USB Microphone or Interface?

[ElDudeArino]

Hi everyone, new newbie here. I have recently completed building my studio in my home and I'm ready to begin buying recording equipment. 2 guitar amps, a bass amp and a drumset are in the composition room. Each will have their own mic . My question is should I go with microphones with direct usb connection to my 2008 mac pro? If not can a good interface be suggested? Being a total newb to equipment I'm not sure if I would need a mic overhanging the amp with the mic plugged into the interface? Or if the amp can plug directly into the interface? Ya that's how lost I am haha. Any help with be greatly appreciated.

 

[TetraFish]

I'm not a mac guy but I do know a bunch of USB mics isn't the answer. As far as your amps go do they even have an output? If so the choice is yours, a lot of people will tell you that micing the amp is a better choice so you get the tone from the amp but it can cause you a lot of headaches (finding the right mic placement, bleed from other ambient sounds etc..). Keep in mind unless you are running electronic drums you'll need at least 4 mics just for drums. So I would say you need at least an 8 input recording interface.

 

[TetraFish]

As far as interfaces go M-Audio and Presonus are pretty common. Do you have a budget?

 

[Jim Lad]

You need an interface.
It does much more than just connect your microphones to the computer.
In effect, it becomes your soundcard.
Changes your signal from analog to digital, then transfers that signal to your DAW.
In this way, you avoid having all of that work done within your motherboard and by so doing, avoid all sorts of problems such as latency, bumps and glitches and also improve the quality immensely.
You really should read Tweakheadz Guide for a fuller understanding.
http://www.tweakheadz.com/guide.htm
Some of it will be revision but a worthwhile read, just the same.
Enjoy.

 

[ElDudeArino]

So much great info so quickly thanks One guitar amplifier has an "external speaker" port on the back. Looks the same as an output but I don't know. It's next to the two footswitch ports. The rest have outputs. The drumset is accoustic and I'm having to wait on the funding for it's mics. My budget is around $500 for the interface. I was looking at the tascam us-1641 studio package since it would come with extras for that much. http://pro-audio.musiciansfriend.com/product/TASCAM-US1641-Studio-Package?sku=485738 Any comments on that? I need a good set of speaker monitors too so I'm thinking the package deal is ok. Jim Lad thanks for the website, it's really helping!

 

[ElDudeArino]

Nevermindmind on the tascam, I missed that it wasn't an 8 port like I need.

 

[Jim Lad]

There is a Tascam 8 channel that would still leave some $200 over for monitors.
And regardless of what you may hear, that's enough to get you started but you will want to upgrade them in a year or so.
I'll look for a link.

 

[bstarstudios]

So much great info so quickly thanks One guitar amplifier has an "external speaker" port on the back. Looks the same as an output but I don't know. It's next to the two footswitch ports. The rest have outputs. The drumset is accoustic and I'm having to wait on the funding for it's mics. My budget is around $500 for the interface. I was looking at the tascam us-1641 studio package since it would come with extras for that much. http://pro-audio.musiciansfriend.com/product/TASCAM-US1641-Studio-Package?sku=485738 Any comments on that? I need a good set of speaker monitors too so I'm thinking the package deal is ok. Jim Lad thanks for the website, it's really helping!

that tascam does have 8 mic (xlr) inputs which is a good start, everything in the pack is fairly cheap, it works and is not a bad start. i own the firepod package (like 600$) and it works awesome as well.

 

[dgatwood]

To answer your question, you cannot realistically use multiple USB mics at the same time, so that's just plain out of the question for multichannel work. Not to mention that they're pretty universally crap intended mainly for podcasts, usually with no monitoring capability to speak of, but even if they weren't, it's still a nonstarter for what you're doing.

I've generally found MOTU gear to be top notch on the Mac side of the house. You might look into the 8Pre. It sounds like it would meet your needs reasonably well.

Regarding the Tascam, I generally wouldn't recommend trusting USB with that many audio channels. Maybe the newer stuff works better, but USB always used to be a real headache.

 

[Jim Lad]

That package is an excellent starter kit.
Much better than I started out with and reasonably priced.
I'd go for it if I was starting from scratch.
http://pro-audio.musiciansfriend.com/product/TASCAM-US1641-Studio-Package?sku=485738

 

[ElDudeArino]

The more I look at the tascam package the more I agree. It will make a good starter package. Thanks for the help and expect to see more of my posts here as the learning process continues.