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coolbian57 posted:I have all the proper equipment to hook my Sm57 up to my computer. No you don't. If you're going direct into your sound card, that is. Why is this not stated explicitly in the FAQ?
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Apr 2, 2007 09:30
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Keefaz posted:Well, the latest SA Rockstar has provided me with more proof--if any were needed--that I don't have a fricken clue what I'm doing. Can anyone point me in the direction of some good home recording websites? I'm not concerned so much about mic placement etc. than I am about how to mix. I can get a good guitar sound, but I poo poo everything up when I have more than 2 tracks. This was me six months ago. Then I enrolled in a continuing ed recording program at a local university, and it made all the difference in the world. However, before starting that I did a whole lot of self-study, and continue to do so. I'd recommend you pick up a copy of Modern Recording Techniques by David Huber and start lurking gearslutz. Also, there are a couple podcasts that are worth mentioning, Inside Home Recording and Project Studio Network. There really is no correct way to mix, but just like anything else, once you have a firm grasp of the basics it starts to come together and you can get creative.
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Apr 3, 2007 06:13
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K, well, after a couple years of recording on a very low-end setup on my current PC (primarily acoustic stuff) and being constantly hindered and frustrated by it, I've decided it's time for me to get a bona-fide home recording setup. Here's what I have picked out, what do the wizards think? PC (pertinent specs): -Genuine Windows Vista(TM) Ultimate -Intel(R) Core(TM) 2 Duo processor E6700 (2.66GHz) (after April 22nd) -4GB DDR2-667MHz dual channel SDRAM (4x1024) -400GB 7200 rpm SATA 3Gb/s hard drive -LightScribe 16X DVD+/-R/RW SuperMulti drive -Digidesign 003 Rack -Reason 3.0 -relatively cheap studio monitors (any help on this one?) -Condenser mic and probably a couple of SM57's. Is the AKG Perception 200 a decent cheap condenser mic or what? -What else? Also, I just wanted to say I really appreciate you guys making all of this recording info accessible. I have really learned a lot just reading through this thread. Wacky Iraqi fucked around with this message at 20:32 on Apr 3, 2007 |
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Apr 3, 2007 16:31
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Jobless Drunk posted:This was me six months ago. Then I enrolled in a continuing ed recording program at a local university, and it made all the difference in the world. However, before starting that I did a whole lot of self-study, and continue to do so. I'd recommend you pick up a copy of Modern Recording Techniques by David Huber and start lurking gearslutz. Also, there are a couple podcasts that are worth mentioning, Inside Home Recording and Project Studio Network. Out of curiosity can I ask about some of the details of that program? I ask because I am reaching the limits of what I believe I can achieve on my own and I've been saving up to do a sound engineering course at Pulse Recording studios in Dublin. But the course is really pro tools heavy and Pulse aren't very forthcoming about many of the specifics of the program. So what was your experience of your course?
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Apr 3, 2007 16:38
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WanderingKid posted:So what was your experience of your course? It's been great. It's a CE course at University of the Arts, so the class is small and populated by dedicated adult learners. The instructor is passionate, knowledgeable and friendly, which really makes a big difference in the quality of the class. As for the set up, there's a live room with a drum kit, piano, and a few amps. The mix room has an analog mixing console, tape machine, a couple outboard racks and a ProTools rig running on a G5. We have access to a cabinet full of mics from Sennheiser, AKG, Shure, Electrovoice, Royer, basically all the standard recording mics. There's also a giant Moog modular that I wish I could get my hands on, but it's someone's baby. The course was split into two parts, the first semester focused on mic placement and recording basics, the second semester focused on mixing and the business of running a studio. We mainly record and mix students who perform in jazz groups. The current semester has been fun, because the instructor basically lets us run the show, from booking the clients (students), to setup, recording, and mixing. He's there for guidance, but we pretty much have free reign of the studio for 3 hours every week. Jobless Drunk fucked around with this message at 17:50 on Apr 3, 2007 |
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Apr 3, 2007 17:47
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Wacky Iraqi posted:PC (pertinent specs): quote:-Digidesign 003 Rack Can't help you on those last few. I'm one of the guys who thinks you have to spend in the neighborhood of $1000 on monitors, and I've never used a Perception.
