Need help selecting audio interface for pro tools 9

L

Low_Frequency

New member
Alright, so I have a bit of a dream to set up a home recording system in my house to cut back on costs with renting studios and to possibly rent it out to other musicians.
:guitar:

I just have some general questions about how to go about doing this, I just ordered my recording software and i figure the next thing i need is an audio interface. i've used my brother's m-audio fast track and it doesnt seem to be too bad(obviously not the greatest.) so i've been somewhat looking at the Fast Track Ultra 8r..but i've heard both good and bad things from this product

So i guess what im asking here is What type of audio interface would be ideal for me, and is a seperate pre a must have even if the pres are built into the interface. I'm gunna be using my 2.2 Ghz core i7 macbook pro to do this, and i'll be running pro tools 9 software.

Thanks a bunch
 
Tough stuff here. Depends on how much you want to spend, what you are recording, and what you are trying to sell.
 
Well i'm thinking anywhere from 400-800.
if a seperate preamp is necessary i'd probably try and get a bit cheaper interface to try and be as budget-friendly as possible. but if the preamps within the interface are just fine then i'd spend more on the interface

i'm not sure I fully understand what you mean by 'what you're recording', do you mean the genre of music i'll be recording? or single/multi track?
 
He probably meant what instruments and how many.
Eight tracks can be used up pretty fast when your talking the drums so ..... your looking at a purchase of two unit of eight each for a total of sixteen tracks of recording simultaneously to be of a possibility usage to any band that would want you to record them.
 
K for instruments i'd imagine i'd be recording: acoustic guitars, electric guitars, bass guitar, vocals, maybe some percussion and wind instruments, and then an acoustic drum set(probably the last of my worries)

But isn't it possible to put the drums through a mixer then in turn hook up the mixer to one of the ins on the interface?

and on that note would it be better to get a interface with fewer inputs and just put everything through a mixer? cuz then you could use a single preamp for all of your instruments...right?
 
It is certainly possible to run the drums through a mixer and record the stereo output, but that means you must get the balance right there and then.

There is definitely a value in learning those skills and gaining those disciplines but it's not necessary these days.

I'd recommend an 8 track interface, and aiming for four track drums to start off. (Kick, snare and two overheads).

It's a learning curve and it's about experimentation, but i wouldn't jump in with 16 channels and bucketloads of mics on a kit; It's just such a complicated way to start.


If you pick your kit mics well, they'll double up for everything else.
re20/md421/sm7b on kick will also do bass amps, guitar amps and vocals well.
sm81s/oktava mk012s on overheads will do very nicely for acoustic guitars. (on your budget, the little samson pencil mics would even do)
sm57 on snare will be great in combo with the md421 or whatever on guitar amps.

These are just examples.
Prices?
You can get a used md421 for $300ish,
the samsons for about $100 and
a 57 for about the same.
A tascam us1800 is about $280 i think.

That's 780, and i'm not sure that you could skimp much more.
Hope that helps.
 
PT 9 is a bit OTT for where you are? Reaper would have been a better path at 10% of the retail cost...
Interface wise there are loads of second hand units available one that I like alot is the projectmix I/O - good preamps and motorfaders around 500 of your Imperialist Dollars.
 
Steenamaroo said:
That's 780, and i'm not sure that you could skimp much more.
Click to expand...

I think i would almost prefer to save some of my "Imperialistic Dollars"-harhar--(wouldn't all forms of currency somehow be imperialistic?) for the time being until i can put more money into it. cuz the idea of "skimping" out on the quality of the sound i'll be producing isn't very appealing to me--as i've heard that below about $400 then the preamp quality on the interface become questionable.. thank you for the information
 
Low_Frequency said:
I think i would almost prefer to save some of my "Imperialistic Dollars"-harhar--(wouldn't all forms of currency somehow be imperialistic?) for the time being until i can put more money into it. cuz the idea of "skimping" out on the quality of the sound i'll be producing isn't very appealing to me--as i've heard that below about $400 then the preamp quality on the interface become questionable.. thank you for the information
Click to expand...


