Sound card upgrade -- will it make a difference?

  • Thread starter Thread starter rictitious
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rictitious

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Hello!

I'm new to this wonderful community, and new to home recording.

I'm a pianist and vocalist, and in the past year have taken to songwriting and arrangement. My equipment is very, errm, 'entry level', to use a polite term. I'm actually fairly satisfied with the results, despite havinig to spend hours and hours tweaking the tracks just to compensate for a cheap condenser mike and crappy monitors. ('Good training', I call it!)

I have a Tascam US 122 external sound card, the cheapest thing they sold (around $120). The pre-amp is weak, but the signal seams clean and clear. It has been suggested to me that I ought to consider upgrading the sound card.

Question: Would upgrading to a sound card in the $300-400 range make a noticeable difference in the sound quality? (What improvements could I anticipate?)

Thanks!
Rick

P.S. Piano is all digital.
 
rictitious said:
Hello!

I'm new to this wonderful community, and new to home recording.

I'm a pianist and vocalist, and in the past year have taken to songwriting and arrangement. My equipment is very, errm, 'entry level', to use a polite term. I'm actually fairly satisfied with the results, despite havinig to spend hours and hours tweaking the tracks just to compensate for a cheap condenser mike and crappy monitors. ('Good training', I call it!)

I have a Tascam US 122 external sound card, the cheapest thing they sold (around $120). The pre-amp is weak, but the signal seams clean and clear. It has been suggested to me that I ought to consider upgrading the sound card.

Question: Would upgrading to a sound card in the $300-400 range make a noticeable difference in the sound quality? (What improvements could I anticipate?)

Thanks!
Rick

P.S. Piano is all digital.
Click to expand...

Define "noticeable." What you need is what best suites your ear
 
The short quick answer is YES.. you will always hear an improvement with better equipment. You are a singer and pianist.. both of these instruments cover a vast part of the sound spectrum and you simply will not get that with cheap equipment. Having said that.. I think replacing the mike will give you better results than the sound card, although both would be a big plus. The reason is that I am sure the sound card already is recording in at least 16 or 24 bit, which is really getting to the top of where the human ear can really hear a difference. Most DAWS record in 32 bit floating point these days.. and I will buy anyone a new guitar pick if they can actually HEAR the difference between a well recorded 16 and 32 bit recording. That doesn't mean you wouldn't get a lot of improvement from a new card. With every edit come degradation of sound, so it is best to record in 32 bit.. edit it very little.. then do a mix down to 16 or 24 bit in the end. This will gives the "purest" results and you may not be able to get that from a cheaper sound card. There are many other reasons too.. but I first highly recommend getting a better mike for starts.. and a decent mike preamp.. you will be amazed at what you didn't realize was missing in the old one... My 2 cents.. but I have been recording for over 30 years..
 
Eddie_C said:
The short quick answer is YES.. you will always hear an improvement with better equipment. You are a singer and pianist.. both of these instruments cover a vast part of the sound spectrum and you simply will not get that with cheap equipment. Having said that.. I think replacing the mike will give you better results than the sound card, although both would be a big plus. The reason is that I am sure the sound card already is recording in at least 16 or 24 bit, which is really getting to the top of where the human ear can really hear a difference. Most DAWS record in 32 bit floating point these days.. and I will buy anyone a new guitar pick if they can actually HEAR the difference between a well recorded 16 and 32 bit recording. That doesn't mean you wouldn't get a lot of improvement from a new card. With every edit come degradation of sound, so it is best to record in 32 bit.. edit it very little.. then do a mix down to 16 or 24 bit in the end. This will gives the "purest" results and you may not be able to get that from a cheaper sound card. There are many other reasons too.. but I first highly recommend getting a better mike for starts.. and a decent mike preamp.. you will be amazed at what you didn't realize was missing in the old one... My 2 cents.. but I have been recording for over 30 years..
Click to expand...

I agree with this. The mic is everything. Ask about mics here on the forums everyone is a ton of help
 
Wow, thanks guys! Excellent advice... I now know what my next investment is: a proper mic.

I am aware of the skewed response curve of my cheap condenser mic. I found it annoying initially, but figured out how to stabilize it, even if it still sounds a bit hollow. Off to the mic forums...

thanks
Rick
 
I wouldn't say the mic is everything. You could have a U87, but if you're running it on a cheapo pr-amp, that'll be the limiting factor in your recordings. Your sound will only be as good as the weakest link in your chain.
 
I've used a $50 condenser and had pretty great results with my interface, which is around 500. But a good mic is definitely not everything.
What condenser mic are you using?
 
What are you using for a mic? Id say getting a better mic could help, but no real point in going crazy unless you also upgrade the pre-amp too. Having said that some cheap condenser mics can give good results.
 
saads said:
I wouldn't say the mic is everything. You could have a U87, but if you're running it on a cheapo pr-amp, that'll be the limiting factor in your recordings. Your sound will only be as good as the weakest link in your chain.
Click to expand...

Maybe thats an exageration but I seem to do fine with an 80 dollar mixer and a m-audio 2496 audiophile for getting great sound
 
atticproject said:
What are you using for a mic? Id say getting a better mic could help, but no real point in going crazy unless you also upgrade the pre-amp too. Having said that some cheap condenser mics can give good results.
Click to expand...

This is true and I wasn't really thinking about it cause I don't use a preamp right now. What preamp are you using because you may wish to upgrade that? But mics generally play the major role in any configuration I've seen
 
I'd say start at the source and work back from there in terms of what you should upgrade in what order since each will add their own flavor (or damage Yikes!) from there.

So assuming source -> Room -> Mic -> Audio interface (which includes Mic pre and converters)

So work on the material and performance first, then do everything you can to get the room sounding good through creative mic placement, use of damping etc.
Once everything ahead of the mic is in as good shape as you can get it worry about if the mic is up to scratch (poor performance/bad arrangement in a terrible sounding space will not be improved by a "Better" Mic), once you have the mic(s) at the level you want then you can start to worry about Interface (Or even stand alone Pres and converters)

Just one opinion
YMMV
 
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