rack project for newbies FAQ

Wynarc

New member
i would like to know if there is one, because ime a bit fascinated about building a rack unit for my home studio, and i think it could be usefull with a step by step guide to how its done. for all us nooobs:)

At the moment i have a small setup which works very well. and it sounds good IMO.

Rode nt1a -joemeek 3q - u-phoria umc22 - tracktion.

the 3q has an instrument and an insert so thats handy for guitar and external effects. and theres a preamp in the 3q and the u.phoria.

So the question is, if i want to try building a rack with effects for guitar, bass and vocals, what do i need and how does it all go together to work properly AND sound good?

to get started ille tell you my ideas and what ive thought of so far and maybe i can get a bit of help along the way.

ive experimented with some cheap mutieffects( modulizer/virtualizer) but wasnt really impressed with the sound. ide like a reverb/delay and thought to try a lexicon or an alesis for nice reverb on vocals and guitar.

and possibly some nice guitar/bass effects(modulation) or i was thinking about a v-amp pro which has amp simulation and effects.

i have a composer pro(behringer compressor/gate/ other stuff) which works really well and an ultravoice pro( preamp/comp/gate)

so i want to have a good sound for my mic and also a good guitar/bass effects unit. i also have a splitter/mixer so i can have the vocals, effects and guitar and bass together.

and then the main output goes to my u-phoria JUHUUUUU........:eek: or i can send the output seperately to the mic input or the line input of my interface

will that work?:confused:


why? because its great to solve a difficult problem. and theres loads of tweaking possibilities. but mostly to try and get some good recordings from what ive got.

hope to hear from all the experts.


Wyn
 
Well no replies but a few that have read the post. ille be coming with an update soon but heres a picture of the system.

IMG_20190517_121714044.jpg
 
after a lot of googleing and buying a bit too much extra gear i finally made my studio rack for guitar,bass and vocals. first impressions are very good and there is a lot of tweaking possibilities.
 
so i want to have a good sound for my mic and also a good guitar/bass effects unit. i also have a splitter/mixer so i can have the vocals, effects and guitar and bass together.

and then the main output goes to my u-phoria JUHUUUUU........ or i can send the output seperately to the mic input or the line input of my interface

will that work?
The only way to know if it will work for you and your style of music and your personnel taste if for you to actually try it and see if the sound you get fits the songss you want to record and if it fits your personnel taste.

For me, when i record guitar, i keep it very simple.
EXAMPLE of my recording chain for guitar:
Guitar plugged into amp ---> Mic to audio interfaces pre-amp. Then after its recorded, ill determine what kind of FX i need for the song.
This way everything is non-destructive and i get a very good quality guitar sound.

NOTE: ill dial in the sound i want in the guitar amp so its as close to the sound i want for the song. Sometimes ill record a dry guitar with the mic'ed guitar
 
i dropped the splitter /mixer idea. mainly because i couldnt see what i should use it for:facepalm: i have that possibility as you have explained.

The whole project idea was to see if i could get a similar result, or better that what i started with, and that seems to be the case. i do have a lot more possibilities with the rack. also its meant to be a guide for newbies who would like to expand to a rack system.
anyway, thanks for the input.:)
 
so here goes. there is a picture of the back so you can see where everything goes.

1. Mic goes into the ultra-voice. theres all sorts of possibilities here, but mostly its used as a preamp for my AT2035.
2. the output then goes into the composer proXL.(channnel 1) again lots of tweaks but its mostly a compressor. theres 2 channels which are connected together.
3. first effect unit. the output from the composer goes into the microverb.
4 the output goes into the M350 input.
5.M350 output to the channel 2 input of the composer( the yellow patch cable)
6. finally the channel 2 output to my u-phoria

Thats the basic setup for mic. this lets me use reverb and other effects with vocals or just preamp and compression for a nice voice tone.
the microverb sounds really good with vocals and its easy to adjust. the same goes for the M350, very easy to use.

IMG_20190518_200046300.jpg
 
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.....and then there is the POD....ive just started scratching the surface but a basic setup is the line in from the front and a livesetup output from the back. i can go directly to my amp or into the u-phoria instrument channel. theres so many possibilities with the POD, so ille probably make an update after ive read the manual about 50 times, and tested different inputs and outputs.(in about 6 months time....)

So all in all a great home studio rack system. and quite reasonably priced.

i will update the setup as i learn more and will probably do a step by step picture guide if the present explanation doesnt make sense.
then i will probably try to explain( or just tell you how ive adjusted) the functions on the preamp and compressor, as i dont know 100% what they do just yet, cos ime still a newbie!:rolleyes:
 
last but not least, the whole things powered by a furman power conditioner. It keeps things nice and tidy at the back. the only thing ive got powered by itself is the microverb. it uses a special power supply AC.
If you need an extra power supply then get yourself a behringer PSU-7 its meant for the ultragain mic100 and mic200 preamp but works for the alesis microverb.
 
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