Equipment recomendations

C

ConcreteHippo

New member
i had trouble deciding where to put this post.

I have a fostex mr-8 digital 8 track, and sm57, some cheap mics and a behringer eurorack 12 chanel mixer w/ 4 xlrs and one left and right out and cubase se.

With these i have been able to reach alright quality, not quite demo quality yet.

I was also looking to get a laptop.

My quetion is to get better quality recordings what gear should I get?

Besides mics, if i get a laptop i will need an interface, which will make my 8 track obsolete. Right?

Would i need preamps? If so what type.

Will i need a better computer program?

I don't know too much about recording so anything will help.
 
ConcreteHippo said:
i had trouble deciding where to put this post. I have a fostex mr-8 digital 8 track, and sm57, some cheap mics and a behringer eurorack 12 chanel mixer w/ 4 xlrs and one left and right out and cubase se.
With these i have been able to reach alright quality, not quite demo quality yet. I was also looking to get a laptop.My quetion is to get better quality recordings what gear should I get? Besides mics, if i get a laptop i will need an interface, which will make my 8 track obsolete. Right? Would i need preamps? If so what type. Will i need a better computer program?I don't know too much about recording so anything will help.
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CH!
Spend an evening cruising through all the different sections of this forum and read like crazy. You will learn a ton if you take the time. Also use the search function. I'd also suggest spending some time cruising through the Sweetwater Music website and READ as much as you can in the Recording Equipment section. You can learn a lot there as well. That will give you a good start. :)
Welcome to the craziness :rolleyes:
 
Along with reading info, you need to give us a budget to work with as well! Check out the Newbie section as well, as there have been lots of posts like this...

Jacob
 
ConcreteHippo said:
ha no
that was just for stuff like interfaces or whatever else.
a pc or laptop im willing to go to 1000 at the max
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If you sell your 8-track will that add to your cash flow?
AND what type of recording do you plan on doing, at least initially? ;)
 
i could get proably 200 for my 8 track, so yea.

right now i would be recording local bands, preferably all at once, not instrumetn by instruemtn
 
ConcreteHippo said:
i could get proably 200 for my 8 track, so yea.

right now i would be recording local bands, preferably all at once, not instrumetn by instruemtn
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get a CAD 7 peice drum mic kit [$200] use your mics you have now for vocals, keep the sm57 for recording the amp and maybe get another so you cna have the other one on the other amp. [$100] and the program is fine, that doesnt matter, althoguh idk much about laptop recordings, you could just get a laptop soundcard interface [m-audio] for liek $100-$150 and be fine.

get about 12 mic cables all together and a couple 1/4" to female xlr adapters and your fine.

although may i say, recording all at once isnt a great sounding idea.


the total of all the thing si just said would come out to appx. $400-$450, and you would get the 7 peice kit, sm57, sound card, and a couple cables/adapters
 
Pres...

don't forget about a pre or two. The Presonus Bluetube might be a good choice. Kinda noisy, but almost everything is at that level. If you know anyone that's good with electronics stuff an API 312 replica is simple to build and not too pricey. It's a standard in alotof pro studios. Good Luck
 
your going to spend the most on a laptop. You could get a good one for like a grand now. Presonus, Motu both make firewire or usb interfaces, and some with mic pre's built in.

If your going to be running live sound and live recording at the same time I would go with getting an allen and heath mix wizard. Reason being it has isolated direct outs on each channel. The direct outs also can be jumpered for either post eq or post fader or even post aux. So you could run your live sound out the mains of the board using the faders and not effect your direct outs (being only controled by your mic pre's). With the allen and heath you would still need an 8 or 16 channel interface.

You could use your fostek and just play it back into your computer (isolated channels) and have the advantage of using plugin's in cubase and mixing automation as well. But using this method would be converting A/D twice. I don't know if this as any effects to your audio or not.
 
gcapel said:
your going to spend the most on a laptop. You could get a good one for like a grand now. Presonus, Motu both make firewire or usb interfaces, and some with mic pre's built in.

If your going to be running live sound and live recording at the same time I would go with getting an allen and heath mix wizard. Reason being it has isolated direct outs on each channel. The direct outs also can be jumpered for either post eq or post fader or even post aux. So you could run your live sound out the mains of the board using the faders and not effect your direct outs (being only controled by your mic pre's). With the allen and heath you would still need an 8 or 16 channel interface.

You could use your fostek and just play it back into your computer (isolated channels) and have the advantage of using plugin's in cubase and mixing automation as well. But using this method would be converting A/D twice. I don't know if this as any effects to your audio or not.
Click to expand...


i agree with the interface. thats your bets idea. kill 2 birds with one stone. i think you shoudl do that, and spend the 4-5 hundreds on the mic's/chords and the interface.
 
wow thanks for all the help.

yea i will deffinelty need to invest in a mixer that isolates all the different tracks becuase right now when i do drums im stuck at the levels i recorded at, and if i do more than drums at once it will be really hard to mix.

and i think i might get something for example like a firepod because it is an interface with pres.
 
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