Audio Interface Question

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evadbowl

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I have a small vocal group that has asked me to record them. Right now I have a mixer running into my pc sound card. Which means everything would have to be recorded one track at a time. If I purchased a external Audio Interface would I be able to record all voices separately all at once into Reaper so I could mix each voice seperately? Any input would be helpful, thanks!
 
evadbowl said:
If I purchased a external Audio Interface would I be able to record all voices separately all at once into Reaper so I could mix each voice seperately? Any input would be helpful, thanks!
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Yes, they usually come in 2 or 8 channels. The number of channels = the number of mics you can simutaniously record at the same time.
 
evadbowl said:
Could I run my mixer into this and be able to split my tracks? And just use the mixer for the xlr mic inputs?

http://pro-audio.musiciansfriend.com/product/MAudio-Delta-66-Digital-Recording-System?sku=701345
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Depends on the mixer. Which mixer did you say you have? You need either;
a) direct out from each channel (which most small mixers dont have)
--or--
b) channel inserts on each channel that you can grab a signal from
--or--
c) enough aux sends or sub groups to get a separate signal from each pre out of the mixer.
 
Jeff_D said:
Depends on the mixer. Which mixer did you say you have? You need either;
a) direct out from each channel (which most small mixers dont have)
--or--
b) channel inserts on each channel that you can grab a signal from
--or--
c) enough aux sends or sub groups to get a separate signal from each pre out of the mixer.
Click to expand...

I have the Behringer 1204
 
I only can read Block Diagrams, trying to understand all the mobo jombo drives me nuts, but your manual says (page 9) that with the subgoups you could record 4 tracks at once.
 
Forget the 1204, get an interface that has enough channels, and has mic pre's. That mixer won't be very useful to you for this application.
 
Simbo said:
I only can read Block Diagrams, trying to understand all the mobo jombo drives me nuts, but your manual says (page 9) that with the subgoups you could record 4 tracks at once.
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Thanks, yeah I see that now. I still am a little foggy how this would work. Can anyone help simplify this? Here is the Manual. Why would I need Y-cables. Why not just run 4 seperate cables from each output?

http://img3.musiciansfriend.com/dbase/pdf/man/m_631269.pdf
 
suprstar said:
Forget the 1204, get an interface that has enough channels, and has mic pre's. That mixer won't be very useful to you for this application.
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Can you suggest an Interface $200 or less? With 4 mic inputs? Not USB..prefer FW or one I can run into my soundcard.
 
evadbowl said:
Can you suggest an Interface $200 or less? With 4 mic inputs? Not USB..prefer FW or one I can run into my soundcard.
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your soundcard wants a analog input. It is an interface from analog to digital. I doubt you find anything you are looking with that budget.
 
You never said how many tracks? just more then 1

I think they where refering to recording 8 tracks with the Y cables, first pass tracks 1,3,5,7 second pass tracks 2,4,6,8. not sure what the mean by that

I think you would only need 4 TRS cable to do 4 tracks
 
evadbowl said:
Can you suggest an Interface $200 or less? With 4 mic inputs? Not USB..prefer FW or one I can run into my soundcard.
Click to expand...

http://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/Delta1010LT/
http://www.sweetwater.com/store/closeup/FireBox--img_backHR.jpg
http://www.sweetwater.com/store/closeup/Inspire1394--img_rear.jpg

There's a few, but they all have only 2 mic pre's. So 2 xlr mic inputs, and you can run your mixer into 2 of the line-ins for a total of 4 mics. (The inspire would require TS->RCA cable) On your mixer, pan one mic all the way left, the other all the way right, and use the main mix or control room outs to send it to the interface line-ins.
 
after much debate here is what im planning on doing. Im planning on purchasing the Presonus FireBox for my audio interface. Here is my setup.

