Do I NEED monitors

Posted: Wed Nov 15, 2006 10:41 pm

I just got my firepod today and after lots of fooling around have finally got it to work with sonar 4. ASIO can be a huge pain in the ass. Anyways, in my old band we used to record everything into an alesis mixer then from there we would put it into the mic input on our computer. We would plug headphones into the computer speakers to monitor while recording and for mixing, for hearing how a take went we unplugged the headphones. Maybe im foolish but i thought i could do the same through the firepod. It only lets me playback through the firepod headphone jack. I know i can get powered monitors and put them through the line out but my old ways seemed to work fine and saved me money. Is there anyways to use my computer speakers with my setup???? Also, i used to record single tracks in stereo, not that it does much, but to hear what i record in both left and right i have to record in left firepod input rather than stereo firepod input. Anyway to change that??? I hope this post made sense. Thanks

Josh

Posted: Wed Nov 15, 2006 11:21 pm

Sorry but the post didn't make too much sense. BUT if I understand correctly you are asking if you need monitors...

YES.

Do you need expensive ones?

Probably not. I got a pair of M-Audio DX4's off ebay for 50$. Works fine for checking stuff, and desktop monitoring. If you are thinking of more serious mixing, you need to be prepared to spend at least 400$.

Posted: Thu Nov 16, 2006 12:48 am

A friend of mine has a nice little 24 track studio with some nice KRK V88's with the sub woofer. I like mixing on those and mix on them all of the time. Recently he picked up a very small pair of self powered desktop KRK's. Only set him back a couple of hundred $ and they really kick butt! Computer speakers? Haven't you progressed beyond Tinker toys?? I mean, you drive a car instead of a bicycle to work don't you? Time to step up and learn how to use a clutch.

Now regarding the recording process with the fire pod. I don't own one of those yet but I plan to. You just need to tell the software to take a single input source and either record a mono or a stereo track from the single input source, through your sound program software settings. You're just still getting used to process and have not yet mastered all that you have the capabilities to do with the software. It's not a hardware problem and yet you can still use your crappy onboard computer sound card for playback purposes if you want to.

I certainly do believe that the fire pod will output 8 separate channels once you learn the software routing. I'm sure you'll get more helpful information here if you just keep checking back since many people like that particular unit that you have. You have made a good choice and although it has changed your earlier kindergarten like workflow, you have graduated to the professional part of your career. Nobody can expect to be able to be the master of their new equipment immediately. It's not a drive-through kind of thing. It has taken us folks not just a couple of days, not just a couple of weeks and not just a couple of years to master our equipment and technique, it has taken our entire lives, to become the professionals that we are now. So don't get too discouraged, you are now just scratching the surface of the incredible amount of versatility you will soon discover with your new equipment.

Extremely versatile engineer
Ms. Remy Ann David

Posted: Thu Nov 16, 2006 3:47 am

RemyRAD wrote:

Now regarding the recording process with the fire pod. I don't own one of those yet but I plan to. You just need to tell the software to take a single input source and either record a mono or a stereo track from the single input source, through your sound program software settings

I do do that though, I just don't get it. For every channel the firepod lets you record from one of the following: left firepod input, right firepod input, or stereo firepod input.Lets say I take a stero input from channel 1. All that happens is that it record to the left channel and nothing in the right. But if i record from the left and only the left (which would be mono?) will it let me hear it in both sides. Not that it doesnt work, it just bugs me that if i try and record stereo it only goes to one side.

Posted: Thu Nov 16, 2006 4:20 pm

I believe I know your problem? You're hopelessly confused regarding stereo and individual inputs. The fire pot has 8 front panel inputs. It doesn't have stereo inputs. For stereo input, he would have to plug left channel into input 1 and right channel into input 2. The software that you are using me only allow you to route those individual inputs to individual recording tracks? You mention it only allows for either left or right or stereo and so that's the software not the input source. If you take input Channel 1, you can record input Channel 1 to a single mono file or as a single channel of a stereo pair, routed to either left or right.

