Upgrade - Pro Tools HD Accel 4

Yes, yet another major upgrade to the mixing system. I decided to go up to an HD Accel 4 system. In laymans terms that simply means i have an obnoxious amount of processing power. On top of that, I think i officially have more plugins than should be allowed by law. In addition to other recent purchases such as TL Space and the Eventide Anthology bundle, I just bought the MassivePack 4 package, which gave me a few more things i didnt have yet. The Cransong Pheonix plugin is pretty sweet, thats a voodoo box if i ever heard one. The McDSP G Channel has become a staple in my mixing arsenal. Those are really the 2 new ones I'll get the most use out of. The URS Graphic EQ's might see some action, and the Pultec EQH2 and MEQ 5 will get limited use (I already have the EQP1A qhich i use quite alot). I already own alot of the rest of the MassivePack, including the TC Master X, Revibe Reverb, Fairchild 660, H3000 Factory, Oxford EQ, etc.... I use all of them alot. The SoundToys Speed Plugin could be a helpful tool. Havent tried it yet.

In addition to digital world upgrades, I'm saving up for some analog world upgrades as well. I've heard alot of positive things about these analog summing boxes (don't worry if you dont know what they are, I didn't know what they were til a month ago), but basically, instead of combining everything digitally there's a way to combine all the individual digital signals in the analog domain. I really need to hear this before i believe there's a difference, but I'm keeping an open mind that it could make a difference. I already use alot of analog gear while I mix anyway, sometimes my EQ's or Tube compressors, sometimes my Roland Dim D or my (real) EMT 140 Plate reverb. I use that Plate like crazy. Any piece of outboard gear thats 8 feet long and 4 feet high deserves alot of use.

The AES Convention comes to New York City this weekend. I'll be there. My connects at Scratch Magazine are hooking me up with a press pass, which probably just means that alot more of the manufacturers will pay alot more attention to me for fear that I'll write bad things about them if they don't. I dont plan to write anything about AES anywhere but my blog, but then ya never know. Speaking of Scratch, i wrote an article for the latest issue thats just now hitting the news stands. check it out.
- Ken