Rack Gear

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Harlequin Man

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Hey,

I am setting up my studio... and looking to get some rack gear..

I will be recording Drums, bass, Guitars, Vocals, and Brass(ska!!)

What kind if rack gear should I get.. I am 15 so i am on a limited budget..

I am running a Behringer Mixer SL3242FX-Pro into a Boss BR-864 but am getting into a BR1600CD

Let Me Know if you have any suggestions..
 
We need to know a bit more about your budget before we can advice something. The boss is an 8-track recorded, which means you'll probably have a difficult time recording everything you might want (a fairly normal drum microphone setup is already 8 or more mics). I would stick with what you have untill you find out what you need but don't have yet.
 
Ah, sorry...

I run through a Behringer Sl3242FX-Pro.. So i have 24 mono channels to run through....

Will record one at a time, to each track...

I would like to spend about $500 on rack gear... so what would be the best things to get..
 
Well first of all the behringer has 24 channels...but when you record them to the Boss...you'll have to mix them PRE the Boss. Meaning...if you have 8 channels of drums (all mono) and you record them to say track 1 on the Boss, you're going to have NO CONTROL over the drums (except for an overall mix) when the time comes to Mix. But you can get away with 4 tracks of drums (2 overheads, snare and kick)...and unless you're going to be recording COMPLETELY Live (meaning like NO stops during the song everything is in one take) you're gonna need at LEAST 8 tracks because say you record the VERSE of the drums... Then Chorus etc.

What I usually do is if I have say 8 channels for drums... I have 16 tracks for space. This allows me to record like this: intro on tracks 1-8 then verse on 9-16 then chorus on 1-8 then chorus 9-16. Understand? So you would go back and forth. Anyways, with 8 tracks you could brobably get away with 4 tracks of drums...like if you want to do the recording LIVE then it'd be 2 overheads and snare and kick. But if you want to chop it up a little.. you can have just ONE SNARE and ONE KICK. Although this wont give a stero feel to your drums. Now that takes up 4 tracks at the least! So you only have 4 more to play around with.... not a good thing seeing how I do everythign the same style like verse on track 9/10 then chorus on 11/12 for guitar and bass and vocals and other stuff.

My suggestion to you is buy the BR1600CD NOW... dont bother with the rack gear because the BR1600CD comes with effects. And because you have USB on the 1600, you can throw everything on to say, Cubase. THEN you take your MIDI and sync the 1600 AND your PC then run a digital OUT (or RCA if you want to buy a cheaper sound card) and run that back INTO your 1600 and it's always "live" so you dont record it as a TRACK its just a channel of all the stuff on your PC. Then the mix from your PC you have total control over it...AND control over all the tracks on the 1600. I can explain this in more depth if you do end up going this route lol...But.. this is one GREAT advantage with units like this. I have a VS2480 and its the bomb when it comes to this. Anyways man, that's my reccomendation to you. Cubase also has effects on it. Worry about buying outboard gear later on :) Hope I helped you out!
 
hmmm.... how about a few pre-amps, a couple of compressors, a headphone amp, some power amps, maybe a couple of 31 band eq's, a reverb unit, 2 more reverb units, maybe a CD player, or a rackmount VHS recorder.....I don't know, how about a rackmount beer dispenser.....oh yeah you're 15....forget that one! :p

Seriously, dude. You need to figure out what you want to accomplish first, and then you will know for yourself what kind of gear you want. You don't buy rack gear just to have rack gear, you buy it to accomplish a specific goal or to expand your possibilities. Learn as much as you can about what you want to accomplish with this new gear and then you will be able to buy something as well as research your purchases with confidence.
 
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