Firewire based digital mixing/recording?

  • Thread starter Thread starter Duggan
  • Start date Start date
D

Duggan

New member
Hi there,

Im pretty new to home recording but after playing in a band for a couple of years and been fascinated im hooked.

I got a pretty decent dell computer and now im looking to start building my studio. I have a variety of guitars an amps. I also have a great drum kit and a number of keys, synths and digital pianos so I think im pretty set up in terms of the instruments to start the studio!

So next im looking at a firewire mizing desk sort of thing to get sound into the computer and obviously some software. Im looking at pro tools LE and one of their control surfaces as these seem to now be industry standard.

I presume something like 10 I/O's minimum should get me off the ground in terms of recording a drum kit and full band essentially? Im pretty sure I want one of these firewire devices and not just a box but then again im not 100% sure which would be better for me! The only trouble is im not sure i have a firewire port on my computer but im sure this could be rectified for not too much outlay?

Im then thinking of getting some basic kit mics, maybe AKG and then a bluebottle baby mic for the vocal applications and maybe some more shure mics just to get things going if im gonna mic amps up and things. Im hoping to use a lot of DI and modelling into the firewire based control surface/mixer

So if anyone has any thoughts on either what im planning on doing, or what mixer/control surface would be good for me, id love to hear from you.

Thanks

Duggan in the UK
 
do you have some nice mics for recording? the drums would probably require 5 or 6. The digi002 is a pretty cool product if you are starting from scrach as it comes with a control surface, I/O and pro tools. i'm not familiar with pro tools so i can't really comment on it but many here do use it and like it. If you want something other than pro tools check out the tascam fw1884, that thing is awsome as well. similar to the digi002 but you can use it with a lot of different programs. One final combo to check out would be a mackie onyx mixer and firewire card. this is cool because the mixer can be used as a standalone mixer as well. the preamps are apparently pretty sweet as well.
 
nap nothing :p but good experience using other peoples systems! the bluebottle looks nice as.

then hopefully a rode NT200 , ive heard rode's are super smooth and warm.
 
Hey guys. I'm also trying to set up a recording environment in my band's rehearsal space. The problem (apart from cash) is my freakin' drumkit which needs 10 mics (minimum) in order to record it. We've been using 7 mics on the kit which run into a Yamaha AW16g - a good recording but not enough inputs.

We have a Mac with the required spec to run Cubase etc and I was thinking of buying a couple of Presonus Firepods which would give 16 balanced pre amp inputs - enough to get a good recording of the drums.

Can anyone give me any advice before I spend my money? Is this the right road to go down or is there a better alternative? My budget is about £1000 ($1800)...

...and No, I don't want to use a smaller drumkit!!
 
I think im gonna go for the digi 002 control surface. Seems to do everything i want. the only problem is i dont have a firewire port on my computer! Its a brand new dell. are they expensive and would i be able to fit one my self? Is there a sort of converter box you can get to convert say a USB to firewire?

thanks :-)
 
hey dug
firewire PCI cards are pretty cheap, nothing to worry about. I don't think there is a USB/firewire converter although i could be wrong. i don't think you'd want to use one though as it woudl ultimatley be downgrading to USB standards.

as far as the two presonus firepods go... that is a route but an expensie one too. if you can afford it, i'm sure you would get nice results. another way to go with high quality would be an RME ADAT unit and a couple of 8 channel ADAT preamp units. maybe an octane (m-audio) for the quality demanding inputs and a behringer for the less quality damanding inputs.
 
wait, you siad you had some preamps already right (with the mixer). well you could get something like the layla 3G www.echoaudio.com and get a single adat unit to add 8 more preamps to your existing setup. i think i would do that.
 
Hey...

The Yamaha AW16g can record 8 tracks simultaneously, 7 of which are used by drum mics, leaving one for guide gtr or bass. The problem with the AW16g is that there's no way of connecting it to the PC/Mac for mixing etc. (The PC/Mac environment is much easier than the AW16g). So I'm looking for a better way to record/mix with more inputs.

