Is there a significant different between Recording Interfaces and sound quality?

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LaurieAnnHaus

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Hi there!

I do some professional recordings at home for some big soundtrack stuff and I am thinking of making my home studio as high quality in sound as it can be, but at the same time won't break the bank. I have raised the topic of buying lower end product (something within the $150 price range) on my Facebook and a ton of people chimed in with many varying opinions, some experienced people said it really didn't matter that much and some other experienced people said it mattered a lot and that I could never get a decent interface for under $5-700. Now I am left confused. What are your thoughts? Any suggestions of recording interfaces? What have been your experiences?

Anyone here have an actual sound comparison between interfaces?
 
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There are a lot of other aspects of home recording that come into play before the quality of the interface starts to make a difference.

Things like:
The room you record in
The room you mix in
The monitors you listen through
The mics you use
The mic pre-amps
The instruments you record
The performers who play the instruments (including vocalists)
You personal knowledge and skill of recording and mixing

Quality of the interface is about the last thing on the list, but yeah, it can make a difference.

My experience?? I have the absolute best converter available (Lavry Black) and something in the low end budget range (Phonic) and I don't hear much difference in quality.
 
If the interface has preamps built in, and you use them, then yeah the quality can be vastly different between interfaces.
 
If you are doing some profesional recording at home already what are you using currently?
 
I am currently using an M-Audio Firewire Pro. I wanted to get a newer, better one for just vocal recording alone on my laptop downstairs but want to know what the difference is between them. I plan on also getting an additional, separate pre-amp, so is it possible to get a transparent interface that does not have pre-amps? It seems as if most of them advertise getting a pre-amp already within the model?
 
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Chili said:
There are a lot of other aspects of home recording that come into play before the quality of the interface starts to make a difference.

Things like:
The room you record in
The room you mix in
The monitors you listen through
The mics you use
The mic pre-amps
The instruments you record
The performers who play the instruments (including vocalists)
You personal knowledge and skill of recording and mixing

Quality of the interface is about the last thing on the list, but yeah, it can make a difference.

My experience?? I have the absolute best converter available (Lavry Black) and something in the low end budget range (Phonic) and I don't hear much difference in quality.
Click to expand...

Thank you! This is helpful.
 
If you are looking for an interface without pre-amps and then looking to add a pre-amp into the signal chain, you are looking at the risk of introducing more line noise into the signal, because you will then be adding at least two additional physical connections [between the pre-amp and the interface] along with additional cable to carry the signal.
 
LaurieAnnHaus said:
Anyone here have an actual sound comparison between interfaces?
Click to expand...

Yes. :D

You can easily test this for yourself with your M-Audio Firewire, which BTW is a perfectly fine sound card. Find a CD you think sounds absolutely stunning and clear, then re-record that as analog from the line output of your CD player into your M-Audio sound card. Do you hear a loss of quality or even any difference at all? Then there's your answer, and proof that the sound card you have now is perfectly fine. As chili pointed out, of all the things that can harm the quality of your recordings, a sound card is near the bottom of the list. Here's a test you're sure to find relevant and useful:

Converter Comparison

In this comparison you'll hear identical tracks recorded through a high-end Lavry converter, an older M-Audio sound card, and a $25 SoundBlaster sound card.

If you'd like to know why there are so many disparate opinions about this, even among those with professional experience, this article explains a lot:

Perception - the Final Frontier

--Ethan
 
YeshuasFan said:
If you are looking for an interface without pre-amps and then looking to add a pre-amp into the signal chain, you are looking at the risk of introducing more line noise into the signal, because you will then be adding at least two additional physical connections [between the pre-amp and the interface] along with additional cable to carry the signal.
Click to expand...
That's sort of an odd thing to say. IMHO the standard step up from the interface+pre sets are dedicated converters. Then they handily convert whatever you send them- your favorite pre's of choice. That's called having flexibility and options, not a step back.
 
mixsit said:
That's sort of an odd thing to say. IMHO the standard step up from the interface+pre sets are dedicated converters. Then they handily convert whatever you send them- your favorite pre's of choice. That's called having flexibility and options, not a step back.
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I didn't say it was a step back--what I said is that there is an inherent risk of line noise being introduced into the signal chain by adding an additional piece of equipment, with additional physical connections and additional cable--a fact which had not been mentioned by anyone else posting in this thread.
For someone of your age and rep and supposed expertise, you seem to have a problem with basic reading and comprehension by attributing to my comments something that was never even mentioned or implied.
 
