Suggestions..

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geet73

OMG!
Alright. I'm a mAsTeR recorder like alot of the members here may be. I have some experience.. but not too much.

I'm looking for suggestions on decent, affordable equipment. I'm only 17 and do not make too much money at my part time job. I can't afford the world.

Just recently I have received the interface I ordered from musicians' friend. It's a Terratec Phase 88. 8-in/out, 24-bit, ASIO 2.0 compatibility. It works..

I need to purchase:
-Preamps
-Mics
-Monitors

I've seen those rackmount things of 8 preamps for $100. How bad are these? Do you think it would do the trick?

Does anyone have any suggestions for these? Currently, I'm going to lay off on getting monitors. I need everything else more. I have stuff I can borrow from friends, I'd like to get my own stuff though.

This probably isn't a good example of my recording... but here are some recordings of my band. http://www.soundclick.com/nutbox

I'm the drummer. The equipment we used on this sounded horrible when we recorded it. I tried my best to make a decent recording out of it. Meh.
 
You might be better off with a small mixer than dedicated pres to start with.

A USED Mackie 1202 or 1402 would give you 6 mic pres AND routing capabilities that a preamp in the $100/8 channels just won't give you. And any pre at that level isn't going to be a noticeable upgrade from the Mackie pres.

For mics, the old standby is an SM57.

Don't forget you'll need cables and stands too. So budget accordingly.
 
Mixers are usually alot more than $100. I hate being cheap.

I remember reading on here somewhere that building your own preamps is relatively cheap.
 
Any suggestions on what to do for more preamps? I'm going to use at least 6 mics on drums.

For mics.. I'm pretty set for what I have to use. From my friends I'm borrowing an AKG d112, 4 or 5 57's, and either a pair of AKG c1000s's or oktava m012's or something like that.

Are those Behringer tube pre's anygood? I can get one of those for 130 or something like that. That would be two more preamps. I'm assuming that the tube would also help out with vocals.

EDIT: Thanks alot.. I'm pretty sure I'll be purchasing that. :)
 
MG series mixers are great. i listened to the behringer tube pre in the shop and wasn't convinced, but that's just me. maybe it was a bad one but we put it in a power amp and turned it right up, it had the same amount of hiss as the UB mixers so unless you love the tone i would suggest you could save your money.
 
geet73 said:
Alright. I'm a mAsTeR recorder like alot of the members here may be.
Click to expand...
Question....... what's a "master recorder"?????

Is that anything like my 2-track mixdown machine????

This is all very confusing..............!
 
Re: Re: Suggestions..

Blue Bear Sound said:
Question....... what's a "master recorder"?????

Is that anything like my 2-track mixdown machine????

This is all very confusing..............!
Click to expand...
I think it was a sarcastic way of saying he doesn't have a lot of experience.
I have to agree that a used mixer like a Mackie would be your most cost effective way of getting multiple mic preamps.
 
Track Rat is correct.. it is my massive amount of overwhelming sarcasm.. ah.

I meant that statement to say that I am not a "mAsTeR recorder". I tend to leave words out when I'm typing out responses.. meh.

I don't mean to sound cocky or sound like I have an attitude.. I'm just a very sarcastic person.

I'm having a fair amount of trouble finding a Mackie for under $100. Maybe I suck at Ebay.

I'm not sure if it would do the trick.. but I found an Alesis MultiMic 12R for $150 on there. It goes for $300 new. It has 8 channels with XLR inputs and phantom power. If I'm reading this correctly, it also has outputs on each channel. Hmmm.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=2371595218&category=23785

It looks like a good bet to me.

EDIT:

http://media.zzounds.com/media/brand,zzounds/MultiMix12R_back-6d086de72c187959221da68ac1579ec6.jpg

A view of the back of it.

Also, channel inserts... I can use them to plug into my interface.. correct?
 