I looked at the Hercules 16/12FW initially since it has 10 inputs on the back plus 2 balanced pre-amp input on the front. But if I have 10+ mics for the drums, don't I need all the inputs to have pre-amps?

Cheers...
 
i see
I was suggesting that you use your mixer for the 8 preamps, not for mixing purposes... say you have 7 mics on the drums, you could use the 7 pre's on the mixer to boost your signal, then take that raw signal and route into the analog inputs on the echo layla. Then for the other instruments in your band, you could use an ADAT 8-channel preamp into the ADAT lightpipe of the layla, giving you a total of 15+ inputs going at once.

If your mixer does not have direct outs (which it may not) you can use the inserts for each channel to send the signal to the soundcard, plugging the cable in half way.
 
Read This Before Buying The 002!!!!!

Duggan, be very careful before going with ProTools LE. It does NOT like hyperthreading, which most new dells do. Some of them you can turn it off in the BIOS, but most you can't. If you can't disable Hyperthreading you'll get everything from pops and clicks to crashes and other odd errors. PLEASE, do yourself a favor and check your computer against EVERY compability requirement on this page.

http://www.digidesign.com/compato/xp/002/

If you don't know a spec, call and ask Dell.

Protools is rock solid, but only if you meet all the requirements. Otherwise it can be a real bitch.
Feel free to post here too if you have a protools related question.
http://www.protoolsforum.com/board/
We get a ton of people here that post problems because they didn't meet protools' requirements.
 
thankyou!

thankyou very much for pointing this out, would i be better then with another system, could you reccomend one? I was looking at the tascam FW1884, i can always add more channel strips to that then id just get maybe cubase?Im starting to think this may be the more powerful option?

thanks in advance, duggan
 
the FW1884 has more inputs than the 002 anyway doesn't it? i don't see why one would choose the 002 over it.
 
Cylkk said:
the FW1884 has more inputs than the 002 anyway doesn't it? i don't see why one would choose the 002 over it.
Click to expand...

I was just thinking of getting pro tools but i suppose i could just get another DAW? ive heard great things from cubase like but as pro tools is the industry standard i figured that might be a good bet. Althgouh im drawn to the tascam i just hopei wont have any problems with this hyperthreading stuff.
 
No prob Duggan, glad I could help.
I don't know as much about the FW1884, but before buying any interface or software, it really pays to do you're research before buying. PC's are so diverse that you really have to work hard to make sure everything plays nice together. I love protools, just make sure you can make it work before dropping the cash. If you CAN disable hyperthreading and meet the other requirements, it's a sweet system. Digidesign (Protools manufacturer) and Dell are both pretty good to deal with if you're not sure about something.

I think the FW1884 has 18 inputs, same as the 002.
8 analog, 8 ADAT, 2 SPDIF, it does have 8 pre's instead of the 4 on the 002.
 
One thing to keep in mind is that you dont necessarily need tons of mics for drums - try starting with two overheads or room mics, and adjust them until you find the right spot for them where everything sounds its best, and you have the right balance between kit elements.

Then add other mics if you find you need to augment the sound of individual things (the kick is pretty much the first thing to get it's own spot mic, as you're not going to get a conventional kick sound very well from up above the drum)

It may not have the same sound as close micing each drum, but in a lot of ways it's better, and recording with fewer mics is something that should be practiced and mastered, as more mics is more complicated with more risk for problems with phase coherence.

Also, more mics brings up the cost really high - remember, no many cheap mics you have, it's not going to sound great - three or four GOOD mics will blow a job with 10 crappy mics out of the water any day.
 
if you need a good firewire card that just flat out works and is relatively inexpensive, look at siig.com. they totally rock.
 
I bought a FW1884 2 weeks ago and have not had time to even take it out of the box. It looks cool though.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top