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Apr 3, 2007 19:37
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quote:relatively cheap studio monitors (any help on this one?) Same opinion as Wixard on this one. I basically hated everything that clocked in under about £700 sterling. Alesis M1s sound no better or worse to me than the cheap Sony hifi speakers I had at home. At the time I was monitor shopping though, the ADAM A7s hadn't been released. Now you can get them for about 400 sterling for the pair and if they are anything like the ADAM P11as (and they supposedly are) then they should be good. The P11a was give or take the best monitor I auditioned for under 850 sterling. I liked it the most anyhow. Its worth pointing out that all the monitors I auditioned sound massively different. I found this disconcerting but ultimately it doesn't matter what you use to monitor. The most important part is you get used to how they sound and where they are deficient. Then make up for that deficiency by referencing your mixes on loads of other soundsystems (your mp3 player, the speakers in your car etc). Even if your monitors are amazing I get the impression you would have to do this and I still second reference my mixes on the crap pair of headphones I got with the guild wars special edition. I ended up getting a pair of Dynaudio BM5as and there are good and bad things about them. Mostly it depends on the environment you monitor in. You will get flutter echoes in very small rooms that don't have solid walls. Also, the tweeters are unbelievably sensitive which I suppose is a good thing but you have to monitor with your head pretty still. If you move your head a couple of inches to the left or right you can hear/feel the phase changes as the sound takes longer to reach one of your ears. Its literally a matter of inches. At first I thought this is crazy. But now I have sort of gotten used to it but my back sometimes kills me from sitting upright for so long. Occassionally I slouch over or lie on my side but they sound fricking weird when you do that. You can get used to that of course - you just need to keep monitoring on your side. If I'm doing this for a long time though my side starts to go numb. Hah. Well below this price point I didn't notice this behaviour on any of the monitors I auditioned. The M1s for instance just don't exhibit this behaviour and I can listen off axis and it doesn't make a whole lot of difference to the sound. I sort of liked the Tannoy Reveal 6s in a hard to explain kind of way but I hated those KRK Rokit and V series monitors. Those just seemed like really really powerful hifi speakers that bust your ears up at high amplitude. Wasn't keen on them at all. The Event TR-6 was quite nice but the build quality wasn't great and Event's tech support and customer relations are poor. Dynaudio on the other hand have been pretty good to me and there are a couple of guys working at their UK distributors (TC Electronics) which know me on first name terms and they said they can sort me out for replacements if I get problems. And they came through for me on two occassions and replaced two fecked up speakers that Digital Village shipped to me. Overall, it tipped the scales for me and I'm glad I spent the extra cash for the peace of mind and the solid speakers. I would suggest you do the same and spend a little bit extra for something that will last. WanderingKid fucked around with this message at 14:06 on Apr 4, 2007 |
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Apr 4, 2007 13:59
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WanderingKid posted:Same opinion as Wixard on this one. I basically hated everything that clocked in under about £700 sterling. Alesis M1s sound no better or worse to me than the cheap Sony hifi speakers I had at home. At the time I was monitor shopping though, the ADAM A7s hadn't been released. Now you can get them for about 400 sterling for the pair and if they are anything like the ADAM P11as (and they supposedly are) then they should be good. The P11a was give or take the best monitor I auditioned for under 850 sterling. I liked it the most anyhow. Its worth pointing out that all the monitors I auditioned sound massively different. I found this disconcerting but ultimately it doesn't matter what you use to monitor. The most important part is you get used to how they sound and where they are deficient. Then make up for that deficiency by referencing your mixes on loads of other soundsystems (your mp3 player, the speakers in your car etc). Even if your monitors are amazing I get the impression you would have to do this and I still second reference my mixes on the crap pair of headphones I got with the guild wars special edition. Thanks for steering me in the right direction. I'd say the Event TR-6's are looking pretty solid for me, but one question: Would it be better for me to get the TR-8's instead for $50 more per monitor, or are they not worth it? Wacky Iraqi fucked around with this message at 15:53 on Apr 4, 2007 |
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Apr 4, 2007 15:43
