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Lumi
Apr 26, 2006
I watched the sky.
So I went ahead and got both mics to test them out because I can return one of them. The SM58 is really quiet, I'm not sure because I've actually never used a dynamic mic yet. I've turned sensitivity (gain) to highest, is there anything I can do to improve the volume on it?

Edit: Never mind. :sweatdrop: It was the volume set low on my program.

Anyway, there's actually a really high whining sound when I record with the SM58. I'm not sure, but this may be from my interface which is making a faint high noise, but I can't be certain. Any advice here?

Lumi fucked around with this message at 21:51 on Feb 9, 2007

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Swivel Master
Oct 10, 2004

Floating in much the same way that bricks don't.

Lumi posted:

Anyway, there's actually a really high whining sound when I record with the SM58. I'm not sure, but this may be from my interface which is making a faint high noise, but I can't be certain. Any advice here?

Probably.

Or it's your computer fan :D

Swivel Master
Oct 10, 2004

Floating in much the same way that bricks don't.

Crystal Pepsi posted:

It's still a valid point because those recordings sound amazing sonically AND in terms of the talent used. Sure Bonham would still be Bonham through a laptop speaker, but the recording would still be poo poo, which is my point, that these recordings are considered to be among the best ever made. "when the levee breaks" was done with a mono overhead ribbon Beyer M160.

Aside from that, the megaproducers/engineers in charge of these albums thought it would be just fine to use a mono overhead, and it was!

Thirdly, stereo overheads cause phase issues and accentuate the sound of the room, and aside from 3 or 4 people here with access to good drum rooms, that's probably not a good thing.

Well yeah but a mono overhead only sounds good with a good room anyway so what's the point? I'd rather have a lovely recording with a stereo image of some sort than a lovely recording without any stereo image. Phasing issues, maybe, but I've never had a problem with that unless I've got the overheads fairly loud and the drummer is beating the poo poo out of crash cymbals or an annoying hihat.

Mono recording CAN work and CAN be very useful, but I don't think it's at all helpful to advise against using stereo overheads just because circumstances aren't perfect, because if circumstances aren't perfect.. why limit your options even more?

Ever recorded using some Earthworks omni mics as overheads? It sounds incredible, and if you play across the set and close your eyes you can tell where every drum and cymbal is in relation to the middle of the set.

Lumi
Apr 26, 2006
I watched the sky.
Well, I don't think it's my computer fan, since I'm on my laptop and it's pretty quiet, I can't hear anything directly at least.

Supposedly the SM58 is unidirectional? I'm aiming it away from the computer and interface, and the only thing close is my voice. I don't suppose this is the mic's problem, is it? Because curiously the SM58 picks up the noise, but not the condenser mic.

ChristsDickWorship
Dec 7, 2004

Annihilate your demons



Lumi posted:

Supposedly the SM58 is unidirectional? I'm aiming it away from the computer and interface, and the only thing close is my voice. I don't suppose this is the mic's problem, is it? Because curiously the SM58 picks up the noise, but not the condenser mic.
How high is the gain on the mic preamp with the 58 compared to the condenser? It could be that the preamp is breaking up. If you move the 58 around while monitoring with headphones and the noise never changes, it probably isn't a sound in the room it's probably in the signal chain somewhere.

And how high-pitched are we talking? Can you compare it to some sine waves and guess it's frequency? SM58s notoriously have that presence boost in the 3K to 8K range so it could be exaggerating something in the room, but a condenser should pick it up as well.

edit: Also this shouldn't be a problem, but you can try turning phantom power off when the 58 is plugged in.

Lumi
Apr 26, 2006
I watched the sky.

wixard posted:

How high is the gain on the mic preamp with the 58 compared to the condenser? It could be that the preamp is breaking up. If you move the 58 around while monitoring with headphones and the noise never changes, it probably isn't a sound in the room it's probably in the signal chain somewhere.

