Home/Portable recording setup - Upgrade Path - $2000-3000

[JamesPierce]

So I'm trying to figure out where to next with my setup.

I guess first some background:

I'm recording a variety of groups, something typical would be my own 6-7 piece jazz/latin group. Some folks I know writing origonals with a variety of lineups - Piano, Bass, Guitar, Kit, Percussion and Horns are all common features. Then there is always a mix of other bit's and pieces. Theater Shows, Pipe Organs etc... I just enjoy recording good music.

I don't have really have a home studio setup, though I have a house with a very nice live room (polished boards, high cathedral celling, not too live, not too dead. Good 'control room' at the other end of the house. The house is very quiet as well.

Most of my recording is done on location, in churches, beach houses - whatever nice spaces I can get access to that have a good feel and nice natural acoustics. I find recording in studios a bit oppressive to be honest, it is all so clinical and detached - plus I find unless player are very used to it they never play as well track by track stuck in a booth. This is particularly true of groups that normally play very 'live' shows etc.

Currently I have some Ok gear, and some crap gear. I want to have a simple, clean setup that have give me good results without fuss.

Collection currently includes

Behringer 2442UB Mixer - I bought it before I know any better. Live it is ok, but the phones circuit has a horrible noise now.

Behringer Composer Pro - 2600XL Compressors x 2 - These are ok.

A 16/4 30m Snake - This is good for recording and bigger live jobs... Though it is a pain to haul around.

A Tascam 788 8 Track HDD unit + CD burner - This is a great unit, my only complaint is that I want to record more concurrent channels.

Interms of mics I've got

1 x Rode NT2
3 x Rode NT1-A
2 x AT 3031
2 x SM-57s

I have access to as many SM-58's and Beta-58s etc as I want.

Generally I feel pretty ok with the mics I have - always want more, but who doesn't Over all they normally do the job. I would probably add another pair of small condensers - Either more AT3031's or perhaps Rode NT5s - I'd like to be able to record drum overheads and room ambience at the same time.

I also obviously have a whole bunch of cables, short balanced snakes and adaptors etc.



So - this little post has gotten quite long.

Where to next.

I'm thinking of dumping the Beringher mixer - or atleast leaving it as my spare / loner mixer. I'd probably get one of the new Mackie Onyx mixers ... Either a 1620 or a 1640 - Personally I'd love to own the 1640 but it is huge, and probably overkill for me as well. I'd be better to spend the extra on another couple of good microphones.

Now do I go that way and get the firewire interface, or do I get a Onyx and a MOTU 828 or another mixer and an 828 etc ?

Oh I should mention I have a current spec PB with an 80GB 5400 drive, so recording 16 concurrent tracks wouldn't be a problem I think.

Interms of the 1620 vs 1640 it isn't really a money issue, but I don't want a massive mixer 90% of the time - I have a nice 10U sloped top rack box that takes 3U's underneath.... I'd possibly be better to get some external pre's to go with the 1620 for the times I need more channels of mics. The flip side is I don't want to be penny wise now and pound foolish...

Thoughts and questions ?

 

[JamesPierce]

Oh I should just add - A pair of Tannoy Reveal Active's is on the list as well.... I currently use my Tannoy M2's and while they are good, they are not quite neutral enough and I don't want to lug my hifi amp around - 2 x NAD 1800 watt RMS mono blocks - at 20kg each it is a right pain ...

 

[manning1]

james. i dont recommend 5400 rpm hard drives for recording. 7200 rpm are preferable. if your open minded to suggestions on a new portable laptop solution,that will give you more processing power and tracks. post back...
and i'll make suggestions. at the very least i would enquire with apple or a third party vendor as to whether you can upgrade that 5400 rpm drive to a 7200 rpm one. on the mixer/mic pre front i would suggest you demo a bunch.
the yamaha mg mixer is an inexpensive alternative to demo. but the onyx sure looks good. i have not had a chance to try one. rane ms1b mic preamps are well respected as are dmp3. a bit more money try the preamp from fmraudio.com that a lot of folks rave about. on the mic front i'm a big fan of beyer and cad mics. as are many other people. all personal preference.
a church site i was on yesterday one of the sound guys was raving about how the cad gxl mic for 50 bucks was great for recording choirs etc.
but you might prefer other mics. peace.

 

[Bulls Hit]

Another option is the Presonus Firepod, and you can do away with the mixer entirely. You can hook a couple of these together for 16 channels

 

[JamesPierce]

I would expect to acutally record to an external firewire drive most of the time.

But... the data rates on the 5400 RPM drives are fine, RPM speed isn't the issue but the sustained trasfer rate, the higher density of the 2.5" disks acutally gives them a good speed boost.

I need a mixer anyway for gigs, live work etc... Plus it gives alot of options using the aux sends for monitoring etc... Even with the Onyx if compression or EQ was required I could always run that channel into the main mix, or the 3/4 mix and push that back into channel 15/16 etc. if required.

I've considered some of the standalone firewire solutions - MOTU HD896 - The Firepod etc... I guess I'm hesitant to invest $1000 odd in something that has one fairly limited use, and that I'd have to buy two of to get 16 channels like the ONYX - either the 1620 or the 1640