In order to make a stereo recording you may have to try this workaround? Take your stereo source, plug left channel into input 1. Take your right channel and plug that into input 2. Now within your software, if you can, tell the software to write a single mono channel of input 1. Then, move down to the second channel window and tell channel 2 in your software to take its signal from Fire pod input 2 and write that as a single mono channel 2. In order to create a stereo channel of those 2 tracks, it may be required by your software to mix down those 2 channels to a stereo pair. In which case you would take channel one in your software and pan that to the left. You would then take channel 2 and tell the software to assign that or pan that to the right channel. No tell your software to mix down to stereo. It will create a new single stereo track, which then could be reimported to your software. THIS IS MY IMAGINARY WORKAROUND SINCE I DO NOT KNOW OR USE YOUR SOFTWARE. My recommendation may work for you but there may be other ways that you still are not quite familiar with that would make the process easier?

So basically, the inputs don't necessarily follow the recording channel assignments. It is all routed within the software and the routing can become confusing and complicated if you do not understand the intricacies involved.

I'm getting fired up for a " now I get it"
Ms. Remy Ann David

Posted: Fri Nov 17, 2006 1:18 am

haha ya it makes sense to me now, The right side is for channel two Very Happy

i think. So on the subject of monitors, will 200 dollars buy me something decent?

Posted: Fri Nov 17, 2006 9:51 am

No, $200 will not do, as the Yamaha YSTMS50's are no longer made(They were $100!).

That said, look through the catalogs or online and see what you can find. ANY speakers are YOUR monitors until you do better.

If you had $200,000 monitors they wouldn't work really well in "your room" anyway. The more you read-up and do "room treatment" the better your monitors can be. For now, do what you can. AND, make sure you have at least one pair of good headphones! $200 would buy you a VERY nice set of those - not the best option for mixing, but, for lots of reasons, still the best option for listening/reference in an untreated room.

TG

Posted: Fri Nov 17, 2006 10:01 am

I disagree with Teddy regarding monitors. I have the KRK RP-5's and they are very good for the price. They're also on sale right now at GC for $150.

http://www.guitarcenter.com/shop/product/buy_krk_rp5_rokit_powered_reference_studio_monitor?full_sku=102516150

I strongly agree with regard to room treatment. A few 703 panels will make a world of difference.

Also, a good set of headphones will serve you well for a long time.

Posted: Fri Nov 17, 2006 12:55 pm

I'm interested in those K-rok's! Tell me about them. Nothing like something good and cheap! Compare them to something else you've heard. Last time I heard any K's, I didn't like them(Compared to whatever else was there at the time -- I believe the "stars-of-the-bunch", then, were the Mackie 624's, NOT the 824's?), but I didn't see/hear this model and all I listened to were for much more money.

I'll look them up and try to hear them when I can, but... tell me about them. Meantime, I hope the poster goes out and has a listen!

TG

Posted: Sat Nov 18, 2006 11:52 am

Do you have a firePOD or fireBOX?

Posted: Sat Nov 18, 2006 10:27 pm

firepod

Posted: Sun Nov 19, 2006 9:59 pm

TeddyG, those little KRK's kick butt! A friend of mine just got a pair for his studio where I mix and record for him and his band. He has a pair of V88's with the sub and he just got these little ones. They are superb. I like them a lot. In the past, in the control room, I used to mount our speakers with chains. But I decided that got a little too kinky?

JBL/KRK user/abuser
Ms. Remy Ann David

Posted: Sun Nov 19, 2006 11:48 pm

Remy,

I'm interested in the kinky method of hanging the speakers. Wink

How did you attach the chains? Were they on some sort of platform, or did you screw hooks right into the cabinets?

Posted: Mon Nov 20, 2006 3:56 pm

GregP, I've done it both ways. In order to preserve the Cabinet, we built a frame platform. We screwed in hooks at each of the corners for the chains. It also required us to wrap a metal strap with cuff's around the speaker in order to restrain it within the frame.

In the second control room, we just screwed some hooks into the backs of the speakers.

Later, we took them down and let them go.
Ms. Remy Ann David

Posted: Mon Nov 20, 2006 4:04 pm

You've brought up a question that's been rumbling around in the back of my head (not much space back there, so things tend to rumble).

I've noticed that my desk vibrates a lot while mixing. Obviously a lot of the sound energy from my monitors is going into the furniture. I feel like I'm loosing some bass frequencies this way since my mixes tend to sound bass heavy on other systems, but I can't back that up with numbers.

Can anyone quantify the benefit of isolating the monitors?

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