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17 again

oh to be 17 again.

but hey. i like toys and don't have a lot of $$ either.

so.

i have to economize also. Most of my equipment pulls at least double duty. Meaning, it has to serve me in the PA performance world, and then again in the studio environment.

You and the band could probably benefit by making so me future plans and then going from there.

Look into the boards that will fit both need, and avoid doubling up on equipment. Most of the boards like Behringer Mackie, Yamaha, Spirit E and the rest have DECENT preamps, and would add much flexibility to your set up, plus would add into the PA world of things.

A board like the Behringer UB2442FX pro would work great for both. For recording, it has 8 direct outs, 4 ch sub mixing. channel and main inserts. FOr pa, lots of sends for mixes and monitors, built in FX. something to think about, for not more than the price of a dedicated mike pre....

Again, the 57's and 58's are great mikes. Pop for one condensor like the Marshalls, B1's, or even the Samsons and you could get into a very decent set up benefiting both worlds.

take your time and do a little pre-planning and you'll end up better off in the long run

rm
 
Suggestions

If you want an excellent mic pre, D&R make a two channel 1/2 rack space unit for less than $500. The quality doesn't get any better. Remember, you're only as good as your weekest link.
 
Suggestions

If you want an excellent mic pre, D&R make a two channel 1/2 rack space unit for less than $500. The quality doesn't get any better. Remember, you're only as good as your weekest link.
 
"Weakest";)

Like I said in my first post.. I don't have $500 to blow on a 2-channel mic preamp.

Radiorickm - I would concentrate on doubling up for both... but they already have their equipment. We're fine with the musical equipment(2 Mesa Dual Rectifiers, 2 Marshall cabs, blah blah..).

So yea.. I think I'm just going to purchase that Alesis mixer. It will work fine for me until I can go out and purchase higher quality stuff.

Once I finish some of these recordings, I'll post them online for download.. hopefully I can get some reviews.
 
i don't think i'd get the alesis if i were you. i'd get something i could afford but i wouldn't bother buying junk cos you'll never actually be happy with it and it'll be wasted money. IMO you'd be a lot happier with a behringer at least you have a warranty and it's not full of 2nd hand dust in all the pots.
 
Weakest link

I understand the budget thing. I know many guys that bought Mackie mixers due to budget and Mackie's ads and then dumped them to get a real mixer. It really comes down to if you are wanting to cut demos or masters. Funny enough, I've heard masteer quality from a Fostex four track cassette. The musicians were very good. Good luck.
 
Re: Weakest link

prw said:
I've heard masteer quality from a Fostex four track cassette.
Click to expand...

err...no you haven't.

do you know what 'master quality' means? do you know that it's nothing to do with musicians (or how could you get 'master quality' pop music, do you mean the vocals only are 'master quality'?)?

if you're correct and you've stumbled across one of the great secrets you better ring sony and warner and tell them they're wasting hundreds of thousands on getting their records mastered when all they need is a good musician and a four-track!
 
Master quality

If you take not so good musicians and singers into the very best studio in the world, they are still going to sound like not so good musicians. At the same time, if you take excellent musicians and singers into a not so good home studio they can sound like excellent musicians and singers. Please don't tell me you bought into the only way you can cut hits is to record on an SSL. You sound much smarter than that.
 
Re: Weakest link

prw said:
I understand the budget thing. I know many guys that bought Mackie mixers due to budget and Mackie's ads and then dumped them to get a real mixer. It really comes down to if you are wanting to cut demos or masters. Funny enough, I've heard masteer quality from a Fostex four track cassette. The musicians were very good. Good luck.
Click to expand...

in fact i have more problems with this. are you suggesting you're about to outgrow a mackie? and actually what is a mackie if it's not a 'real' mixer?

as for demos or masters ... you want to cut the best you can, with the money you have. if you don't want to take advice and don't want to learn, why bother asking? you have to come here not thinking you've already got it figured out cos there's guys on here who make their livings selling this stuff or selling their skills with it and people like you and me are just starting out homie.
 
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