My New Gear

[maestrotee]

Okay, I have just started to put together my own little home studio and I would appreciate some helpful suggestions from all the recording veterans out there. I have a Fostex MR-8 and just bought a 1GB CF card for it, just today ordered the nifty little Behringer UB802 and a pair of Nady CSM-5's for monitoring. I also ordered the Nady XA-300 power amp and that's about it for now. Now, how should I hook it up when it comes ... I will need the power amp in the chain somewhere for monitoring, right?

Next question, what would anyone suggest be my next priority? And here's the candidates that I am considering ...
Behringer MDX1600
Behringer Ultramizer Pro DSP1424P
BBE 362 Sonic Mazimizer
What would be the better investment, the maximizer or the comp/lim/gate? And what exactly is the DSP1424 ... would it do a little of both maybe?

Anyway, any help would be greatly appreciated. I am totally jazzed about recording. Already did a little bit and played around with it in Cakewalk Home Studio after dropping it on my computer ... LOTS of fun! BTW, I'm a newbie to this board but am totally excited about finding it ... just googled 'home studio message board'. I'm sooo glad I live in the information age!

 

[MichaelM]

If your a newbie, I would suggest you practice recording, read a lot more, and not worry about buying those processors until you know 1. what they do (DSP1424) and 2. if you really need it. Save the cash and invest in a nice microphone or preamp or something. Do you have any mics? In my opinion this will be much more useful to you.

BTW the signal chain for monitoring should be:
Stereo out of fostex -> line in of XA-300. Speaker out of XA-300 -> Nady monitors

 

[maestrotee]

Yeah, don't get me wrong. I've got two good Shure's and an ART tube preamp (that i've been in love with for the past 7 years). I've got more gear and have been playing guitar since '87 ... just gave away my Tascam Porta-02 and recorded hours of music on it over past 10 yrs (got lotsa tapes). So I guess I don't consider myself 'brand' new to recording. More knowledgeable about guitar set-ups than PA or recording techy stuff but I definately want to get the best sound out of what I have. Does that make a little more sense?

 

[MichaelM]

Ha yeah ok. I read it and figured you knew nothing
If it were me I would get a compressor, others may suggest something else.

 

[maestrotee]

Kool! That's what I was kinda figuring. BTW, isn't a maximizer a glorified EQ? That's what I have heard. Thanks for your response.

 

[andycerrone]

The BBE is an amazing addition to a guitar setup, it's somewhat of an EQ, it boosts the low end mostly, and some of the mids. It makes a perfect fit if you're playing using just your bridge pickup and want the leads to be really thick. But anyways, as for bringing that in for recording, I'm sure it would be helpful, but I'd stay away from something that specific in it's use until you really know what you're doing and know what you need. Like they said before, get a little experience and some good mics first.

 

[maestrotee]

Alright, it sounds like a priority and I better make sure I've got it right. Let's talk about mics. I have one Shure BG 2.0 and one Shure 55SH Series II (mainly because anyone looks like a rock star when it's on stage ). I also use the ART 1 channel tube preamp. Am I in the right ballpark here or am I in another sport entirely? BTW, I hope this isn't sounding stupid, I'm just trying to be as open-ended as possible to get the most feedback from the experience. I have been reading about recording for years and even own several books on the topic (funny enough, when I started buying them, they all talk about the importance of the best cassette recorder that you can buy, which I guess wasn't that long ago really ... ).

As far as application, I will be recording myself and a friend of mine ... so just two instruments at a time and maybe a vox track with alot of vox layered in the post-production. I am playing a Fender fat-strat and play through a BOSS RP-5 for most of the fx and then to a little Crate VC508. I know I'll have to play around with mic placement to get the best sound but overall it's not bad, really ... great little tube amp. Also play around with my Moog Opus-3 and was thinking that a limiter would be helpful for that since the voltage-controlled filter can get crazy (and wonderful if u know what I mean). I'm also in the process of circuit-bending some children's toys . Well, whatever happens, I know that our sound will be different but I'd also like it to be controlled to avoid the digital distortion and random peaks (blehhh).

Thanks for your feedback so far. I am soaking it all in!!!

 

[maestrotee]

Here's another question while I'm sitting here thinking about it ... when I use the preamp, I won't want to use the phantom power on the UB 802, correct? And with the mics that I have, should I use the phantom power on the ART or the +20dB gain or the phase reverse ... and what the hell is a phase reverse? Is it incorrect to say that phantom power just a boost in the gain? Okay, that will do for now ...

 

[ermghoti]

Here's another question while I'm sitting here thinking about it ... when I use the preamp, I won't want to use the phantom power on the UB 802, correct?

You will probably be using a line in on the Beri, so the phantom setting won't come into play at all.

And with the mics that I have, should I use the phantom power on the ART or the +20dB gain or the phase reverse ... and what the hell is a phase reverse?

The BG is a condensor, and requires phantom power to make sound. Turn the phantom on, on whatever device that mic is plugged into. The 55 is dynamic, and does not use phantom power at all. Always plug your mics in with phantom power OFF, and turn it OFF again before you unplug it. A few mics can be damaged by any phantom power, but I don't think the 55 is one of 'em. Phase reverse switches the polarity of the signal, it is used to reduce cancellation when using more than one mic. Otherwise, leave it alone, or you may introduce cancellation effects. You would use the gain boost if you wern't getting a strong enough signal to record well.

Is it incorrect to say that phantom power just a boost in the gain? Okay, that will do for now ...

Totally incorrect (no offense intended). As mentioned above, it runs the mic, it has absolutely nothing to do with gain staging. Browse the forum a bit, there is a guy who repeatedly posts a Recording 101 type book, which would be an excellent move, before you start throwing around money inadvisably.

 

[maestrotee]

This is great stuff ... thanks soooo much for the words of wisdom!!

 

[maestrotee]

Browse the forum a bit, there is a guy who repeatedly posts a Recording 101 type book, which would be an excellent move, before you start throwing around money inadvisably.

Where is that guy ... . I would love this type of info.

 

[gecko zzed]

Some thoughts:

1 hooking up stuff: take the main outs of your desk into your fostex. Take the output of your fostex and send it to 2-trk in on the desk. route this to the control room out. Send the control room out to the power amp, then power amp to the speakers. This is a configuration that works ok, leaves channels free, and gives you control of what's going into the fostex and what's in there already.

2 buying stuff: you seem to have enough to get going. That's good. Next priority should be for a reverb unit, then a compressor. Don't worry about the ultramizer nor the BBE yet. They have limited use (and in fact, in some would say, no use). Think about a headphone amp instead.

3 mike stuff: phantom power is used to supply power to condensor mikes. They won't work without it (unless thay have their own power source).

 

[maestrotee]

Some thoughts:

1 hooking up stuff: take the main outs of your desk into your fostex. Take the output of your fostex and send it to 2-trk in on the desk. route this to the control room out.

What are you referring to as the 'desk'? And thanks folks ... keep the good stuff comin. And if anyone knows where the recording 101 posts are, please let me know!

 

[tourettes5139]

What are you referring to as the 'desk'? And thanks folks ... keep the good stuff comin. And if anyone knows where the recording 101 posts are, please let me know!

desk = mixer