And how high-pitched are we talking? Can you compare it to some sine waves and guess it's frequency? SM58s notoriously have that presence boost in the 3K to 8K range so it could be exaggerating something in the room, but a condenser should pick it up as well.

edit: Also this shouldn't be a problem, but you can try turning phantom power off when the 58 is plugged in.

Well, I'm using the built in preamp in the interface. There is a bit of difference in the gain, but when I tried to turn the gain on the SM58 down, there's still that noise, except quieter. I'll try moving some wires and stuff, see if it works.

It's a pretty high pitched frequency. I'm not sure how to quantify it, but it's kinda like that noise you hear when you're in a really quiet room, like a squeal.

I didn't have the phantom power on when I tried the SM58, I believe. Anyhow, I'm going to experiment a little more with it and see if I can get around it.

AtomicManiac
Dec 29, 2006

I've never been a one trick pony. I like to have a competency in everything. I've been to business school.

Yoozer posted:

Add to the list:

- monitor speakers
- a proper audio interface (aka fancy word for soundcard that's not a cheap gaming 7.1 piece of crap).

If you invest a bit in the latter and don't skimp on it you may even save yourself buying a mixer.



Any Recommendations for the two? And what sort of price range are we talking (for both) I got Ram at around 100 and an External around 100-150?

Laserjet 4P
Mar 28, 2005

What does it mean?
Fun Shoe
If you can hit $500 a month you're going to need all of that for semi-decent monitors. I've heard people say that you can't get anything decent below the $1k mark. I will no doubt be corrected by people who are not talking out of their rear end like I'm doing ;).

Reserve another month for the audio interface. For that, you have 2 choices: external (via USB or Firewire) or internal (via PCI).

Perhaps this one?
http://www.m-audio.com/products/en_us/FireWire410-focus.html

AtomicManiac
Dec 29, 2006

I've never been a one trick pony. I like to have a competency in everything. I've been to business school.
So for monitor speakers, something like:

http://www.musiciansfriend.com/product/JBL-LSR4326P-Powered-Studio-Monitor-Pair?sku=600375


Hmm, I think that basic instruments and Mics will probably come before I go nuts on speakers. (Basic instruments being a Bass, Accoustic Guitar and A Synth/MIDI controller)


So right I'll probably start with a boost to my RAM and a Second HDD, than go for the audio interface and Shure SM57. I'll play be ear from there, either grabbing a second mic or an MIDI controller. We shall see.

phunge
Aug 8, 2003
Does anyone have any specific recommendations for entry-level compressors? I'm trying to record myself on flamenco guitar, and it's such a dynamic instrument that recording without peaking my soundcard is a real challenge.

My current setup is an Audio Technica AT3035 condenser mic -> M-Audio DMP3 mic pre -> M-Audio 2496 soundcard, which cost me around $500 total. I'm looking for something fairly compact and in line with the rest of my stuff quality-wise.

Thanks for all the info here, it's been great.

Crystal Pepsi
Feb 1, 2005

remember ME?!

phunge posted:

Does anyone have any specific recommendations for entry-level compressors?

The DBX 160 line of compressors is a great line that is very affordable. You can sometimes pick them up used for $50, but you'll see them in million dollar studios.

I'd suggest the DBX 160, 160X or 166, but almost anything in the 160 range is very usable.

Vulture Culture
Jul 14, 2003

I was never enjoying it. I only eat it for the nutrients.
I'm looking for a pair of inexpensive omni room condensers for my band to record our rehearsals. Our rehearsal space isn't fantastic acoustically, and we're not necessarily looking for something with perfect and crystal-clear sound reproduction, just something with a good enough response where we can easily make everybody out and determine who's screwing up what and what we need to tighten up. Presumably we would need separate mics to properly capture the highs and lows. Phantom power's not an issue. Does anyone have any recommendations?

