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Okay I'm new to recoring i have a whole big tape deck set up. I am looking to move to digital. I do not want a work station.
I need help like i really dont no what i need.
I have mics and cables etc.
I also have vegas 7.0d software Im guessing you can record with it i dont no how but ill learn.
I was looking at getting a Alesis fire wire mixer
My budget is around 500
could i get better than that for the money.
If so can i get some help.
Like is there other set ups i can get besides a firewire mixer
please help me with this
thanks!

Comments

Boswell Thu, 07/05/2007 - 02:15

Is this for a portable system or a project studio?
How many channels?
Do you want to continue to use your "big tape deck set up"? What sort of deck is it?
What are you plugging your mics into at the moment?
Are you aiming to record multitrack and then mix down to stereo as a later process? If so, do you want to do this mixing in an external mixer?
What have you got for monitoring?
Have you thought about acoustic treatment for your room?

DrGonz Thu, 07/05/2007 - 02:31

lol

Just the questions I was thinking too.... :lol:
best advice is slow down, hold money in hand patiently and keep asking more detailed questions
Firewire as I see is pretty fast data transfer. As a computer geek I would go w/ it... I use like this ethernet cable thingy.... EMU-1820, and I bet it is slower than Firewire but faster than USB.

Space Thu, 07/05/2007 - 06:55

yep, and since you do not want a "work station" maybe an Alesis HD24 would be more to your liking...although 500bucks will not get it. Maybe adat would be a nice place to start. You can get 2-8 track units and maybe the little remote for summers around 500$ Maybe just one 8 track, a remote and a case of beer to help ya get through the manuals:0

I'm kidding!!!!

Who in the world would settle for 8 tracks in this day and time:)

anonymous Thu, 07/05/2007 - 10:15

okay well main thing i want to do is record into vegas
i pretty sure i can master the tracks in that soft ware
so would a fire wire mixer be good
and it doesnt need to be portable
(Dead Link Removed)
thats what i was looking into getting.
Will it work or should i get a differnt interface?
If i do buy that i will prob get a differnt mixer to mix down the drums with .

anonymous Fri, 07/06/2007 - 20:21

Jeremy wrote: the price of the presonus firepod just went down 100 bucks again, and if you buy it new on ebay you can get an at2020, and an hp4 with plugi ns from the rebate offer. $399 for that is the best anyone could do, that a heck of a setup for that price.

i rele dont under stand what a fire pod does like do u plug a mixer into it or just mics?

Cucco Mon, 07/09/2007 - 06:30

Okay....
Sorry to kinda hijack this thread a little, but I must admit - I'm getting a little pissed.

1 - There's a field in your profile called "Location" - fill the damn thing out. You don't have to be too specific, but at least let us know what country you are in - it DOES help!

2 - The grammar on this board is horrible! I'm getting quite disgusted by it in general! This is another reason to post your location. If you are not a native English speaking person, we will then understand the poor use of the English language. However, for those of you who ARE native Anglo-speakers, your High School english teachers need to kick your ass!

First - Don't type in "text message" language. "you" is spelled 'y' 'o' 'u' NOT 'u', etc.

There's a good reason for typing in the Queen's english too! Those who are not native anglican-tongued individuals do not necessarily understand your Text Message colloquialisms and would likely not understand a damn thing you're saying.

Here's a couple other grammatical issues:

Your = possessive - meaning this is something that belongs to "you."

You're = a conjunction - the two words You and are.

Alot = there is NO SUCH WORD. It is "a lot" - two words

Cuz = a southern (American) way of referring to son or daughter of your parent's sibling. It does NOT mean "Because". Nor does the word "Cause." Cause means to have an effect.

I could go on, but I won't. My point is, if I see this kind of piss-poor grammar and abuse of the English language and no location field in your profile, I'm going to assume that you are an American (let's face it, we're the only culture arrogant enough to assume that everyone should know where we're from) and that since you're using such horrible grammar, that you have the equivalent education to a 2nd grader from Mississippi or that of a retarded billy-goat and I will treat you accordingly. (This means either avoiding your posts and not giving you potentially helpful answers - or just outright and blatantly flaming your ass!)

I do not mean to point this at any one individual on this board and if you happen to take it that way, I'm truly sorry. I feel that this problem is becoming an epidemic and it disturbs me to the core. "Kids" nowadays can't communicate worth crap and this forum is evidence of that. If you'd like to hold a steady job in the future and not just work the bean station at Taco Bell for the rest of your life, learn to communicate with everyone!

Assume that the Pope, your english teacher, Tony Blair, and every future employer is reading your post and then type accordingly.

Thank you!

Jeremy (not that Jeremy...this Jeremy)
Rant over...

Space Mon, 07/09/2007 - 07:05

...Sorry to kinda hijack this thread a little, ...

