advise really needed with mixing setups for a DAW, please :)

[dean_l]

Hi, can people please give some advice based on personal experience or opinion as to what setup will best suit my needs. Im building an Athlon based DAW which will be customised according to the needs of the set-up i actually choose. I'm a 17 year old music technology student/addict as well as wannabe musician setting up a DAW-based studio in a suitable, spacious room in my apartment with a reasonable controlled, dry dynamic enviroment so I do not need to use any unneccesary DSP units other than the plug-ins included in my Waves bundle to accomadate for unfortunate location problems. I will be running Cubase SX 3.0 for audio recording as well as ableton live perhaps as a re-wire client and VSTi plug as and when is neccessary for sequenced production. I need a mixing set-up which is affordable (always the case with 17 year olds and students alike) and will come to no more than £700. the recordings and setup i would require would be capable of recording my music technology coursework for college and would be suited to recording my experimental project band which fuses together a diverse variety of styles and influences from accross the alternative spectrum. I need to be able to have the ability to be able to experiment with my recording and recording enviroment with regards to sound and aesthetic quality. It will usually consist of closed-mic and ambient recordings using traditional Shure SM range microphones and AKG condenser and cradle mics to compliment these methods. the instruments that will usually be recorded are guitars (blues, jazz, progressive metal, classic rock and metal, nu-metal, punk, accoustic, indie, ambient and gothic with many genres between), 5 string and 4 string bass covering the above styles, turntable setup with digital and analog I/O scratch mixer, Akai MPC2000XL sampler, conventional microphone setups, various synths, piano and external FX units such as a Kaoss pad. I know a patch rack will probably have to be used if i get lazy but what i really would like advice on is what mixing setup is best from recording the audio into the DAW? i have had thoughts about purchasing an M-Audio Delta 1010 PCI-based audio interface and mixing with an analog mixer such as a Mackie VLZ or Onyx range or shud i go for an all-in-one digital mixing solution? Advise based on personal opinion and experience is welcome as I need an idea as to what setup will suit my needs best to avoid spending endless hours aimlessly trying out equipment all over the country. thanks. dean

 

[mixing_nic]

hey
maybe something like a pair of se1a's would be a good move?
I've suggested this mic to a few people now for various applications but it really is a good mic.
Not overly pricey for a starter mic and it will work on most applications. Acoustic guitar it really sounds good on, also drum overheads..
I have uploaded an example of a drum recording with these as overheads i'll try and link to it in a second..
Also i'll try and find an acoustic guitar recording on my hard drive and upload it so you can hear it.
Pretty suprising mic for the price..
Also see if you can go have a listen to the Behringer B2 Pro.. another suprising one..

 

[dean_l]

ah SE mics. ive used the 2200a and its impressive. i have access to them if i ask my teacher nicely it will be good to extend a collection beyond the SMs and AKGs. you cant beat a value for money piece of kit eh and the se1a sure looks good for its price. is it actually any good for mic'in up a conventional drum setup for snares or hats? in comparison to the standard sm57, wats it like?

 

[dean_l]

thanks for the reccomendation btw.

 

[TheArchitect]

Ouch. Paragraphs really are a beautiful thing.

With your price constraints I would mix in the box. It solves a lot of issues and I don't think you lose anything. That said, instead of a full blown mixer I would invest in some good mic pre's. Of course this depends on how many inputs you will need at any one time. If 2 is the most you will need, I would spend the $600-$700 on a pair of Groove Tube Bricks over a Mackie. On the other hand, if many simultaneous inputs are required that money would probably be better spent on a mixer of some sort. Give the place a search for opinions on various mixers in that price range.