New user, need help choosing my goodies!

[diamondjim]

I just ordered the Expert Pak and need some advice on spending the $750 for additional plugs.

Some background:
I have a small project studio and do both my own projects as well as demos for other acoustic groups, and live concert mixes.

In the studio I mainly record acoustic guitar, violin, mandolin, bass and vocals. I also add synth/electronica as needed. I am not into hard rock or hip hop. Styles are celtic, folk, blues, new age, and jazz. I mostly do my own mastering, and track with some nice pre's (ADL 600 tube, Meek Twin Q). I use both Sonar PE 6.2, and Wavelab 6 for mixing and mastering (respectively). My system is a new Core2 Duo E6600 with 4 gig.

My first choices are:
Neve 33609 Comp and Neve 1081 EQ for mastering. For the same money I could get the Mastering Bundle. Which would work best?

Then I am thinking, Fairchild Compressor. But after that, I really am undecided.

Anyone have some suggestions based on the type of music I record?

Thanks in advance, I am really looking forward to the UAD plugs.

 

[RWIL]

You have 14 days to try out the plugs. That should help for the first round selection, because at the end, over the time, most (if not all) of comp & eq plugs will be purchased... :wink:

RW

 

[tkingen]

My setup is similar to yours and I record a blend of acoustic and electric blues, folk, country and Americana. I have two UAD-1's and most of the plugins.
IMHO the mastering bundle will give you more mileage for home brewed mastering while the Neve bundle is great for track plugins (although sometimes they can be the choice while mastering.)
Beyond that, it's hard to say which ones are the right ones to get. Sometimes I like the Neve eq's over the Pultec, sometimes the Pultec over the CS-1, sometimes the CS-1 over the Cambridge - it's just whatever works for you for a particular track.
Sometimes I like Dreamverb over the Plate140. Sometimes the Fairchild over the 1176, or the LA2, or the Neve, or even the CS-1 compressor.

Maybe the more experienced guys will have better suggestions for you. Personally. I'm glad that I spent the money to have a few different UAD-1 options for any given task and don't have any regrets about buying them.
Btw, the only ones that I don't have are the BOSS CE-1 chorus, Roland Space Echo and Precision Multiband. For my tastes there didn't seem to be a need for them - although they are great at what they do.
YMMV!

 

[Ben Logan]

1176 LN. This one is a big improment over the included SE version. Great warm color in addition to the compression curve. This one and the LA2A are the main reasons to own a UAD-1, IMO. For me the Neve stuff is too processor intensive.