New recording gear advice needed

G

gtrjjj

New member
Hi Everyone,

Up until recently I had been using a presonus Firebox and sony MDR-7506 headphones with cubase 5, guitar rig 4 and my strat and ibanez jem.

Unfortunately my Presonus firebox went poof (haven't opened it although from what I read they are known to have capacitor/resistor issues, especially when you only use the firewire for power :o).

Basically all I do with this setup is practice and sometimes record guitar with a backing track.


So I guess my question is, should I go for the same setup again maybe with a Focusrite Saffire 6 USB Audio Interface instead of the firebox, and grab some cheap studio speakers (getting tired of headphones).

Or will I notice a significant quality difference if I dish out a bit extra, I'm willing to spend if it means it will make that much of a difference.

I would greatly appreciate any suggestions/advice.

thanks!

Jo
 
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as an experienced studio guitarist I can tell you that head phones are mandatory.

I'm not familiar with all of your gear, but I use an external digital multi track to record all analog sound (guitar,) and bounce those tracks into my PC afterwards.

Using a click track to slate everything, and sync it up. 4 clicks in the start of the guitar track (before the guitar starts,) and 4 clicks in the laptop mixer. So everything lines up in time.

The reasoning for this is to avoid latency issues.

If you have a laptop with multi tracking software (i think audacity is free...) you can get a cheap external digital recorder on ebay. For example a boss br-532 is like $25 dollars. A digital 4 track that uses smart media cards (no longer produced.) If you happen to get this unit then make sure it comes with a 128 MB smart media card or that you can find one for sale.

Depending on your budget. You could simply run an RCA line out from your digital recorder, using an RCA to 1/8" adapter, and plug it directly into your computer for bounce.

This would not be the ost optimal sound quality as apposed to an audio interface, but a MUCH cheaper, temporary setup until you upgrade.

I am looking forward to the time that I can upgrade to an external digital 24 track, and the proper sized external mixer. Running it all into the laptop to bounce for editing.
 
I'm not sure where 'Super Producer' is coming from on this.
For your application, I would think the Focusrite would do exactly what you need. No doubt you are getting some ear fatigue if you play/practice/record for very long with just headphones. Some monitors would defintiely assist with that, but don't expect to get a very good guitar sound from cheap ones.
 
Not really answering your question, but in relation to the presonus, open it up and have a look.

If you're right and a capacitor or two gave up, it may be easily repairable.

If you're anyway handy take a look and maybe throw a pic up in the DIY section.
There are a few good guys around here who may help out.

To address the question, if you're worried about getting a good sounding 'mix' that translates well, look into studio monitors and treatment.
If you just want to track for a bit of fun and maybe to let your pals hear, don't worry about it. :)
 
Hi Guys,

Thanks for all the suggestions.

Based on what you guys are saying I may just get the focusrite if not just for simplicities sake, although I will definitely open up the firebox when I get home and see whats going on. I do have electronic soldering experience and own a soldering kit, although I'm not very excited at the idea. I feel like I've had the firebox long enough to justify getting something else, and I always felt there was a bit too much noise with it, especially when I plugged in my Shure-57 for a bit of vocals, although that may have been user error..

I appreciate your suggestion Super Producer although I am looking to keep the setup as simple as possible, as I was saying if paying some extra money for a better interface and speakers would make the quality noticeably better then I am willing to do that, although I do just mainly play for fun/practice, as I like the variety I can get with Guitar Rig without having to power up my Peavey 50 Classic 4x10 and effects gear and wake up the neighborhood.

I do actually have a quarter jack to 1/8th cable that I would plug into the headphone jack of the firebox and to the line in of the computer and was able to play through the speakers, although that usually just sounded painful as I like to use a lot of effects and it didn't translate well.

So I guess if I do decide to get monitors you guys are saying don't skimp, which is what I suspected although I wasn't sure if the quality would stem more from the interface I was using.

Thanks again!

If you have any other suggestions for usb/firewire audio Interfaces please let me know, although I will go for higher quality Monitors if I decide to buy them.

