A solid setup

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Bass40

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Hey Im trying to do " revisions " to my setup now, as the quality as not that great and its making it harder for me to mix my songs. Its also turning my great songs into bad ones hence the quality is bad. My setup now is

M-Audio Firewire Audiophile
Eurorack SL3242fx-pro
RODE NT1000 Condensor Microphone
Rokit5 Monitors

-- I think my bad quality may be coming through the Mixer which is the EuroRack, Audiophile, and maybe the microphone. The quality isnt just bad but in the vocals I can hear a little distortion maybe, If a peformer is recording and gets a little loud the performer words will distort and etc. So I was saving up to get better equipment. The thing is I dont want to end up getting almost the same type of equipment and get just a little or no improvement in quality at all.
Keep in mind this is for a home studio, but I am recording Albums,Mixtapes,Demos and etc. Music gerne is HipHop and R&B. I was wondering should I go the " mixer and soundcard route again " or " preamp , mixer route " or anything else Im just puzzled and ready to be final on my setup. Im open to all ideas and suggestions thanks.
 
i always hear that, in terms of quality Presonus or Edirol beat the crap out of Maudio on these firewire things..im going for a presonus firebox myself..

you could stop using the mixer altogether and just do it in the box no?
just a thought...between using a bad mixer and no mixer at all, i dont see much options in there than just let it go for a while till u can afford a better one..but thats me...ive had online friends (experienced enginners) not using mixers anymore saying its cause they dont start getting really good until they reach 10000 bucks and mixers actually worsen the sound altogether if they're not really good...but that obviously, has to be taken with a grain of salt...anyway, no mixer - thats how ill be doing my stuff...but i dont really need more than 3 mics running at the same time..

lots of alternatives to rodes if you're looking for a not so harsh mic...
MXL V67 is much talked around here and im also going for one (either that or a C1)...
 
oohhh..

so u have money to get into a neumann..lol
ok..thats a different story altogether..i apologize for my more than budget oriented sugestions..

i guess that, if u have money for a neumann, u'll have money for a decent interface as well...not that the firebox and firepod arent decent, ill have the firebox sometime in the future but...i dunno maybe u should point to RME, Apogee, Lynx? thats when the stuff starts giving u pro results...the other ppl have to be twitching freaks to get good stuff from gear (i know i am).

i dunno if i can do this but what the heck..talk to Shane or War at this place and they'll hook you up with some decent interface (wether u wanna go the pci way, or firewire way...usb is not recomended for serious use):

http://www.frontendaudio.com/

this is the ONE place i trust to buy my stuff. they always sound like they're running everything from their kitchen, coolest most helpful guys ive ever asked stuff too.

if you really wanna go high class, check universal audio's pci cards and their interface...goes up to almost 2000 bucks but i would bet its worth every cent.

stay away from emu, its very midi oriented (unless u work with lots of samples, dunno).

everyone here swears by the R(eally)N(nice)C(compressor) by FMR audio...ppl say its the one compressor (goes for 140 bucks) that can rival with the big boys. but i wouldnt know, i never compressed the shit out of anything and rarely equalize whatever lol

i dunno anything about mics, safe for the fact that ADK will pretty much kill anything that is not 600 bucks or more than that.
u might wanna check the "lower/not so known" brands tube mics, they're usually very worth it and wont break the bank like a neuman will. and with the decent pres on whatever interface you're gonna get, you're probabling maxing the potential of a mic like that, but u wont take the best out of a neuman (right? can anyone back me up on this..i think im not saying anything outrageous here)..

i cant swear by the firepod (never used anything presonus, just maudio, fostex, peavey and roland) but im gonna get the firebox for myself so, i have faith in the company that makes serious things that look like toys.. :D

anyway, firepod is supposed to be a great bang for the buck.
 
Cool thanks for all the helpful information. I will be sure to visit the site you posted above. I'm just saving up alot to make sure I get the right equipment because music is something Im serious about, if it were anything else I wouldnt dare spend as much lol. Any other microphones that can compete with the Neumann microphone, I know there are but I just hear great things about Neumann microphones.