Vulture Culture fucked around with this message at 01:35 on Feb 12, 2007

nimper
Jun 19, 2003

livin' in a hopium den

Misogynist posted:

I'm looking for a pair of inexpensive omni room condensers for my band to record our rehearsals. Our rehearsal space isn't fantastic acoustically, and we're not necessarily looking for something with perfect and crystal-clear sound reproduction, just something with a good enough response where we can easily make everybody out and determine who's screwing up what and what we need to tighten up. Presumably we would need separate mics to properly capture the highs and lows. Phantom power's not an issue. Does anyone have any recommendations?
http://www.musiciansfriend.com/product/MAudio-Solaris-LargeDiaphragm-MultiPattern-Condenser-Microphone?sku=276501

This is the cheapest I could find. It's selectable between omni, cardioid and figure-8.

edit:

http://www.musiciansfriend.com/product/AudioTechnica-AT3032-Omnidirectional-Condenser-Microphone?sku=270564
This one is dedicated omni and cheaper.

nimper fucked around with this message at 03:32 on Feb 12, 2007

Swivel Master
Oct 10, 2004

Floating in much the same way that bricks don't.

Misogynist posted:

Presumably we would need separate mics to properly capture the highs and lows.

No, you wouldn't. It doesn't work like that. You'd need separate mics to capture the left and right sides of the room if you wanted a real stereo recording, and it would be a good idea if they matched. If you wanted to mic sets of instruments separately (drums + bass, guitar + vox from the PA or something like that) then it would make sense to not have matching mics - but then there'd be no reason to get omni's.

Actually, omni's would only make sense if your practice setup is with everything on different sides of the room. Otherwise, cardioids would be the ticket if you have it set up with everything on one side of the room facing the mics, performance-style.

edit: A lot of budget options have switchable pickup patters. This is useful.

Splinter
Jul 4, 2003
Cowabunga!
I'm looking for suggestions and advice on an audio interface.
Going to be using it for:
-recording voice and various instruments using mics (a beta 57a and an e835 for now)
-DI guitar and bass (sent to amplitude)
-Live DJing with a laptop & Ableton live

Features it needs:
-2 mic/line pres/ins
-PC & Mac compatable, Desktop & Laptop compatable (pretty much leaves me with USB & Firewire)
-Ability to cue monitor through headphones using Live (at least 4 outputs)
-MIDI I/O
-(bonus points to something I could route additional mic preamps into)
My budget is around $350 atm

My initial thought was to get an Mbox2 as I've heard great things about 'em and they are only $350 with an academic discount, but it looks like they only have 2 outs which is a bummer. Now I'm looking at the Edirol FA-66 6X6, the Focusrite Saffire and the M-Audio FireWire 410, but I'm sure there are other units out there that fit the bill as well. How does the quality of these units compare in terms of build, Preamps, and ADC/DAC and stability? Haven't heard much about the Edirol, but it does look sexy and sturdy, and amazon has a great price on it. Focusrite are the folks that made the first Mbox aren't they? I've heard nothing but good about the Saffire, but it is on the expensive side. I've read about a lot of people having problems with the M-Audio 410. Ideally I'd get something like the Edirol FA-101 or MOTU Ultralite (!), but they're a bit too expensive right now.

edit: Are there any good options or reasons for going with an interface that doesn't have mic pres, but has lots of inputs so external pres could be run through them? I haven't explored this at all and it just occured to me that it was an option.

Splinter fucked around with this message at 12:35 on Feb 12, 2007

WanderingKid
Feb 27, 2005

lives here...

AtomicManiac posted:

Any Recommendations for the two? And what sort of price range are we talking (for both) I got Ram at around 100 and an External around 100-150?

I'll stick up a little audio interface list tommorow, arranged by pricepoint.

As for monitors. This is really subjective and you can spend a couple hundred or a couple thousand. Nearfied monitors largely reduce the problem of room acoustics because you monitor with the sound source very close to your ear. But it doesn't eliminate room acoustic problems and they can still make expensive monitors sound terrible. Other things like monitor placement can really change the sound of them.

I have a pair of Dynaudio BM5as which I think are quite good. I ended up auditioning a whole range of monitors from the Alesis M1 all the way up to the ADAM P11a. I really liked the P11a. I kind of hated the M1. But you mgiht think differently. They all sound quite different and the BM5as I bought sound quite different to the P11a even though they are in the same price bracket.

