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Signal Chain upgrade advise please

Profile picture for user hally
Submitted by hally on

Hi,



I am currently using PreSonus firestudio as my interface and was plesently surprised with the quality of the preamps/ converters within.

I also use Joemeek Twin Q Studio Channel as my main preamp for vocals etc.



I am looking to improve my signal path to Cubase as I am expanding my studio in an effort to go professional but on a budget.



I am looking for 8 channels of good preamplification, possibly compression, and a/d convertion.



I would appreciate any advise people may have

warm regards

hally

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Comments

RemyRad
RemyRAD

Well if you like your Presonus? Then you should just purchase yourself one of their 8 input devices. That in concert with your other device, will provide you with 10 analog input's. Why change horses in midstream?? That doesn't make sense. OK, so I might change from tracking on a API to a Neve but not to an unknown quantity.



Stay with what you know is good. That's smart.

Ms. Remy Ann David

Mon, 07/28/2008 - 00:05 Permalink
Profile picture for user hally
hally

Thanks for your reply, I appreciate what u are suggesting Remy and i have considered buying the presonus digimax to increase my amount of inputs. however it is really the quality of the signal path i want to improve. I will use the presonus firestudio for mobile live recordings in the future.

I am considering Universal Audio 8110 Precision 8-Channel Mic Preamp

and Apogee Rosetta 800 192K 24 bit 8ch AD/DA Converter. The UA preamp is very expensive and i am not sure if can justify this amount of money on preamps. Here in ireland we don't have audio shops where you can go and try out such equipment before u buy just to make sure u are going to be blown away by its quality, i suspect i would be.



I come from the same school as Remy ( i arrived at this conclusion from reading ur posts) I tend to make the most out of the available equipment and my results don't depend on gear but rather on my creativity... But, for the first time in my life i have a decent budget to spend on constructing and equiping my studio so i'd like to buy as good as i can afford. €2500 on preamps is more in my budget range, any thoughts are very welcome...



I have extra mics to get and a few other bits and bobs so money saved on overkill on preamps is welcome...



However, alot of my work is with solo singer songwriters with single track recording and overdubbing so one really nice preamp would be a consideration...



Look forward to hearing your thought

regards

hally

Mon, 07/28/2008 - 05:25 Permalink
Profile picture for user hally
hally

Thanks Greener, I don't plan to record @ 192khz, I work with 32bit floating @ 44.1khz when recording but maybe I am missing something here.



"Why overkill/bottleneck the system if you're on a budget."



What do you mean by this, the RME is creating a bottle neck.



Thanks also Link555, what Lynx product would u suggest.

regards hally

Mon, 07/28/2008 - 12:19 Permalink
RemyRad
RemyRAD

Greener, you know I'm snobby & opinionated, unfortunately a rather practical engineer? And even though I still generally record at 44.1kHz, 16-bit, the concept of having a more capable product, riding in the lower safety zone will still probably yield a better product, since its newer, more capable technology. I mean, if you have money, you can travel.



Not going anywhere but the control room

Ms. Remy Ann David

Tue, 07/29/2008 - 02:05 Permalink
anonymous
anonymous

mobile recording,

I've done this only a couple of dozen times,

but here's my 2 cents:



44.1/24 is more then good enough, 16 bit is also enough if you set your input levels carefully

the noisefloor of 99% of the venues is worse then -70dBFS



half my on location recordings are live with pa

so my main problems are the pa and the guys operating it...

you'll want a lot of mic-splitters and the necessary cables



get the band to trust you before they trust the pa guys

for guitar-amps, use your own mics

for vocals: splits (hopefully the singer is experienced with microphones, strongly suggest a hypercardioid: md431-II or beta 58)

for kick / snare: splits (try to use your own mics)

overheads: own mics

keyboard: your dibox + micsplitter

audience: don't forget this instrument! :)

maybe even record some pa sound just for fun



live pa recording can be very stressfull to set up

as there is probably less than half an hour to do so

no need to worry too much about preamps

as the room will more than likely not be too good

so keep it simple on your side and practise packing/ unpacking setting up at home

chances are the pa guys are more interested in beer/girls

and you'll end up being responsible for the live sound as well

(hey, you did tell the band you're good at audio....)





of course there's also the accoustic stuff

jazz, choir, folk

more fun on the recording part of the gig

mics and preamps will make a difference

small diaphragm condensers and ribbons become very usefull

and less (mics) is usually more with these styles

try to influence the location the band wants to record in

as accoustics is allmost half the sound, no reverb can compensate for bad accoustics, and of course it's your fault if it is



oh...



have fun :)



cheers

Tue, 07/29/2008 - 04:27 Permalink