what is your recording set-up?

[i dont know]

Once i get my recording rolling, i am going to have a presonus firepod, or motu 8 pre plugged directly into my computer, and just record from there.

I wanted to see what some of your recording set-ups were, and how i could make mine better...

thanks.

[AMTA]

Pretty crappy.

Yamaha MG16/4 mixer
MilesAudio MA-8 Mic
Shure PG48 Mic

Anything I record runs into my Sound Blaster Audigy and I mix on headphones and computer speakers.

My computer specs are also not the greatest. It's just a budget PC I built myself for about $300 (some stuff I took from my old computer to save money).

MSI Mobo
AMD 64 3600 1.9Ghz Dual Core
2 GB RAM
160GB total storage + one 320GB of external storage for backup
Sound Blaster Audigy
Lite-On CD/DVD Burner

[Agent47]

Korg 05RW + Roland XV5050 > Mackie 1402vlz3 > Yamaha SW1000 card > Cubase SX3. Includes various soft synths such as Reaktor 'Carbon', Crystal, Rebirth, Virtual Guitarist 2, EZ Drummer.

Any vocals are recorded in proper studios as my room is not treated.

DIY 'mastering' done in Sound Forge 8 using various plug-ins, including Waves.

[bdwwashburn]

Mine is set up as mostly mobile. I use 2 Yamaha MD8s and bounce to my PC for editing/mixing. My PC has a SoundBlaster Audigy Platinum and a Terratec MT88.

For mics, I use Nady drum mics, a pair of Carvin M68s, an EVN/D267a, and AKG D880, and a Samson C01 through an ART Tube Preamp. All mics go through Behringer noise gates.

For editing/mixing, I use Sonar 6 and the plugins that come with. The only external ones I use are the Lexicon Pentheon Reverb and the BBE Sonic Maximizer.

I do also have an Alesis Firewire Multimix 16 that I haven't taken the time to really get to know yet, although it makes a great practice mixer. I just find the Yamahas to be more reliable as they do not depend on the PC's performance to function and therefor no drop outs.

[Lo-Fi Mike]

Originally Posted by i dont know

Once i get my recording rolling, i am going to have a presonus firepod, or motu 8 pre plugged directly into my computer, and just record from there.

I wanted to see what some of your recording set-ups were, and how i could make mine better...

thanks.

DRUMS-NT5'S,SM57,BETA52,MXL993-SSL alpha VHD-Aardvark Q-10
BASS-LA610-Aardvark Q-10
GUITAR-Marshall AVT-SM57,MA200-SSL alpha VHD-Aardvark Q-10
ACOUSTIC-KSM27,MXL992-SSL alpha VHD-Aardvark Q-10
VOCALS-What ever mic works best-what ever pre works best-Aardvark Q-10

if i need crazy male rock vocals i will run the ma200 thru the ssl, then once i get them in the box, I'll send them to the la610 as a line level and eq and compress in the rack sending them back into the box, (just something i tried once, and it worked very well.
(maybe not for an acoustic album with female vocals)

[genesisariana]

I love my firepod. I got a mac mini mounted in the bottom of the rack box, so its all portable. I need to work on getting some monitors, but for now, I use headphones for tracking, and some small harmon kardon powered crap speakers for mixing.

[gasandmatches]

I own and love the firepod, it has incredibly clean preamps. Though I have a friend with the MOTU and its quite nice too. both interfaces do have the ability to daisy chain. Heres my set up:

Interfaces/Hardware/Preamps:
Tascam M-50 12ch Analog Console
Presonus Firepod
Presonus Blue Tube stereo preamp
RNC compressor
Lexicon MX200
DBX 286a

Mics
Studio Projects LSD2 Stereo condenser
AKG C 3000 B
Shure Beta 52
Shure Beta 57
Shure SM57
M-Audio Luna
Oktava MK219

Computer: HP Pavillion 512a
Monitors: Samson Resolv 2.1 (sub and 5" pair)

I have a very limited setup but haven't really noticed the need to upgrade anything: MSH-1 microphones or Behringer ECM8000 -> M-Audio DMP3 -> M-Audio 24/96 -> Reaper.

Oh, and an M-Audio 88-key MIDI keyboard.

