TL Audio Ivory 5051 MK2 Mono ---STUDIO UPGRADES...

[Lucidcut]

hi guys,

so im looking to upgrade my home studio as i will soon have a double garage sized space and have the reason to do so as opposed to a portable setup based in a 8x6ft shed!

I currently have this setup:

Digi 002
Focusrite Octopre LE

BUT...after some deliberation have found the following to take my setup to a good level of quality, without both blowing my bank account and buyin stuff that will not reach its full potential whilst im still running PT 8 LE:


Digi 002
Focusrite Octopre (full)
2 x TL Audio Ivory 5051 MK2 Mono Valve Processors

The upgrade costing me around £1000 after selling my octopre le.

...ive gone down that route as the pre's are that much better, and i will now have two analogue eq's and compressors, as opposed to everything being mixed down In The Box (albeit with a SSL Duende or what not).


Just wondering if people think that doing the above is the best way to go about things with the budget as stated above...if others can suggest alternatives etc??

thanks,

stu

 

[Trevoire520]

stepping up from a octopre le to a octopre is going to be such a small difference that it's probably not worth upgrading imo. I really don't know how much the TL Audio is going to improve things either.

Invest some money in acoustic treatment, your mixes will come out way better for it.

When I think about upgrading my gear I normally end up going for music gear (guitar amp, bass guitar, drum stuff etc) as I feel thats the weak point in the recordings I do (bands coming to me with shit gear) rather than the tiny differences between preamps etc.

 

[MetalJonesy]

TLAudio ivory stuff is great, i love the valve compressors, and the pres are very nice too, for their price you cant fault them!!

 

[Lucidcut]

thanks for the replys, both points taken on board! if not to upgrade to the full octopre - any other 8 channels that would be a signifcant improvement for that price range ((ish)??

 

[Trevoire520]

Really you're not going to get a massive improvement on the octopre's without spending lots of cash, maybe a Focusrite ISA828, Mackie Onyx 800R or a Audient ASP008? But even then they're all still more on the clean side of things.
Personally I'd rather have a rack of Octopre's and one or two channels of REALLY nice preamps (API 512c?) but they're gonna knock you back about £700 each plus the lunchbox to put them in.

I'd say the best thing to do is to pick out the biggest weaknesses of the recordings you have and figure out where your money would go the furthest to improving on said weaknesses.