Keep Me from Blowing Up the Band Room!

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User://Error

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Hello all!
My name is Daniel and I've recently been doing a lot of research to get into recording my band from home. I think I have a solid, but very basic understanding from YouTube and just being involved in music the majority of my 23 years on this planet, but please correct any naivety I show.

Short of an interface, that I've narrowed down to a couple options, all of our bases (and basses ;) ) were covered until our drummer decided to go out and buy a seven piece mic kit (yay me :o ). Thankfully he only plans on using five (bass, snare, tom, floor tom, overhead)

Basically, as long as kick and snare have their own tracks, I'll be a happy Daniel. With that being said, I would love for each drum mic to have its own track, but wish in one hand... right? As always funds are about as limited as you'd expect from a 20 something's rock band.

So my first question comes off of my Yamaha EMX62m powered monitor mixer. Am I correct in assuming that the Effect Out is line level? If so, is it also safe to assume it can be plugged into a line-in on an interface? This seems like a dated piece of equipment since the record out is RCA, does anyone know if this record out is also line level? If it is, is it really as simple as getting an RCA -> 1/4" adapter to send the signal to the interface? Would this sound any cleaner than the Effects Out line level?

Second question: Kick mic through balanced input on Mark Bass Little Mark III then DI out into interface? I had this crazy idea last night and I'm just curious if this will blow anything up.

I'm looking to get a firewire interface with two pres. Assuming all works out with the Yamaha mixer and Mark Bass, I plan to send the snare and single overhead through the two pres on the interface, the kick through the bass head, and the toms into the power mixer and suck it up that I can't tweak them separately. I'm open to any and all suggestions!

Thanks in advanced to anyone taking their time to help us!
Cheers!
 
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Try not to fool around too much. My 8x8 layla 3g was $65 shipped on ebait. This would need a MIC mixer, but USB mixers are price effective, too
 
It doesn't directly answer your question but I'd seriously reconsider any purchases in favour of a tascam or similar with 8 mic preamps.
I'd also reconsider the mono overhead unless there's a stylistic reason for that decision.

Effects sends are generally line-level, yes. It'd be easy enough to look up manufacturers specs but, as I say, you can pretty much guarantee and effects loop won't be some amplified output.

The bass head - You won't blow anything up but I wouldn't bother with it.
I'd try the mic straight into interface at line level first. Not ideal but the chances are you'll get a usable level out of it.

Interface-wise, I'd look at tascam USB models or, if you're stuck on firewire, motu or presonus (fp10/firepod).

Hope that's useful.
 
Steenamaroo said:
It doesn't directly answer your question but I'd seriously reconsider any purchases in favour of a tascam or similar with 8 mic preamps.
I'd also reconsider the mono overhead unless there's a stylistic reason for that decision.

Effects sends are generally line-level, yes. It'd be easy enough to look up manufacturers specs but, as I say, you can pretty much guarantee and effects loop won't be some amplified output.

The bass head - You won't blow anything up but I wouldn't bother with it.
I'd try the mic straight into interface at line level first. Not ideal but the chances are you'll get a usable level out of it.

Interface-wise, I'd look at tascam USB models or, if you're stuck on firewire, motu or presonus (fp10/firepod).

Hope that's useful.
Click to expand...


Incredibly useful! I was just hoping the bass head might give it a unique sound, I'll probably toy with it anyways to see what it sounds like!

I was actually ready to order the Tascam US 16x08, it was in my cart, then I heard about the latency horror stories of USB 2.0 in general. I think I read somewhere that the US16x08 has 6ms latency, I dont exactly know how fast that is. I'm not stuck on firewire, I'm just scared that, since our computer is an old Mac tower, that the latency with USB would be excruciating. This is just from what I've read online. Please tell me if I'm wrong in thinking so, because i think the 16x08 is a crazy good deal. I've only been able to find drum recording using it, I'm curious how it would sound recording a full band. I'm open to any other interfaces in that price range, as long as they have low latency and a decent reputation of not popping, hissing, cracking, etc.

Thanks again for your help guys! :)
 
User://Error said:
Incredibly useful! I was just hoping the bass head might give it a unique sound, I'll probably toy with it anyways to see what it sounds like!
Click to expand...