I thought this was disconcerting but it basically means you shouldn't take any advice on buying monitors except go down to your local retailer and give them a listen with your own ears.

A note on some of the more expensive monitors - they tend not to have gain controls on the monitor itself so volume is controlled entirely in your software mixer. So be careful because things like windows system sounds can blow your head off if you flip all the +4 switches and pay no attention to the fact the output gain on your software mixer is maxed out.

For convenience sake I would tend to go with active nearfield monitors. My BM5as are 50watts per channel I think although on the unit it says max 90watts. Either way, they go freaking loud.

So if you want loudness I wouldn't pay a whole lot of attention to wattage beyond a certain point. Those KRK V8 monitors for instance have 250watt amps and you probably won't drive them to capacity when they are sitting 2 metres away from your head. They also made my ears hurt but you might have different experiences.

One of the things I liked about my BM5as though is that you get a really amazing sense of direction from the tweeters. Its hard to explain but if you set them up symmetrically and keep your head still, then play a continuous sound, try moving your head a couple of inches to the left or right and you can feel the change in direction. Because of this, I keep moving my monitors around because I never sit still. Also, panning and stereo widening effects sound horrible when you push them too far which I'm not sure is a good or a bad thing.

Also, owing to really lovely problems I had with Digital Village I have experienced what these speakers sound like when the low frequency driver doesn't work in the other, and when the tweeter has blown. So I have heard the tweeter on its own and the woofer on its own. I cannot for the life of me figure out where the lower mids come from and have concluded that these speakers are top and bottom heavy. I still like them though.

AtomicManiac
Dec 29, 2006

I've never been a one trick pony. I like to have a competency in everything. I've been to business school.
Interesting. Are monitors really that important at this stage? Keep in mind I have literally no equipment, but a lot of people here are kinda pushing them pretty hard-core. I was always told to take the music out of the studio, IE: Burn your music and play it everywhere because 99.99999~% of your audience is not going to have uber-quality audiophile speakers and you want to know how they'll hear it.

At any rate, I still think I'm gonna go with the Base PC upgrade first, than perhaps the interface + 1 Mic, than a few additional instruments (MIDI Controller, Bass Guitar, Acoustic Guitar), and if I'm really into it I'll drop the cash for a nice pair of monitors. It's kinda up in the air.

WanderingKid
Feb 27, 2005

lives here...
Well, you can't produce what you cant hear. During hte time my BM5as were back at base I produced for about 6 to 7 months on a pair of free headphones I got with the Guild Wars special edition. Its the only thing in the box I still use. Well theres absolutely no sub bass response so you can play a tune like Hybrid - If I Survive, which has a hefty sub bass but you just won't hear it.

So when you are producing and you want some sub bass presence you are kind of flying blind. The tendancy I used to do was amp up the bass until I could hear it. But if you can hear bass on those guild wars headphones then you know you have done something horribly wrong - just play your mix on a soundsystem with a sub and you will realise you have hyped the bass over the top.

Now. You definitely can produce using these headphones. I've done it for 7 months and I do believe that given more time to work with them I will get used to this. I have started to get used to them already. The key is to know what your speakers/headphones sound like - where they hype frequencies and where they are deficient.

But theres no doubt - a good pair of monitors in a good room with decent acoustic treatment - it makes life a helluva lot easier. You won't hype bass accidentally for one. Also, you can mix louder without the sound turning to mush. Once you push the volume up on guild wars headphones, the bass and treble starts to break up horribly. You can get used to it but you need to constantly A/B against different sound systems to get it right. All told, mixing on poo poo headphones is doable but it takes alot longer and you need to change your working habits.

If you are starting out, its always a good idea to get monitors you like listening to because they don't fatigue your ears anywhere near as quickly and you make less obvious mistakes. So you will end up spending more time producing because you enjoy the process more. What price can you put on that?

