gre, I will give YOU, and the other 'newbies' in this thread (NOT everyone obviously) some critical insight in regards to the 2480's preamps.

As long as they have either had the 'fix' performed by Roland (or other authorized repair center), are installed on a VS-2480CD or VS-2480DVD model (from the factory), or you make an adjustment that I will go into detail in a moment for the original VS-2480HD model; what goes into these units at M24 in record mode with a sample rate of 44.1kHz or higher, will sound the same when it comes out the other side.

NO 'blanket' crap, NO 'muffling', NO shunted areas of the frequency spectrum. Period.

NOW, if you DO have an ORIGINAL VS-2480HD model that may have had the 'preamp fix', don't worry, and I'm NOT going to tell you about how to perform the 'Falcon Eddy Crank' I came up with, after finding the harmonic distortion issue that proved the analog pre’s were WAY out of spec.

Eventually, I found another more permanent method that required NO PREAMP FIX WHATSOEVER, but never published it here since Roland Japan had already reproduced the issue in-house based on my detailed documentation, and had designed a new Analog Board to replace the original boards on the VS-2480HD's, at no charge.

At this point in time the VS-2480CD model was starting to ship and had the new boards in them.

The more permanent adjustment for the VS-2480HD units are:

After setting up your project, go into each one of the INPUT CHANNELS, and increase the ATTN setting from 0dB to +6dB. Then set each SENS knob appropriately at the correct levels to peak around the -12dB mark for the INPUT CHANNEL readings.

REMEMBER, there’s still a MASTER SUMMING BUS that all of these PLAYBACK channels will need to get thru. If they’re overloaded to start with, you’re just gonna have to pull them back, and THAT generally leads to PLATEAUING OFF THE MIX in the master bus.

And there goes all of your dynamics right out the window.


ALSO:

ALWAYS be sure that your INPUT FADERS are set as closely as possible to 0dB. This is a MUST if you’re recording from a digital source. Otherwise your levels will be imbalanced. Additionally, if the source IS digital, you’ll no longer require adjusting the ‘ATTN’ setting on each INPUT Channel. Leave them at the default of 0dB.

Of course, if they’re too hot, pull back the SOURCE, not the RECORDING settings.

Many stages of recording engineering is basic common sense; HOWEVER, if you happened to pull a short straw at birth on THAT one, you’ve got a lot of work ahead of you. Keep at it. Make SMALL changes until you get what you need for the right sound. Your FRONT END is the MOST IMPORTANT part of your setup. All the rest is just disposable technology.

Sad, but factual & accurate.

. . Falcon

As to sounds muddy. Make sure you have cut the bottom end EQ on any tracks that don't need it. Guitars have mud, vocals have mud, even cymbals can have very low frequency rumble from the room.
Try the high pass filters.

Yes, gre, good advice from zoomduck.

If you're looking for specifics on that 'muddy' frequency range, it can be found MOSTLY in the 200Hz to 300Hz range.

BUT, can extend into 400Hz, and even upwards as high as 600Hz!

It can be a real pain in the a$$, and most assuredly MUST be dealt with before proceeding with a final mix.

My best advice would be to break up those frequencies into three separate ranges: 200-300Hz, 301-400Hz, and 401-600Hz.

This will give you better & total control over different instrumentation rather than simply making one, broad spectrum frequency adjustment. Small Moves is what it's all about.

. . Falcon

Also, you can check out these frequencies in the 'muddy' ranges by setting up the on-board SPECTRUM ANALYZER on the VS-2480.

Go to the UTILITY drop down menu and select ANALYZER. For the BEST guidance and detailed info, go to page 374 of the original VS-2480 Owners Manual.

. . Falcon