While I assume that you know things in the audio world just for having been here for so long, my first impressions of your character are that you are a typical American know-it-all willing to squash the inquisitiveness of those around you in order to support your appearance of superior knowledge and whitewashed equality.

Your attempt to profile people and work with them based on their geography is prolly the more evil of the two current issues that you present.

What comes next...religious / political affiliation?

If I spelled any of this incorrectly or hung a participle or two...you know what I mean:)

Doesn't mean we cannot get along boss, but this isn't kindergarten and I don't need no teacher.

Thanks for reading

JoeH Mon, 07/09/2007 - 07:17

I'm completely in Jeremy's corner on these issues: Grammar, Spelling and User Profiles. I was thinking that same thing while reading the entire thread.

My #1 issue on here is with people who don't fill out their profiles. DO IT! DO IT NOW! What are you hiding?!?!? There are far too many anonymous posters on this forum who want want want, and have nothing to give in return. This is supposed to be a community SHARING information and ideas, not a place for anonymous posters to zip in and out for free advice alone, giving nothing in return.

You can be sure Jeremy probably wants to know his location so he could possibly HELP this individual in person. It's got nothing to do with Geographical superiority. I've seen Jeremy offer to help people IN PERSON with a problem, if they're near enough. So have many others, or we've referred people in various areas to other nearby professionals who CAN help them must faster than back and forth posts here. GET OVER your location-based paranoia.

I assumed from the start that the original poster is either not a native-English speaking person, or is simply a typically ignorant, embarassing American who can't read, write or even spell properly.

I have a simple rule of thumb for answering/reading most thread here: Unless the person is struggling with English as a second language, they'd damn well BETTER express themselves properly if they want help and attention.

It's simple: if you're too stoopid (sic) to write and type properly, then you're too ignorant to properly learn the ins, outs & specs of the gear and the very profession we're all here trying to help you learn. Can't spell or write? Get in the back of the line; this is one profession that doesn't need any more dummies or dufus's. Go sell french fries at Wendys.

Rant away Jeremy, I'm glad someone else GIVES a damn as well.

Cucco Mon, 07/09/2007 - 08:17

Thanks Joe!

Space wrote: While I assume that you know things in the audio world just for having been here for so long, my first impressions of your character are that you are a typical American know-it-all willing to squash the inquisitiveness of those around you in order to support your appearance of superior knowledge and whitewashed equality.

Frankly, I don't care what your first impression is of me. Count my posts and go back and look at them.

I'm the guy that jumps in and defends the "little guy."

I'm the guy that has sent out 6 copies of a magazine (which I bought with my studio's money) to individuals on this list who were looking for a copy of an article for a microphone modification.

I'm the guy who has sent 3 people sets of microphones on trial so they could play with them since they insisted that their local dealers wouldn't loan them mics. I did this at no charge to them (except that they had to pay shipping back to me.) (Oh, and 1 mic to David F just so he could give it a try for the hell of it.)

I'm the guy that has mastered 3 peoples' work here from the boards at NO CHARGE because they couldn't afford to get their works mastered and I thought the sound was good and thus worth working on. (Not counting a couple who have paid for mastering).

Space wrote:
Your attempt to profile people and work with them based on their geography is prolly the more evil of the two current issues that you present.

First of all -

It's "PROBABLY" not "prolly." Thanks for helping to prove my point!

Second, it's not evil to request to know your location. Most forums (such as gearslutz and others) REQUIRE you to fill this out. Why? It's not so that you can be discriminated against. It's so we can recommend dealers or studios in your area. It's so we know what to recommend. Obviously, some gear is available in some areas and some is not. Some is dirt cheap in some areas and horribly expensive in other areas. (For example, Gefell microphones would cost me 60% of what I pay for them here in America if I were to actually go to Germany.)

I've never brought politics into play in this forum. I've never brought nationalism to this forum. I'm here to help and to learn.

Space wrote:
What comes next...religious / political affiliation?

Don't forget sexual orientation and preference!

See...religious and political affiliation have no bearing on audio. Where you live DOES! (different voltages, distributors, products, etc.)

Space wrote:
I don't need no teacher.

You clearly do.

Boswell Mon, 07/09/2007 - 09:21

I'm right with you, Jeremy. There are many posts on this (and other) boards that are so illiterate that it's often not possible to work out what the question is. It can take two or three iterations of question and half answer to find out what the starting position is and the point of the post. I know from the PMs I receive that this board is scanned for advice by viewers from around the world, and I sometimes wonder what they make of the questions and replies that are all too often not phrased in the language they were taught in English lessons.

