New setup

  • Thread starter Thread starter greg_courageous
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greg_courageous

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Hey guys, as you can tell im a bit of a newb...
to cut a long story short i manage a fairly big band in the local australian scene. We are looking at doing demos through my laptop.
I thought i woudl come on here for some advice.
I have a decent intel centrino laptop with a gig of ram, so no problems there, What i am confused about is how to get the sound into the computer. I would be interested in using a pro tools or cool edit pro setup, both these titles i can obtain. What hardware would i use? something that plugs into USB2.0 or firewire? The band is basically a 5 peice rock band with a drummer, 2 guitars, bass, piano, and 2 vocals. I'm happy to spend around $1000 on any hardware to get the sound into the computer...

Thanks all for your time

Regards,
Greg
 
The Layla is good, but it does not have any pre amps in it. And you will need them unless you are using a preamp mixer for routing.
Look into either the 828 MOTU mk2, or the Pro Tools 002Rack, or Aardvark Q10.
I am also in the process of doing the same research, and these products so far are at the top of my list.
Good luck
www.daleshome.com
 
If you live in the US, the killer budget combo is the RME HDSP (around $500) + a Behringer ADA-8000 (around $200) + a good $300 microphone. This combo is so ridiculously cheap to expand that it's a really good place to start, and in my experience, the RME is the best soundcard ever, bar none.
 
I should have specified, RME HDSP 9652. This gives you 26 digital inputs, and 26 digital outputs. The Behringer ADA-8000's give you 8 preamps, 8 A/D converters, and 8 D/A converters (8 analog inputs and outputs). Total cost under $700 if you shop around on ebay -- under $750 with free shipping from most online retailers. And unlike most other computer solutions, this thing works.
 
The new RME cards are nice in price these days. I'm not sure I agree with the ADA8000, though. I own one and I know I don't want to be using only that to record a band. :) The Presonus Digimax LT ain't a bad a piece, but that's 800 dollars there. An Octopre with an ADAT card is about double the price, if I remember properly. The Octane, which I'm planning on getting, hasn't been released yet, but should come on the street at about 500...
 
Sklathill said:
The new RME cards are nice in price these days. I'm not sure I agree with the ADA8000, though. I own one and I know I don't want to be using only that to record a band. :) The Presonus Digimax LT ain't a bad a piece, but that's 800 dollars there. An Octopre with an ADAT card is about double the price, if I remember properly. The Octane, which I'm planning on getting, hasn't been released yet, but should come on the street at about 500...
Click to expand...

I really like the ADA8000, but I don't disagree there are better pieces of hardware out there ... without a doubt. The ada8000 is great bang for the buck though, and very few people who have experience with a handful of digital cards will disagree with the RME -- I refuse to buy any other brand now. I feel really strongly about RME's quality, drivers, and support.
 
Greg-

If it's a fairly big band then I have to assume there's at least one studio they have used for prevoius recordings. Most the bands I work with here in the US have a studio that serves as home base. You should find out the format they use and work with them on what would serve you best as for demos and then getting it to production. I do the same stuff all the time.

A couple notes to keep in mind.
The Aardvark unit was mentioned, but I *think it's only pci, so you wouldnt use it with a laptop. I may be wrong.
You want a unit that supports zero latency monitoring, like the MOTU units. When using a dedicated ADA unit, you usually will have to put up with software latency.
The MOTU 828 was mentioned, it is great but has only 2 preamps. The MOTU 896 is the MOTU all in one box, with 8 preamps built in.

Tallman, you keep mentioning the behringer ada unit. Are you using it? If so I'd like to hear your results. Thanks.

Hope it helps,
H2H
 
I've done some testing on the Behringer box at a friends studio over the course of a half hour or so. Admittedly, I didn't have anything else there to compare it to, but the raw sound wasn't bad. I will post a clip... as soon as I find it.

I have just ordered 2 ADA-8000's to compliment a RME HDSP-9652 (the other hardware piece I keep mentioning). When they arrive, I will record some sample tracks with some 57's so people can take a listen and form their own conclusions.

This stuff is really subjective, and I think many people are forming their opinions on rumor/speculation and what some other guy thought.

My last album was recorded at Radiostar Records by one of the worlds top producers (thanks a million Sylvia!!) on 2" tape, pro-tools, and Neve consoles, and mastered by probably the #1 mastering engineer in the world ( who BTW has his own sandwich named after him at his local new york deli ). I wouldn't presume to be able to duplicate their work (nope.. not even close) at home, but nobody cries "that doesn't sound good" when comparing our new demos ( on Behringer pre's ) to our full release album.

I suppose you could say, the quality of the pre-amps and converters are only overshadowed by the quality of the producer.

... and the mastering engineer.

... and the instruments.

... and the musicians.

Haha.. did I leave anything out?

No? Good! Now go buy my record. The label just phone me to explain what "recoupable" means, and I don't like it one bit.
 
Oh brother.. once again.. I've deleted the file. I think my guitarist left a copy on CD here somewhere.. time to dig through the piles :)
 
Give me a link to your last album, I'd like to hear it. I'm always interested in peoples music I talk with here.

H2H
 
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