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Quick note about studio monitors - M-Audio BX-6's are lovely and sound horrible with ear-splitting highs that will make you compensate by making all of your mixes sound dull. I currently have some Event Project Studio 6's and I like 'em a lot. However, their bass response doesn't quite go low enough to get totally accurate mixes. They also pop loudly when I turn them off, which is a very bad thing. Another disadvantage is that they have no options on them whatsoever besides gain, so good luck getting proper response if your room has problems. Back at the studio I share with my dad, there are some very nice Hafler trans*nova TRM8's, which are huge, heavy, loud, and loving amazing. They're also discontinued. After using them, though, I can really understand the importance of good monitors. Their bass response is incredible, and it's great to have the full range in both speakers instead of having to worry about tuning a subwoofer. The highs are crystal clear as well, and when I listen to really good recordings on them I can actually hear details that I never knew about before. They also have a shitload of EQ options, though they're controlled with a lot of dipswitches on the back that you need a manual to figure out. (I guess that saves money on knobs and stuff, but still...) The major disadvantage of having huge speakers is that you have to get them farther away from your head in order to turn them up enough to get bass loud enough to hear/feel it clearly without blowing your ears off from the highs. edit to respond more specifically to the above post: I'm pretty sure what I have is/are the precurser model to what you're talking about. I would say the TR-8's are probably worth it for the better bass response. edit again: Quoting a giant post to respond with one sentence is silly. Swivel Master fucked around with this message at 21:11 on Apr 4, 2007 |
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Apr 4, 2007 21:06
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Well I'm not sure it works like that. The TR-8 has an 8 inch woofer, so it can reproduce a lower frequency tone than the TR-6 (which has a 6 inch woofer). The Dynaudio BM5a has a 6.9inch woofer with a frequency response down to 50hz. Which doesn't seem low on paper but I used to monitor on these in a small room with wooden flooring. It had 2 solid walls and two hollowed out walls with a high ceiling. 1 single glazed window. The room dimensions were about 10 foot by 15 foot so it was really quite small. The Dyns produced terrible flutter echoes in this room. You would get a kind of reverberation by clapping or stamping your foot so that should give you some idea of the kind of effect that your monitoring environment has on the sound of your monitors. I moved to a larger room with carpetted floors. I was now 1 floor up and I had 4 solid walls. I no longer get flutter echoes as badly and I can move my speakers well away from walls to prevent that hyped bass effect. But I should mention that I've used more powerful, larger speakers in this room and it just doesn't work. The standing waves are worse, they can go louder than is comfortable when monitoring in that environment. If you are monitoring in a tiny room and theres an slight echo when you clap, then pumping out loads of sub bass through an 8 inch driver and a massive amp is just totally pointless. It will sound terrible and is extremely off putting at high levels. I think you really need to consider the acoustics of your room when choosing monitors. Even though I hated the Alesis M1s, I work with a couple of people that use them and I've heard them in the same room as by Dyns. The woofer is much smaller and theres way less sub but you don't get standing waves in the same room like you do with the Dyns. Also, I think the tweeter is really unsensitive compared to the Dyns but again, moving your head slightly left and right doesn't produce that phasey effect so much. So I can find that monitoring with other people - where you don't always get the centre spot, is more ideal. I personally hated the M1s but you might like them and they might be appropriate for the room you monitor in. I think the only thing you can really do is try them all out yourself and see how it goes. It does help to get the best you can afford though (After you have auditioned a load of them). Otherwise you will always be thinking - what if I bought that monitor instead? One note on the M1s though. They seem extremely popular but by god - compared to the Dyns (in every room I have used the two in) it really does sound like someone stuck a shallow low pass filter before the monitor inputs. Then a high pass filter that sharply kills everything under 50hz. It just sounds so mute and centred, But I suppose thats why they cost about a quarter of the price. WanderingKid fucked around with this message at 12:07 on Apr 5, 2007 |
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Apr 5, 2007 11:50
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I've had a dedicated recording computer for some time, so excuse the simplicity of this one. Is it going to cause headaches if I put my recording soundcard (an Maudio firewire unit) in this computer at the same time as my real soundcard (Soundblaster X-Fi)? I did it with my computer about five years ago with an Audigy and a Mia and I just remember it being the biggest headache. Games would use the Mia for sound, Cubase would try to audio in from the Audigy, etc. Is it safe to slap both in if I'm okay with configuring things, or is it going to be a neverending battle of fixing settings? Alternatively, if I just remove the X-Fi, would an Maudio firewire unit be good enough for casual gaming?
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Apr 6, 2007 05:39
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Sorry for the simple question, but it is a difficult thing to find the answer to via Google. I have a Presonus Inspire firewire interface, the primary inputs of which are two mic inputs and two Hi-Z inputs. Is it possible to put an external pre-amp between a mic and the mic input, and dial down the internal pre-amp? If so, is this actually an advisable method (i.e. is it worth it), or do I really need a bigger device with XLR line-ins? Thanks!
