"I wanna know which one would be the best for me "

You have GOT to do better then that!

Explaining your recording situation, what kind of computer, what do you want to do and who do you want to do it to...all required questions.

Are you going to need microphones next? Think about how this generic phrase "I wanna know which one would be the best for me " is going to work into that :)

I selected my first wife with this very same question, you just do not know how wrong I was ;)

Hey there xMann,
I own a PreSonus firestudio. The thing I love about it is it sounds fabulous and its inexpensive plus you can expand its features more than any other presonus box! Check out some of my tunes for example.

http://www.myspace.com/bretnorman

Good luck in your choice!
Jammster

sorry space - wasn't really thinking when I posted this haha.

I have a PC running sonar 7 right now (which I know isnt the greatest and I need to learn something more professional) and I record mostly heavy and loud music: rock, hardcore, metal, etc. I am planning on buying 4 sm57s (or 3 sm57s and a beta52) to start me off, and my dad gave me a couple pair of nice KEF speakers that I am using with a power amp as monitors (dont get me wrong these are very good as monitors even though they were meant for a home theater). I'm also using a subwoofer at a low volume to make up for the bass response that the speakers lack.

BUT I did go to guitar center and it cleared up many questions that I had about these interfaces. My only question now is is this a good way to start a home studio? I'm looking to expand off of this and eventually get nice preamps and stuff, so would this let me do that or will I be limited in the future?

jamm - I like the recordings! they turned out really good; I'm suprised the firestudio gets that good of quality

The worst thing you can do is use home theater speakers. They are accenting and peaking sounds to make things sound more dramatic and explosive. You need monitors that have a flat tone, so that you can hear exactly whats going on. Mix with home theater speakers, and then listen to the mix in a car (where 90% of people will be hearing your work), and it fall apart (not the car, but the mix). You are actually better off going with book shelf speakers over home theater because they aren't over hyped. If you want bang for the buck the Samson Rubicons are quite good....if you can spend a few more bucks get some KRK's or Mackie's. Hope this helps.

"and it fall apart (not the car,"
LOL That kind of humour is right up my street.

Agreed on the monitors...

I suggest you search the forums here for "budget monitor" and sift through the results, there's been a lot of discussion on it.

Personally, I think you're ok with those speakers. As with many things, it's relative. If you're accustomed to the way those speakers make music sound, you will probably get away with it provided you are trying to emulate what you've already heard through those speakers. That being said, a couple of reference cds would be a good thing to have around before you decide to mix. Your room probably isn't perfect so with that in mind, a "good" set of monitors probably won't be any more use to you than the ones you have. If you already have problems with the room sucking tone, no quality of monitors is going to fix it. It might make the job a bit easier but the bottom line is, you're going to have to get your ears accustomed to how the sound is reproduced in your space.

Home theater speakers are going to be boosting frequencies, which will not only contribute to ear fatigue, but will cause you to chase these same freq's to dial them in. You wont get as much time mixing, plus the time you do have is going to be spent in far less productive ventures. Here is an example.

In a bass guitar track that you recently recorded the home theater speakers you're using you notice in the 20mhz-100Mhz there is a need to lower the signal as it doesn't sit right in the mix. Because the bass frequencies are boosted with these speakers they are lying to you. There was only a small problem with the bass in the 60mhz-80mhz range. So you complete the project, and go to the car to give it a listen, and watch that low end of the bass guitar vanish. So you head back into the studio with a polygraph machine and hook them up to those lying, cheating, sons a bitches only to notice a trickle of blood weaving its way through your thunder chopped sideburns like the mighty Colorado through the Grand Canyon. "Shit I guess I have to call it a night" you say, and make your way upstairs to enjoy some rich chocolaty ovaltine and the sultry reading of US Weekly. You sure would rather catch up on the "TiVo"ed first season of "Hot or Not," but even the sound of the ceiling fan lackadaisically running its endless rounds twirlling that cold air from heavens angels pains your elf like ears....... Long story short

GET SOME NEW MONITORS! YOUR EARS ARE THE MOST IMPORTANT PART OF THE SIGNAL CHAIN!!!

20mhz-100Mhz
20 milli-hertz to 100 mega-hertz
Thats a big range.....

60mhz-80mhz ???
Why thats almost DC!

all I can say is WOW!! YOur hearing is freaking amazing

Link555 wrote: 20mhz-100Mhz
20 milli-hertz to 100 mega-hertz
Thats a big range.....