I just checked out RME , LYNX, and APOGEE. They all seem a little bit pricey but looks like they give promising results, But then again I was going to pay 1K for a digi002r lol. Any models of those brands you may possibly recommend. Im going to browse sites for more of them. Im hoping to get a final say on what I want to get, its starting to give headaches lol.
 
hey,

im sure whatever u get from RME is very friggin decent...im also sure that the guys at that store (frontendaudio) will make u very nice discount if u buy more than one thing or even if u buy just this, but really buy from them, its tottaly worth it. send them an email and explain your needs, they'll be more than happy to help, no seller talk, just ppl whom also have a studio.

recomendations...its best if u let us know how many inputs u need, how many mics will u record at the same time, etc..on this particular unit, there seems to be 4 xlrs, but then more analog ins, so u can add external pres without a problem...thats more than enough i guess for whatever big band setup u may or may not be doing. dont forget though, if you're going for a top notch firewire interface, you probably have to have a pretty Decent computer..very decent actually. check out the official website for whatver you're getting and check the minimum requirements.

the neuman...well neumans are kind of inflated now cause of the euro growing stronger than the dollar and neumann is also seinheiser now...i wont be the one telling u to DO this, but if i were you, idd pass on the neumann and look at something like: very high end mics from these brands (ADK, Studio Projects, Audio Technica - these are very cool/good)...ADK was all over Ray Charles last album and is used in orchestral environments all the time. they are really proud of their product and i was about to get 3 or 4 mics from them, till i realized at this point i cant justify to invest in very good mics without having backed up all of my guitars, amps, etc for the road blah blah..
anyway, these brands produce some very fine upper level mics, that wont break your bank, especially tube mics...on this basis check out the Studio Projects T3..its so raved about its almost annoying lol

again, if u use a mic from those brands with this kind of interface (either with its pres or an external one) you're probably going close to max the potential of the mic and it can serve you very well in the use u take from it. top studio in my country for indie labels has nothing but audio technica..but i live in portugal..then again its a good studio.

if you're going into an upper level, wich i wouldnt really do before i felt the need for it (i would think idd be perfectly fine with those brands up there), check out Royer, Coles is supposed to be extremely good and not really that expensive (more or less the same that those up there, but i would guess on a different level), Earthworks - killer mics, especially on the small condenser field, Geffel, Josephsons are a lot of bang for the buck...

but i wouldnt go blowing my budget on super high end (with a big name attached to it) mic if using these interfaces....the interfaces are top notch, but i would stay humble on the mic department and upgrade only when i felt the need..there's only so much brutally high end gear can give you..in my opinion, you have to proove/make your way to it..thats how i think of it anyway. i want to feel the need for things, not have everything right there.

but thats me :D
 
Hey thanks for replying, If I was to go with this AT mic
http://www.audio-technica.com/cms/wired_mics/194ac5d60380d624/index.html, Which price is US$895.00 might be cheaper elsewhere but will It be a big difference between the Rode microphone I have the NT100? I think I may be going with an RME Interface becasue you make it sound so good lol and Im tired of cheap preamps , interfaces, I just gotta have good quality now.

Do you recommend using the RME preamps? or going with external ones? Also this is more hiphop recording then it is R&B so I will most likely be recording a track at a time. As far as a computer I was planning to upgrade a computer that I have to make it more compatible for recording.

Thanks greatly appreciated
 
hey,

the audio technica 4050 is about 600 bucks

http://www.frontendaudio.com/Audio Technica AT4050.htm

bass40, u should really drop these guys an email and listen to what they have to say...explain the stuff you been explaining here and let them give u some advice...they carry most of the greatest brands for the aproach you're going to take and they can advice a lot better than i can.

RME makes great products, but dont take my word for it..if u only need one input, you probably wont need so many ins, just explain that to them and then decide whats best for you. if you only need one pre for one mic, u can probably get a smaller unit with just analog ins and a dedicated pre...that way you're getting the best of both worlds...1 or 2 channels of some brutal pre or another will make u happy. just shop around for what u need, dont buy something u dont need and then fall short on some other stuff.

if you're upgrading your computer try Lynx pci's or something...top converters.

but again, drop these guys an email. they'll set u up.
 
I put together an asus-p4 pc with the m-audio audiophile and(relatively stable) realised it was nowhere near portable. Went with a clevo d43ef and a gig of ram and a presonus firebox and its absolutely unstoppable. :)
 
Unless something in your signal chain is faulty (broken), the problem is not in your gear but in technique. Yeah, you could spend $$$ for better gear, but that will not fix the problems you describe.
 
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