Converters or Room Treatment?

[Genius Gone Insane]

I mix and record on my trusty Digi 001 with it's shit converters. I have some room treatment but definitely could use more. I have a Behringer ADA 8000 and it's converters are better but I'm not about to have anything Behringer at the center of my recording work.

So I understand the consensus is that Room Treatment is more important than good converters. However, I'm using 11 year old Digi001 converters. So:

should I spend a G on converters or room treatment?

 

[KHE]

room-treatment.

 

[Emdprodukt]

That's a hard one... so I just tell you something from MY experience: I had to move quiet often in the last few years. I'm usually mixing at home and I have room treamtent all over the place (made basstraps for the walls and the corners). Some people will swear to you that it's going to be a HUUUUUUGGGEEE difference when you mix in a well treated room. You know what? I think your mindset is way more important than any gear and room treatment in the world.

I know people sitting in VERY expensive studios and I think their mixes suck and I know the opposite. Even some people from this very forum mix on "utter shit" equiptment and get awesome results because they have the feeling for it. But that's just my philosophy and isn't helping much so if I'd have to choose I would go for SOME more room treatment (which is pretty cheap if you just do it DIY) and get some solid converters (maybe something used from RME!?).

 

[vespiz]

What they said: room treatment!

 

[rispsira]

Personally i think it depends on how you perceive the sound in your room. The reason for that is that you said you do have some treatment already, besides the fact that if its a home studio sometimes youre lucky and you have a room thats ok.. sometimes its horrid.

Man before i knew anything about room sound and treatment i was struggling with guitar tone for 3 years.. kept buying equipment and researching and blaming it all on both the gear and my lack of knowledge. That all changed fortunatelly when i moved to a better room and we treated it. (im not saying i have the best guitar tone i could ever have now.. im just saying that my previous tones were simply UNACCEPTABLE)

What im trying to say is that difference in sound from the room can be HUGE whereas differnce in sound from better conversion can be more on the subtle side tho it does matter.

So:
If you think you are lucky and the minimal room treatment is working for you look for better ADA. I dont think its that hard to tell if a room doesnt sound good so im sure you have an idea already.
If you think the room doesnt sound good dont even think about converters, unless you can find some cheap solutions to do both which might not be impossible with a G. if you look for a used unit.

Goodluck!

PS: im no expert in anything i just said what i would do personally.

 

[rispsira]

Oh and by the way i know you are aware of the importance of both and everything i said above. I just mentionned them as a story to explain to you what made my life miserable for a few years!

 

[Uros]

converter treatment and room conversion

 

[Genius Gone Insane]

Damn you guys are all confirming what I think I already knew...appreciated nonetheless, thanks.

My room definitely has room for improvement.

 

[Jind]

I'm in the room treatment camp. I've recently decided that before I buy anything else (instruments or recording gear), I'm going to invest in treating my room more thoroughly. A recent DIY blog post on the Cakewalk blog really got me thinking about doing it. I had considered buying IK Multimedia's ARC recently but decided that if I really wanted improvement I should quit dicking around and do what I can to improve my room as I plan on using for the foreseeable future; I own my house, I have no plans of moving, the time has come to make the commitment. With my stepson recently moving out, my wife and I have an extra room to use as my temporary space while I work on my room so the moon and stars have come into alignment.

 

[Nimvi]

Room treatment without a doubt. It was easily the biggest improvement in my "chain" ever, and it was just homemade stuff (a lot of it though, and with some decent research done beforehand), so relatively, it wasn't even that expensive. The difference was drastic though. Even friends with completely 0 audio-background could tell the difference. I've never had that happen with any other piece of software or equipment. Hell, most people I know wouldn't even notice a 12db boost on 4kHz...but that's an entirely different story.

Converters would probably be one of the last things on my list to upgrade. They do make a difference, but I feel that difference is relative to to whatever surrounds them. Altough I admit I don't know how those Digi converters are, I think they will have a much smaller impact on how your mixes turn out right now.

Good luck!

 

[Gnash]

Room treatment is on a different level than conveters, as a necessity. You can get it done fairly cheap with a trip to Home Depot, and some light construction skills. I think it is key that you're actually hearing the frequencies you're manipulating, rather than mixing the room.

 

[amarshism]

Motu converters go for cheap and then just buy room treatment with the rest.

 

[pikachu69]

nek minit...

you treat your room...

and it reveals....

how bad your converters sound.

:hotjump:

JK

Without a doubt go with room treatment. I am sure upgrading the converters should be next on your list however but you will be suprised at the difference even the smallest amount of treatment will make. You will be amazed at how well your mixes will translate to other systems better and mastering will be come easier because your mixes will be more balanced.

 

[dcb]

you wont appreciate any converter upgrade, if you cant here what they are doing to your sound.

room treatment + 1

 

[everybody's x]

room treatment improved my work more than anything else
and mixing at a lower volume.

btw im still rocking motu 1224's im sure theyre older than your digi 001. I bought them from Trisha Yearwood, I figure if theyre good enough for her theyre good enough for 6000 crap kansas city metal bands

but yeah, room treatment.

As far as what was said earlier about shit gear vs, talent, dont be afraid of the ada8000, ive heard some stellar mixes on gearslutz, just tape over the behry logo, haha

 

[Genius Gone Insane]

As far as what was said earlier about shit gear vs, talent, dont be afraid of the ada8000, ive heard some stellar mixes on gearslutz, just tape over the behry logo, haha

I'm getting a nasty hum at about 108Hz out of my Behringer channels 1-5 and 8. So channels 6 and 7 work but that's it. But they do sound better.

 

[PhilTheBeard]

ROOM TREATMENT!!!!

 

[Charles J]

=D ^^^^Fucking CORRECT-O MUNDO!

Without a SHADOW of a doubt.

What's the point of bagillion dollar converters if you can't accurately hear what they ACTUALLY sound like????? =D

Treating our Control Room / Live Room was seriously the BEST investment I think we ever made as far as the FINAL RESULT of our records are concerned. SRSLY.

 

[Genius Gone Insane]

What's the point of bagillion dollar converters if you can't accurately hear what they ACTUALLY sound like????? =D
.

I can accurately hear that my Digi 001's converters are horrible. I never realized how bad they were until recently when I ran stuff through the behringer.

 

[slaven22]

Keep in mind that Behringer you mentioned is considered decent converter, even by pros.