BTW, "You're" is a contraction; "but" and "and" are conjunctions.

anonymous Mon, 07/09/2007 - 09:33

Tamakid,
the Presonus firepod is a firewire audio interface that doesn't require an external mixer. You can record 8 mic or instrument inputs + 2 SPDIF inputs and MIDI i/o. The connectors at the front are a combined Pohon plug in the center and an XLR on the outer ring. This is done to save space an reduce the cost of having seperate input conn. Most modern interfaces have gone this route. All your controls are done with a software mixer that is provided by the manufacturer along with the drivers. Space had a link that shows an example of the connections.

The price is now $399 which fits your budget. The Presonus is being recommend to you because it has better quality preamps, 24bit/96K resolution, and better driver support. It comes with Cubase LE that will do up to 48 tracks. I would use Cubase instead of Vegas its more geared towards multitrack recording. It maybe a learning curve but Im sure its not to much of a stretch for you to pickup.

If you are trying to do a whole band live 8 mic pres is cutting it close guitar, bass, and vocals is 3-5 leaves 3-4 chnls for drums. If you add keys your over. You could submix the drums with an analog mixer and bring that to the firepod 2 channels. You could also add another firepod or a Firebox with two extra preamps. Another way is to record all the instruments and layer the vocals latter. I would definitley set aside the money for Mics and calbles too.

Take a look at this guide it may help you to understand the overall picture.

http://www.tweakheadz.com/guide.htm

Space Mon, 07/09/2007 - 12:40

It's good to see that you folks can get along and support each other, that is one thing that never goes out of style and is difficult to get in these forums. It would be perfect if I and folks like the kid could be part of that some time later, as you settle down.

But my first impression remains unchanged Jeremy and you have done nothing to support your case and have continued towards the path that I already knew this would lead.

The damage has been done and you set out to do it as this is the second time in as many weeks I have seen you rant about spellin' an-ore grammar.

It is >your< issue that you have yet to conquer and in your frustration you choose to ridicule and belittle in an attempt to run off the ills that fall in yer path.

That being said, it is prolly of no use to discuss your designs to change the perceived uneducated world into a view that is more palatable to you and yours.

Witness the influx of four-n-ers and start making out your will boss, you will certainly blow a gasket in the coming few years.

FWIW, IMHO, nowhutImean?

Cucco Mon, 07/09/2007 - 12:57

Uh...dude..."start making out your will boss..." That seems a little harsh.

First, I have no beef if a non-native-english speaking person misspells words or uses poor grammar. In fact, that's one reason I like to know the location of the poster.

Second, I don't even have that big of an issue with poor spelling and grammar as I do with the intentional misuse of words and spellings (such as your insistance on using the word "prolly" in place of "probably.")

So, since we're talking about first impressions...

I get the impression that you are a 15 year old kid who has some beef with American politics and since you don't have the education necessary to actually discuss things in a civil manner, you resort to nonsensical discussions of politics and religion as vagueries.

The difference is, even if my "impression" of you is incorrect, you can do absolutely NOTHING to change it in mine or anyone else's mind now. Since you have chosen to post in anonymity, you are stuck with your piss-poor perceptions. Whereas I post in complete disclosure, I have nothing to hide.

Dig back through my posts. There are plenty of instances where I was helpful, but by the same token, there are plenty of instances where I simply was stupid and made dumb mistakes or mis-spoke. The difference is, 20 years from now, someone can throw any and all of that back in my face. I guess you're "smarter" and since no one knows who you are, no one can ever hold you accountable. (Yet another reason for my impression of your youth immaturity - kids these days don't know the meaning of accountability or responsibility. They simply want the world handed to them on a silver platter and get upset when it isn't.)

J

JesterMasque Mon, 07/09/2007 - 14:07

Wow...

While I completely (110%) back Cucco on this, I must say that this IS a blatent misuse of this thread. It pains me to see this kind of mindless back-and-forth BS between two, three, even four different people in a thread where a person is trying to get some help. Go back and count, but I think all of about half of the posts in this thread actually pertain to the poster's question.

Rant over.

Tamakid, I too must agree with others suggesting the Firepod and replacing Vegas with Cubase. As someone said, Cubase may be on a bit of a learning curve, however it's user manual (PDF format so make sure you have Adobe Acrobat Reader) is EXTREMELY user friendly; as are the people on here, contrary to this thread's impression.

drumist69 Mon, 07/09/2007 - 16:48

Not taking any sides here...would just like to point out that the original post had a very vague subject line, which would generally lead one to believe that this was not posted by a (semi) pro, and most likely was posted by a high-school kid or non-native English speaker. Why go through all these gramatical gyrations? If you have nothing to contribute, from a technical point of view regarding the original question, why not just look elsewhere?

