Gear Review: How “Dangerous” Could it Be?
“You can’t mix what you can’t hear...” That’s what I remember Marek Stycos, President of Dangerous Music, proclaim in a video.
I thought, “Sure, that makes sense”, but I didn’t quite grasp the impact of that statement. For years, I was deeply entrenched in the Universal Audio world- Apollo x6, UA 2192, and UAD plugins among others. I had an SSL Six mixer for outboard summing, 500 series gear and had recently picked up an Avid MBox Studio. I was startled by the MBox sound quality. Did I need to make a major change? I mean, this was very good equipment for my needs, perfectly useable to produce solo singer/songwriter tunes for internet release. Still, I kept longing for the sound in my head of an analog console and tape machine, auditory snapshots of studio tracking as a teenager. But if I was going to upgrade, it needed to be worth it, both in improved sound quality and value, while providing a migration path for future growth. A “system” approach was key for me.
Enter, Dangerous Music...
The starting point- my original studio setup, including 500 series gear, Apollo x6, UA-2192 and SSL mixer.
I have to give my Sweetwater Sales Rep, AJ Baccera, great credit here. He knew my setup. He listened to my complaints about workflow, outboard summing, sound quality, and fighting this “hard” midrange sound with plugins. When I broached the idea of buying a very small, expandable mixing console, he said, “Ted, have you heard of Dangerous Music? They make Mastering Grade hardware. I think you should consider their 2-Bus+ for outboard summing!”.
Analog Summing...
As it turned out, I had never heard any Dangerous Music gear. I just remembered a guy frozen in the 1970’s with shiny pants that represented their products. I took a chance and ordered a 2- Bus+, a 16 channel analog summing box with three color circuits. Wow! The build quality was excellent! The sound was wider, more separated, deep and punchy with the mono buttons engaged for kick, bass, and snare! My SSL Six mixer went up for sale the next week.
Upgrade 1:
Addition of the 2-Bus+ (bottom of rack). This setup used the analog outputs from the x6 through the 500 series bucket and into the 2-Bus+, allowing for 8-channels of summing with analog outboard flavoring.
Converters...
I met Chris Vatier from Dangerous Music at NAMM in January, 2025. I described my then “plan” to purchase the 2-Bus+ and asked how to best integrate it with my hardware setup? Instead of pushing their products, he spent about an hour walking me through options, ideas for best sound, and potential migration paths with/without their gear. It was then that I realized the strategic approach of Dangerous Music. While each piece solved a tactical problem, together they formed a system like a modern console while still fitting into a small, Argosy studio desk (16 total rack spaces in mine). But would it sound like a console?
With the 2-Bus+ now permanently fastened into my Halo desk, I considered a Convert-8, D-to-A Converter from Dangerous Music. I looked at other converters, but most had both DACs & ADCs. I only needed 8 good DAC’s to go with my Apollo x6 to get to 16 sends for the 2-Bus+.
I took the plunge, purchased the Convert-8, and quickly realized these converters were in a different league than the Apollo gear. Between the C-8 and 2-Bus+ I was using far fewer plugins in Pro Tools. Plugins that originally sounded great, now sounded muddy / noisy / harsh. My Superior Drummer tracks went from sounding “sampled” to sounding as if the drummer was in the tracking room next door. And alas, the hard midrange I’d been fighting for years was gone!
So.... If one Convert-8 sounds fantastic, but you need 16 analog channels to feed your summing mixer, what do you do? You buy a second Convert-8, of course! Not inexpensive to be sure, but for the money, I don’t think you can buy better sounding, better built gear with the extensive feature set in a more compact form.
Upgrade 2:
Addition of one Convert-8. This 8- channel DAC enabled full use of the 16- channel summing capability of the 2-Bus+. The UA-2192 provided the ADC path back into Pro Tools for the final 2-Bus+ output.
Upgrade 3:
After hearing the wonderful sound of the first Convert-8, a second was added in place of the Apollo x6. The foundation for a full Dangerous system was now laid. The x6 was for sale the following week.
But wait, it gets more Dangerous...
While these new hardware pieces formed a great analog summing circuit, their integration with the MBox and UA-2192 wasn’t optimal. The Dangerous AD+ provides two switchable Analog inputs, extensive metering and a USB feed directly to Protools- all features my UA-2192 didn’t have. After 20 years of use and telling myself I would never sell it, I listed the 2192 and purchased a Dangerous Music AD+. I tracked Mandolin using a Soyuz 013 small condenser tube mic into my CAPI 312 mic pre feeding the AD+. It was the best recording I’ve ever made of the mandolin. And, playback from protools was 99% of what I heard in the tracking room. I will never track through a different ADC!
Upgrade 4:
The AD+ (Analog -to- Digital Converter) & D-Box+ complete the final setup. The AD+ sounds fantastic and the D-Box+ is an audio Swiss army knife providing independent monitor inputs for artist.
Monitoring this fantastic gear through my Avid MBox reminded me of listening to a symphony through a straw, so upon seeing a killer deal on a used Dangerous Music D-Box+ monitor controller, I purchased the crowning element.
Unfortunately some of the buttons were missing and when I mentioned this to Chris Vatier on a support call he said, “we’ll send you a D-Box+ button kit... free of charge”.
In addition to solidly built & sublime sounding gear, product support has exceeded that of any hardware company I’ve ever worked with. Since my first step into “Dangerous” water, I have received about 5 hours of technical support call time with Chris, addressing a myriad of items including optimal analog signal routing, protection from stray DC voltage, clocking, minimizing latency through ProTools while tracking and more. This is a company that cares. Their focus is customer needs and expectations. If you’re serious about a music recording or mixing career, I absolutely encourage you to take a walk on the “Dangerous” side. Perhaps not the least expensive option, but you can’t mix what you can’t hear. And if you are not using Dangerous Music gear, I bet there is a lot you are missing!
Cheers,
Ted Trimble
Owner - Bend Acoustics LLC
bendacoustics@gmail.com