Fair enough. I'll never say don't try something if the idea is to learn or expirement. :)

User://Error said:
I was actually ready to order the Tascam US 16x08, it was in my cart, then I heard about the latency horror stories of USB 2.0 in general. I think I read somewhere that the US16x08 has 6ms latency, I dont exactly know how fast that is. I'm not stuck on firewire, I'm just scared that, since our computer is an old Mac tower, that the latency with USB would be excruciating. This is just from what I've read online. Please tell me if I'm wrong in thinking so, because i think the 16x08 is a crazy good deal. I've only been able to find drum recording using it, I'm curious how it would sound recording a full band. I'm open to any other interfaces in that price range, as long as they have low latency and a decent reputation of not popping, hissing, cracking, etc.

Thanks again for your help guys! :)
Click to expand...

Things can go wrong but I don't think I'd heed stories like that too much.
Too many people are recording 8/16 whatever tracks with USB without issue.

6ms of latency won't be heard, for what it's worth.


How old is the Mac Tower? Admittedly firewire is a great way to go on OSX, but I still wouldn't shun USB if you find a bargain.
I've recorded 8+ tracks over USB on laptops 10+ years ago. I doubt you'd have a problem.

One thing with latency...It only really matters if you need to monitor from the recording software. That is, if you need to hear computer processing and effects in real time, as you record.
The only time that's true for me is when I really want the vocalist to be able to hear a reverb on his/her voice as they record and, even then, there are workarounds.

If you don't need that you can get an interface with direct monitoring and just set the buffer size to 1024, gaining a bunch of real-time performance.

It sounds like maybe you're in this for the long haul rather than one session for laughs. If that's true I'd definitely invest now and save later. ;)
 
Steenamaroo said:
Fair enough. I'll never say don't try something if the idea is to learn or expirement. :)



Things can go wrong but I don't think I'd heed stories like that too much.
Too many people are recording 8/16 whatever tracks with USB without issue.

6ms of latency won't be heard, for what it's worth.


How old is the Mac Tower? Admittedly firewire is a great way to go on OSX, but I still wouldn't shun USB if you find a bargain.
I've recorded 8+ tracks over USB on laptops 10+ years ago. I doubt you'd have a problem.

One thing with latency...It only really matters if you need to monitor from the recording software. That is, if you need to hear computer processing and effects in real time, as you record.
The only time that's true for me is when I really want the vocalist to be able to hear a reverb on his/her voice as they record and, even then, there are workarounds.

If you don't need that you can get an interface with direct monitoring and just set the buffer size to 1024, gaining a bunch of real-time performance.

It sounds like maybe you're in this for the long haul rather than one session for laughs. If that's true I'd definitely invest now and save later. ;)
Click to expand...

I believe its from 2004 a powermac g4, its a handmedown. The specs say the USB port is a 1.1. I'm not too sure if I can upgrade that to a 2.0.. The firewire is also only 400. However, if they could do it back then, I have no excuses :facepalm:
 
ooooh ok. I might have to hold my hands up and back pedal a bit....
Ok, USB 1.1 is a different story and, to be fair, Powermac g4 is old gear.

If you're stuck with that machine then firewire would be the safe route.
That said, I'd borrow someone's laptop. ;)
 
Steenamaroo said:
That said, I'd borrow someone's laptop. ;)
Click to expand...
... or a Chromebook. lol

Sorry, couldn't resist. In all honesty, you can record a lot of audio with the old mac. I used to record up to 24 tracks with one sample based VSTi on an old P4 PC and it didn't miss a beat. It's when you start throwing in a ton of sample based VSTis and multiple reverbs, that your machine slows down.

The USB 1.1 will slow you down. You're good for about 2 tracks. Is there no way you can upgrade your computer to something a little newer? Go PC for the price. It performs just as well as a mac.
 
a Delta 1010, or something might work. You just have to make sure you touch all the bases, or, find you are missing something that messes it all up. And, what recording software is that : )
 
Can you fit a PCI card into an old mac? If so fit a USB 2.0 card then you are a bit future proofed (USB 3.0 would be better but I know not of macs, it might not have drivers for USB 2.0 leave alone three!) .

As you say you are young. The mac is not and will surely soon die. Firewire is all but dead (you can use an adaptor from TB but why would you?) One way or another you need the Tascam multitrack AI and USB 2.0. A decent tower PC can be had for little money from a S/H shop and as has been said, you don't need much horsepower to record 8 tracks. Numbers? I would bet a 3G 2 core processor and 4G ram would be more than adequate.

As has been said, latency is only a problem if you want the recorded sound coming back. You can't do that with a m'track Studer so why with a PC system?

Dave.
 
I dunno ? I might be looking for a drummer with two working brain cells. Or, a lower maintenance drummer, anyway : )
 
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