Help Me Setup

[ssimlai]

Hi friends! I just joined. Been doing small-time recordings since the last few years with an ever growing passion to do it better and bigger. I am setting up my new home studio now. I have with me Adobe Audition 1.5, n-Track Studio 4.2 and Reason 3. Hardware is pretty good (ESI WaMi Rack 192X and Echo Mia+ edirol PCR30 etc.).
Simple question: How much can I achieve using this combination without any high-end sequencer (Sonar/Cubase etc. kinda)? Is it going to be absolutely necessary to buy a high end software like Sonar 5?

[ozpeter]

All of these thigs are simply tools for tasks. You have given no indication of the task you are trying to undertake, so it's impossible to answer your seemingly simple question!

[ssimlai]

Sorry for the vagueness that I posed but thanks anyway for your question. Presently I am unsure if I can really focus on one task but I can generally say that my work consists around the following:
- creating soundtracks for TV
- jingles
- personal vocal albums
- (lap steel) guitar instrumental albums

While I do record the (lap steel) guitar at home, I do not intend to have a vocal recording setup at home. Like I did in the past, I wonder if it would be possible to record vocals in a friend's studio then bring the raw vocals back home for further treatment using Adobe Audition, mix with the music tracks created on n-Track Studio (using Reason 3 as soft synth + others) and finally mastering on Adobe Audition.

And yes, I forgot to say that my new setup is a network of two computers on a lan with one machine on Xp and the other older one on Win98SE. This one already has Cakewalk Pro Audio 8/9 running on it.

All this is not just because I want to save a huge cost of buying expensive sequencers but also to see if buying a sequencer is really worthwhile for my work. I am unsure.

Don't know if I still sound vague and stupid.

Sumit

[ssimlai]

Hello! No one to help?

[lpdeluxe]

You have the beginnings of a good setup. I don't have any experience with sequencers or synths, and I used loops, once, to follow a tutorial....

I mostly record acoustic music. Adobe Audition is a great, stable and robust program, and the quality you achieve will be limited more by your ears, experience and talent than by the software.

You didn't mention microphones. You need at least a couple, one for vocals and another for micing your lap steel amp (although I have gotten a great tone by recording my pedal steel DI -- I think steels have much better sounding pickups than regular electrics). Microphones are one area where you definitely get what you pay for. Despite the proliferation of inexpensive Chinese condensors, you're still much better off to spend some bucks on, say, a RODE or an Audio-Technica, and if you are doing TV, you need professional tools.

If you are new to recording, the best advice I can give is, spend a lot of time in the engineer's seat. Record, record, record, and then record some more. You'll learn quickly and the lessons will stick.

If you have recorded with tape decks, get used to the fact that the computer is not one, even though the tendency is to emulate tape deck controls etc. Learn Audition thoroughly (and that means, try a lot of stuff out) and you'll find it becomes easy to "fly" in the heat of a session. I have been recording for nearly 6 years now with CEP/AA (and for 20 years before that, with analog tape) and every time I boot it up I learn something.

If you don't have a control surface, my advice is to get one. That makes tracking and mixing much faster. I have gone from using the mouse/kb to the original Syntrillium Red Rover (one channel at a time!), Tascam US428, and I now use a Mackie Control. It makes all the difference in turning a cumbersome computer into a streamlined recording machine. Note that some control surfaces don't work with Audition (for example, the Yamaha 10X uses ASIO drivers, which are not supported by Adobe).

[ssimlai]

Hi and thanks for your post. Actually I found you very interesting! I am 42.You seem to be as old. Wrong?
I do have a control surface Edirol PCR30. Hope that one works with AA. But my main work is on MIDI which is why I need to understand if I need Sonar/Cubase kinds or ntrack will do!

I am not really new to recording - have been doing so since 1997. But new systems are new systems and there is always a learning curve.

Now I want to set up a fresh system for which have created a drawing for setting up. I have bought a whole lot of equipment - speakers, midi controllers, mixer, sound effects and processors, DI, mic (606), two PCs, WaMi Rack 192X, Echo mia and what not. I struggled to draw it up (can send it to you if you like) and wold now start connecting shortly (am moving).

My only decision remains on the sequencer. They are expensive, Sonar is cheaper but may be not of the same standards as Cubase. But n-track??
Sumit

[lpdeluxe]

Audition does not do MIDI. You will need a separate program for that.

[ssimlai]

I know that. Those softwares are of the likes of Cubase, n-Track Studio, Cakewalk Sonar. My question is which one to choose. Sumit