Cheers,

Jo
 
mjbphotos said:
I'm not sure where 'Super Producer' is coming from on this.
For your application, I would think the Focusrite would do exactly what you need. No doubt you are getting some ear fatigue if you play/practice/record for very long with just headphones. Some monitors would defintiely assist with that, but don't expect to get a very good guitar sound from cheap ones.
Click to expand...

probably coming from 18 years of experience on the guitar including 10 years of experience as a studio musician.
 
gtrjjj said:
Hi Guys,

Thanks for all the suggestions.

Based on what you guys are saying I may just get the focusrite if not just for simplicities sake, although I will definitely open up the firebox when I get home and see whats going on. I do have electronic soldering experience and own a soldering kit, although I'm not very excited at the idea. I feel like I've had the firebox long enough to justify getting something else, and I always felt there was a bit too much noise with it, especially when I plugged in my Shure-57 for a bit of vocals, although that may have been user error..

I appreciate your suggestion Super Producer although I am looking to keep the setup as simple as possible, as I was saying if paying some extra money for a better interface and speakers would make the quality noticeably better then I am willing to do that, although I do just mainly play for fun/practice, as I like the variety I can get with Guitar Rig without having to power up my Peavey 50 Classic 4x10 and effects gear and wake up the neighborhood.

I do actually have a quarter jack to 1/8th cable that I would plug into the headphone jack of the firebox and to the line in of the computer and was able to play through the speakers, although that usually just sounded painful as I like to use a lot of effects and it didn't translate well.

So I guess if I do decide to get monitors you guys are saying don't skimp, which is what I suspected although I wasn't sure if the quality would stem more from the interface I was using.

Thanks again!

If you have any other suggestions for usb/firewire audio Interfaces please let me know, although I will go for higher quality Monitors if I decide to buy them.

Cheers,

Jo
Click to expand...

the set up I was suggesting is actually very basic, cheap, and simple, and would get you pointed in the right direction. best of luck.
 
Super Producer said:
what bro? did I come at you with disrespect?

did you read the OP? and tell me more about how I thought this was for noobs. Should be good.

Explain to me why you are comin' at me with disrespect.
Click to expand...

It's not about me, or you. The OP already has a PC/DAW set up and is asking whether his fried interface should be replaced with another interface and some monitors and whether that might improve things for him.

It's a complex question, I grant you, and he hasn't given us much information, however throwing statements in like "headphones are mandatory" and recommending he pick up a device that stores data on media cards which are no longer available, and confusing lining tracks recorded in a digital multitrack and imorted into a DAW, with tracks that are already there with latency, and saying "If you have a laptop with multi-tracking software" then recommending Audacity, which isn't really multi-tracking software when he's said in his post that he has Cubase tell me that (a) you didn't read and understand the question (b) you probably don't know much about the topic at hand, and therefore probably shouldn't be offering advice in a forum like this.

Having a name like "Super Producer" doesn't instill much faith either - there are many super producers on this board, and they don't advertise it via their forum name, but by the advice they give. Stick around, you'll meet some and work out who they are. I'm not one of them by the way, and I'll note that I'm not attempting to answer the OP's question, just warning him to be careful of whose advice he listens to. Generally, I'd also advise him to avoid people who write " comin' " unironically as well.

I apologise unreservedly if I'm wrong on any of these things and I'm not going to further debate it with you. Have a nice day.
 
tbf, having a quick look at the Focusrite Saffire 6 USB it looks awesome, especially for the price. The headphones on the front, the direct monitoring on the front, the free plugins, the 4 outputs, and the great built in preamps make it a winner in my book :thumbs up:

I was going to suggest the Presonus Audiobox as 1) you've already owned a Presonus interface so know how it works etc and 2) it's the same price, but just from looking at them the focusrite would be where my money would go.

If you're saving for monitors but still want to use your computer speakers in the mean time until you get some the easiest way i can think of doing it would be to plug your speakers directly into the line outs of your interface (although you would probably need something like this to connect them) that should be cleaner and easier to use/setup.
 
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Super Producer said:
probably coming from 18 years of experience on the guitar including 10 years of experience as a studio musician.
Click to expand...

OK, but you are new here on these forums, and like Armistice pointed out, your solution is totally not what the OP was asking about.

BTW, 18 years is great, but there are people on this forum with that much Digital Recording experience (staring when it was in its infancy), others who have been recording (analog) much longer than that and many who have been playing guitar twice as long as you (me included).
 
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