[psychedelicsoun]

Digi 003 and Logic 8 (and PTLE for the clients which I don't like)
Adam A7s

When people stop wanting to use protools - which is inevitable because digidesign is slacking and other programs are coming up - I'll be happy to switch to RME Fireface or Apogee Ensemble

[psychedelicsoun]

oops double posted

[pohaku]

The stuff I use most frequently:

Interface/Converters/Computer

Nondescript HP Desktop with two 160 Gig drives, an outboard 500 Gig drive and 2Mb of Ram
Lynx AES16 card
Lynx Aurora 8 converters (used to be an Aardvark Q10)
Sonar 6

Monitors/Controllers

Coleman M3PH MkII monitor/phones controller
NHTPro A-10 active monitors and sub
Avantone Mixcubes
Tranzport
MOTU MIDI Micro Lite
Motormix
Oz Audio HR-4 Headphone Amp
AKG K500 phones
Various Sony and AT phones

Preamps/ Direct Boxes

Pendulum MDP-1
Millennia TD-1 X2
Peavey VMP-2 Tube Preamp
GT MP1 Tube Preamp X2
API 512c Preamp X2
Purple Audio Biz Preamp
A-Designs P-1 Preamp
GT Ditto DI Box X2
Radial JDI DI Box
Sansamp RBI Bass Preamp (rack)

Outboard

Peavey VC/L-2 Compressor
Symetrix 501 Compressor
RNC Compressor X2
Drawmer 1968ME Compressor
API 525 Compressor
Lexicon MXP500 EFX
Kurzweil Rumour
Delta Labs Effectron III
Peavey Valverb
Peavey Tube Sweetener
Antares AVP-1 Vocal Producer
DBX 242 EQ X2
API 550b EQ X2
GT EQ1 Tube EQ X2
Speck ASC-T EQ
Aphex 622 Dual Noise Gate
Ibanez AD202 Analog Delay

Other stuff

Boss DR-550 MkII Drum Machine
Roland R-8 MkII Drum Machine
SE Reflexion Filter

Mics

GT MD1a LD Tube CardioidCondenser
GT MD3 LD Tube Multipattern condenser
GT AM40 MD Tube Cardioid Condenser/GT-44 x 2
Sennheiser MD421 Cardioid Dynamic
Sennheiser MD431 Cardioid Dynamic
Sennheiser MD541 Cardioid Dynamic x 2
Electrovoice RE-20 Dynamic
Audio Technica at4050 LD Multi-Pattern Condenser x 2
Audio Technica 4054 Cardioid Condenser x 3
Audio Technica 4053 Hypercardioid SD Condenser x 2
Audio Technica 4051 Cardioid SD Condenser
Audio Technica 4049a Omni SD Condenser x 2
Audio Technica ATM25 Hypercardioid Dynamic
Shure SM7 Dynamic x 2
Audix VX-10 Hypercardioid Condenser x 3
Audix OM6 HyperCardioid Dynamic
Audix D6 Hypercardioid Dynamic
Beyer M160 Cardioid Double Ribbon x 2
Beyer M201 Hypercardioid SD Dynamic x 2
Beyer M260 Hypercardioid Ribbon x 2
Beyer M380 Figure 8 Dynamic
Beyer M500 Hypercardioid Ribbon x 5
Beyer M88TG Cardioid Dynamic x 2
Beyer Soundstar II Cardioid Dynamic
Beyer M130 Dual Ribbon Figure 8
Beyer MC834 LD Cardioid Condenser x 2
Neumann KM84i SD Condenser
Neumann U-87 LD Condenser
Josephson C42 SD Condenser x 2
Gefell M582h M71 Capsule Tube LD Condenser
Gefell M71 LD Condenser Cardioid
Gefell MT711s LD Transformerless Condenser Cardioid
Gefell PM860 Condenser
AEA R84 Ribbon Mic

[Lo-Fi Mike]

pohaku

wow! i think your mic locker has just about every frequency covered

[pohaku]

Originally Posted by Lo-Fi Mike

pohaku

wow! i think your mic locker has just about every frequency covered

I actually have a bunch more, but it's too embarrassing to list them all. I think it's a disease.

[Llarion]

Originally Posted by i dont know

Once i get my recording rolling, i am going to have a presonus firepod, or motu 8 pre plugged directly into my computer, and just record from there.

I wanted to see what some of your recording set-ups were, and how i could make mine better...

thanks.

