WTB: Trying to get better quality

  • Thread starter Thread starter sobaroque
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sobaroque

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I'm a singer/songwriter and I recorded my last CD at home using my iMac G5. It came out well, but I'm looking to improve the sound quality on my next project. Most of my recording is vocals and acoustic guitar or mandolin.

My current setup is this: iMac G5, M-Audio MobilePre USB interface, Studio Projects B1 mic, Shure SM58 mic.

These are the options I'm considering:

1. Get a better audio interface. I've heard good things about the Firepod. It seems like Firewire is a better connection than USB 1.0.

2. I might get one of those snazzy new MacPros with the Xeon processors. If I do, would a PCI soundcard give me better quality than a FireWire or USB interface? It seems like it would. But which one to buy?

3. I could forego the whole computer thing and get one of those all-in-one digital multitrackers. I like that these are much more portable. But again, which one to buy?

My main concern is audio quality. I want whichever setup gives me the best. Do any of these ideas seem like they will noticeably improve quality? Or does anyone have any other suggestions?

Thanks!
 
I would start by upgrading your interface. Firepod is a good idea, although there are tonnes of very capable products on the market now. Just try to avoid ones from 'bargain bucket' brands like Behringer and Edirol if you're really trying to step up the audio quality.

Then you're looking at your mics and your mic preamps, and at that point it's very subjective. Given a half decent interface and a half decent preamp (which may well be part of the interface, my Yamaha i88x has two sweet pres in it), I reckon you could record most things pretty damn well with an SP B1. But if you have a vocalist who needs a more specific-sounding mic (the B1 is versatile because it doesn't particularly colour the sound) then you may have to try some brighter and darker-sounding things ... your SM58 will have much less high end detail than the B1, for example.

I wouldn't bother with a multi-tracker, you are tied in and can't upgrade. Much less flexible and not cheap either.

PCI is dying gradually and it seems a funny time to want to jump back into it - leave it out and get a Firewire box. I dunno the exact spec on your computer but if it's got a fairly decent hard disk (7200rpm) and can handle enough tracks for your needs then there is no benefit in upgrading.

After you've got your basic recording chain stuff up to scratch it's time to learn more about FX and maybe buy one or two compressors or reverbs, be they hardware or plugins.

Hope some of that helps,

Nik
 
What's going to improve your recording quality the most is:

1. Mic

2. Preamp

3. Converter

4. Room that you record in.

Not necessarily in that order! And we can't forget:

5. Skills as a recording engineer.

So to make an improvement in your recording gear you would:

Upgrade your mic, get a nice preamp, purchase an external converter or a soundcard with better converters, and figure out some sort of room treatment to improve your recording space if that is an issue.

The problem with the MobilePre is that it does not have a digital input. So you can't use an external converter with it. I'd suggest that whatever soundcard you purchase should have a digital input. A MOTU Ultralite would be an example of that kind of interface.

So I'm suggesting you upgrade your entire "front end", the part of the signal chain that happens before the audio is recorded. What you are using now is strictly budget gear, and there is plenty of room for improvement.

Buying a different Mac will have no effect on your sound. The difference between USB or firewire has to do mostly with how many tracks you can record and play back at one time, not the quality of the sound itself. That said, I do like firewire better. I just don't think you need to buy a new Mac to do what you are talking about doing.

Hope some of this helps.
 
SonicAlbert said:
What's going to improve your recording quality the most is:

1. Mic

2. Preamp

3. Converter

4. Room that you record in.

Not necessarily in that order! And we can't forget:

5. Skills as a recording engineer.
Click to expand...

Yep, then throw in a good monitoring system.
 
Thanks for all the advice. Looks like I'm getting a different interface first.

So that brings me to another question:

What's the difference between the Firepod and the Firebox? I know that the number of inputs are different, but I'm wondering if there will be any difference in the audio quality.

Thanks again.
 
sobaroque said:
Thanks for all the advice. Looks like I'm getting a different interface first.

So that brings me to another question:

What's the difference between the Firepod and the Firebox? I know that the number of inputs are different, but I'm wondering if there will be any difference in the audio quality.

Thanks again.
Click to expand...

Audio quality? No difference. Your just paying more for more inputs on the firepod. It allows you to record those inputs simaltaniously on different tracks.
 
I would put the preamps below the room/acoustics on the list of importance. And before you start shelling out for great pres you need to have a capable monitoring setup. Mics make the biggest difference to the tone/colour of the sound you pick up, and decent digital converters keep it accurate and don't introduce a lot of noise. After that, your rooms and instruments are more important than pres still ... if you can get one or two decent and fairly neutral ones, you're not going to have any major problems.

Preamps are, IMHO, a bit more of a luxury item for when you have a good platform to build on. At the end of the day, the IMP ones built into crappy Behringer mixers are pretty low-noise and less colouring than most used on classic recordings from the 70s and 80s ... but as with all these things, if you want esoteric performance, you will have to pay for it. You decide when it becomes worth it in your setup!!
 
Make sure that whatever audio interface you get has a digital input. This allows you to use an external converter with it. This might not seem like a big deal now, but as your ears get better and more finely tuned you may want to later upgrade to a better converter than is in any of these budget units. If your interface does not have a digital input you will at that later time have to buy yet another interface.
 
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