Reviewing a "Reviewer"

[JES]

Umm...I know this is dead horse territory, but I can't resist. In addition to the criticisms we've seen here, I'd like to add another -- unnecessarily vague reviews. Now, I'm not talking in Fletcher gearland, but there's lots of reviews I see of mid-level, prosumer stuff where there's just an obvious lack of detail. For instance, a reviewer of the Presonus digimax called the preamps "better sounding than the preamps in my budget board" (I'm paraphrasing, but it was something like that). Now what he meant by budget board beyond me. Is it better than the preamps in a Carvin mixer, or better than the preamps in an Allen and Heath mixer? They're both budget. I see this kind of thing all the time in the glossy mags and it just boggles my mind. How much would it hurt for the reviewer to actually name all the gear he's using so we have an honest sense of how he's comparing stuff? --JES

[soapbox]

Pssst...wanna see a thread gone wild? Click [url=http://www.musicplayer.com/cgi-bin/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic&f=1&t=003141]here[/url] .

[Mats Nermark]

[quote]Originally posted by Anderton: [b] Shouldn't we explain to our Swedish friend the incredible cultural experience he is missing because he has not seen Jerry Springer? Get the picture, Mats? :) [/b][/quote] Craig, Thanks for taking care of a culturally ignorant swede :-) I do get the picture and it leads me to wonder about the audience demographics for the Jerry Springer show. I'm very glad you put my name as someone opposite him. Just for fun value I would like to mention that the word "Springer" translated into swedish means "running". Maybe the psycologists could make something meaningful out of this. [b]Now I'd like to be serious for a while.[/b] As for killing this thread I wouldn't like that at all as this is very interesting to me as a non-american reader. Threads like this (that may or may not seem nonsensical to american readers) gives me insight into a culture from where I receive most of my inspiration both for music and graphics. It makes me more understanding of world affairs as an understanding of different cultures makes it easier to interact when meeting people of different origin and to be able to understand and accept the gifts their culture may bring to my life and to my artform. As an ending a would like to offer my humble thanks to all of you posters who daily contribute to the development of my language skills. It's always a joy to enter the wonderful world of this forum. Best regards as always, Mats Nermark Sweden

[Master Zap]

Fortunately I think Jerry Springer is not aired in Sweden. However, Ricky Lake is. [i]ARRGH!!![/i] Sort of the same thing. Perhaps a little less of the actual fighting I guess :) but all of the shows is themed like "you slept with my gay lesbian boyfriends dogs sister and now I'm gonna do a complete make-over and embarress you on Live TV" /Z

[Mats Olsson.]

[quote]Originally posted by Master Zap: [b]Fortunately I think Jerry Springer is not aired in Sweden.[/b][/quote] Jerry Springer show was aired in Sweden at least a year back at (ZTV or channel 5, but I don't know about now though, we have no cable in our new house). BTW, there is also a rental-video with Jerry's show available in Sweden. /Mats

[Anderton]

As the NRA once said, "Moderators don't kill threads. People do." Okay, here's the deal: threads die if no one posts. I can't recall closing any threads to further comments, that's just not what this is about. This is called Open Mic for a reason. There have been some useful comments in here, some moments of humor, some re-evaluations of reality, some silliness...hey, that's cool. Threads in my forum go on much longer than usual. This is because one subject leads to another, which leads to another, which leads to another...that's what makes it exciting/interesting. It's also a holdover from my AOL days, when users weren't allowed to post topics because of their BBS system at the time. So if someone wanted to say something, they picked the nearest available topic and posted. Ultimately, the direction of any thread is up to you guys, which is as it should be. This is YOUR party. My only connection is that it's being held at my place.

[clock]

I hate the vaguery of "reviews" as well. Futuremusic magazine likened the sound of the rode ntk to a u67 though. hey, fletcher, what do you think about that comparison?

[lovesinger]

[quote]Originally posted by Anderton: [b]Okay, here's the deal: threads die if no one posts. I can't recall closing any threads to further comments, that's just not what this is about. This is called Open Mic for a reason..[/b][/quote]Which is why you're so cool, C. It's also the American way. [quote]Originally by Anderton: [b]one subject leads to another, which leads to another, which leads to another...that's what makes it exciting/interesting.[/b][/quote]Just like real life. BTW this is not a college (or presidential) moderated debate with its attendant constrictive rules boundaries. [quote]Originally by Anderton: [b]Ultimately, the direction of any thread is up to you guys, which is as it should be. This is YOUR party. My only connection is that it's being held at my place.[/b][/quote]Yeah, .... what he said ...! :D Speech censoring is for communists. (Any of them left?) [ 11-01-2001: Message edited by: lovesinger ]

[joblessjunkie]

I must rise in defense of the Alesis 3630. I won't name any names, but people who don't like the Alesis 3630 are either audio snobs or don't know how to use compression properly, IMO. The 3630 does have a lot of complicated settings compared to a LA-2A. In our studio we've got a rack of 12 units, which gives us 24 channels at mixdown, with gates. They're also great for pumping up mic pre outputs before we hit the A/D. No other compressor is as reliable or sounds as good for even five times the money. Here's what I know about getting good sound from the 3630s: I've found that the later Rev. B units are not as good. Make sure you get one of the early boards that include the better-quality 386 op amps. If you have a Rev. B board, let me know and I can tell you how to swap the IC's. You'll be amazed at the difference. A lot of peoples' complaints seem to focus around the sidechain VCA -- in my best units I've racapped them with a smaller value (replace the 220 with a 47, and bypass it with a .01 disc) for a much harder knee, and to remove some of the ringing and sluggishness on fast ( < 2ms ) attacks. Some clients don't like this, so I've only done this mod to 8 channels (which I usually use for drums or aggressive rock vocals). It gives me that "1176 with all the buttons mashed in" tone. Also, make sure you are not running balanced lines into the units. The internals are unbalanced, and the conversion stage on input is admittedly not good. I tried a transformer input mod with several different transformers, but transformers aren't what they used to be, and it just wasn't worth the money considering how many units I have. And although they have a +4 setting on the back, don't be tempted. Definitely run these units at -10; that's what they were engineered for. Use a good-quality DI like a Countryman if you must interface to +4 gear. Regarding the NanoCompressor, I agree it has some merit, but without the stereo link, gate, and rack ears it really isn't professional-level equipment. Once you do the mods to the 3630 as I've described, there's really no sonic advantage to the Nano. I hope this helps, Mitch Digi-Luxe Studios