Getting started with recording, Almost done with the setup

[Pitseleh]

Hello everyone

I've been watching these forums for a bit while i've been trying to get together my own little home recording station going on. I'm almost done (I think) so I'm getting excited and I wanted to know if you guys think I'm on the right track. And also I have a couple of questions for ya.

Here's what I have so far.

My PC has:
intel dual core E6300 1.86gz processor
M-Audio Delta 1010LT
Nvidia 7950GT video card
external 320gig firewire mybook
2 gigs of DDR2 ram

Other gear:
2 Rokit KRK-5 monitors
Yamaha RH-5Ma headphones
Samson CO1 condenser mic
Shure SM57 dynamic mic.
M-audio Blackbox

I think thats it.

I still havent decided which recording program I am going to use. I'm currently trying the demo of pro tools, sonar, and acid. I just installed my delta card recently and have ran into some trouble setting it up so I havent really gotten to see what my sound card can do yet.

What I want to be able to with my setup is this. I am a solo musician who plays mainly guitar. I don't play drums so I dont think im ever going to need to record more than 2 tracks at a time. I'm mostly just going to analog record stringed intruments and vocals. And maybe record mono with my old Casio LK-56 keyboard.

What do you guys think of my setup so far? I think I only need a mixer and a DAW now. Can you guys suggest me mixer for around $200-$300 to meet my needs? And I'm still very new to DAWs'. Acid 6.0 seems to be the easiest interface to get around for me, but I hear its more of a looping program than anything. Should I go with that? or something more analog recording driven.

and lastly, I'm going to be double micing my acoustic guitar. Since I only have 1 dynamic and 1 condenser mic... would that combo work? Or should I fork over for another dynamic mic.

Thats all I got for now. Thank you guys in advance

[ssscientist]

Originally Posted by Pitseleh

I wanted to know if you guys think I'm on the right track.

Yes. You are on the right track.

I still havent decided which recording program I am going to use.

Try Reaper --- LINK. It's professional software at a shareware price. You have 30 days to decide if you like it and then they ask for a $40 shareware fee. As far as the problems you are having installing your Delta 1010lt, go here --- LINK --- and download the latest drivers for your computer, then go to the 'Add Hardware' page in the Control Panel and try it from there.

I'm going to be double micing my acoustic guitar. Since I only have 1 dynamic and 1 condenser mic... would that combo work? Or should I fork over for another dynamic mic.

Watch for phase cancellation when using multiple microphones. For the time being get as good a sound as you can out of one microphone by trying different placements and distances. Try both microphones --- they are both good quality.

Can you guys suggest me mixer for around $200-$300 to meet my needs?

This one --- LINK --- or this one --- LINK --- would both be good mixers for you.

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[Pitseleh]

thanks a lot for the response

I'm glad you showed me Reaper, im gonna go ahead and try the trial... looks like all I need. And I'm going to try and get my sound card properly working with the links you provided later today.

My Delta 1010LT's I/Os got me kind of confused. Say I do get one of the mixers. what cables would I need and how am I going to connect everything. I already bought a 1/4 inch cord for my monitors but found out they wouldn't work since the 1/4 jack on my monitor is balanced while the outputs on my card are unbalanced.

[ssscientist]

Originally Posted by Pitseleh

Say I do get one of the mixers. what cables would I need and how am I going to connect everything.

It's not a good idea to plug your monitors straight into your interface. Either of the two mixers has cannon outs and will serve both to monitor your tracks and as a convenient place to hook your monitors up with microphone cords.

As far as the balanced/unbalanced thing, my solution to that has been to buy a bunch of balanced (TRS or tip-ring-sleeve) cables which can be used in unbalanced jacks as well. I keep my cable runs to a sane level and have a very quiet setup with no buzzes or pops or clicks.

You'll need at least 2 mic cables to connect your monitors and as many balanced 1/4" cables as you're planning to have outputs from your Delta 1010.


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[XLR]

Originally Posted by Pitseleh

...I'm going to be double micing my acoustic guitar. Since I only have 1 dynamic and 1 condenser mic... would that combo work?

Two options I'd suggest:

1: Put one mic at the neck/body joint and the other mic at the bridge. Record each to a separate track. When mixing, pan them hard left/right. Try each mic at each position, and at different distances ranging from 6 inches to 2 ft. Makes for a very wide sound. This technique works very well with different types of mic's at the different positions. If you hard pan them you'll have no phase cancellation issues.

2: Put both mic's at the neck/body joint with the mic capsules as close to each other as possible and the mic diaphragms (note- you've got to know how far back the diaphragm is from the grill) equadistant from the gtr. Record each mic to a separate track. Each mic will get a different sound and you can mix them either hard left and right, or summed together without phase problems.

Plus, there's a lot of tonal variety you can get by experimenting with the angles of the mic's. You've just got to experiment a lot.

[ssscientist]

Originally Posted by XLR

If you hard pan them you'll have no phase cancellation issues.

If the microphones are interfering with each others phase there's no way to correct it at the recorder.

You need to move the microphones to correct the phase issue --- it has nothing to do with hard panning the input channels.


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[XLR]

If the microphones are interfering with each others phase there's no way to correct it at the recorder

Talking about mic pair phase coherence in general - an omni spaced pair or a cardioid A-B confguration will by nature be not very mono compatible (summing the mic's). That's part of the sound of those configurations. There's nothing wrong with it as long as the mic's aren't summed, and they're not supposed to be summed in that application. Gets a wide spacious sound. If one is going to sum the mic's, then a coincident configuration is the way to go. It's all about planning ahead and knowing the sound you want.

[Pitseleh]

I'm looking to buy that Mackie mixer that you suggested, but this may be a stupid question, but how do I connect the mixer to my soundcard?

and thanks a lot guys for the responses. I really appreciate it.

[ssscientist]

The mixer will go on the playback side of your setup to let you monitor your tracks and give you a buffer from your soundcard to connect your monitors. Connect as many outputs as you think you will need from your soundcard to the mixer, then use the L+R microphone cable outputs on the back for your monitors.

The Mackie has two separate busses, and I have mine set up so that I can use the 3/4 buss as an input if I need to use one of the microphone preamps for a vocal mic or a guitar amp mic. I rarely use the direct outs because I almost always run my FMR RNC (Really Nice Compressor) at a low ratio and a high threshold just to tame the highest peaks going into the computer so using the 3/4 buss frees the insert point for the compressor. If you don't understand this now there will be instructions with the Mackie board that will talk you through it. They're good that way...


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[XLR]

Originally Posted by ssscientist

...the phase issue --- it has nothing to do with hard panning the input channels..

Not what I said. What I said was "Record each to a separate track. When mixing, pan them hard left/right."

[XLR]

Originally Posted by ssscientist

...I rarely use the direct outs because I almost always run my FMR RNC (Really Nice Compressor) at a low ratio and a high threshold just to tame the highest peaks going into the computer so using the 3/4 buss frees the insert point for the compressor...

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I have a Mackie 1202. The direct outs from the Mackie pre's will get a noticeably cleaner sound than going through the mixer bus. If you really need to use compression during tracking, you can always just go direct out to the RNC, then RNC to the interface. I'd only use the 2-bus output of the Mackie to record from if I had to mix more than two channels at once into to a recording interface that only had 2 channels.

[jonasjamison]

mispost sorry