Still a noob, and back for more- new mixer to computer

  • Thread starter Thread starter Joey-T
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Joey-T

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I signed up on this site in 2005 (I think) and from reading my old stuff, I was trying to hook up some crazy stuff through a sound card... It was funny to read.

Well, here's what I've been up to lately- I've mostly been playing live and haven't given much effort to recording, but now I think we're ready. I was doing some Google searches and found this site (again), so I figured I'd ask for some help...

I still run XP on the computer, haven't seen much of a reason to upgrade yet. I'm still using Fruityloops and Acid, but once I make the tracks, I've just been feeding them out to the mixer, pretty much using the computer as just another instrument. Now I'm ready to start recording.

The mixer we have is an Allen & Heath ZED436. Naturally, we've been using it as a live mixer, but everything I find online says it makes a pretty decent recording mixer too. I know I'll need recording software, and I've grabbed Audacity and a few demos. I'm kinda leaning towards purchasing Cubase though, as a friend uses it, so I'm at least somewhat familiar with it (and if we ever collaborate in the future, it would be easier if we were using the same stuff, no?)

Where everything gets muddy for me is the audio interface. I've been looking at stuff online for a week, and I seem to only get more confused. I just can't seem to get the grip of what I need to be looking for, how to hook it up, and of course, to understand why it is done that way. Another forum I checked out, someone had asked about doing the same thing (but with a smaller mixer), and the responses were over my head as far as the routing of the wires, and they were pretty short on the why.

I'm not sure what all info you'll need to help me, so if I miss anything just ask and I'll add the info. I know the first question would be the budget- I know quality costs, and we are definitely interested in good quality, so we decided to say we'd like to keep it under a grand if possible. We do have some MIDI going on, if that makes a difference. Thanks!
 
Things you have to decide on:
1) How many different tracks do you want to be able to record at one time?
This will dictate how many channels you need your interface to handle. You don't want to mix everything down to one (or 2) channels on your A&H and record that output because you will be stuck with that mix in the recording.

2) What's your budget?

Those ansers will let you start searching for the appropriate interface.
 
I think that mixer is all you need. It has USB and comes with recording software. So you'll need drivers, looks like the web site says to use ASIO4ALL. Once you install the drivers and connect the mixer you should be able to see it as an audio device in the various DAW programs. Each program is a little different in the set up. Once it's set up as the audio device you should be able to select the various outputs as sources to record on the individual tracks.

It looks like you can only send aux 1 & 2, or 5 & 6 through the USB. Time to dig out that manual.
 
mmmmmmmmmm i somewhat had this problem too. What would be appropriate if i wanted to record on 7 tracks for drums?
 
sk8a123 said:
mmmmmmmmmm i somewhat had this problem too. What would be appropriate if i wanted to record on 7 tracks for drums?
Click to expand...

You need an interace with the appropriate amount of ins.

If the mixer has direct outs for each channel you can connect those to the ins on the interface. Some even have a pre/post fade setting so you can select either the dry signal or the eq'd/fx'd etc post fade signal.

If the mixer doesn't have direct outs you can use the insert connection. That will just be a dry signal. You also need to either modify the cables or do the "single click" trick or you will break the signal chain. The insert sends and receives a signal so if you break that chain you won't hear anything coming out of your mixer.
 
We bought this mixer secondhand, so it didn't come with the manual or driver/program disc. I'll check out A&H's site to download a manual...

In the meantime, it seems like I read somewhere that the USB connection on the mixer only sends 2 channels to the computer, which would be fine for recording a live band's performance, but if I'm wanting to send each channel to a channel in, say Cubase, then the USB isn't an option... if I'm understanding this correctly.

On another site, a guy was telling me to send 16 channels from the mixer into the computer, then return 16 from the computer back to the remaining channels of the mixer. He was pretty vague, then went off line (I think my noob-ness irritated him). Does this make any sense? If so, please explain for me.

As far as needed inputs, I really don't know. In a live setup, we have two guitars and a bass, a keyboard, drums... 4 mics are used. Drummer hasn't purchased the drum mics yet, so I don't know how many there. What we'd like to do is "live in the studio" recordings. How many inputs you think I'm looking at?

BTW, this mixer does have direct outs on every channel. Again, we're hoping to keep it at $1000 or less, but if it just cannot be done, well, we'll have to pick up some extra gigs or something!
 
If you get something like a Presonus Firestudio you can daisy chain units. It has eight which may be enough if you mix the drums down to two channels. SO use your mixer for monitoring and send the individual outs to the interface and mix the drums down to one or two aux sends and send that to the interface. Make sense? It also has midi if your using cubase as the sequencer or if you want to record the midi data. keep in mind that firewire can be picky and you may have to get a new firewire card. You just mentioned that you have an XP computer so you might want to check the requirements for any particular interface.


http://www.presonus.com/products/Detail.aspx?ProductId=5
 
Joey-T said:
On another site, a guy was telling me to send 16 channels from the mixer into the computer, then return 16 from the computer back to the remaining channels of the mixer. He was pretty vague, then went off line (I think my noob-ness irritated him). Does this make any sense? If so, please explain for me.
Click to expand...

16 channels would be enough to record most bands live to multi-track, so that's not a bad idea. But you don't need to bring them all back out, just mix in the DAW and send 2-track out to the mixer.

Joey-T said:
BTW, this mixer does have direct outs on every channel. Again, we're hoping to keep it at $1000 or less, but if it just cannot be done, well, we'll have to pick up some extra gigs or something!
Click to expand...

You should be able to pick up a used MOTU 24i and the host card pretty cheap, well under $1000, and use the rest for the infrastructure you'll need, like cabling etc. You will need a desktop computer with an open PCI slot, so laptops are out with this hardware. There are two host cards that the 24i can work with, the older PCI-324 and the newer PCI-424. The 324 should be okay.

Then use the USB for easy rehearsal recording and the MOTU when you get serious.
 
The 24i has no MIDI capabilities, right? Not a big deal, we already have a usb MIDI interface, just wondering.

Is the 24i a decent unit? Seems the guys over at GearSlutz don't like anything MOTU for their sound...
 
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