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Apr 7, 2007 13:02
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Schmuckrat posted:Sorry for the simple question, but it is a difficult thing to find the answer to via Google. I have a Presonus Inspire firewire interface, the primary inputs of which are two mic inputs and two Hi-Z inputs. Is it possible to put an external pre-amp between a mic and the mic input, and dial down the internal pre-amp? If so, is this actually an advisable method (i.e. is it worth it), or do I really need a bigger device with XLR line-ins? Thanks! An external preamp should output to quarter-inch anyway. So use the Hi-Z input. Why do you want to do this?
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Apr 7, 2007 17:27
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I've got some MIDI performance data in Reason that I'd like to import to Pro Tools for further tweaking and playing around with (the MIDI editor in Reason is incredibly basic), but I can't figure out how to get the data from one to the other. Is this possible?
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Apr 8, 2007 09:21
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Swivel Master posted:An external preamp should output to quarter-inch anyway. So use the Hi-Z input. Most preamps I've seen have both XLR and 1/4" outs. I thought a Hi-Z input only accepted high impedance things like guitars, and would work poorly on, say, a preamplified condenser microphone? Or is the 1/4" output on a preamp a high impedance signal? The reason I want to do this - or at least am looking into whether I can do it - is so I can use a higher-quality preamp than the Presonus one. I grant that it's probably not worth it, but what I mainly want to know is whether it is acceptable to plug a preamp into a microphone input or the Hi-Z input, since the preamp outputs a line level signal, which I thought was different from a mic signal. It is really a matter of knowing the electronics behind the signal chain I suppose, of which I am fairly ignorant. At the very least, the internet tells me that "One can get distortion by plugging an XLR +4dB line level signal into an XLR microphone input", which I guess answers my question.
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Apr 8, 2007 09:45
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Elder posted:I've got some MIDI performance data in Reason that I'd like to import to Pro Tools for further tweaking and playing around with (the MIDI editor in Reason is incredibly basic), but I can't figure out how to get the data from one to the other. Is this possible?
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Apr 8, 2007 15:20
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Schmuckrat posted:Most preamps I've seen have both XLR and 1/4" outs. I thought a Hi-Z input only accepted high impedance things like guitars, and would work poorly on, say, a preamplified condenser microphone? Or is the 1/4" output on a preamp a high impedance signal? 1) As SwivelMaster said you can use the hi-Z inputs. This shouldn't cause much of a problem. Technically you do this same thing every time you plug a keyboard into a DI and that always comes out sounding fine (I'm not an electronics wizard either, but I'm not sure the transformer really does much of anything if the signal is already at the proper impedence). Only your ears will really tell you if it's acceptable. 2) You could go in mic level with the XLR and see if that works without clipping. 3) You could go into the unbalanced RCA line inputs on the back. Buy adapters for XLR->RCA or TRS->RCA and plug in there instead. This opens up the possibility of radio interference and maybe grounding buzzes so I would do this last.
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Apr 8, 2007 17:54
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Great, thank you both. I guess I won't concern myself with external preamps for now - it wasn't so urgent, I just wanted to get it figured out.
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Apr 9, 2007 06:32
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Well I am using a PC and a MOTU 8pre. I needed firewire so I bought a PCI card, however even though it is supposed to be plug and play it doesn't seem to be working. Any tips on getting firewire straight on a PC?
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Apr 9, 2007 08:44
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MOTU recommends using a Firewire card with a Texas Instruments chipset. Does it have that?
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Apr 9, 2007 10:36
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The Huntsman posted:Well I am using a PC and a MOTU 8pre. I needed firewire so I bought a PCI card, however even though it is supposed to be plug and play it doesn't seem to be working. Any tips on getting firewire straight on a PC? Welcome to my hell. MOTU is a pain in the rear end to get working over PC firewire. As has been stated, your Firewire card needs to have the TI chipset in order to work correctly. If you google around, you can find out which products use this chipset.