Read up on the tascam. It gets great reviews around here.
The only realy 'skimp' on my list is the samson mics. If you shelled out for nice OHs, that list would make a great little setup.
 
bruiser1964 said:
PT 9 is a bit OTT for where you are? Reaper would have been a better path at 10% of the retail cost...
Interface wise there are loads of second hand units available one that I like alot is the projectmix I/O - good preamps and motorfaders around 500 of your Imperialist Dollars.
Click to expand...

well in january i'm gunna be in a 6th month course that specifically uses Pro tools 9..so i figure "why try and use anything else BUT the industry standard?

oh and the projectmix i/o is closer to 1200 of my Canadian Dollars
 
Cool, it's a good deal with the education discount. I was meaning the Projectmix second hand? They are going for around £350 in real money.
 
I'll definitely look into it, it sounds like a nice budget friendly option.. I'm sure whatever i decide to get will work out fine for a while, then i can upgrade everything when i have the budget to do so..again thanks so much for your input on this thread
 
ok well again there are so many different ways you can take this.

going back to earlier posts.

i'm just gonna type as i'm thinking of stuff

pro tools is the industry standard, doesn't mean it's the best. I really like it but other really like logic. It's all preference. Pro tools has some great features, so does logic, logic even has more features starting out that i wish pro tools had. ie. an impulse loader.

An interface no matter the kind is more of an entry level piece of gear, it's got the pres the knobs and the converters all in one. so you don't have to buy all the great outboard gear. you need to find something with good pres and a good a/d converter. rme fireface 400 is a great one, but well you only have a couple of pres and it's expensive. focusrite (what i have) makes some good stuff. you can get a used one cheap or a deal at guitarcenter for the saffire pro 40 thats 8 pres two nice nice ones, and the rest are ok. and some cool monitormixing features. I think you'd be happy with it. then you'll need some mics. if you aren't going to do drums then i wouldn't worry about getting the pro 40 and just get something like the pro 24 or so. (if you need 8 inputs also look at the oynx blackbird?)

whatever you get though you don't want to have to buy something now and then upgrade later. get the best stuff you can. pre's you'll always want more and mic's you'll always want more. get a good condenser and maybe two 57's cause then you can use the 57's how ever you'd like in a stereo pair and the condenser will be used for acoustic or vocals or whatever you need. i've even heard awesome drum sounds from one cond. and 2 57's on a kit. but the room was nice and the guy knew what he was doing.

a lot of good sounds come from good tech. great rooms, great pres, and great converters, oh and great players. you have to take all this into account when recording. it's not as easy as just setting up a mic and going from there. read into it and make sure it's something you really want to do before you drop a shit ton of money.

you'll also need monitors to listen off of. i use some hifi one's but i know how they reproduce on other systems and commercially. so in a way i can get away with a little bit still would love some Adam A7x's :]
 
If you are going to be using PT 9, I highly recommend picking up a used 002 or 003 and some sort of 8 channel interface with adat. If you want low latency monitoring then you need their hardware still.This is important when doubling vocals or anything else. The slight delay can be irritating to you and to clients if you go that route.
 
Tape Op:
"Speaking of latency, although PT9 will account for I/O latency of Avid hardware as best as it can, if you’re using third-party hardware, you’re on your own in regards to converter delay. Therefore, overdubs and punch-ins won’t be time-aligned within sample-accuracy to previously-recorded tracks. But unless you’re Steely Dan, you probably won’t notice a difference. Thankfully, Pro Tools does let you type in a value (ms) for hardware insert delay. If you’re using an analog effect as an insert, it’s not too difficult to measure the roundtrip latency of the insert path and type in that measured value. It would be even easier if Pro Tools did all that for you in an automated manner like Nuendo does. I’ve been told that such a capability is being developed for a future release, and more generally, that Avid is continuing to concentrate efforts on support for third-party hardware."

I wouldn't loose sleep over it, and I definitely wouldn't buy a 002/003 over it.
 
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