Recording Equipment

[Confusitron]

My brother has plans to buy some recording equipment sometime in the future. I need some suggestions for equipment.

I am unsure what kind of recording systems I should go for. Should I go for an ADAT or a DAW? For studio recording situations, I will not need more than 16 channels for recording. However, in a live situation, I may need to have the ability to record 24 channels. Would an ADAT be most appropriate?

I had started a previous thread (https://homerecording.com/bbs/showthread.php?t=120335) requesting suggestions on a mixer. I also need to purchase a mixer. The mixer will be working with the ADAT or DAW. Most of what I would like in a mixer is contained in the above thread. I would like at least 24 mono channels (possibly 22 mono channels with one stereo channel). The band will contain 1-3 guitarists (depends on who is playing what), 1 bassist, one keyboardist, one drummer, and a vocalist. I believe 24 channels would be suffiicient for that.

We are not going for anything that is super expensive. We would like to stay within the $0 - $1800 range for either item.

Any suggestions are appreciated. Thank you.

 

[distortedrumble]

...........you want everything to record and do live stage work for $1800? you made me cuss dude and I'm at work. go with daw.....more flexible. now the question is...do you want your daw to be a computer or a standalone workstation? you might want to rethink that 1800 unless your just thinking about the mixer and the daw. mics, snakes, headphones, monitors(stage, studio and computer), cables. will add at least another $600 on to that $1800.

just for recording i have a computer that was already decent so i didnt calculate that and almost everything i bought (mic, stand, 12unit rack, headphone amp, headphones, small mixer, power coniditioner, delay reverb unit, monitors, bass, guitar and pedal board ran me around $1780. and I bought what some people in here consider cheap equipment. that also didnt include computer software so that may give you an idea

 

[Confusitron]

...........you want everything to record and do live stage work for $1800? you made me cuss dude and I'm at work. go with daw.....more flexible. now the question is...do you want your daw to be a computer or a standalone workstation? you might want to rethink that 1800 unless your just thinking about the mixer and the daw. mics, snakes, headphones, monitors(stage, studio and computer), cables. will add at least another $600 on to that $1800

I am saying that I could go for $1800 on a ADAT/DAW and $1800 on a mixer. Actually, the mixer would probably be more like $1200.

 

[distortedrumble]

WELL THEN!!! get a computer...you could build a pretty nice one with dual monitors and have a good ol' time. as for mixers....

http://www.americanmusical.com/item--i-YAM-MG2414FX.html $899.97

http://www.americanmusical.com/item--i-YAM-MG3214FX.html $1099.97

plus they have a 0% financing. i take advantage of that almost everytime i want something over $250.

theres other brand mixers in that range but i'm not going all over the net looking for them

 

[Confusitron]

Can anyone suggest any type of recording systems?

 

[Massive Master]

M-Audio's Delta 1010 will give you 10 channels of I/O... You can get the smaller mixer, the 1010, and whatever decent inexpensive software is out there (anybody help on that?).

DON'T FORGET GOOD MONITORS - Especially with "less than stellar" gear, you need the best monitoring you can find. You CAN make good recordings with inexpensive gear, but you need to accurately HEAR what you're doing.

 

[mixsit]

I could see choosing between a DAW or something like an HD24 if you wanted portable -but why go ADAT/tape at this point?
Wayne

 

[Confusitron]

I could see choosing between a DAW or something like an HD24 if you wanted portable -but why go ADAT/tape at this point?
Wayne

Isn't the HD24 ADAT?

 

[Pahtcub]

The HD24 is a Hard disk (HD) 24 track (24) there is no tape involved.

Pat

 

[EddieRay]

Which is more suitable (portable, ease of set up) for remote live events; DAW or ADAT? I'd like to be able to do this one day and then use something like Sonar to work with it afterwards. Probably no more than 16 tracks.

 

[Massive Master]

Hard disk with a removable drive unit. Gobs of time, few moving parts, no dirty heads or time-code errors...

 

[Confusitron]

The HD24 is a Hard disk (HD) 24 track (24) there is no tape involved.

Pat

Hard disk with a removable drive unit. Gobs of time, few moving parts, no dirty heads or time-code errors...

Whoops. I didn't realize that ADAT stands for Alesis Digital Audio Tape... I guess I have been meaning an HD24-esque hard drive system, then. Would you suggest the Alesis HD24 or some other similar system? The HD24 has twenty-four inputs and outputs, which would be sufficient for "studio" recording applications and live recordings.

 

[Massive Master]

I'm a big fan of the Mackie unit... I'm not a big fan of most Mackie stuff, but that box kicks ass.

I don't have any practical experience with the Alesis unit... You'll have to find out what the features are.

The great thing about the Mackie (the Alesis might be exactly the same, too) is that you can record, edit, crossfade, yada, yada, yada, all in that box and get your tunes cleaned & edited until you can't edit anymore, FAST.

Then, you can either mix with an analog or digital console, OR ethernet PCM files straight to your DAW and mix there. You don't even need a "pro" audio interface - Just an ethernet connection.

Again, the Alesis may have all the same features - I just don't know.

 

[Confusitron]

What do you think of the Fostex D2424LV? I noticed that it is a bit cheaper than the HD24, and seems to have almost the same features. The Mackie SDR2496 (which I believe is what you were just speaking about) is basically the same price as the Fostex D2424LV, but only has a 20GB hard drive, which is easily replaceable. Which one would be better? I am leaning toward the Fostex or Mackie.

Should I go for the Alesis HD24, Fostex D2424LV, or Mackie SDR2496? The Mackie and Alesis comes with a smaller hard drive (20GB) than the Fostex (40GB). I believe all three of these products have the same capabilities. Which one should I go for?

Further editing to the audio recorded onto these devices can be done on a computer, correct?

 

[Confusitron]

Bump. Bump.