That rec center post reminds of a gig one time… It was in a gymnasium at a rec center. You talk about AWFUL sound… oy… No matter what we tried it all deteriorated into a big roaring mess unless you were standing right in front of the PA speaker cabs. I was sooo glad when that one was over.
Huge, rectangular room with block walls and they made is setup in a corner… yeesh!
D
I remember those gigs - when the drummer hits his kick and it comes back at you louder than you heard it the first time two seconds later.
ROFL, yeppers, been there too many times for school dances and such, those were the days eh? One big Echo Plex!
Actually my Alesis Midiverb IV unit has a reverb setting called Slym Gym, it actuall sounds like that, ARRRGGGGG
Yeah. Your amazing guitar solo comes out faaa-wwaaarrrttt… screee… glomph…PH…Ph…pH…ph…
Those were the days… everything sounded like hammered dog crap… Yaz? Delete that preset and do it now for all that is good and decent in this world…
D
Anyway, what I want to know is, how do you guys make such good recordings when you are doing it ALL WRONG!?!?!?!
There is no wrong… only err… different. Yeah… that’s it… different.
D
Momma used to say "Wrong is as Wrong does"
Next ?, do y’all eq an instrument solo’ed or with rest of instruments running. I used to try and solo the track for eqing and had a tee total mess. Now I eq with all tracks running to get something to sit in the mix so to speak. Then upon soloing the track by itself 9 times outta 10 it sounds like junk on it’s own.
What say ye?
And btw I pre-eq somethings when recording due to equipment (diff mics and what not)
Rec Hall Slym Gym impulse has now been destroyed D! Hehehe
Yaz 
First I use my ears… I’m all ears today. Then a quick solo for tweeks. Same for effects. It’s what you hear that’s important. How you get to that point has a million or more twists and turns. In my opinion anyway, it’s the final result that counts not how you got there, although…
ROFL at the avatar Poppa!
Oh, but you’re listening in mono, you’re all right ears! hehehe
Yaz
The answer to the initial question seems to be as diverse as this thread has become. I tend to record as flat and dry as possible and then tweak afterwards. But the pre-eq does have merit. Using a $5,000 Neuman through a $10,000 Focusrite tube-pre (not in my lifetime, though) tends to alter the incoming eq, thus changing the actual wav pattern of the file (for the better, I assume). But the downside of eq’ing the incoming information is that if you don’t get it right, it can’t be undone. And until Flavio adds that talent button to live input of n-Track, I don’t think I want to attempt it.
But the other point of all of this is to get the best hardware the pocketbook (and bookkeeper) allows. I recently upgraded from a CAD kick mic to an AKG D112 - what a difference!! Before I would have to do a lot of eq, gating, etc. to get the “thup, thup” sound I was looking for. With the D112, recorded flat and dry, it’s almost perfect. I wouldn’t have believed a mic would make that much of a difference to the work required later.
Paul
Did you try the audix D6 too? Same sort of experience.
I’ve heard a lot of good about Audix, but never came across any here in Ontario - yet. I had an opportunity to tour a recording studio about a year ago in a nearby city. They had one of the D112. So I had a chance to hear it in action and listened to the engineers there rave about it. So I watched ebay for a few months and was able to get one of them for less than $100US including shipping - and have not regretted it.
Hey, Paul, Flint is about 90 minutes from your hometown.
I’m a little late to this party but I’ll add my $.02.
I have a Mackie 1642 VLZ and I never use the EQ in the Mackie. The EQ in n-Track is much more flexible and sounds way better to my ears. I just can’t see where you gain anything by using EQ at the board. When I used the Mackie for recording (I have separate preamps now hooked to my Delta 1010) I used the direct outs to keep the signal path as short as possible. That Mackie board certainly didn’t add anything desirable to the signal, at least that I could hear.
The other issue I have with using EQ on the board is that it might make you lazy about getting the best sound at the source. The object of the game in my book is to use as little EQ as possible which means getting the best raw sound you can. It’s way easier to turn that little EQ knob than it is to switch microphones or adjust that guitar cab. Not a habit I want to get into.