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Hello all. I just found this great forum while trying to help a friend that wants to build a voice-over studio. I work at a post house and have higher end gear and I'm not too knowledgeable of the gear he is aiming for in his budget ($5K to $8K) Basically he wants to have a simple but professional sounding setup that can record 2 microphones at a time max. I've told him to buy or build a good small VO booth like a whisper room. I'm currently considering the following equipment list for him:

- PC-based (his tech guy that will maintain the room is more of a PC guy)

- Pro Tools LE

- Mbox2 Pro ( not sure if there are better alternatives like M-audio?)

- Two AT-4040s (would really love some suggestions as I love using my Sennheiser 416 for voice-overs and would love to find something affordable that sounds like it - maybe the RODE NTG-2?)

- Grace 101 Pre-amp (is this really needed or are the MBox Preamps adequate?)

- Headphone amp

- Old cheap Mackie mixer for monitoring & extra inputs

- KRK 5s monitors (open to suggestions)

- Headphones - I like the Sony MDR-7506 but there might be better choices out there

What do you think? Would especially like any warnings on the choice to use a PC. I use a mac and have no experience with Pro Tools on a PC.

Comments

anonymous Mon, 12/10/2007 - 18:17

Rather than getting the MBox, what about a pci interface unit without pre-amps such the E-MU 1212m. That unit has excellent converters, provides for two 1/4" inputs plus S/PDIF and ADAT. The Grace pre-amp could connect to that interface, removing any pre-amp duplication.

What type of extra inputs might you need a mixer for? It might be better to get something like the Behringer ADA8000 unit which provides 8 pre-amps with ADAT connectivity. He could bypass the built-in pre-amps (using the line-in jacks) if he bought extra better quality pre-amps (e.g. an FMR RNP two channel unit which is about $500) to complement the Grace pres.

You might also look at Sonar or Cubase instead of Protools.

anonymous Tue, 12/11/2007 - 14:03

If you are committed to Protools, then I think you will be limited in your hardware choices to M-Audio and Digidesigns. That might not be the most cost-effective but, your call (obviously :)).

I understand about the other sources but I wonder if a mixer is the best interface. Wouldn't most of your other sources offer line-outs or S/PDIF outs? If so, you could go directly into a unit such the 1212m, 1616M, Firepod, etc. If you use a mixer, you would still need to us a line out from the cassette player, etc. and then the output from the mixer would just connect to a line in. Hard to see what is gained over a direct connection.