guess a further argument would say( on stars side of things) there are marshalls and then there are digital modeled amps.( not quite the same difference here but comparable for the argument) i use both and both have a place for me do i prefer the real amp? yes. do i prefer 2" tape... it does sound good and warm but again im not longing for 2" tape like i long for a real amp. not even close. my protools 002r sounds good. i doubt you will be feeling even this much in your new digital studio - there is plenty of growth and time u will get out of your protools system before u even start thinking about 2" tape or better pres or blah blah yada yada... i get some damn good sounds out of it and yes there are some people that insist on using 2" tape for the sound. feel good about your purchase man - its an awesome tool.

some food for thought.

Mark

Post by **VelvetGeorge** » Thu May 11, 2006 2:16 pm

I agree, feel good about it. You have the same basic set of tools now that every engineer on every record made these days is using.

Things to master:

mic placement

subtractive EQ, rather than boosting everything

compression (THE difference between pretty good and amazing recordings)

George

NitroLiq · Post by **NitroLiq** » Thu May 11, 2006 2:31 pm

I'd also suggest that your recording chain and gain staging is more important that the software you use. Having good converters in your i/o is important as well. Regarding PT sounding flat or with any daw system for that matter is that you're hearing accurate reproductions to a fault. With tape, you can saturate it with louder signals and the sound gives a subtle distortion that our ears tend to like (tape compression & tape saturation). With digital, you don't get the same thing...if you record into the red, you get aliasing (digital distortion) which sounds bad...don't do it.

One thing I've always found odd is when switching from Logic to Nuendo...I did some recording into both of them setting them up the same way...same hardware setup. The output from Logic always sounds more natural to me. Nuendo sounds very crisp and clear but Logic ,as stupid as this may sound, sounded a bit more like tape to me....no idea why....recording set up was the same for both. Maybe it's just my ears playing tricks on me.

Anyway, I'm babbling....Just enjoy the fun and experimenting of recording.

NY Chief · Post by **NY Chief** » Thu May 11, 2006 4:03 pm

Thanks, guys! This is probably the most pro piece of recording gear I have ever had at home, though I'll always have a warm spot in my heart for my old 3440 4 track.

I'm jazzed to start getting stuff on "tape"! And as far as the sound, well, like George says, PT is in just every studio in the world. It' can't be THAT bad

BrownSound1 · Post by **BrownSound1** » Sun Jun 04, 2006 12:41 pm

Now all you need is some old Neve mic preamps and you're in business.

I think that is one thing that really helps in the home studio. Of course the other thing is to also inject some tube equipment in that path too...but you knew that already.