Hello,

I think being connected to Native Instruments and Waves on facebook and through the e-mail is a great idea. I see some great deals coming from both and new products. In addition I think Universal Audio plug-ins packages are always a great deal.

As far as mixing in Garage Band goes I mix in logic Pro because it's easier for me and it seems to be fine to do it in Garage Band but I am not sure you can have as many resources. I don't like the sounds in Garage Band or in Logic but I there's such a big library in Logic that I can make it work better than I could in Garage Band.

Alan

Favorite mics right now: anything from Mojave Audio...really great stuff, and I find myself working A LOT less hard in terms of endless micron-level position adjustments to get just the right sound. I was never 100% happy with a single acoustic guitar sound I ever got in my studio until my 101FETs arrived, and my 200 and 201FET have all but replaced my former (MUCH more expensive) go-to vocal mics for the singers I work with most of the time. Standing ovation for the folks at Mojave, and they're super nice when you call 'em too! Primary mic pres in my Logic-based studio are Great River ME-1NV, Grace M101's, Blue Robbie, FMR RNP, and sometimes the pres on my RME interface.

Matt
www.taxi.com/mattcurleemusic

i'm not sure how mic-pre fiends are out there, but if you like to hold a soldering iron and don't mind a little work you can build some wonderful sounding neve/API/Hardy/Millennium clones from 7 circle for a couple grand you fill out a nice rack or up to 8 in a 2u space/w power supple. They are really slick and i high recommend.

Also i resisted for years but finally bough a lynx AD DA and i have to tell you it adds a huge level of clarity. Again - i know i bit spendy but worth every penny IMHO.

OT kinda: im curious if anyone is using a analog summing box like the dangerous music one ??

-jeffrey

PS great thread idea

Jeffrey, personally, I don't use a D-Box, but I know a few folks who have and they love it. A little pricey, but if it sounds good, then you can't argue. I'm in the market for a nice final stage "something". A nice piece of hardware to put a final mix through and just thicken it up. Looked at the D-Box, and was impressed with the reviews but a little underwhelmed with it's flexibility. All it's good for is summing. If i had 1500 bucks to spare, I'd probably get it, but I'd like to have something that is a bit more flexible. I'm thinking of grabbing a pair of distressors for this purpose. A pair of hardware compressors that sound smooth as silk or as gritty as you like.

Right now I use a Mac Pro with Cubase 6 and a lot of third party plugs and sample libraries (fxpansion, ik multimedia, east west, VSL, projectsam, and some others). They all work wonderfully, especially with 64 bit Cubase (east west is a little wonky - dropped notes were common with Logic, but not in Cubase). The bridge is far more stable than Logics bridge. I would crash, at least, a few times a day with 32 bit plugs in Logic. Plus, Cubase is way more flexible with it's input and output routing and it's key command configuration. It takes some time to think about what you use the most and assign the functions to key commands, but once you find what works, man your workflow efficiency just about quadruples. When editing audio, my left hand never has to leave the left side of the keyboard (except to hit "J" for turning the snap to grid on and off).

When I go into Logic now, I just fumble around a lot. It takes much more time for me to get the sound I want. Cubase has been a work changer.

I am lost in the past, so I record using a Fender 65 Mustang or an Ampeg heavy stud. Sterling Microphone, Acoustica Mixcraft with an oxygen keyboard, and Lambda mixer, kinda basic but it gets the sounds down. At this point I have discovered that I am the weak link in the system and am working on it