Behringer 1204
Presonus FireBox
Reaper
Dell Optiplex 745 3.6GHz 60GB Hard Drive 3GB Ram

Think this setup is ok for a Newbie? Thanks!
 
evadbowl said:
after much debate here is what im planning on doing. Im planning on purchasing the Presonus FireBox for my audio interface. Here is my setup.

Behringer 1204
Presonus FireBox
Reaper
Dell Optiplex 745 3.6GHz 60GB Hard Drive 3GB Ram

Think this setup is ok for a Newbie? Thanks!
Click to expand...

Hello I think you still should give the community some information on how many and what kind of instruments would you like to record.

you have to realize the mixer and interface is not the only thing needed.

how many mics shall you need?

many questions arise.

Give us some information
 
vijsolo said:
Hello I think you still should give the community some information on how many and what kind of instruments would you like to record.

you have to realize the mixer and interface is not the only thing needed.

how many mics shall you need?

many questions arise.

Give us some information
Click to expand...

Lets see....I will be recording most everything one track at a time. Myself doing most of the playing and singing. Drums, keyboard, guitar, bass. I may bring in a small vocal group that wants my help. They will just be recording the 3 voices and a keyboard. Anyway this is what I have.....

Behringer Mixer 1204
3 dynamic mics
2 condenser mics
plenty of mic stands and cables
Midi Keyboard
Drums, Keyboard, guitar, bass
Reaper
Dell Optiplex 745 3.6GHz 60GB Hard Drive 3GB Ram
 
I would suggest selling the 1204 mixer and putting the money towards a good used interface like a MOTU or Presonus Firepod.
 
I would also suggest selling Behringer.

Now for the interface.

My choice would be a USB interface. FireWire may be unstable and may not work with your PC due to the not reliable FireWire interface of computer. Lot's of cases may be found over the net.

As you want to do multychannel recording I would check Tascam US2000
http://www.zzounds.com/a--2676837/a--2677539/item--TASUS2000

8 XLR Microphone inputs with Phantom power

6 Line inputs

2 instrument inputs

24bit/96kHz converters

4 outputs

This can prowide you with a good flexibility and you have a good reserve for some future projects.

Best regards!
 
Why do you even want to multi-track a vocal group? The most common thing to do is just have them gather around a single microphone. The soloist steps closer to be heard louder, etc.
 
USB more stable than Firewire...I wouldn't be so sure about that. I'm not saying that USB can't be stable, but Firewire is by far the preferred of the two.
 
vijsolo said:
I would also suggest selling Behringer.

Now for the interface.

My choice would be a USB interface. FireWire may be unstable and may not work with your PC due to the not reliable FireWire interface of computer. Lot's of cases may be found over the net.

As you want to do multychannel recording I would check Tascam US2000
http://www.zzounds.com/a--2676837/a--2677539/item--TASUS2000

8 XLR Microphone inputs with Phantom power

6 Line inputs

2 instrument inputs

24bit/96kHz converters

4 outputs

This can prowide you with a good flexibility and you have a good reserve for some future projects.

Best regards!
Click to expand...

I completely disagree with the firewire/USB stability comparison. There's stability issues with virtually any interface architecture....lots of USB 2.0 issues on the net as well.

Don't get me wrong, I just bought a 8x8 USB interface this morning....I would've gone FireWire if my laptop had an interface or a PCI card slot to support one. But it didn't. I like that the FireWire interface doesn't rely on the CPU to handle the signal bussing duties where as USB does. That's a CPU hit I'm not anxious to experience, but I've optimized my laptop to the extent that it shouldn't be an issue.

24/96 is nice, but not mandatory IMHO..and yeah, I've worked with that format enough to enjoy it, but it doesn't markedly trounce a solid 16/44.1 project. Plenty of threads on that already, so I know there's opnions everywhere on that issue.:D

BTW, I picked up the ZOOM R16....a 16x8 (16/44.1) or 16x2 (24/96) interface with 8 XLR + 1/4" combo inputs + a control surface for my DAW (Sonar 8.31). At $399, it seemed a bargain.:cool:
 
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