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Apr 9, 2007 21:26
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Yoozer posted:MOTU recommends using a Firewire card with a Texas Instruments chipset. Does it have that? No but for anyone that is looking I found one... http://www.geeks.com/details.asp?InvtId=1394B-HOST-CARD&cm_mmc=Froogle-_-Controllers/Adapters-_-FireWireAdapters-_-1394B-HOST-CARD
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Apr 9, 2007 22:48
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I've been looking at some recording equipment to get back into it, and boy does it make me feel dumb  First, I'm looking for some basic gear to get started. What I want to do is record a bunch of different sources (electric/accoustic guitar, vocals, bass, drums, cello, not all at the same time, but in various combinations), and record them into various software. I figured the first thing I should look into is some sort of mixer board/new sound card. I was looking through the options available, and I don't like the idea of buying a new soundcard + some sort of mixer, so when I found the firewire/usb boards I thought "genius!" Is there anything wrong with the Alesis boards? (something like http://www.musiciansfriend.com/product/Alesis-MultiMix-12USB-Mixer-?sku=630167X). It seems like one of these + some decent mics (probably Shure because I like the 'easy answer') would get me started. Is there any big issues with the USB devices now? The net seems to think so, but it sounds like USB 1.0/1.1 issues. Do newer devices still not work as well? I just have some stupid issues with firewire on my box and would rather go with USB is its acceptable, but if the quality ends up being junk I'll need to try something else. Also, about these - does it send all the different inputs to different tracks on the software? For instance, can I plug a vocal mic in and a guitar, and have them record to two different tracks in the software at the same time? That'd be rad. About mics, should I look at a condensor mic as well? Seems like one might be good for micing the cello or maybe the drums. Unless I'm mistaken, they pick up sound from all directions in much bigger quantities, right? Also, I was thinking about getting back into playing with FruityLoops, and thought a cheap midi keyboard would be  . I'm not a pianist, and don't really want to be, so a cheap non-weighted keyboard seems fine to me - I just hate operating the piano roll and such by mouse. Is something like http://www.musiciansfriend.com/product/MAudio-Keystation-49e-USB-MIDI-Controller-Keyboard?sku=703605V appropriate?
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Apr 11, 2007 02:14
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nimper posted:Can you save the data as a MIDI file in Reason? That could work if Protools opens *.mid files. That did the trick! Thanks, I can't believe I didn't try that 
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Apr 11, 2007 09:28
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Quick question: I have a Presonus Firepod and I left the power adapter for it at home an hour and a half away. But I do have a power adapter for my Presonus HP4 Headphone Amp. The only problem is the voltage on the headphone amp adapter is 16 VAC and the Firepod is 15 VAC. If I use the 16VAC adapter on the 15VAC interface will it gently caress it up or is the difference to little?
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Apr 11, 2007 17:29
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Hey! Hey! We are going to answer my question, and we are going to do it with some god drat pizzaz around here! Do I make myself clear?!MC Fruit Stripe posted:I've had a dedicated recording computer for some time, so excuse the simplicity of this one. Is it going to cause headaches if I put my recording soundcard (an Maudio firewire unit) in this computer at the same time as my real soundcard (Soundblaster X-Fi)? I did it with my computer about five years ago with an Audigy and a Mia and I just remember it being the biggest headache. Games would use the Mia for sound, Cubase would try to audio in from the Audigy, etc. Is it safe to slap both in if I'm okay with configuring things, or is it going to be a neverending battle of fixing settings?
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Apr 11, 2007 19:43
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MC Fruit Stripe posted:Hey! Hey! We are going to answer my question, and we are going to do it with some god drat pizzaz around here! Do I make myself clear?! your M-audio should be more than enough for gaming, I'd probably just take out the x-fi tanner4105 posted:Quick question: It's generally not good to feed a power supply more voltage than it's designed for. If the amp rating (might be in MillaAmps) is similar then it *should* be ok though, I'd watch it for overheating. Crystal Pepsi fucked around with this message at 22:39 on Apr 11, 2007 |
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Apr 11, 2007 22:34
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Crystal Pepsi, I love ya. Another thing I was just curious about while I was diagramming my studio (everything's in storage so I'm just scribbling down ideas to make sure I've got everything in order). Do I lose anything by not having an outboard preamp? I usually plug my mic directly into the soundcard (or in the new setup, my mixer), and it seems to me that would work fine because I could apply all the preamp processing to the dry signal once it's in the computer. This would also seem to have the added benefit of not making any preamp tweaks permanent to the track. Mic -> Soundcard -> Plugins Mic -> Preamp -> Soundcard Any difference? You decide, at 11!