For the sake of even-handedness, I have been guilty of jumping in just for the sake of a good argument, but this is a recording forum and not a grammar lesson. Not to say grammar isn't important...just saying why not just answer the question if possible, and if not, why not just stay out? A lesson I've tried to learn, but obviously not too well, since I'm writing this! Can't we all just get along? Peace! (proceed with flaming) Andy

Davedog Sat, 07/21/2007 - 17:54

There has been some discussion in the past about requiring the new sign-ins to completely fill out the information page....but it tends to go against the 'community' feel we try and nurture here.

As for all of us getting along, that is true for the most part, however the greatest example of this is the fact that the regulars on this site can disagree yet carry on without rancor or malice towards those who do disagree . Its the best way to learn. This is the age old 'walk a mile in anothers shoes'.....

And finally.......This is a site for the COMMUNICATION of ideas. There are elements of communication which cannot be used in such a format. The physical attributes that occur during a discussion have no play here. Tone in ones voice has no bearing on our understanding of anothers point. These things, as well as others, help immensely in the outside real worlds perception of who and what we are and what we project in our relating our feelings and knowledge of things to others.

In this format, only a well-worded and decently typed description of our thoughts can really be the bottom line for our efforts in communicating. It may seem petty to take such a stance in this, but after years and several thousand posts, it is without a doubt, a MUST for those who stop by.

So, kids, help yourselves by being direct and accurate with your questions. A poorly typed, poorly spelled, and derogatory post will not win you any friends and will certainly lessen your chances of enlightenment about your query.

And thats all I got to say about that.

moonbaby Mon, 07/23/2007 - 07:14

I just ran across this interesting ..."discussion" this morning. For What It's Worth, I have a twin sister. We both have an IQ within 2- points of each other (127). Our parents sacrificed for our education. We were both educated in affluent Chevy Chase, MD during the "grammar school years", and were sent to a private college prep school here in Florida. She went on to SMITH COLLEGE, I went on the road.
All of her life, she's had to deal with a huge liability: DYSLEXIA. If you ever read her e-mails, you'd never have guessed that she had the education afforded her. Listening to her is another matter. Today, she is a clinical psychologist at Emory. I don't have to tell you that wasn't easy. If she didn't receive the special attention that dyslexics need, God knows where she'd be today. After all, many people have jumped to judgement regarding her written communication skills...

I, too, have been more than a little irritated with some of the grammar and spelling errors that have appeared on this forum. "Here" being used for "hear" is one of the worst, as this IS a HEARING profession! And I get really PO'd, er, pissed off, when the poster doesn't state where he/she lives, for all of the reasons previously stated. Ditto with the text message crap.
But, unfortunately, not all of us out there have the access to a good education in this great USA. Or anywhere else, for that matter. I used to work in Mississippi back in the 70's for this dude named Hartley Something-or-other. You should have seen the school system that HE had to deal with "down yonder" to develop his labor pool. It's a wonder that they can make a mic cable, let alone a Media Matrix system! His dearly-departed wife (Melia) had to develop their own inhouse educational system to deal with this issue. More and more of our corporate bigwigs are bemoaning this very issue. More of them need to step up to the plate.

And, now that we know that "Da Kid" is from Jersey... :)

BobRogers Mon, 07/23/2007 - 09:33

moonbaby wrote: And, now that we know that "Da Kid" is from Jersey... :)

As an Exit 7A boy myself, I can feel his pain.

On a more serious note, I'd just like to concur with something that Davedog said. I feel that the use of standard English is by far the most inclusive means of communication possible for the forum. Abbreviations, text message jargon, and other slang are classic "in-group" languages that are intended to be exclusive. This is a forum dedicated to a technical subject, and interest in it transcends a lot of national, age, cultural, and class boundaries. Standard English may not be the default language for many posters, but it is probably the most common language for people to be exposed to. If you read a few threads it becomes pretty obvious that standard English is considered "good manners" around here, but it is also clear that people are generally pretty tolerant if you make an effort. You might even be forgiven for ending a sentence with a preposition.

At any rate, I'm not a mod, I'm not one of the real pros, and I haven't been posting that long. I just want to say that I think the way they do business works, and if you try to use it you can get a lot of help and gain a lot of info here.

Cucco Mon, 07/23/2007 - 10:57

I too wish that it had not degraded into bickering and I do apologize for my part in that. I think there have been a lot of good points though.

Additionally, I want to make it VERY clear that this was not directed at any one individual and that it just happened that I brought it up on this particular topic after reading SO many that were annoying me. I do hope you don't take it personally.

BTW - what the heck is up with the Jersey numbering scheme for exits on the Turnpike?!?! The first time I went to Monmouth, I was told "Exit 7A." Every other highway in the known universe would have exit 7A either:
1 - With exit 7
2 - clearly labeled that it's 13 miles past exit 7!!!

Thank God for kind toll booth operators that can tell my how to get to Ft. Monmouth by way of Ft. Dix!

x