YeshuasFan said:
I didn't say it was a step back--what I said is that there is an inherent risk of line noise being introduced into the signal chain by adding an additional piece of equipment, with additional physical connections and additional cable--a fact which had not been mentioned by anyone else posting in this thread.
For someone of your age and rep and supposed expertise, you seem to have a problem with basic reading and comprehension by attributing to my comments something that was never even mentioned or implied.
Click to expand...
What? Even if you keep within a given price range, a convert does x job. What is this notion of a line level convert (and it's cable?) as some point of issue?
Gads. Cool off.
 
Ethan Winer said:
Yes. :D

You can easily test this for yourself with your M-Audio Firewire, which BTW is a perfectly fine sound card. Find a CD you think sounds absolutely stunning and clear, then re-record that as analog from the line output of your CD player into your M-Audio sound card. Do you hear a loss of quality or even any difference at all? Then there's your answer, and proof that the sound card you have now is perfectly fine. As chili pointed out, of all the things that can harm the quality of your recordings, a sound card is near the bottom of the list. Here's a test you're sure to find relevant and useful:



--Ethan
Click to expand...


Thank you Ethan! A very well thought out and helpful answer.
 
I am a bit recording lingo naive :) Can someone please enlighten me as to what the following terms mean?

1. Null (or the act of Nulling)
2. Transients (used in the sentence as follows "no Transients to zero in on")

Additionally, is converter the same as a Pre-amp but just a different term?
 
YeshuasFan said:
I didn't say it was a step back--what I said is that there is an inherent risk of line noise being introduced into the signal chain by adding an additional piece of equipment, with additional physical connections and additional cable--a fact which had not been mentioned by anyone else posting in this thread.
Click to expand...

A separate pre amp may or may not be noisier than the one in an audio interface.

However, if a short cable and a couple of connectors add noticeable or measurable noise then you're doing something very, very wrong.

Do you have any idea how many kilometers of cable and how many separate connections you'd find in any large professional studio complex?
 
LaurieAnnHaus said:
I am a bit recording lingo naive :) Can someone please enlighten me as to what the following terms mean?
Click to expand...

Nulling is a technique used to measure or hear the different between two Wave files or live sources. You combine the sources at equal volume, but with the polarity of one reversed. If the result is silence, then the signals are identical. If some small residual remains, you can assess how audible it might be by its level and frequency content. My hour-long AES Audio Myths video is a lot to take in, but I promise you'll learn a lot. The section that explains nulling and why it's useful begins at 53:39 in.

A transient is simply a sudden increase in volume. Snare drums and wood blocks are transient type sounds, lush string pads are not. If you're using a "transient designer" device or plug-in, they look for short bursts of signal which then they either reinforce or reduce.

A digital converter (or sound card) converts an audio signal voltage to a series of numbers suitable to storing on a hard drive. A preamp is an amplifier that takes the typically very small voltage from a microphone, and increases it to line level suitable for sending to a converter or sound card's line level input. Some converters have preamps built in.

--Ethan
 
YeshuasFan said:
If you are looking for an interface without pre-amps and then looking to add a pre-amp into the signal chain, you are looking at the risk of introducing more line noise into the signal, because you will then be adding at least two additional physical connections [between the pre-amp and the interface] along with additional cable to carry the signal.
Click to expand...

That's why those little standalone DAWs sound so much better than those big studios with their separate mixing boards/interfaces/outboard racks.
 
mixsit said:
What? Even if you keep within a given price range, a convert does x job. What is this notion of a line level convert (and it's cable?) as some point of issue?
Gads. Cool off.
Click to expand...

It's real simple - if you transition from integrated pre-a/d - to separate pre and converter there is an additonal cable juncture and gain stage to match.

pre->a/d->computer
 
It would be hard to argue that there's any particular benefit at the budget level you're looking at. Go into the thousands and you could get a nice standalone pre/channel strip with converter, or add a separate converter, but as the others say, there are many other variables to manage first before you should be worrying about this.
 
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