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Apr 12, 2007 01:46
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Crystal Pepsi posted:your M-audio should be more than enough for gaming, I'd probably just take out the x-fi  v
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Apr 12, 2007 01:51
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MC Fruit Stripe posted:Do I lose anything by not having an outboard preamp? I usually plug my mic directly into the soundcard (or in the new setup, my mixer), and it seems to me that would work fine because I could apply all the preamp processing to the dry signal once it's in the computer. This would also seem to have the added benefit of not making any preamp tweaks permanent to the track. Yeah, there is a difference. Outside of coloring the sound, the point of a pre-amp is to bring the input gain up to a level where you are getting a satisfactory signal to noise ratio. Yes, after it's recorded, you can make it louder using compression and clean it up a bit with EQ, but ideally, you want the best signal possible coming into your soundcard. The better the signal is going in, the less time you'll have to spend fixing it in the mix later. However, you mentioned that you're using a mixer, which leads me to believe you will be using the onboard pre-amps, in which case you wouldn't need a separate mic pre, unless you wanted it for character. Jobless Drunk fucked around with this message at 06:17 on Apr 12, 2007 |
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Apr 12, 2007 06:15
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MC Fruit Stripe posted:Crystal Pepsi, I love ya. Another thing I was just curious about while I was diagramming my studio (everything's in storage so I'm just scribbling down ideas to make sure I've got everything in order). What Jobless drunk said, basically. A few things really do need to be done in analog. You said you have a mixer though? What make/model? Most mixers will have a preamp built into each channel, so you might not even have to worry =]
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Apr 12, 2007 07:01
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We had this problem with our recording computer yesterday that's still a mystery to me. We had a setup that was working fine for one day, then yesterday every recording we made (tried with Live and then Audition just to check) had a fuzzy snap/click/sound on top of it at exactly 1 second intervals. After systematically unplugging everything, moving wires, turning off our cell phones, it still happened. We could only determine that the source was the computer itself. So we've fixed the problem by basically rebuilding a whole new recording computer. New motherboard/processor and hard drive and now it's fine. However, I was wondering if anyone knew the cause of such a problem. Our best guess is that the Windows drive was the problem (5200 or 5600 rpm), but I don't know if that explains the exact 1 second intervals. I'd appreciate any advice in case it happens again in the future. Basic Setup: Mics/Inputs > Consoles > M-audio firewire (single 2-channel input) > computer(Ableton Live) > M-Audio outs > Consoles > Headphones/PA/Stereo/Monitors Computer changes: < 6000 Rpm drive -> 7200 rpm drive 512 Mb of ram -> 1 Gb The changes are probably way too vague to make any sort of sense out of but I thought it would be worth a shot to ask. Thanks.
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Apr 13, 2007 05:06
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I've been watching ebay a bit recently and have observed 2 interesting things. Digi 001 racks have been selling at rock bottom prices. I'm thinking of picking one of these up for the studio to replace the 10/10. I just use protools, and I believe up till about 6.4 or something , these where still supported. The value equasion looks good to me. The Digi 001 , to my ear, had niiice sounding ADC's and preamps, and with 8 ins, plus an ADAT input I can stick a little preamp strip on, I can happily record 16 tracks, which would happily bypass the channel crunch I always get recording my band on the delta 10/10 with M-powered protools. Thing is, I could happily work with an older version of protools, and as much as the right click on 7 is fun, I dont really need much of the newer stuff anyway. Secondly Im noticing some really nice 8 track tape machines being sold on ebay. I started recording 10 years ago on a 4track 1/4 inch, and then for a while on 1/2 inch 8 track. And honestly I love tapes sound , the saturation just sounds so warm and sunny to my ears. Is there much value in grabbing an old 8track 1/2 inch, to record into, which I can dump into protools afterwoods, or is it just more dry solder joints to gently caress my signal chain with?
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Apr 13, 2007 08:09
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duck monster posted:Is there much value in grabbing an old 8track 1/2 inch, to record into, which I can dump into protools afterwoods, or is it just more dry solder joints to gently caress my signal chain with? Tape can be really cool, but there's a maintenance factor involved. Especially on older machines. You might want to check on how easy it is to find parts for and maintain any deck you're looking at buying, or if that model has a legacy whether it be bad or good.
