Quick Background - i recorded some "demos" for my band in our practice
space on a 16track DAW - Some great gigs and a few lucky breaks laters
they were picked up for independent release.

Thats the good news. The bad news is I am primarily a musician with
little technical background in recording and engineering. But several
pricey attempts at working w/ established engineers and producers have
not lived up to expectations, so everyone agrees that i should begin
working on the followup.

Anyway, we were able to purchase a dual processor G4, Protools digi002,
some mediocre preamps and 2 condensor mics. But as people are
expecting slightly higher production quality on 2nd release, i am
running into a few problems so far.

1 - The stock plug-inns on 002 - is it just me or do they sound like
****? I am not crazy about the compression, the EQ sounds a bit harsh
to me, and the reverb especially makes everything sound like a Don
Henley record from 1985 (...and thats a bad thing) - My one good preamp
is a Joe Meek VC1Q and i have an RNC - i used to run every channel
through those to do EQ and compression and rerecord them when i was on
a Roland 1680, but there has to be an easier way now that i am on
protools.

My question is - are there good plug ins for reverb, compression, and
EQ? Or do plug-ins in general sound like **** compared to the outboard
gear they were desinged to emulate? We can't really break the bank,
but we have about 2500 more for a recording budget.

Our sound is basically like the Shins - we like lush, layered
production, bright and clean guitars, up front, melodic vocals. I tend
to absolutely obliterate the overhead mics of the drums w/ compression
so it sounds like Albini / Flaming Lips drums. I also compress the
vocals quite a bit. Any good leads?

Also - I need several channels of good preamp - i have heard good
things about Sytek - any other suggestions for pres under $1,000? They
don't have to be super clean - we love the Velvet Underground so
anything that would give it a little "vintage flavor" would be nice -
so far my protools recordings (mostly through a Digimax LT) have
sounded a little too clean for our tastes.

So, again - recommendations for Plug ins and Preamps are appreciated.
Thanks so much for your help!

hi, we're in the vein as you as far as recording. except we haven't
been picked up yet. i would highly recommend the waves plugins for use
with the 002, i have an 002 rack, and I use the 3.5 version of the
waves plugins (haven't upgraded yet) and i can get the sounds I want.
as far as the over driven lo-fi sound, i would recommend using a decent
pre like a api 312 or neve 1073 clone and recording it very hot almost
clipping and then compress it hard. check out the brent averill series
of preamps. i know this is poor recording technique, but you have to
experiment to get your sound. i've had good luck with the RNC and dbx
160. I also have heard my friends recording with the distressor, and
it sounded beautiful.

i think that if i were you however, i would save your money, track
everything very clean, and spend the extra dough to mix and master with
a producer/engineer who works in YOUR genre. i had the same problem. i
took our recordings to an engineer to mix it, and he was very qualified
for traditional rock sound, but for the indie rock sound we wanted, he
just didn't get it right. good luck.

when it really comes down to it, microphone placement, not recording
too hot to prevent digital clipping, and a good mixing ear is what
makes the recording really come to life.

if you want to hear the sounds of my band, check it out at
http://www.purevolume.com/flyingdouglas all was recorded in a garage
recording studio by me with 002Rack, and less than exciting array of
equipment.

steve rude