M-Audio? (1 Viewer)

[John*K]

I very much want to make an 8 track recording -- two of which would go to waste -- but I suffer through this Turtle Beach mono... can anyone make sound card (and Mic) recommendations? I've got this cheap Shure Mic hooked to a cheap 2m stand and OPPS, therre it goessss

 

[John*K]

remember that I'm not a pro, but someone who is interested in whoemn recording.s

 

[gregstaten]

It might be more than you want/need, but you should check out Mbox from Digidesign. As opposed to a sound card, Mbox is a USB box and software that is designed for mixing. The hardware box has high quality Mic inputs including a very high quality Focusrite Mic preamp. It supports both balanced and unbalanced inputs and outputs, does 24-bit audio, has a headphone amp, etc.

The software included is Digidesign ProTools LE and it will let you mix up to 32 tracks of audio including real-time audio effects. It works with both Windows and Mac out of the box.

You should find it for under $500 complete. Check it out.

-greg

 

[Vince Maskeeper]

Let's start at step one:
Are you looking to record to 8 tracks total, or 8 tracks at once? (your two posts above are terribly unclear on what you're trying to do). If you're trying to do 8 tracks at once, Greg's Mbox solution won't work for you (it does 2 inputs analog and 2 inputs digital-- although I don't know if you can even run all 4 at once).

This is will make a huge difference- as in terms of software- your track limitation will be only what your PC can hadle- where as in terms of hardware- this will be your large limiting factor in terms of multitrack recording of multiple inputs.

The next step is how to get sound to the card. Some, more expensive, cards have real mic preamps built in-- some don't... so if you get one that doesn't you'll need a small mixer or preamp device. We can cross that bridge if we can get to point of determining what you're trying to do.

In terms of mics, this will largely depnd on price range. I'm not sure which "cheap" shure mic you have- but I often suggest the Shure SM-57 as the best all purpose microphone on the planet. They're $70, but you'll find them in every million dollar studio in the US and probably get as much use (if not more) than mics costing 50 times as much. If you have a SM57, I would say that's a good start (maybe stop knocking it over), if not- post what you have and a price range and we'll start there.

-vince

 

[John*K]

Thanks, Vince. The SM-57 seems about what I want. I'm shopping around right now.

What I'd like to do is record 3 different tracks. One with me on rhythm guitar + voice; then add a lead guitar bit; then add keyboard effects (maybe). I wanted to do this, because I was shocked by how thin I sounded with just the acoustic guitar. It sounded much worse than I imagined....

This is all just for my own amusement. I haven't a set budget, because I haven't seen how much this stuff usually runs.

 

[Vince Maskeeper]

In which case, you probably will never need to record more than 1 or 2 things AT A TIME, I assume.

Again- as I mentioned in my first post, the question of how much stuff you want to record total is not nearly as important as how many things do you want to record simultaneously. If you only look to track on thing at a time, and overdub each new item as you go- nearly any soundcard will do-- so it's a question of if you care to get a nicer card to give better interfacing and better A/D conversion.

My basic advice for soundcards is usually:

If you're a "dabbler" stick with the stock card in the computer, buy a small mixer a 2 decent mics (like SM-57s for $70 each). Budget of $100-$200.

If you're moderately interested, pick up a decent 2 channel card that can do 96/24 recording- like the ECHO MIA and a small mixer. This is basically the same as the built in card solution- but on steroids. The MIA runs $199, so total invested for the MIA, mixer and a pair of mics is around $400-$500.

If you're pretty serious, Look into the M-box with the Protools LE software. Figure $500 for the box and $150 for Microphones. The box has built in preamps- so a console isn't needed, but it limits you to 2 mic inputs (where the Console will give you 4+ and allow you to run multiple mics and mic them and experiment).

If you're real serious- look into either a Q10 from Aardvark (or 2 if you want to record 16-20 tracks at a time) or getting a decent mixer (Avoid Mackie- get Soundcraft or maybe studiomaster) and a MOTU interface (like the new 2408). Get a copy of Nuendo. $1000-$2000+ depending on your desires.


As mentioned above you can go with the Mbox, which is a good deal, but might be overkill for a beginner- or you can look at these older posts by me for more info on the MIA/Behringer combo I have set up for several people @ about $250-300 plus mics:

http://www.hometheaterforum.com/htfo...hreadid=107703

http://www.hometheaterforum.com/htfo...hreadid=123945

http://www.hometheaterforum.com/htfo...threadid=97120

Read those 3, and if you have any additional questions- feel free to post a followup here.

 

[John*K]

Wow. Thanks for the knowledge, Vince.

 

[Vince Maskeeper]

No problem-- I'm more than happy to offer wiring diagrams and any other advice- just drop me a line.

-V