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Apr 13, 2007 23:46
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duck monster posted:Digi 001 racks have been selling at rock bottom prices. I'm thinking of picking one of these up for the studio to replace the 10/10. I just use protools, and I believe up till about 6.4 or something , these where still supported. The value equasion looks good to me. That might be a good idea if, you know, it was still supported. As far as I know, ProTools hasn't worked with the Digi001 since before 7 came out, and good luck getting it to work with Vista. If I'm wrong someone please say so but... I'm pretty sure this is the case. I lived with a guy who had an 001 and he spent six months trying to get it to work... I'm pretty sure he gave up. edit: Don't try to short-cut around what works just because poo poo is cheap. My dad tried that for a while with all these crazy configurations, but over the years we've sold a line mixer, a Fostex hard disk recorder, three audio interfaces, and probably more stuff I'm forgetting... all stuff that was supposed to add features cheaply, but it was very difficult to integrate well and even if the features were good on paper, there's a reason the popular stuff is popular and the cheap stuff isn't. Now we have one Firewire 800 interface, and the entire setup is based around that (the way it should be). It's new and it's supported and it's the best available for the budget. Swivel Master fucked around with this message at 08:47 on Apr 14, 2007 |
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Apr 14, 2007 08:43
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I've been lurking ML for a while, and I have some questions that are really burning a hole in me. I'm hoping I can stop by a recording studio in town before I go and try to build anything myself, but before I even schedule that, I was wondering if you guys could answer a few questions for me. I'm trying to figure out how you set up a recording studio in your own house, and this is what I have pieced together so far. What I kindly request is that you tell me if I need to add something to it, or if it does not make any sense and would not work. At home I would be recording electric guitar, cello, electric bass, and eventually mic'ing a drum set, so I figured I needed something that I could record multiple channels on. I am not in a band, but I have been playing instruments since I was 8. I just don't know anything about the recording process since I have never been in that type of environment. I have been reading and comparing reviews, and it seems that Mackie mixers, though sometimes considered overpriced, are reliable. So I picked out this mixer: http://www.musiciansfriend.com/product/Mackie-Onyx-1220-12Channel-Mixer?sku=634267 So we have a mixer, now I need something to connect this mixer to. I thought a Delta 1010 seemed simple enough: http://www.zzounds.com/item--MDOD1010E So I have a mixer that is plugged into an audio interface that is connected to my PC via PCI. Is that how things work? If I use some recording software, such as Cubase SX3, what happens when I move the faders on the mixer? Does it register in the software, or show nothing… or would I use a different program to record with? Furthermore, do I really need a MIDI set up if I'm going to do all the writing on the guitar/cello/bass? The way I understand things, I plug the mics from the mic’ed amps directly into the mixer, which feeds into the audio interface, which in turn is connected to my computer. I then run some outputs from the audio interface back into the mixer? Any help with any of the questions would be so appreciated, since I just need a little bit of clarification before I can start making sense of all of this. I thank you in advance.
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Apr 17, 2007 17:16
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RangerScum posted:I have been reading and comparing reviews, and it seems that Mackie mixers, though sometimes considered overpriced, are reliable. So I picked out this mixer: quote:If I use some recording software, such as Cubase SX3, what happens when I move the faders on the mixer? quote:Furthermore, do I really need a MIDI set up if I'm going to do all the writing on the guitar/cello/bass? quote:The way I understand things, I plug the mics from the mic’ed amps directly into the mixer, which feeds into the audio interface, which in turn is connected to my computer. I then run some outputs from the audio interface back into the mixer? You could do it the way you describe. However, I'm not sure if there is much advantage in running outputs from the computer back to the board. You can mix perfectly fine in software and save a generation of D/A conversion. I think those Onyx mixers support sending a stereo mix back from the computer over the FW connection, so if you wanted to use it to plug your headphones or monitors into you could, but I'm not sure that it would help you to try and bring multiple channels back into the board to mix. You would just mix in the software. If that means you don't want that Onyx mixer, you just want some preamps instead, then you should rethink that a little bit. You don't need a mixer in a personal studio, you just need a way to get the signal into the computer where the software can mix it.
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Apr 17, 2007 19:15
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Cool Wixard, I appreciate your advice. So pretend you are me, and looking to build a personal studio where you are only recording 2-4 tracks at a time, and you can do the mixing in the software. What setup would you use? But if you want to make a solution incorporating a mixer, I think that would be fun too...I thought using a mixer board sounded kinda fun, but in the end, I guess affordability/practicality wins.