COMPUTER
Quad Core Q6600 processor
4GB RAM
NVidia 8500 video
160GB system drive
500GB data drive
320GB backup drive
1TB external archive drive

INPUT
MOTU 8pre (warmer preamps than the Firepod, in my side by side test)
Mackie 1202VLZ for instrument submixes

SOFTWARE
Adobe Audition 3.0
Waves, Steinberg, and T-Racks

SIGNAL PROCESSING
Radius HHB FatMan 3 tube compressor
Xoom RFX-1000 multi

SYNTH/KEYS
EMU Proteus 2000
Korg Triton 61
Roland RD-500

DRUMS
CB700 internationale acoustic drums
Boss DR-0660 drum computer

BASS
Peavey Foundation
Peavey Muillenium
Yamaha 5-string

GUITARS
Fender Strat (Mexican)
Yamaha 12-string
Yamaha classical
Martin DXME (soon to be replaced by Breedlove Pro C25)

MICS
MXL and CAD condensers
Samson 7pc drum mic setup
Beta 57

MONITORS
Roland RSM-90/Onkyo component amp
Infinity satelites/Yamaha sub

I say go with the MOTU, I think you won't regret it...

Cheers,
Phil

www.llarion.com

[SonicAlbert]

pohaku, what do you think of the Drawmer 1968ME? On your list, the 1968 and the Speck ASC-T are a couple of units I've been considering.

[pohaku]

Originally Posted by SonicAlbert

pohaku, what do you think of the Drawmer 1968ME? On your list, the 1968 and the Speck ASC-T are a couple of units I've been considering.

I think both are extremely useful and relative bargains for what they do.

I got the Drawmer primarily as a 2 buss compressor, but have found it quite useful for individual tracks as well. It has a nice "musical" sound. It doesn't do the full nuke thing that a Distressor will do, but I don't generally need that level of compression for what I do. The Big switch is nice as it essentially applies a high pass filter to keep the compressor from being driven by the bass and other low frequencies. The two channels can be linked for stereo - or not. Soundpure had them on sale for awhile for @$1600 or so and they turn up used for between $1400 and $1600 on the GS board (which is where I bought mine). Ultimately a Distressor is probably more flexible in application, but I don't think I would want them for 2 buss and as I'm not doing metal and hard rock, I don't need that kind of compression.

The Speck is great. I don't think there's anything else like it for the money, although I haven't tried the Klark Teknik units. I have the ASC-T model with the transformer which gives a slightly different sound if you choose the transformer out. Again, a relatively transparent and "musical" piece of gear. I have DBX 242s as well and the Speck is definitely a step up. I need another one. They can be relatively reasonable used - $375-450 or so. Vince also has demo models on his web site from time to time under the Used Gear tab. He now makes a 500 series model for a lunchbox as well, but I'm not convinced that the extra cost is worth it for me - especially since the standard model is a half rack unit anyway. The next step up for EQs is considerably more money. If I was doing this commercially, I'd look at a Great River or Millennia, but I can't justify that money at this point. I do have 2 channels of Millennia EQ in each of the TD-1s I have and that's been real nice for spot use.

I'd certainly buy both units again with no hesitation.

[LemonTree]

I'll bite

D.A.W.

PIV 3.0Ghz
Asus P4C 800-E Deluxe
2 GHz Kingmax DDR400
Maxtor 120Gig SATA system disk
Maxtor 80Gig SATA recording disk
Matrox Dual head 32Meg AGP video card
Dual 17" TFT displays
Samsung 52x CD/DVDR
NEC 16x CD/DVDRW
19" 4U Rackmount Antec case with Zalman silent cooling


SOUND CARDS/CONVERTORS

3xDelta 410 24Bit/96KHz AD/DA 12in/30out
EMU Xmidi 1x1


SOFTWARE

Cubase SX 3
Adobe Audition 2.0
Wavelab 5.0
Soundforge 6.0
Waves gold bundle
Blue Tubes bundle
Digital phishphones
iZotope Ozone 2
Antres
TC Works
EZdrummer DFH/Nashvile/Cocktail kit/8Bit Kit

UAD-1 DSP CARD including...
CS1 Channel Strip
EX-1 Gate & Compressor
DM-1/DM1L Delay modulators
RS-1 Reflection engine
1176SE Limiting amplifier
Pultec EQP-1A Program equalizer
Realverb Pro
Nigel Guitar Processor
LA-2A Leveling amplifier
Pultec Pro EQP-1A plus MEQ-5
Plate 140 Reverb


CONSOLE

Soundtracs TOPAZ Project 8. 24 track inline recording console with full meter bridge.


