Analog Fuel for Digital Audio: Great New AES Gear
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Mic Preamps Great and Small

I also need to mention Dan Kennedy's Great River Electronics, another high-quality audio boutique that seems to be embracing personal studio growth by providing powerful mic preamps and EQs. Great River's latest addition is the MEQ-1NV, which combines a class-A mic pre designed to give your recordings that 1970s vintage sound, with a class-A, discrete EQ modeled after the vintage Neve 1081. These two create a stunning front end for the quality-conscious home or portable studio, and are priced accordingly at $3,375.

Combining a classic-sounding mic preamp and EQ, the Great River MEQ-1NV helps ensure you'll get the best sound into your recording system.

Another company committed to creating great front ends for the DAW market is Tim Spencer's True Systems. I am a big fan of their mic pres and have set up a few drummers' studios with their Precision 8 eight-channel systems. At the AES show, True Systems introduced a much-needed addition to their product line: the P-Solo. This compact, portable mic pre makes a great front end to any DAW and is selling for less than $600. For a pro-level mic pre, it's worth every penny.

The True Systems P-Solo packs the design and sound of the company's acclaimed Precision 8 and P2 Analog preamps into a compact, affordable box.

For those on a budget who still want top-notch recordings, I would have to give the Joe Meek OneQ the bang-for-the-buck award. This one-channel mic pre/EQ/compressor/de-esser/enhancer retails for just $799. It's the best deal I found on the floor for anyone wanting professional sound on a serious hobbyist budget.

My last mention goes to Beth and Mark McQuilken of FMR Audio. "Bang for the buck" can never be uttered in the audio industry without talking about their gear. Their most famous piece is called the RNC, which stands for Really Nice Compressor and retails for $199. They have been making the RNC since 1984 and it is a staple in home studios, professional studios, and live rigs. It is the best-sounding, most affordable stereo compressor for the money and you can fit three in one rack space for less than $600. FMR also makes the RNP8380—Really Nice Mic Pre—a stereo mic preamp that retails for $499 and sounds unbelievable.

At AES, FMR debuted the RNLA7239—Really Nice Levelling Amplifier. It's a specialized stereo compressor that is perfect to put on your stereo mix or your vocals to level out any stereo source while giving it a warm, analog character. The FMR gear may not be the sexiest looking gear on the market, but if you're looking for bang-for-the-buck, look no further.

Ugly panel; great, gooey sound: the FMR RNLA7239 is a compressor that's designed to thicken your tracks.

I Blame (Audio) Society

It's perhaps an indication of the maturity of the digital audio workstation market that the AES show seemed to be more about hardware than software this year—and that I, a DAW enthusiast, found the most exciting products to be analog add-ons. Remember that these are my personal opinions and that I chose gear that caught my eye for my own production methods. That said, please leave your own recommendations below.

Gina Fant-Saez is the CEO of eSession.com, the owner of Blue World Music, and the author of Pro Tools for Musicians & Songwriters (Peachpit, 2006).

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