60mhz-80mhz ???
Why thats almost DC!

all I can say is WOW!! YOur hearing is freaking amazing

ROFLMAO! :lol:

Jeremy: I know what you're trying to get at even though your numbers put your hearing well beyond a dog much less shark's or some sort of other super high frequency capable animal....bees? I've been at this for a little while.

I personally think that the poor mix is just a matter of a lack of experience.

You can do a good job mixing on bad gear. It just takes a lot longer. Even then, you need to know what to listen for. Otherwise it's like being a bad dart player: you know you have to hit the board and ideally, you want it to hit center but getting the dart there is a matter of practice and finesse.

My hearing is the bee's knee's for bee ears...if you know what Im saying.

Jeremy wrote: My hearing is the bee's knee's for bee ears...if you know what Im saying.

If you say so.

http://hypertextbook.com/facts/2003/ChrisDAmbrose.shtml

According to this chart, there is no other mammal with comparable hearing range:

Species Approximate Range (Hz)
human 64-23,000
dog 67-45,000
cat 45-64,000
cow 23-35,000
horse 55-33,500
sheep 100-30,000
rabbit 360-42,000
rat 200-76,000
mouse 1,000-91,000
gerbil 100-60,000
guinea pig 54-50,000
hedgehog 250-45,000
raccoon 100-40,000
ferret 16-44,000
opossum 500-64,000
chinchilla 90-22,800
bat 2,000-110,000
beluga whale 1,000-123,000
elephant 16-12,000
porpoise 75-150,000
goldfish 20-3,000
catfish 50-4,000
tuna 50-1,100
bullfrog 100-3,000
tree frog 50-4,000
canary 250-8,000
parakeet 200-8,500
cockatiel 250-8,000
owl 200-12,000
chicken 125-2,000

I want ears like elephant/beluga or ferret/beluga.

Sorry to poke fun Jeremy, but always consider your audience, those letters have meaning, avoid them if you don't understand them.

Or better still learn them:
http://www.knowledgedoor.com/1/Unit_Conversion/Power_Prefixes.htm

Or perhaps its hard to express sarcasm in this font...... The bee's knee's of bee's ears was a poke at myself.

"tuna 50-1,100"

:O
Imagine the silence, dullness, lack of spatial information etc...

How do you give a Tuna fish an hearing test?

ANYWAYS

Jeremy: First of all I am using a subwoofer to make up for the low frequencies not present in the speakers. I also listen to tons of music with the speakers and I know how professional music sounds on them.. The only thing is to get my ears to adjust to that.

Plus, what is a home theater speaker vs a monitor? The actual speakers are the same (they move air...) and the theater speakers have both an 6" speaker and 1" tweeter, similar to a monitor (a monitor would probably just have a larger speaker). The only main differences are the lack of low-end frequencies in the theater speakers and the fact that the theater speakers are not powered/dont have individual controls. All of these problems are being made up for by my subwoofer and receiver.

Hopefully we can get back on topic? I wanted to know if this presonus gear will leave me room to expand.

The Firestudio has room for expansion. Two ADAT optical connectors. However, you will need to purchase a preamp(s) with said connectors. You do have a potential 24 I/O at 96 kHz should you choose to record at that sample rate.

On the other side note: there is some validity to Jeremy's post. Not all speakers are created the same. Not all 6" drivers were made the same. The differences are not in what you can see but in what you can hear. Home theater speakers are designed to accentuate certain frequencies but if you are accustomed to them and have decent reference material, you should be ok.

If this makes any difference:

they are bookshelf speakers, not home theater speakers. They are basically big stereo speakers.

As Hueseph said, as long as you know them well, you will be fine.

Imagine looking through sunglasses with a heavy tint, after awhile you don't notice it. Even though the world is coloured your brain can still process the information.

With speakers sometimes there are holes in the image. For example maybe they lack low end. This would be like putting electrical tape over a portion of the glasses.
This is harder to deal with when trying to make decision, simply because you can't possibly know what’s behind the tape, or what is in that frequencies range.

So if your speakers lack in a certain frequencies range then you have to know where your ‘blind’ otherwise your mix won’t translate. If you hear 100hz at –6dB(A weighted) then you might turn up that frequency in the mix. When you play the same mix on your car system with its 30inch sub you may find that the mix sounds bass heavy. Again you need to know that your system has a 100hz deficiency.

Also if your speaker have boosted frequencies your have to know those as well, you may end turning down that particular frequencies.

So your speakers are an important part of the system. But don’t forget the other critical things your need to know:

1)Your Room (what filter does it apply to your speakers)

2)Your Ears (What filter do they apply to your speakers in your room)

Bottom line know your system limitations , and you will make good mix decisions.