HARDWEAR

M-Audio TAMPA Mic Pre
Line 6 Pod
Behringer V-Amp Pro
Lexicon ALEX
Lexicon MPX100
Alesis Microverb III
Drawmer LX20
LA AUDIO GCX20 Dual gate/comp
Behringer Composer MDX2100
Valley Gatex 4 channel gate/expander
Countreyman Type 85 FET Direct Box


MICROPHONES

ElectroVoice RE 20 (1)
Red 5 Audio RV6 (1)
Studio Projects B1 (2)
Shure SM58 (1)
Shure SM57 (2)
Octava MC 012 (2)


MONITORING SYSTEM

Wharfdale Diamond Pro 8.2a active nearfield monitors
Audio Technica ATH M40fs Headphones (2)
Behringer PowerPlay Pro HA4700 headphone distribution system


RECORDING/MIXDOWN

Tascam DA-20 DAT RECORDER
Sony MDS-JE320 MiniDisk Recorder
16x NEC CD/DVDRW


INSTRUMENTS & AMPLIFICATION

Rickenbarker 330 6 string electric
Eppiphone Les Paul Custom
Sun Mustang Strat
Dean 6 string semi-acoustic
Ventura Bass

Roland Fantom X6

Session Pro DD505 E-Drums

Viper 2x10 all tube 100 watt combo
Peavey DEUCE VT 2x12 all tube 120watt combo




My mixes are about the same as when I was using cool edit & a soundblaster 64AW years ago but the heating bills have come down

[Seafroggys]

I have a pretty decent setup:

Presonus Firestudio
Self-built Computer:
Pentium D 820 CPU
1 gig DDR-667 RAM
300 gig 7200 Seagate Harddirve

Runs Cubase LE and a ton of freeware plug-ins and stuff

KRK Rockit-6 Monitors
Fancy Sony Headphones (forgot make)

Mics:
2x RODE NT2-A's
1x Shure SM57
1x Sennheiser e609
1x Audix i5
1x AKG D112

Standard stands and cables

All in all ran me a little over $3000.

EDIT: This does not count my musical gear; drums, amps, axes, etc.

[fuzzrhythm]

This is a combination of my gear and a friend's gear.

Recording/Monitoring Chain

Mackie Onyx Satellite
M-Audio BX5a
Fender 300W 6-ch PA with 2 15" cabs
2 x Senn HD280
Apple PowerBook G4
Logic Express 7
Reason 2.5
250 GB OWC Hard Drive

Microphones

Neumann KMS105
Senn e906
Senn e935
Shure Beta 57a
Shure SM57
Audix D6
Audix D3
2 x MXL 990
2 x MXL 991

Bass

300W 2x10 Ashdown Combo
Yamaha Bass
A couple fuzz pedals

Guitar

Fender Blues Jr. 1x12 combo
Fender Prosonic w/4x8 cab
Yamaha Pacifica
Fender Strat
Various Acoustics

Drums

Roland Electronic Drums (don't know the model number)

[ofajen]

I actually have several different recording rigs that each have their use.

1) a pair of analog tape machines (3M M-79 1/2" 4-tk and M-23 1/4" 2-track)

2) a G4 Mac with a Delta 66, running Live 6 and Peak

3) a MicroTrack, which I generally use with my MixPre field mixer (better preamps)

4) Yamaha AW1600 standalone

I like the tape machines for recording guitar, bass, Stick and drums, or any time when I can bother to use the particularly wonderful sound of a 3M machine. The DAW is mainly for adding extra tracks and mix automation.

However, most of my recording (which isn't much these days) is jotting ideas down live to 2-track on the MicroTrack or putting pieces of a composition together on the Yamaha, which is an incredibly handy and easy to use unit, once you know the features.

Good luck with whatever you use!

Cheers,

Otto

[jeffchastain]

I have the most simple recording set-up on this board, I think.

Audix f-50
Behringer B-5 condenser
Alvarez RD20SC
into
Alesis Multimix6
BR-600 multi-tracker

then I shoot the tracks over to my computer via usb to Reaper.

[SonicAlbert]

pohaku, thanks for your comments. Does the 1968 have an open sound, deep and wide stereo field? How clean and how "tubey" can it get?

