Monitor speakers / Headphones

[ecc83]

"Yes I have a Scarlett solo gen 3, it was £75 new. I can't think of any situation where I'd want more than 2 in. I record on my own so can only play one thing at a time"
Well fair enough then but many people like to put two mics on an acoustic guitar. You are also forever denied stereo recording!
You already have the interface so that's that. I include the comment though for others who are yet to splash the cash!

Dave.

 

[GuitarGrater]

"Yes I have a Scarlett solo gen 3, it was £75 new. I can't think of any situation where I'd want more than 2 in. I record on my own so can only play one thing at a time"
Well fair enough then but many people like to put two mics on an acoustic guitar. You are also forever denied stereo recording!
You already have the interface so that's that. I include the comment though for others who are yet to splash the cash!

Dave.

Yes fair point Dave, for serious recording I agree the more inputs the better. But starting out I think the scarlett solo is a fair price, especially the 2nd and 3rd gen. If I get to the stage where I want a 8i8o or something then I can always upgrade, they do hold their value very well when selling on eBay. I couldn't find a used one selling for less than 80% of the new price.

 

[ecc83]

Yes fair point Dave, for serious recording I agree the more inputs the better. But starting out I think the scarlett solo is a fair price, especially the 2nd and 3rd gen. If I get to the stage where I want a 8i8o or something then I can always upgrade, they do hold their value very well when selling on eBay. I couldn't find a used one selling for less than 80% of the new price.

Oooo! That's a big jump from the Solo to a multi-input rack jobbie!

My advice to newbs is to eschew the very cheapest one mic AIs and go at least to the 2i2. If a bit more dosh can be fronted I favour 2 mics plus two more line ins (and MIDI DINs but that is just me!) Such an AI can do most things for the lone recordist but the addition of a small mixer gives two more mic ins, even a submix from a drum kit!

Son and I each use a MOTU M4 and it works extremely well, very stable, very low latency drivers. And the Behringer UMC series are really not bad at all.

Dave.

 

[Papanate]

They are Soundcore (Anker) noise cancelling headphones. I use them wired. They are great headphones for listening to music but even on flat eq they are quite bass heavy.

But the main thing is, like someone else below said, they are a pain. I'm always playing the guitar, leaning forward to tweak stuff, putting the guitar down, and both the headphone cable and guitar cable get in the way. So I think speakers will be easier and more practical.

Well that’s true - Noise Canceling headphones are terrible for mixing.

 

[TalismanRich]

I'll second Dave's distaste for those one input interfaces. The vast majority of my time is one person, but I went with an 8 mic input interface (Tascam 16x08). It wasn't all that much more money, and I can set up for two mics on an acoustic, plus a vocal mic. When I want to compare mics, I can put 4 up at one time and compare them all, and pick out what I like the best. When a friend came over, I could set up 5 mics and go.

For me, the minimum would be 4 inputs. Yeah, most stuff can be done with one or two, but why put the restriction on myself for what amounts to a couple of trips to McDonalds for lunch?

As for monitors, I would have loved to have heard the Tannoys, but they weren't available around here. I got a used pair of JBL308s which I've been happy with. I then grabbed a pair of JBL 305s on sale to use on the computer upstairs to replace the crummy "computer speakers" that I had for years. $200 for the pair and they sound very good. That's not much more than a pair of Beyer DT770s.