I admit I used to get fecked off at having to bounce the mixer output every 30 minutes to A/B it in my car. Save yourself the trouble.

Breathingdust
Jun 4, 2006

There seems to be an alien pubic hair in my gin
I recently bought an Mbox 2 to start putting ideas of mine together. Ive got my head round the UI, but these plugin instruments are a little daunting and I am a total noob.

I can just about program drums in midi, but at the moment the only midi out I have is the one on my soundcard. Can I just route the midi drum tracks through the BFD plugin? This would allow me to avoid buying a mixer (id have to mix the audio out from the mbox and the stereo out from my soundcard)

I have 9 midi tracks of drums, will it end up running 9 instances of BFD to get kit sounds? Or can it manage on the one? Will this cane resources?

Thanks for the help! :)

Splinter
Jul 4, 2003
Cowabunga!
You can definitely trigger the drums samples with MIDI. I'm not familiar with BFD, so I'm not sure how it is set up, but my guess is each of the 18 drum sounds is (or can be) mapped to a different key on the piano roll, so as long as you are only using 18 sounds or less, you only need 1 instance of BFD running (though you may need to merge the 9 midi files together into one). No need to use your soundcard's general MIDI drums.

Keefaz
Jun 24, 2005

What are folks' opinions on the ART Tube MP Studio preamp? A fella at work is offloading one for £40/$80.

Crystal Pepsi
Feb 1, 2005

remember ME?!

Keefaz posted:

What are folks' opinions on the ART Tube MP Studio preamp? A fella at work is offloading one for £40/$80.

Entry level, nothing spectacular. Better than behringer.

ChristsDickWorship
Dec 7, 2004

Annihilate your demons



Keefaz posted:

What are folks' opinions on the ART Tube MP Studio preamp? A fella at work is offloading one for £40/$80.
I've seen a lot of guys who use those with acoustic guitars/basses between the instrument and the amp and a few who use them with electric bass guitars, partially because they have a limiter built-in. They aren't exactly DIs, but they seem to sound OK when used as one.

Honestly I've never plugged a mic into one. Seems like $80 is a little steep for used though... this one?

edit: Upon further review, I think they do actually match impedances so I guess they are technically DIs as well as preamps.

ChristsDickWorship fucked around with this message at 05:12 on Feb 15, 2007

mofolotopo
May 10, 2004

TICK STAMPEDE!!!!

Keefaz posted:

What are folks' opinions on the ART Tube MP Studio preamp? A fella at work is offloading one for �40/$80.

Do not pay $80 for a freaking Art Tube MP. I'm not sure if they're still doing it, but one of the big retailers (Musician's Friend, maybe?) was selling them for $30 brand freaking new a couple of weeks ago. You can frequently find them for $60 or so new on Ebay, and whether they're even worth that is somewhat questionable. I've had good results using them as a bass DI, but really not much else.

If you're looking for a cheap, decent preamp, you might try looking for a used Symetrix SX202 or a Presonus Bluetube. They're a little more expensive (usually in the $125-$175 range), but the difference is massive. I can vouch for the SX202 personally, the Bluetube I'm going on hearsay.


Edit: They don't have them for $30 any more, but they do have them for $45. Paypal's got this thing going on where if you pay for a purchase through some specific group of retailers using their service, they'll give you a $15 rebate, so you could still get it for $30. I'm not saying that you SHOULDN'T buy one, just that you shouldn't buy one for $80 - if you're going to spend money at that level, you're getting close to buying some much better gear.

And here is the Paypal thing. I know they're not popular around these parts (for very good reasons), but there it is for what it's worth.

mofolotopo fucked around with this message at 05:18 on Feb 15, 2007

Keefaz
Jun 24, 2005

Hmmm... I see if I can get him to lower his price. I'm hoping it will help my acoustic guitar tone. I already spent this month's music allowance last week on a Studio Project B3 mic, but it's running through the dreaded Behringer preamp I stole when my band broke up. Maybe it's better to save and look for something a bit classier, but I'm an eager idiot with stuff like this...

