Equipment advice/help

[BEfresh]

Me and my friends have been making music since last summer and I still consider ourselves very new at it with little knowledge. We make hip-hop/ rap music and we record inside a two car garage. Our current equipment set up consists of:

- Audio Technica AT2020 Side Address Cardioid Condenser Studio Microphone
- Behringer Xenyx 802 Premium 8-Input 2-Bus Mixer
- Behringer UCA202 Audio Interface

We each use FLstudios 10 Producer Edition. We do not have a pre amp.

We are looking to get ourselves a pre amp and upgrade the audio interface. our budget is around $100 for each piece of equipment. Any recommendations?
Any criticism or comments on our set up? What should we upgrade first? Do we need to upgrade? Thanks in advance for the help.

 

[Steenamaroo]

We do not have a pre amp.

Your Behringer mixer has preamps.
I'd recommend an all-in-one solution for a few reasons.

You're likely to save money buying one unit instead of two or three parts.
A mixer isn't really necessary for recording; It's just extra functionality that isn't needed and more (potentially degrading) signal path.
An all-in-one is designed specifically for recording.

The big thing to work out is how many simultaneous input channels you need.

Beyond that, just have a shop on ebay/amazon/wherever for usb or firewire audio interface.
Tascam, presonus, motu, rme, echo.....loads of people make them.
System compatibility is important too, so don't forget to check what drivers are available.

Hope that's useful.

 

[RAMI]

A mixer isn't really necessary for recording; It's just extra functionality that isn't needed and more (potentially degrading) signal path.

Right. And in this case, it's sort of ironic that it's called a "mixer", because the one thing it won't allow you to do is "mix". If it only has a stereo out, you'll only have a stereo track (or 2 mono tracks) to "mix" once it's in your computer.

 

[ecc83]

"- Audio Technica AT2020 Side Address Cardioid Condenser Studio Microphone
- Behringer XENYX 802 Premium 8-Input 2-Bus Mixer
- Behringer UCA202 Audio Interface"

I take it you already have these? If so the mic and the mixer are very useful. Not so much the UCA202.
As has been said you need a good Audio Interface. If you can't afford a multitrack jobbie at the moment look for something with 2 mic and 2 line inputs*. Two that spring to mind are a Focusrite unit (4i4?) and the Native Instruments Komplete audio6.

Thus equipped you could plug the mixer into the line input (3&4) and run mics or instruments into inputs 1&2 giving you 4 discrete tracks in the computer.

RAMI: That Berry IS a mixer in every particular! You can mix 8 mic and (can't be a'ed to find the manual!) probably 4 more line sources to fekking MONO if you wanted to or pan them across a stereo stage. You get 3 band EQ and FX send per mic, VERY decent mic pres....What more of a "mixer" do you want for about 100bucks FCS!

* Be VERY wary of input # claims for AIs! Check in here before you buy anything.

Dave.

 

[RAMI]

RAMI: That Berry IS a mixer in every particular! You can mix 8 mic and (can't be a'ed to find the manual!) probably 4 more line sources to fekking MONO if you wanted to or pan them across a stereo stage. You get 3 band EQ and FX send per mic, VERY decent mic pres....What more of a "mixer" do you want for about 100bucks FCS!

Yes, it's a 2-buss mixer, I'm aware of what they do. But you totally missed my point.

 

[ecc83]

Yes, it's a 2-buss mixer, I'm aware of what they do. But you totally missed my point.

I am sure I did but making such obscure, off the cuff statements in the NOOB section does nothing to further enlightenment!

Dave.

 

[RAMI]

I am sure I did but making such obscure, off the cuff statements in the NOOB section does nothing to further enlightenment!

Dave.

It wasn't obscure or off the cuff. It was valid. Like I said, you missed my point, so how would you know how obscure and off the cuff it is? I wasn't talking about his particular mixer. I was talking about any 2-buss mixer. If you can't send individual tracks to your computer to mix (in his case, he uses FL), the mixer is limiting you, as opposed to letting you actually mix. Of course, if he's only recording one track at a time, nothing wrong with using a mixer, I guess. But he might as well bypass the mixer and go straight into his interface.

 

[Steenamaroo]

LOL. Welcome to the forums, BEfresh.

 

[RAMI]

LOL. Welcome to the forums, BEfresh.

But I like Dave. We were just talkin', that's all.....

 

[ecc83]

It wasn't obscure or off the cuff. It was valid. Like I said, you missed my point, so how would you know how obscure and off the cuff it is? I wasn't talking about his particular mixer. I was talking about any 2-buss mixer. If you can't send individual tracks to your computer to mix (in his case, he uses FL), the mixer is limiting you, as opposed to letting you actually mix. Of course, if he's only recording one track at a time, nothing wrong with using a mixer, I guess. But he might as well bypass the mixer and go straight into his interface.

He can't go straight into his "interface" because it does not have any mic pre amps or indeed input level controls. As I said, the UCA 202 is the least useful of the items listed.

Had the op NOT already got the mixer I would not suggest he get one but he does and so he might as well make best use of it.

In fact even if you have a very well specified, multitrack AI a small mixer is still a very useful bit of kit to have around. Can be pressed into service as a monitor mixer, headphone amp or talkback system, or of course can be used as handy way to organize several odd sources, dubbing in tape, minidisc, whatever.

Dave.

 

[RAMI]

He can't go straight into his "interface" because it does not have any mic pre amps or indeed input level controls. As I said, the UCA 202 is the least useful of the items listed.

Had the op NOT already got the mixer I would not suggest he get one but he does and so he might as well make best use of it.

In fact even if you have a very well specified, multitrack AI a small mixer is still a very useful bit of kit to have around. Can be pressed into service as a monitor mixer, headphone amp or talkback system, or of course can be used as handy way to organize several odd sources, dubbing in tape, minidisc, whatever.

Dave.

Fair enough, man. My mistake. I didn't realize the interface didn't have a mic pre-amp. In fact, I didn't even know an interface that you can't plug a mic into even existed.

In this case, like Dave said, since you already have a mixer, it seems to be the way to go.

 

[ecc83]

Fair enough, man. My mistake. I didn't realize the interface didn't have a mic pre-amp. In fact, I didn't even know an interface that you can't plug a mic into even existed.

In this case, like Dave said, since you already have a mixer, it seems to be the way to go.

Yep, 's all cool man! The UCA 202 is just an A/D-D/A converter operating at consumer line level and just 16bit, 44.1/48kHz. It is a useful device, way better than onboard sound cards, for such things as duping tape and vinyl where its limitations are masked by the inherent grottiness of the source! Can't really complain for 20quid.

Cheers!
Dave.