Tell me if this makes sense from the point of view of upgrading my system. Right now I record with Cubase LE on a Windows 7 machine (dedicated pretty much exclusively to recording, so there's not much else on it). I have a Zoom R8 that I use as an interface and a pair of decent JBL studio monitors, but honestly I've forgotten the model. I record my amps (low wattage tube amps but cranked up) with a 57. I also have a condenser mic that I've used in conjunction with a 57 to get pretty good results recording acoustics. Bass I record direct with a patch in the Zoom. When I need keyboards, my wife records those parts going out of her yamaha directly into the interface.
I want to accomplish a couple of things: Little better clarity, and I need to be able to silent record, at least when it comes to my guitars and bass (I'll soon be getting EZ Drummer to create drum parts. Right now, a drummer friend of mine occasionally records parts for me in his home studio and sends me the WAV files).
First, I'm thinking of upgrading my interface to an Audient id22. I'm leaning toward that because first I really want something that will let me defeat the onboard preamp in case I ever get a nicer standalone preamp someday. Second, I've heard awesome things about it in terms of reliability and problem-free setup. Never something I take for granted in this day and age of recording on PCs. Third, I've heard it sounds pretty darn nice. I have the money already saved for this.
Second, I'm considering getting a reactive load (something like a Suhr or a Rockcrusher) and then using IR's (Ownhammer?) and a convolution reverb to simulate room sound so I can silently record my amps. I hope to have the money saved for all that by December. I've heard good things about reactive loads and tremendous things about Ownhammer's IRs. I've also heard of a couple of good convolution reverbs I could try, and I was pretty impressed by a couple of different audio clips I've heard. I think a Pete Thorn clip maybe?
For my purposes, I have a pretty decent ld condenser mic for vocals (and for the tunes I really care about I hire out for those parts anyway) so any upgrades there are going to wait. Any purchase of a nicer tube preamp or anything like that I'm going to wait on as well.
Does this sound like a decent plan, considering my main goals are: a bit more clarity, setting myself up for a nice preamp purchase in the future, and the ability to silent record?
I want to accomplish a couple of things: Little better clarity, and I need to be able to silent record, at least when it comes to my guitars and bass (I'll soon be getting EZ Drummer to create drum parts. Right now, a drummer friend of mine occasionally records parts for me in his home studio and sends me the WAV files).
First, I'm thinking of upgrading my interface to an Audient id22. I'm leaning toward that because first I really want something that will let me defeat the onboard preamp in case I ever get a nicer standalone preamp someday. Second, I've heard awesome things about it in terms of reliability and problem-free setup. Never something I take for granted in this day and age of recording on PCs. Third, I've heard it sounds pretty darn nice. I have the money already saved for this.
Second, I'm considering getting a reactive load (something like a Suhr or a Rockcrusher) and then using IR's (Ownhammer?) and a convolution reverb to simulate room sound so I can silently record my amps. I hope to have the money saved for all that by December. I've heard good things about reactive loads and tremendous things about Ownhammer's IRs. I've also heard of a couple of good convolution reverbs I could try, and I was pretty impressed by a couple of different audio clips I've heard. I think a Pete Thorn clip maybe?
For my purposes, I have a pretty decent ld condenser mic for vocals (and for the tunes I really care about I hire out for those parts anyway) so any upgrades there are going to wait. Any purchase of a nicer tube preamp or anything like that I'm going to wait on as well.
Does this sound like a decent plan, considering my main goals are: a bit more clarity, setting myself up for a nice preamp purchase in the future, and the ability to silent record?