ReDiNmYhEaD
Mar 17, 2006
How does one go about getting osx(10.3) into recognizing a Roland TD-8 Vdrum as a controller interface(using the vdrum pads to trigger)?

The midi interface is part of a digi001.

ReDiNmYhEaD fucked around with this message at 18:01 on Feb 15, 2007

JohnnySmitch
Oct 20, 2004

Don't touch me there - Noone has that right.

Keefaz posted:

Hmmm... I see if I can get him to lower his price. I'm hoping it will help my acoustic guitar tone. I already spent this month's music allowance last week on a Studio Project B3 mic, but it's running through the dreaded Behringer preamp I stole when my band broke up. Maybe it's better to save and look for something a bit classier, but I'm an eager idiot with stuff like this...

I've got a Presonus BlueTube, and I'd recommend it. I've heard a lot of negative feedback about the TubePre (and most ART stuff in general...). I haven't used my acoustic through the Blue Tube, but I love how well it works for warming up vocals. My only gripe with it is that there's no on/off switch, so you have to unplug it when you're not using it (seriously, what the gently caress?)

olaf2022
Feb 19, 2003
Fun Shoe
My friend and I want to get into recording on his PC. We've recorded albums before, but it was at someone else's (analog) studio, so we really don't know a whole lot of what to buy to do it ourselves on a PC. We have all the music equipment and mics we'd need but we're unsure about the recording hardware.

We want something to let us record probably 8 or more separate tracks (I'm not sure if that's limited to hardware or software). Cost isn't much of an issue, so we're wondering if we should go with one of these $2200 Digidesign Pro Tools setups, or if that's overkill and we should use something simple like a regular sound card with a breakout box and different software or what. Versatility and quality is important, but it should hopefully be something that isn't TOO difficult to learn to use either. Any help is greatly appreciated.

olaf2022 fucked around with this message at 00:40 on Feb 16, 2007

Crystal Pepsi
Feb 1, 2005

remember ME?!

olaf2022 posted:

My friend and I want to get into recording on his PC. We've recorded albums before, but it was at someone else's (analog) studio, so we really don't know a whole lot of what to buy to do it ourselves on a PC. We have all the music equipment and mics we'd need but we're unsure about the recording hardware.

We want something to let us record probably 8 or more separate tracks (I'm not sure if that's limited to hardware or software). Cost isn't much of an issue, so we're wondering if we should go with one of these $2200 Digidesign Pro Tools setups, or if that's overkill and we should use something simple like a regular sound card with a breakout box and different software or what. Versatility and quality is important, but it should hopefully be something that isn't TOO difficult to learn to use either. Any help is greatly appreciated.

That digidesign factory bundle is pretty much exactly what you want (assuming you're using a Mac computer). Go for it, you could probably save some cash ordering from someone other than musiciansfriend though.

olaf2022
Feb 19, 2003
Fun Shoe

Crystal Pepsi posted:

That digidesign factory bundle is pretty much exactly what you want (assuming you're using a Mac computer). Go for it, you could probably save some cash ordering from someone other than musiciansfriend though.

Thanks, but why "assuming you're using a Mac"? The site says it's compatible with both WinXP and OSX...

ChristsDickWorship
Dec 7, 2004

Annihilate your demons



olaf2022 posted:

Thanks, but why "assuming you're using a Mac"? The site says it's compatible with both WinXP and OSX...
It is compatible with both. I haven't found it any harder to keep Pro Tools operating under XP than OSX, although you do need to pay attention to Digidesign's hardware compatibility info before you buy it. Some mobos and firewire cards are especially incompatible.

A couple of other considerations:
  • You could save $500 or so by getting this instead, which is the same software and hardware capabilities, except with no control surface (faders, knobs, etc). All that surface does is control the software so you don't have to use a mouse, so it's more of a convenience than a necessity.

    Although the one you linked does allow you to use it without a computer as a standalone mixer if you need one for a rehearsal PA or something. That's functionality that the rack model doesn't have.

