upgrade advice

S

shownotfound

New member
Hey folks,

I've been browsing this forum quite a bit, and finally have a question I'd love to post to get some feedback. I've posted in a few other forums and gotten a variety of answers, so figure it's best to do my due diligence before buying anything else. :)

So, as far as what I'm DOING with the equipment this is mainly for live podcasting/recorded podcast/voiceover stuff, as a background. Some of the things I do I get as many takes as I want, and some is live out to ustream/justin.tv/whathave you, so my setup is best suited for sort of a live/studio hybrid. This is a setup I tend to haul places now and again, to do remote things, so the ability to at least keep some of it contained in a little half-depth 4U rack is great.

Currently I have the following filling the rack:
2 x dbx 286a
Furman line conditioner
MOTU Ultralite Mk3 (firewire version)

All of this is running into my MacBookPro (8gb/2.2ghz i7/250gb SSD/500GB FW project drive) running Logic 9.whatever.

My current dilemma is this, I'm getting to the point for various situations that I'm needing more than 2 or 3 mics, and with my current setup I can run the two onboard preamps from the MOTU, and the 2 dbx units. But I'm also starting to want to get 4 channels that sound more or less the same, so I'm looking at options at decent quality preamps that still have the ability to be relatively mobile. I'm looking at pairing up whatever I end up getting with the dbx 1046 to keep along the lines of 'all the channels sounding the same'.

I started out looking at the RME QuadMic because of the form factor (4 preamps in a 1U half-width), but people are telling me that there really ARE no good 4 channel preamps that fit as such. That RME makes good interfaces but aren't really known for their preamps.

So in looking at other options, I've been suggested the following, and was curious what people thought:

2 x FMR's 'rnp' (for a total of 4 preamps)
dbx 1046
MOTU Ultralite Mk3

or

Focusrite ISA 428 II
dbx 1046
MOTU Ultralite Mk3

I'm just curious if these are the 'cheapest I can go' and still have a decent upgrade.

I've also been told that perhaps the dbx are REALLY more for a livesound rather than a studio setting, and I'm running compression both pre-and-post recording, but for a lot of situations I really like the compression before the DA.

Any thoughts or feedback would be great, thanks!

Andy
 
Between the DBX channel strips and the moto you already have 4 mic preamps and inputs

1) why do you need more than 4 mic inputs for podcasting
2) what is it about the current mic inputs that you have that you do not like and want to improve
 
Thanks for the responses, and yeah I've eyed the Apogee, but with the lack of inserts on all four mic pres don't solve the issue of being able to have a little insurance when someone decides they want to be SUDDENLY LOUD. Trying to even out the signals here.

The problems I'm trying to solve, to answer the second post are:
1) I'm lugging this rack to convention spaces now and again, and there are usually more than 4 panellists that I'm trying to record.
2) The current mic inputs do not all sound the same, even with identical mics. While 4 inputs will NEVER sound identical, I'd like them at least closer, so when one is listening after the fact it's less distracting and you can focus on the content.
 
You cannot go wrong with the ISA 428. Do yourself a favor and pay the extra bucks and get their converter card and everything is in one box plus the conversion is on a very high level and has the ability to serve 4 more channels of whatever you want to put in. That way you can keep your dbx strips as the occasional extra 2 channels. The ISA is premium fidelity. On a level with the Apogee only a bit more character. the HPF is the key to making any mic behave the way you like right off the source.
 
cavedog101 said:
You cannot go wrong with the ISA 428. Do yourself a favor and pay the extra bucks and get their converter card and everything is in one box plus the conversion is on a very high level and has the ability to serve 4 more channels of whatever you want to put in. That way you can keep your dbx strips as the occasional extra 2 channels. The ISA is premium fidelity. On a level with the Apogee only a bit more character. the HPF is the key to making any mic behave the way you like right off the source.
Click to expand...


Along these lines, in looking at the ISA, I've also come across the Universal Audio 4-710d, which also does all the A/D and has a compressor on each channel, as well as inserts should you want to roll your own effects. Too many decent options in the 1500-2100 pricepoint. Gah.
 
There's also the MOTU Traveler. It has four mic pres built in, plus ADAT I/O. So if you need more than four pres you can get a separate 8 channel mic pre to ADAT unit. Or, you could pick up the MOTU 8pre (around $550), which has 8 mic pres plus the ADAT I/O.

If you really feel you need to spend $1,500+ on preamps to record panelists at convention centers, go for it. But really, for that use almost any clean and quiet preamp will do the source justice.

Isn't there a way to use a software limiter in the MOTU, between the preamp and the track stage?

The UA unit looks nice, and I like having it all in one unit. Very practical. But again, a lot of money to record panelists in settings that are by nature not going to be well treated acoustically. So spending a lot of money on high fidelity is kind of wasted under those circumstances. Unless you think you might use the unit to record music at other times.
 
Thanks for the suggestion! And yeah, I'm planning on doing more than just podcasts with the preamps and interface. Just someone asked 'why would you ever need more than 4 channels for podcasting' and that's the response to such.

I'll definitely have to look into the Traveller as well.

As far as the software limiter, my understanding is that all the DSP takes place AFTER the A/D, so if a signal is going to clip, the DSP won't be able to prevent that. However I absolutely could be mistaken!
 
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