Here's the list of what I use:

MIXER
Speck X.Sum,

MONITORS
Mackie HR824, KRK V4

DAW
ProTools 7.4/Digi 002R
MOTU Digital Performer 5.13, MOTU 2408, 2408mkII, 308, 24i, Traveler, Universal Audio 2192, Benchmark Media DAC-1, Lucid CLKx6, Fronties Design Tango 24

OUTBOARD PROCESSORS

FX: DeltaLab Effectron II (x2), Eventide 2016,
Klark-Teknik DN780, Kurzweil KSP8,
Lexicon PCM-91, Line 6 Echo Pro,
Roland SDE-3000A (x2), SRV-2000,
Sony DSP-D7, Symetrix 606, TC Electronic M3000

DYNAMICS: Aphex Compellor 320A, Avalon 2044, DAV BG-4, DBX 903 (x2), DBX 162, Empirical Labs Distressor (x2)

EQUALIZERS: DBX 905 (x2), Klark-Teknik DN410, Manley Massive Passive, Orban 642b, Urei 546

MISC: Aphex 9001 Aural Exciter (x2), BBE 702 Sonic Maximizer, DBX 904 gate (x2), TC Electronic 1210

PLUGINS:
PSP Audioware: MasterQ, Vintage Warmer 2
Roger Nichols Digital: Equim, Finis, Firium, Neodynium, Inspector XL
Massey: CT4, L2007, VT3, Tape Head, TD5
Sonalksis: SV-315 compressor

MICS
AKG C414 BULS (x2)

MIC PREAMPS
DAV BG-1

[pohaku]

SonicAlbert,

Yes, I do find the 1968 to have an open sound and a deep and wide stereo field. I find it to be a clean, not very aggressive compressor. It is not really tubey. The tube section is not used for the actual compression/gain reduction, but only for the make up gain. I find it "hifi" rather than "tubey" --kind of like a Pendulum preamp is "hifi" rather than "tubey". It has a slight "warmth" to it that one associates with tube gear, but it's almost subliminal. If you do stuff with lots of low end (synth, bass, kick), you would like the Big switch as it applies a filter to let the low end pass through without unduly triggering the comp.

I see you have a Massive Passive. Sigh. Why pray tell are you looking at Speck? I've never used an MP, but I'd be inclined to think that it would cover most bases for you, unless you wanted a mobile rig - in which case I'd rather risk the Specks.

[Chili]

Wow, after reading everyone's set up, I feel somewhat inadequate. This is why I stay away from Gearslutz. ha ha ha.

But I am just a hobbyist recording/musician and keep my set up very simple.

Homebuilt computer P4 2.66ghz 1g ram
Lavry AD-10
Lavry DA-10
Phonic Helix 12 Firewire mixer
Behringer pre-amp (I know, I know, but when I bought it, I didn't know)
Studio Projects C1 condensor mic
ACM-310 mic (from Group Buy)
Shure SM-57 mic
Digitech RP150
Kramer Focus Electric Guitar
Ibanez Semi-Hollow guitar
Ovation acoustic/electric
Gibson ES-120T semi hollow guitar (1965)
Yamaha Bass
EMU 0404 pci
Event ALP-5 Monitors
Alesis Quadrasynth
DBX-163x compressor

Cubase SE3
Various free plug-ins
EZDrummer
Melodyne Uno (Yes, and I Photoshop all my pictures too)

Cheers,

[SonicAlbert]

pohaku, I'm not looking to replace my Massive Passive, just add a couple more channels of good quality eq to my setup. Ultimately I would like to have eight channels of very nice eq.

What I'm primarily doing right now is replacing my Orban 642B. The Orban is actually quite a good eq, but I'm a bit restricted on rack space right now, and two channels of eq in one rack space works a lot better for me than two channels of eq in two rack spaces. Also, I'm sort of off the whole used/vintage gear thing right now, so I want to put in new gear to replace the old.

As far as the Massive Passive, it's a great eq. Not just good or excellent, but truly great.

I also feel that way about the Avalon 2044 compressor. I think the 2044 is a compressor that either works for what you are doing or it doesn't, but man does it have that high-end sound to it. Really wonderful on piano tracks in my opinion.

The other compressor I'm looking at right now is the Summit TLA-50. It's gotten mixed reviews though, so I'm not quite sure what to make of it. Some folks love it but others are less enthusiastic.

I'm also considering the UA 2-1176. What I'd really like to do is get my hands on each and try them out, but that's not always easy.