|
If your studio monitors are worth much you don't need anything of such.
If the source audio sucks, it just sucks. You can't make a bad source "good"...
If you are concerned more with the consistency and fullness of the recorded mix, consider a software-based plugin to equalize and optimize the mix after recording. I find Waves C4 or L3 work very well for this, and Wave Arts Powersuite is another excellent option. All will allow you to do parametric equalization and compression, which is the bulk of what you need to brighten up a mix. Plug these into Wavelab or Audition and you can do some nice tweaking.
Honestly, you are best of doing the mix with no processing, make it sound as good as you can in it's "raw" state then worry about tweaking it after you've laid down the tracks. Enhancing the kicks, bringing out the highs, moving synths into the foreground, is all very easily done with software.
If your studio monitors are lacking, consider an equalizer to fine tune them. Rane makes some very nice rackmount EQs. A compressor in the signal chain to the speakers is often a nice touch, if it's not set up too aggressively. Behringer makes a couple of fairly decent compressors. Behringer gear isn't all that bad, but not top rate or anything. For the price, it's not so bad. Just avoid their mixers and anything else that you'll physically interact with often, as your more likely to run into problems with physical wear on inexpensive faders, knobs, etc etc.
The plus of a compressor is that it doesn't add harmonic distortion or perform equalization, a decent compressor simply adjust levels and prevents going over a threshold so you can keep your amp's gain higher than without it... prevents transients...
|