  • That unit is ready to have 4 mics plugged into it. It has 8 inputs, but only 4 of them have microphone preamps built-in. If you need to record 8 channels at a time that are coming in at mic level (so pretty much anything except a keyboard, CD player, sampler, etc) you'll need to buy external mic preamps to use with the other 4 inputs.

  • Software is a big consideration before you buy. When you pay for an 002, you're paying for Pro Tools LE as well. If you know you want to use Cubase, Sonar, Ableton Live, FL Studio, or Logic you probably don't want to buy a Digidesign interface. It's pretty safe to say that all of these programs can do almost anything you want to do, but they approach them differently. In my opinion if you're used to an analog studio and you'll be mixing/recording real instruments, Pro Tools is a great choice for you. If you want to foray into electronic music with MIDI, virtual instruments, and sequencing you might want to look elsewhere (although Pro Tools is no slouch in that category, most people seem to find other software easier for electronic stuff and Pro Tools doesn't support VST which is a major source of virtual instruments).

    DAW wars between engineers are as vicious and subjective as console wars in the gaming world so asking "which is best" is a question that has no good answer.

  • Do you see yourself expanding this to more inputs over time, or do you think 8 will be sufficient? Will 16 be sufficient? This could be a consideration as well, as 16 inputs is the absolute max you can use with Pro Tools LE (well 18, but you have to jump through a couple of hoops for the last 2). With many interfaces you can just go out and buy another one to double your inputs, but not with the Digi002 and Pro Tools LE.
If you give me more info, I can give you other recommendations. You say you have music equipment and mics. At that price point, if that means you already have 8 or 12 external preamps there are other interfaces you might want to look into where you would just be paying for A/D conversion and no frills like preamps. If you have no preamps and need 8, there are other interfaces that have 8 preamps built-in. The 002 is kinda in the middle because it's Digidesign's only interface between $400 and $10,000.

ChristsDickWorship fucked around with this message at 06:20 on Feb 16, 2007

Crystal Pepsi
Feb 1, 2005

remember ME?!

olaf2022 posted:

Thanks, but why "assuming you're using a Mac"? The site says it's compatible with both WinXP and OSX...

Protools was designed for the Mac, I guess it runs on XP as well, but I wouldnt trust it on one, personally.

RivensBitch
Jul 25, 2002

Crystal Pepsi posted:

Protools was designed for the Mac, I guess it runs on XP as well, but I wouldnt trust it on one, personally.

I've heard Santa Clause and the Easter Bunny share your view, but they are also known to drop presents down chimneys and hide chocolate eggs for baby jesus to find after he sees his shadow on the first day of spring.

Here in the world where we actually try things out and try to share constructive opinions based on experience, I'd recommend you come and join us in the 21st century where we don't make major studio purchases based on the gut feelings of someone on the internet who admittedly doesn't know what they're talking about.


Works fine on XP for me.

olaf2022
Feb 19, 2003
Fun Shoe

wixard posted:

:science:
Thanks a lot for your help. It sounds like this package will do just fine for what we want.

Crystal Pepsi posted:

Protools was designed for the Mac, I guess it runs on XP as well, but I wouldnt trust it on one, personally.

RivensBitch posted:

I've heard Santa Clause and the Easter Bunny share your view, but they are also known to drop presents down chimneys and hide chocolate eggs for baby jesus to find after he sees his shadow on the first day of spring.

Here in the world where we actually try things out and try to share constructive opinions based on experience, I'd recommend you come and join us in the 21st century where we don't make major studio purchases based on the gut feelings of someone on the internet who admittedly doesn't know what they're talking about.


Works fine on XP for me.

Thank you guys too. Also, Digidesign.com says there's a Vista-compatible version in the works.

Crystal Pepsi
Feb 1, 2005

remember ME?!

RivensBitch posted:



He's here asking for opinions. Mine is obviously different from yours, try not to be an rear end.

RivensBitch
Jul 25, 2002

Crystal Pepsi posted:

He's here asking for opinions. Mine is obviously different from yours, try not to be an rear end.