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Apr 17, 2007 19:22
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RangerScum posted:Cool Wixard, I appreciate your advice. So pretend you are me, and looking to build a personal studio where you are only recording 2-4 tracks at a time, and you can do the mixing in the software. What setup would you use? http://www.sweetwater.com/c683--FireWire_Audio_Interfaces/low2high/pn1 There's a big list of FW interfaces sorted by price from low to high. The only one on the first page that you could plug 4 mics straight into is the Alesis iO|14. I know nothing about Alesis interfaces and I think that one is pretty new so I'd stay away. As you get about halfway down the second page there are a few products you might want to take a look at. Similar price to that Mackie mixer you were looking at, but you can actually plug 8 mics into them: Presonus Firepod, Focusrite Saffire Pro 10 and the MOTU 8pre. (If you've perused this thread you've probably noticed that you need to make sure you have a FW card with a TI chipset if you want to use MOTU products and have them actually work.) I've honestly only ever used a Firepod once and it was someone else's. Seemed to work just fine and I'm happy with other Presonus products I've used. I haven't used either of the other 2 interfaces, but the companies have good reputations. I think the Saffire is brand new and I've never used a Focusrite interface of any kind (only their preamps) so I would do some homework on their support forums or on review boards regarding their drivers before I jumped in to that. MOTU makes solid interfaces and I've used several of them, but never an 8pre. You said 2-4 inputs, so why am I pointing you at things with 8 inputs? Well, you said eventually you want to track drums. It's usually good to have some flexibility with drum tracking and you may want more than 4 inputs. Its also usually good to track the drummer while he's playing with other people, so even if you only use 4 inputs for drums it's nice to have a few more inputs to track other other instruments simultaneously, even if in the grand scheme you plan on throwing those tracks out. More importantly, it's pretty hard to find a $200-$400 interface that has 4 mic preamps built-in. You sort of hit a niche where people want higher quality 2 channel interfaces rather than 4-channel ones, or people want 2 line inputs and 2 mic inputs so that they can record a boardfeed and 2 room mics at live shows or whatever. When you get up to $500 or so, you find some products with 8 preamps, but much below that they usually only give you 2 preamps and 2 or 4 line inputs. You could live with a smaller interface like that if you were interested in buying 2 (or more) external preamps later, which you would plug into the line inputs on the interface. Some people might prefer this route so that they have different flavors of preamps to use with their microphones. I would say unless you're planning on spending $200 or so per preamp, you can probably get more bang for your buck with preamps built-in by companies like Presonus, Focusrite and MOTU. Of course then you have 8 of the same preamp rather than 2 or 3 different sounding preamps to choose from. edit: I should mention that with any of those 8-preamp interfaces you could choose to use external preamps to replace their internal preamps if you wanted to expand your studio later. The 8pre is the most expandable and if you desired you could buy a $600 or $700 rack of preamps with a digital output and have 16 total inputs with that piece. ChristsDickWorship fucked around with this message at 21:34 on Apr 17, 2007 |
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Apr 17, 2007 21:29
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RangerScum posted:I have been reading and comparing reviews, and it seems that Mackie mixers, though sometimes considered overpriced, are reliable. So I picked out this mixer: I think you're just really confused about the purpose of each piece of gear. The mixer is for just that - mixing. You put in a bunch of inputs and mess with the level/EQ and they all get combined into the main output. That has nothing to do with multitrack recording, because you want each channel to go directly into the computer individually. If you're plugging everything into the mixer and then the mixer into the interface, you're basically spending way too much money to record two tracks. An audio interface gets a signal into a computer. Now it gets tricky. An interface could have preamps, but not necessarily. It probably has analog inputs, but not necessarily. What you're looking for is an interface with 8 mic preamps and (most likely) some combination of two analog outs for monitors and another for headphones... and it'll probably be a Firewire or PCI interface. Quarter inch analog inputs would help, too, so you can plug a bass or guitar directly in, or put in something line-level like a keyboard. Anything the mixer can do while the sound is going into the mixer, you can do in software after the tracks are all recorded already. The 'control surface' aspect (moving faders controls the software) is really expensive and you probably don't need it for 8 tracks. It doesn't get you any extra features, really, it's just something people like to have for workflow reasons. Once you've got 8 preamps, you're looking at a lot more money... so it's a matter of quality and other features (and support). edit: This one is really cheap but I don't know anything about its quality. Handle with caution. http://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/io26/
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Apr 17, 2007 22:04
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