home band studio...what should i use?

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bkwy

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Hey guys,

I've been having a headache trying to pick the "correct" equipments for my studio which is currently under construction. Any suggestions and opinions would be greatly appreciated.

Anyhow, I will begin by explaining what I intend to do with the studio. The studio will consist of a control room and a band studio room where the drum set, guitar amps, etc will be located in. I will use an iMac in the control room running Pro Tools as the main daw for the recording. Anyway, I guess like a typical band studio, it should serve these purposes:

1. able to record a full rock band simultaneously (16 tracks)
2. allow all musicians to have their own headphone monitoring mix (6 aux mixes)
3. allow talk back function
4. able to record different set of tracks with different signal processors (eg. 8 drum tracks through one compressor channel while 3 vocal tracks goes through a 2nd compressor channel and a mic pre, etc.)
5. allow the band to monitor themselves through speakers in the band room for rehearsals (lets say 4 speakers)

These are the main purposes it should be able to serve. Moving on, I'm planning to keep the studio clean so I would like to have the recording part and rehearsal part all done in one system instead of having two systems serving each part individually. I'm planning to get a M-Audio 2626 with a Behringer Ada8000 converter. That will give me a total of 16 i/o. I will also add a bunch of other gear such as mic pre, compressors, eq, effects, and all that later on. So, I figured that a patchbay will come in handy for the studio too, even though I am not familiar with them. My problem is: do I have enough outputs to achieve what I want to do? My understanding is that all 16 outputs from the interface and a/d converter should be somehow connected to the patchbay, which is somehow connected somewhere else as well. So, where do i get the outputs for my monitors in the control room and the band room? If the M-audio 2626 interface and the Ada8000 is not sufficient for my studio, what should i use for my studio to achieve this? Or, is there an alternative set up to do this but also simple and cheap?

Any input would be great. Thanks
 
Is this for your own band? Or do you plan to record other peoples bands? If this is for your own band, I'd consider doing a one room studio. Aside from easier access and communication, you get the added benefit of better sound that comes with a larger space. As far as effects, the most economical way to do that would be "in the box" with plug-ins. ProTools / Digi is going to limit your options and drive up your price, but its not impossible. With specifying Mac / ProTools / track count, you probably only have one or two options...
 
Is this for your own band? Or do you plan to record other peoples bands? If this is for your own band, I'd consider doing a one room studio.
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Hey Jeff,

I will be recording other bands as well. The software plug ins effects are nice and convenient but it would be nice to have hardware processors too. At least, it would be good to have that option just in case of more future add-ons. The thing I like about M-audio 2626 is that, aside from its 8 i/o analog channels, it also has 2 adat i/os which gives me 16 i/os more. However, I was just wondering if the M-audio 2626 interface + the Ada8000 converter would allow me to achieve what I want in the studio or are other gear, such as a patchbay or mixer will be necessary to achieve this.
 
bkwy said:
Hey Jeff,

I will be recording other bands as well. The software plug ins effects are nice and convenient but it would be nice to have hardware processors too. At least, it would be good to have that option just in case of more future add-ons. The thing I like about M-audio 2626 is that, aside from its 8 i/o analog channels, it also has 2 adat i/os which gives me 16 i/os more. However, I was just wondering if the M-audio 2626 interface + the Ada8000 converter would allow me to achieve what I want in the studio or are other gear, such as a patchbay or mixer will be necessary to achieve this.
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That gear should do what you want. I prefer MAudio to the Digi stuff because I *think* you still have the option to use s/w other than ProTools (options are good right). PreSonus and a few others make 8 channel pres with Adat outs. I have a PreSonus D8 but I think that only does 48kHz from the ADAT output (I use the analog outs on it so it doesnt matter to me).

The effects will be a challenge. If you group the drums together to put the effect on, then signal you record will be the grouped tracks on 1 stereo track, unless you have enough channels of effect for each track you record (an expensive proposition)- you could bus everything to an effects processor, and record that in addition to recording each track separately, but you DEFINITELY want to capture each track separately. While mixing you could also send signal out of the computer to external effects and then back in- kinda a pita in my setup, but not unheard of. Most people want to capture the dry unprocessed signal while tracking so they can make adjustments when it comes time to mix. If you track with effects on, you're stuck with em- and that USUALLY a bad thing lol.
 
Digi can be used with other audio software. But if you're paying the Digi premium already, you might as well use Pro Tools. With M-Audio, you can use Pro Tools, but it's a limited version of Pro Tools (M-Powered) with a reduced track count (32).

Honestly, unless you're setting up a pro studio, I wouldn't bother with Pro Tools. There are plenty of other audio apps out there that are just as capable that don't restrict you permanently to Digi's hardware and don't become unsupported when the hardware gets to be a few years old. Just my $0.02.

IMHO, on the Mac, the best two choices are Logic and Digital Performer.
 
hey guys,

Thanks for all those valuable inputs. I think my issue has been resolved somehow because M-audio 2626 comes with a signal routing software that allows me to assign different output channels to whatever i want. In other words, I can assign a couple outputs for main monitors on the interface while a number of other sends or headphone mixes, etc. with the outputs of the AD DA converter.

I guess I just wanted to make sure I can actually do that. The signal routing can be quite confusing at times.

Honestly, unless you're setting up a pro studio, I wouldn't bother with Pro Tools. There are plenty of other audio apps out there that are just as capable that don't restrict you permanently to Digi's hardware and don't become unsupported when the hardware gets to be a few years old. Just my $0.02
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I am actually a LOGIC user but me and my partner decided that we'll go for pro tools as well because it seems like it does a better job with audio signals than logic. I don't want to start a whole topic about pro tools vs logic but it would just be nice to have both logic and pro tools to choose from on the computer. Because of this, we decided that the m-audio 2626 would be a nice choice for our set up.

PreSonus and a few others make 8 channel pres with Adat outs. I have a PreSonus D8 but I think that only does 48kHz from the ADAT output (I use the analog outs on it so it doesnt matter to me).
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I checked out some presonus items and they make decent mic pres too with an affordable price. I might consider some of their items later on. However, as a start, I just want a simple a/d converter so I can be more familiar with the routings of the audio signals, etc.

http://pro-audio.musiciansfriend.com...xer?sku=478507
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If I do not have to use pro tools. I would definitely buy this item. It solves all my problems.
 
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