What part of "I guess it runs on XP as well, but I wouldnt trust it on one, personally" do you think will be useful to him?

At least I'm an outright, unashamed rear end who is capable of spouting usefull and relevant poo poo when prompted correctly. Posting baseless "I guess, personally" opinions in a technical thread simply paints you as a useless, incontinent rear end that occasionally likes to dribble runny, watery poo poo on what otherwise could be solid, plump and useful conversation.

For YEARS now protools has run fine on windows XP (We're on version 7.x now and PT has been perfeclt fine on XP since 6.0). In fact if I were to give any reason NOT to go the mac route with PTLE it would be that since PTLE 6.0 came out OS/X has had 4 paid upgrades that have been required to use the latest version of PTLE, whereas XP has been compatable with no paid upgrades the entire way through. We might finally see a required paid upgrade on the windows side when PTLE drops XP compatibility, which is still probably a year off. Note I'm speaking of paid OS upgrades, either way you've had to pay the same for PTLE upgrades mac or win side.

As for stability go check out http://duc.digidesign.com and you'll see the WIN/MAC userbase is about the same for LE systems. HD is a different matter. When I worked at GC I sold systems with confidence to both user groups and have run BOTH platforms myself since 2003 with no problems.

But yeah, I guess having an experienced opinion is different than having no useful opinion whatsoever.

(USER WAS PUT ON PROBATION FOR THIS POST)

RivensBitch fucked around with this message at 02:49 on Feb 17, 2007

rivetz
Sep 22, 2000


Soiled Meat
Sorry to break up the festivities but a minor question on computer effects. I am filming a video project that involves a lot of narration. Most of it will be dubbed over footage, but some of it is me actually talking on camera in outdoor settings. Because of a shitload of background noise, I will be dubbing/syncing a studio recording of the narration and adding background effects (woodland sounds, city traffic, etc.)

The issue is that this is a parody of nature docs (David Attenborough style, Life on Earth, that sort of thing). The sound of Attenborough's narration is much different than the audio tracks of him out in the woods, walking on the beach, etc, because there's that ambient background noise, but also because he's being recorded on an outdoor mic. What's the best way to emulate this? Are there white-noise plugins or settings that can be employed? I will probably be installing and using a copy of CoolEdit 2000. Am I better off tweaking the wav after recording it, or does it make more sense to record it outside at night or something? Can that ambient outdoors sound be emulated or should I be trying to really produce it?

RivensBitch
Jul 25, 2002

If you want the most control I would reccomend recording him in studio in a booth, then can run a speaker outside of your studio and mic that up with a shotgun boom mic. Obviously if you live in the city that wont work for a nature scene, so you might want some portable recording equipment (laptop) with speakers to take on location.

Once you have your "outside" version you can dump that back into the project and blend the direct mic with the ambient and get whatever sound you need.

Swivel Master
Oct 10, 2004

Floating in much the same way that bricks don't.

Allen Fiverson posted:

:words:

The first response to your post is, in my opinion, poor advice. The version coming out of a speaker is going to sound dramatically different from what you'd get recording at a distance. This is probably the first time I've really disagreed with RivensBitch, but I don't think he's got film sound training or experience.

Here's what you do - get a good minute of outside-ambient noise. If you can't get a minute, just get big chunks of it.

Record the stuff you want to overdub in a studio as best you can.

Put it on top of the ambient noise and play it back to back with the location sound. Start EQ'ing until they match. That's all you should have to do, unless he's yelling and you need to add some kind of weird outside convolution reverb (doubtful). Chances are you'll be cutting some lows out completely, reducing in the hundreds of herz, and cutting the highest of the highs.

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ReActor
Jun 1, 2000

MEANIE
If you have the necessary location equipment (portable recorder, lapel or shotgun mic) you might as well try that first. Close miking can be surprisingly effective and you might find that the background noise doesn't actually come through that much. Of course, if the results are unsatisfactory, you can replace in the studio and you've lost nothing. Aside from some time, I guess.

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