I'm updating my set-up but I need a little help

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Hi guys & gals, I've been recording bands for a while on an AW16G but I'm looking to build myself a better set-up with the proceeds.

I'm looking to spend about £2,000 - £3,000 on a computer based recording set-up. I'm thinking probably a 16-track desk, a fast PC and a decent soundcard. I'll worry about outboard gear at a later date.

I would ideally like to be able to direct record quite a few tracks at once since alot of bands want "live" recordings nowerdays and I personally don't think 8 tracks is enough.

A few questions:

1. What would you recommend for the mixer/soundcard set-up for the budget?

2. If I get something along the lines of the Layla24 card how would I take advantage of the SPDIF and ADAT channels so I could run more that 8 tracks to and from the desk? Bare in mind that I'm a dumb newbie. :)
 
protein said:
2. If I get something along the lines of the Layla24 card how would I take advantage of the SPDIF and ADAT channels so I could run more that 8 tracks to and from the desk? Bare in mind that I'm a dumb newbie. :)
Click to expand...

You would need to use an external Analog to Digital Convertor with an ADAT output.
 
Any advice on mixers etc? I've spotted a nice 24 track studio desk with 4 stereo groups, 4-band parametric EQs etc - Spirit Studio.

Also, is this the best idea given the budet? Is there any other sort of computer recording method that gives me more direct tracks for the budget?

Thanking you one thousand times in advance.
 
It's pretty hard to get that many channels of input and preamps within that budget. Your better off getting 8 high quality channels and adding on later then getting a bunch of crap.

The MOTU and Soundcraft stuff is usually pretty good. For a home studio they are pretty high quality. The cheapest way to get 24 CH of I/O is to go with an HDR recorder. The Alesis HD24 is probably one of the cheapest. I'm not sure how you do it on the Alesis but usually it's not that hard to transfer the files into a computer for editing and/or mixing. I use a Radar Project 24 and it's nice having a rock solid recorder with a lot of inputs when tracking.
 
I guess I like the idea of being able to edit music on a PC since I've worked that way with dance music for years and it's the way I've worked in pro studios. I'm trying to get a set-up that is a halfway house between pro and home studio since I record local bands pretty much every week. I want to eventually sort myself out a decent premesis and go pro.

I think I'm going to start off with an 8 i/o soundcard and a fast computer but I'm getting a 24 track desk. That way I can upgrade and get another soundcard and stack them to get 16 tracks of simultanious record and 20 tracks of playback.

I can compromise for a while by submixing some stuff on the computer onto a stereo track and then mixing the rest with the desk. I was also thinking that if I get something to convert digital to analogue I can get ten tracks of playback through the desk. Which isn't all that bad.

I reckon I can get this set-up for under £2,000 - excluding external processors. Do you reckon I could use plug-in dynamics & effects on the PC in the meantime? I'm not sure what kind of computer would be able to handle that. Something super fast I suspect.
 
Get a computer around 2GHZ or better and you should be okay. RAM and HD speed are important for large tracks counts. The UAD Powercore card is popular for doing effect processing.
 
This site is awesome. You guys have really helped. I'm leaning towards this kind of set up - a 24 track Spirit Studio mixer, a super fast PC and a M-Audio Delta 1010LT.

What do you pros think?

Would I be able to run a small number of dynamics on the audio until I get myself some more outboard gear?

Also, I would like to utilise the SPDIF, would a second hand sampler or something do?
 
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