Hi,
I'm trying to start building a home studio for my band and hopefully some buddy groups. I have used Digi 001 with a previous guitarist and though it was great. I am not necessarily sold only on Pro Tools though. I was looking at the E-MU 1820M, the Aardvaark Q10 (not now after they closed) or Pro Tools Digi001 or 002.
I am most concerned with recording drums, I know that getting them to sound great is one of the most important steps in creating a great mix. So since the 1820m has 2 preamps I assume that the others need a preamp. Can I record the 2 preamp channels and the 6 line ins at the same time, giving me 8 channels at once? Will a good Mackie board have good enough preamps for this? Has anyone ever had luck building the mic preamp kits? I love the quality the Digi 002 has but does the 1820M actually have the same sound quality? or is it just that the one A/D spec is the same?
I am really needing to just get a direction of where to start. I am wanting to save as much money as possible but not have a worthless system. I would like to use my existing computer, I know its a fast machine. If I need a lot of extra preamps to get a quality drum sound is there another system that has built in pres that will get this job done? Please tell me what systems you would recommend.
heres what I've got...
Xp3000 (400fsb)
240 gig 7200 rpm
Epox 8rda3+
1 Gig PC 3200 Dual Ram support
Creative Audigy 2 Platinium
Geforce 5700 ultra
100 ft Horizon Snake 24 channel with returns
some 57's and 58's, Sennheiser live mic, some EV's but all for live.
phonic XX1805 mixer
DOD dual 32 band eq
DOD dual Comp/gate/limiter
I think thats everything thats relevant.
I plan on buying and my budget
Soundcard and I/O stuff $500-$1000
some mic preamps $300?
Maybe a digital Midi mixer
Good used $200-$400 condenser vocal mic (hopefully works well on guitar)
Drum mics $500
Thanks in advance,
Justin Berry
Comments
one more question I want an interface that will allow me to rec
one more question
I want an interface that will allow me to record drums with 8 mic/channels. Then go back and record the guitar, bass and vocs seperately. I will be doubling guitars, close micing and room micing etc. I would like to be able to have a 24 track recording when its all said and done. I dont do much live recording if any, all tracking. I see that the firepod can only playback 10 tracks simutaneously? I dont know what that means? Are they saying that a $600 interface card is basically a 10 track recorder? The Cubase software it ships with is 48 track. I know my creative audigy 2 platinum card can play back more than that. Would it make sence to use my firebox for input and control the output/monitoring through my creative card?
Heres my system specs
Epox 8rda3+ (nvidia nforce 2)
XP 3000+ Barton 400 fsb
1gb pc 3200
240 gb WD 7200 rpm
Creative Audigy 2 Platinum
Hope you can clear this up for me.
Thanks
Justin Berry
The 10 i/o spec is ins and outs of the unit itself, not the trac
The 10 i/o spec is ins and outs of the unit itself, not the track limitation of your software.
When you playback your mix your only using 2 of your interfaces outputs, left and right (normally 1-2). The other i/o's are for sending certain signals to outboard gear. One of the things I walways do is sent the drums out (output 3-4) into my guitar fx pedals for some crazy sounds.
The hardware i/o limits you to 10 tracks recording at one, but the total amount of tracks is determined by your computers speed and the software you choose, as well as the plugins you load.
your right in thinking that you will use all 8 channels to record drums, then 2 or 3 to record guitars, 1 or 2 for bass... ect... as ling as you dont use more than 8 at a time you'll be fine.
-Kevin
I'm pretty limited on the number of channels I can record that r
I'm pretty limited on the number of channels I can record that require mics (currently four). This has led me into some interesting drum miccing techniques that produce some quality recordings. I do all of my recording on site (I'm a power book user, sue me :p) so the only down side is that I'm generally recording in rumes that don't have the best acoustic qualities.
My favourite configuration right now is kick, snare and two over heads in an xy configuration. Very minimal but you do get some nice sounds out of it. After recording the drums I overdub vox, bass, guitars and what ever other instruments the musicians have.
Sometimes minimal miccing is a great thing, you'd be suprised what you can get out of it after you mix it down.
-maz
I'm in the same boat as you, recording mainly rock. Your dead o
I'm in the same boat as you, recording mainly rock. Your dead on in thinking about the drums that way, I've spent thousands on gear to make the drums sound top notch, and it pays off! I just recently sold my pc to get a dual g5 for Logic, I would reccomend it but on a pc, protools is great and simple. The problem is the lack of preamps in their product line. Were betting that the 003 will have 8 pre's and be daisy-chainable, but for now the real powerfull interfaces do not work with protools le.
Look into the Presonus FirePod, it has 8 killer preamps and comes with Cubase for around $700. If you want to go Protools, get an 002 and a 2 Presonus blutube's for a total of 8 pre's.
Also, get a Shure Beta52 kick mic... I'm a fanatic when it comes to having a solid kick sound, I've been through akg's audix's.. the Beta 52 is the best for presence, bass, and sounding clean. Shure also makes killer tom mic's in their beta series, and the 57 will be great on the snare.
for cheap but great sounding condenser mic's look to SE or Studio Projects, both have great sounding mic's for $200-$500 new.
Also budget in some good reference monitors, KRK rokits or Event TR8's are around $500 a pair and are great bangforthebuck.
Oh.. and mic stands and xlr cables.. musiciands friend has a micstand pack for $100 for 6.
and get moongells for the snare... or a really dry head, too much ring can kill the sound, and the aquarian super-kick 2 kick head rocks! just (evenly) tighten the crap out it!
I could go on all day... :roll:
Have fun!!!!
-Kevin
ps - sugarcult fan? the song 'crying' on the new record sounds sooo good... :)