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[E.P.]

Ethan Winer wrote on Mon, 26 February 2007 16:50

Gil1 wrote on Sat, 24 February 2007 14:38 Do you think the gear in racks on top of my table is an issue? Probably. Me, I've been totally in the box for 5 years or more, and I've never looked back. --Ethan

Are you suggesting I sell my Distresors?

Actually, I thought about it when I heard about the SSL Duende.

[franman]

okay guys, I gotta chime in here.. Ethan, totally in the box!! I'm taken aback!! (He He He)... Having a few choice pieces of good ol analog is what makes it all come together.. I know it's not the forum for this discussion, but don't you guys agree..

Keep the gear.. (but not on the table in front of the monitors).. The short reflections off that stuff is totally destructive to not only your mid range response, but to imaging, stereo depth, etc...

Remember, think of all that stuff that is in "the near field" as a mirror.. If you can "see" the reflection of your speakers in the mirror, than you should move it!! Plain and simple!

[jfrigo]

franman wrote on Thu, 01 March 2007 22:34

Having a few choice pieces of good ol analog is what makes it all come together.. I know it's not the forum for this discussion, but don't you guys agree..

Agreed all around; can't eliminate the gear yet IMO. Acousticly speaking though, you do need to be mindful where you put it.

[E.P.]

OK, I hear you. Gotta move the racks off the tabletop.

In the past my Monitors were on the top of those racks, so I wasn't getting reflections I think. But they were so close, so I wasn't following the 38% rule I saw at Ethan's.

So I realized that I would have to get stands and put the monitors on them, allowing them to be further back.

I guess I'm wondering where you guys put the outboard gear you have to tweek (Compressors, Reverbs)? I would have to duck down to tweek them, and so my ears wouldn't be in line with the tweeters. Or does that not matter as much once you get the acoustics right, for short periods of time?

[jfrigo]

Gil1 wrote on Fri, 02 March 2007 10:06

I guess I'm wondering where you guys put the outboard gear you have to tweek (Compressors, Reverbs)? I would have to duck down to tweek them, and so my ears wouldn't be in line with the tweeters. Or does that not matter as much once you get the acoustics right, for short periods of time?

Try low, angled racks off to the side. Check out my mastering room at promastering.com to see some short side racks that work. Sterling, Argosy and other studio furniture companies make some similar beasts. They're simple enough that you can make them custom as we did for mine. They're out of the way for the most part, but still easy to tweak. The angle means you don't need to bend over like you do for a vertical rack.

[Ethan Winer]

Fran,

> Having a few choice pieces of good ol analog is what makes it all come together <

I agree that a touch of intentional distortion can help "glue" a mix together, and I like that affect too. But there are lots of ways to add subtle distortion, and you don't need the expense and inconvenience, for lack of a better word, to get that. By expense I mean $4,500 for high end toob gear, and by inconvenience I mean having to give up the huge feature of ITB mixing where you  click a button and the mix you hear is printed to tape. Versus having to go out through a mixer losing your DAW automation.

Sorry guys.

Now see what you did!

--Ethan

[E.P.]

jfrigo wrote on Fri, 02 March 2007 11:01

Try low, angled racks off to the side. Check out my mastering room at promastering.com to see some short side racks that work. Sterling, Argosy and other studio furniture companies make some similar beasts. They're simple enough that you can make them custom as we did for mine. They're out of the way for the most part, but still easy to tweak. The angle means you don't need to bend over like you do for a vertical rack.

Those do look nice!

I could use one of those, and that would do for me.

But I also notice you have small angled bays on the console. Do those hold a few pieces of rack gear also?

I don't have too much that I need to get my hands on. Maybe lower
bays for the console would do.

I would like to make them custom, but what did you use for the mettle frames?

[franman]

The low, off to the side, rack solution works for me... We have a rule of thumb around here when we're designing furniture: Nothing higher than a table top... lower is better....

This way, reflection off the gear will (normally) not hit your ears. It may reflect into your waste area, but that's better than in your ears (always).

Looky what I started!!!

[E.P.]

OK, now I have to go redraw my plan, low angled rack and heavy drapes on both sides.

Thanks for all the help, everyone. I'll pop a revised version up latter.