Need help with my home studio

[silver22]

Hi everyone!

I'm looking for some particular suggestions for my little home studio. I'm basically looking to upgrade/add to what I have already, which is the following:

Focusrite Scarlett 2i2
Oktava MkII condenser mic
Mackie Mr5 Monitors

I use Logic 9 with a Macbook pro.

I also inherited a Tascam TSR 8 tape machine that works great, so any suggestions on how to integrate that into my studio would be appreciated.

Basically, I'm not looking for any suggestions on room treatments or things like that, as my living situation is not permanent. I'm looking for suggestions on what interface to get - I'll be recording drums, so I'll need something with at least 4 mic inputs - and I've been looking into compressors & pre-amps, so I'm wondering if they are necessary.

I record with guitars, synths, bass and drums. My budget is $3500. Any suggestions are appreciated! I realize that the quality of the recording, in the end, is very dependent on how much I know. I am kind of a newbie, but I'm really willing to learn and need to be pointed in the right direction with equipment that I can continue to learn with and make good enough recordings to mix in a friend's studio.

 

[NigelVonLlama]

I have a MacBook based setup w/ a MOTU 8pre as my interface. It also has ADAT in/out so I have a total of 16 inputs, and 12 outs. Great for integrating an analog mixer and tracking drums.

There's a bunch of options out there for 8 chan interfaces under $1000, and if you don't go too cheap, you may not need to worry about too much outboard pre-amps, although outboard gear/ real knobs are way more fun!

You should do something with your tape machine. Tape can really fatten up drum tracks. Record them to tape first, then bounce to your Mac. I buss-mix to tape. ie: track everything on the computer, then send buss mixes to tape to mix analog. Gives me an excuse to keep the tape around! Tape tracks end up like this:
1 - kick drum
2 - drums left
3 - drums right
4 - bass
5 - guitars left
6 - guitars right
7 - vocals left
8 - vocals right

 

[silver22]

Thanks so much - this is really helpful. I actually have a Mackie 1604 mixer, so I would be able to hook this up and use it while I'm tracking (in conjunction with the Motu or something similar) to make things a bit easier? What would that signal chain look like?

As far as the tape machine goes, I think I'll have to do a lot of trial and error with what to use it for... If I decide to record drums with it, how would I bounce it to my mac with the best quality? And I guess as far as bouncing digital to analog, that would be a whole separate, confusing bridge that I will come to!

 

[NigelVonLlama]

You could use your Mackie if you needed to. The trouble with combining while tracking is that it is very difficult to adjust after. When I only had my first 8 channels, I would use 7 tracks for drums, and one reference track. Now, with more channels, I just mic up drums more. If you started with 8, you could do something like this for your first pass...

1- kick
2- snare
3- hi tom
4- floor tom
5- overhead/ hat
6- overhead/ ride
7- bass
8- guitar

I try to run the least amount/ shortest signal path possible. microphones straight into the interface. When I was looking, the only options that had 8 mic pres were the MOTU 8 pre and the Presonus firestudio. I liked the layout of the Motu better, but I have a friend who has a Presonus setup, and it works well for him.

I find that once you have a good drum sound, it's easier to build on the strong foundation. I don't have expensive microphones, but I've been happy with the sounds I've been getting.

 

[NigelVonLlama]

Or, now that I've chewed on this some more, you could use your mixer and tape machine to track drums, then bounce them through your existing interface.