alot of the time is isnt the gear but the people behind it, if a room is set up well and the person behind the boards knows its characteristice they will produce good recordings. If i was dude i would post up some samples of his work recorded in THAT studio and let people judge for themselves before they jump on a message board automatically hating on the dude cuz he doesnt have a neve or an SSL. With some good converters on a LE system with nice mics and premamps in a well tuned room you'd be surprised