X-53mph

Yeah. Apparently the price is being driven up because there's a shortage of chips. Not to mention a lack of fish.

@Shane_B. You were certainly lucky with the Studio 1810. Having that card should do you service for a good many years on whatever system you choose to buy. Reading how you use your setup, I'd say you could probably buy any modern off-the-shelf system and probably get the performance you need for audio.... Which brings us back to the limiting factor in your choice of new system. Gaming. If you are going to be building the system with gaming in mind, audio production is really just an after thought. You're going to need to focus on tons of CPU and video card power (and lots of ram)...and that is not necessarily what you need for audio. For example, when recording audio or working with VSTs, you don't want CPU bursts, you want consistency. So when you see a CPU that can boost to 3+GHz, that is not much use when making music. You want it to be running at a nice smooth consistent rate, so it would be better to select a good CPU with a high base rate that won't overheat. Gaming requires boosting and overclocking, which is why gamers want those wanky neon cooling units....but for recording 4 inputs and working with wavs, that's like doing your shopping in a Ferrari. The same issue with graphics. Music production doesn't require a massive graphics card or insane display resolution. But if you work with video production, that becomes important. However, if the video card runs hot, you've got an issue with fan noise in your recordings (swings and roundabouts). If I might make suggestion. Why don't you get two separate machines? One for gaming and one for music. Since your music making needs seem modest, you could even go mobile (you've already got the usb sound card) and you could free yourself from that desk....become a mobile studio. Imagine being able to mix music in your bed, in a cafe, at a friend's house....rather than being chained to the desk. Just a thought.

@Shane_B. Most of what you mention in your first post is gaming and graphics.... You don't mention anything about your music needs. For example: what audio setup do you have? Do you need an external card? What's your normal usage? Do you multi-track? Do you use virtual instruments or record yourself? Will you need multiple drives to store kontakt libraries etc? All of the above would be useful to know for a DAW.

I saw the competition, but when I realized you had to buy their library to enter....🤔 After the shit show that was the HBO competition, I think I'll give this one a miss.

Wow! Thanks 🙏 that really means a lot to me. This song is very special to me. I'm just putting together the artwork and I hope to have it up soon on all platforms. Thanks again. I really appreciate all the input people have given me.

I did add some reverb to the vocal in this version. Maybe not enough. 🤷‍♂️ I know what you mean about the vox being upfront. It's so hard getting the exact balance. I decided to go more Pop on this version. 😁

I've listened to all your feedback (thank you all, I really appreciate it). I went back to the premaster mix to tweak some sounds before remastering and this is the result:

I used to own the actual pedal back in the 90s. It was a really nice solid piece of kit. I used it on stage at the once mighty Old Trout pub in Windsor, which used to be the warm up venue for bands playing Reading music festival. Saw band near the beginning of their careers such as Pavement, Swervedriver and Mudhoney there. Even Nirvana played a secret gig under a pseudonym. Oh happy memories. 😌

Totally agree. I'd even go as far as saying AAS Strum is useless as a production plugin. It just sounds artificial, like Christmas card music. I agree it can be useful for writing, or just mucking about, but I'd never use it in a mix, unless it was deeply buried under distortion and effects.

Nembrini - I picked up their lo-fi vintage clipper plugin for free when they launched the site. Trying to register it via ilok was a nightmare at first and I more or less abandoned them after that experience. Then a lot later I went back to it and it's now one of my favourite plugins for adding a bit of grit to my mixes (current list price €79). I've since picked up all their free plugins and a few paid ones (echo delay is especially nice) and I use them on a regular basis. Well worth it. I also agree about Melda. Solid, simple and effective.

Honestly guys, this thread reads like an episode of 'serial hoarders'. 😂

I used to use that plugin all the time back in 2000. Great fun 😁

It's very slow.

I got this in a humble bundle along with Luminar AI. Luminar 4 is an older version and already surpassed by Luminar AI and Neo. It might be interesting as a freebie, but. It's already out of date.

It's pretty amazing value for someone with wide interests (such as me). The price was worth it to hear from greats such as Margaret Atwood and Herbie Hancock alone; but I wouldn't recommend it for beginners or folk looking for how-to classes. It's more like spending a few hours in the presence of amazing people as they occasionally drop golden nuggets of information that no ordinary teacher could ever drop. I mean, Hans Zimmer is not going to tell you how to EQ a vocal or get a good reverb.... but he will tell you what it's like working with Christopher Nolan.

Nope, he means samplers. At least that's the word he keeps using.

I've been watching the Hans Zimmer master class. One of the things he says which made me laugh was (I'm paraphrasing) "don't use sample libraries because you'll end up sounding like everyone else".... Says the man who sells sample libraries on Spitfire and co-owns Ujam.

Are you playing the guitar (or lute) or is it a vst? It may just be my ears but there seems to be some strange fazing between certain transitions. Perhaps it's the reverb.

Guys, I would really appreciate your input with this track. It's a tune that has gone through a million edits, retakes, redoes over the years and I finally think it's getting over the line. I won't say what it is that's still bothering me about this mix (let's see if anyone picks up on it) but I would really appreciate any input you may have. I've been getting some invaluable help from a music engineer in NY who has got me to this stage, and his input has really helped. Some technical info - I'm playing all the instruments (no loops or samples). The only synths are the bass (Trilian), Piano (Westwood Felt) with some additional live piano, Strings (Spitfire). Everything else is live. It was recorded in CbB and Mastered in Ozone 9. Unfortunately, Soundcloud's compression doesn't do the mastering any favours Hope you enjoy. Edit: I've removed the link to the first mix because I'm taking down from SoundCloud. Final mix is further down this thread.

Jesus! I'm watching it on the news now. My heart goes out to everyone affected.

Wasn't that last weekend too?

Thank you so much Mark, it really cheers me up to know I'm getting there mix wise. I wish I knew how to get my stuff onto actual radio.

@Starise @steve@baselines.com @noynekker Just for you guys, I've put it up on Bandcamp. https://53mph.bandcamp.com/album/girlfriend-on-a-train-remastered

I use a combination of effects. I love putting Nembrini in the fx chain for that compressed warmth. Izotope is also full of options. This year I got lots of their top end products, which are great. The biggest change I've made though is to use Slate Digital Fresh Air a lot more to unmuddy the warmth (if that makes sense). I've got lots of custom made fxchains that I've built up over time to replace those one-stop plugins.

I wouldn't worry. I used to use it on almost every mix I did in the early 2000, but I've since gone off it. I find those mixes too heavy handed on the compression. Vintage warmer was amazing for it's time, but I think there are a lot of other plugins that do the same thing, often better. Just my 2c