Calling All Pros! A question about new setup

V

Valgrim

New member
Here is the deal...

I just arrived in sunny Florida, and to my suprise my uncle has a studio in his house. A few years ago he bought $30,000 in gear, and paid an engineer to hook it up. Long story..., but I'm pretty happy about the situation :)

The problem is that I'm completely boggled by the complexity of the setup. In short... He has a 32-8 Mackie console, rows of outboard effects, two composers, half dozen synth modules, and other misc. crap. He had the engineer build a transformer of some sort that powers up the entire rig in sequence. Yea, I know...

My uncle has never really figured it all out, so he is of little help. I turn to you guys. :)

Here is what I'd like to do.
1. Get my Delta in and out of the console.

2. Be able to add the outboard effects AFTER I have recorded.

That's it really, and here is how he is set up...

He has an old version of Pro-Tools (which cost $10,000 at the time, ouch) somehow hooked up to the console. I won't be using that. He has all of the effects and modules, except the composers, going into regular channels. I thought that was kind of odd.

I have a Delta 44, 2 stereo ins and outs, or 4 mono i/o. I use Cakewalk. What is my course of action? :)

I'm prepared to reroute the whole operation, but I'd like to try to keep his setup fairly un-altered if possible.

-Val
 
Time to move up friend!

Abandon your silly little Delta card and PC software. You are entering into another world with ProTools, and it would benefit you greatly to learn to use it!

There is a lot of information that IS NOT provided here, like if all the stuff is hooked up via patchbays, and if so, what is normalled to what.

I am sure that the ProTools system is at least capable of 16 tracks or more on it's own. Depending upon how many A/D/A converters are there, you can have the best of both worlds here. Digital recording and editing, and analog mixing and dynamic processing. I would not consider the Mackie to be all that exciting, but it is usable at least.

More then likely, the Subgroup outputs of the Mackie are normalled via a patchbay to the ProTools A/D converters. This way, you can input many mics and subgroup them to any of the 8 outputs on the console you want. Now, this MIGHT be the case, but the Mackie also has Direct outputs on each channel, and these COULD be going directly to the ProTools system too. Or, the Direct outputs just may be on a patchbay waiting to be assigned.

Anyway, without seeing the wiring diagram, or just being there to see it, I cannot answer questions, nor would attempt to over the internet. Too time consuming, and I get paid to do this kind of thing locally. Now THERE is something to consider.....:) You can fly me there and I can teach you your setup. Plane fare, per diem, lodging and $200 a day will get me there. Email me if interested....;)

Ed
 
LOL

Sound advice :) I'd love it if I could afford your services... lemme see... *empties out pocketes* hrmm.... nope.... ;P

The sub outs are connected to PT by the way. The direct channel outs are all empty. There is also a patch bay however that has EVERYTHING wired through it, including all the buses.

The copy of PT he has is really old and buggy or else I wouldn't worry about it. The D/A A/D is 16 bit, PLUS it's runing on a Mac... Plus all my software, CD burner etc. is with my rig. Of course he does have an ADAT, but I'd rather not bother with that. *shrug*

I know I can patch in my Delta using the tape outs and returns. Well I think so anyway... I'm gonna just go in there and try some stuff out and try not to cause an ear drum blowing ground loop, that will short out his gear, and hasten my exit from Florida... ;)

The only part that has me scratching my head is how to use the effects units etc. AFTER I've done dry tracks. All of the units are run into regular channel strips on the console, AND they are all accessible through the patch bay. I suppose I send my files out of the Delta to the board and back in to a new track in Cakewalk to record the mix... Problem is I don't know where to route the signal...

Looks like I'm going to be grabbing a flash light and tracing miles of Mogami... :)

More insight is welcomed. I can't afford your regular rate but I do have a piece of lint, and a half pack of cigarettes I could send you. ;P

-Val <--- a poor guy from Ohio, who somehow ended up in paradise
 
I love my Delta, but were talking PRO TOOLS here....my advice....save up your pennies, skip a few lunches,hire Ed......
 
You can access the effects via the aux sends on the Mackie.

Record you track on the computer via either the Direct Sends on the Mackie (this is recommended UNLESS you need to combine more then 1 mic to a track) or the Subgroup Outputs. The patchbay SHOULD have a place for you to tap into the subgroup out.

Route your soundcard ouputs directly to the Mackie Line in's (it has always bugged me that Mackie NEVER provide a Tape Return. You HAVE to fun your signal through their preamps AGAIN!!! that sucks really bad and can explain the low headroom nature of the console to a certain degree.....all that added noise and color). You SHOULD be able to do this via the patchbay also.

You can then apply external dynamic processing before the soundcard output gets to the Mackie, or, you can use the Subgroup inserts for post eq processing too. Versatility gains you better control. Experiment!

You would then use the Aux Sends to send any channel to the effects. The effects return to channels (as they should) for any eq or processing you might want to apply to them.

I would guess that there are plenty of fixes and upgrades you can get for cheap or free to make the PT software less "buggy". I would imagine that the "buggy" part is some user error, and part software error, as I have seen extremely stable old PT systems run flawlessly.

What you can be assured of in PT is that your digital data is handled better then most PC software, even the older software. You also have a much wider range of killer plugin's available. I would venture a guess that the A/D/A's on the PT system probably sound nearly as good as your Delta does (I have heard the Delta converters, and don't really consider them to be all that exciting to my ears.....).

Anyway, I will not try to sway you with the better versatility and track handling of PT over your PC stuff. If limited amounts of tracks are not a concern, then your Delta will work fine.

Ed
 
What the hell is wrong with your uncle? Spends 30 grand for a studio and doesn't know anything about it? People who do things like that scare the living daylights out of me.

Isaiah
 
What are the converters for the Protools rig? the Delta may be better than those 16 bit ones. Try it out and decide for yourself. One good thing about using your PC instead of the PT rig would be if you had to leave, you'd still have your tracks accesable.

Ed, my mackie has a tape return. :P
 
Does it? Or is it a Line In/Tape Return?

I have a 32/8 at the club that only had Line In.

It has Tape Returns, but only a 2 track one in the Master section.

Ed
 
Re: LOL

More insight is welcomed. I can't afford your regular rate but I do have a piece of lint, and a half pack of cigarettes I could send you. ;P

-Val <--- a poor guy from Ohio, who somehow ended up in paradise [/B]
Click to expand...


Man you gotta stop that smoking shit!... Your lungs will thank you, and you may be able to afford Ed someday:)
 
Thanks!

Thanks Ed! After re-reading your post several times and experimenting I have everything running flawlessly. I'm sitting here staring at this crap in awe. :) ThE POWER! OH ThE POWWER! um...

Anyway, if I ever become a big succesful artist you got the gig producing the debut album :)

Prizm:

Yea, I feel the same way. I scrimped, saved, lied, and stole to get what meager gear I have. He has had this awesome gear just rotting away in a sound proofed/treated room for 6 years... *sigh*

He and my aunt are doctors, so $30,000 is peanuts to them I guess. The house I'm in is outrageous; 1/4 mi. from the beach, 5 full baths, huge pool, 2 hot tubs, 6 bedrooms, etc etc... Oh, and he owns and operates an airplane. It's a far cry from the east side of Toledo, Oh. Somehow fate put me here. I'm gonna record an album, walk on the beach, smoke cigarettes, and grin alot. :)

-Val
 
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