Home Recording Set-ups

[steve_k]

From mic to DAW, what's everyone finding cool these days? Looking to upgrade a bit.

Steve

 

[PaulyPanacea]

Yo Steve...loving my Presonus interface(s) into my MacBook with LogicPro. Simple, to the point & sounds great. If you want, i will trade you my recording setup for that new Wizard of yours & a camel ride

 

[mboogman]

I love my MOTU 828mk3. I also have a TC Electronic konnekt 24D and it's terrible. It's been at their service center for over two months, and still nothing. I also use Logic Pro, and love it. As far as plugins go, I've really had great luck with the wave arts power suite. I'll end up using trackplug on almost every channel, and still have CPU to spare. As for mics, I like my rode NT1000 for vocals, and my pair of Audio Technica AT4040's for stereo overheads and acoustic guitars.

 

[daveg62]

From mic to DAW, what's everyone finding cool these days? Looking to upgrade a bit.

Steve

What part of the chain are you looking to upgrade? What are you using now? Budget?
I have tried quite a few mics and lately have been using a heil pr30 or sm7, sm57 on cabs.
I use different pre's depending - ADK ap1, Langevin DVC, Yamaha pm1000 into my new Allen Heath R16 board. Samplitude for tracking and editing.

 

[nbarts]

How much you wanna spend? What you already have?

IMO, for a guy who wants to track 100-200wt amps, the first thing to buy is a couple of great dynamic mics and in-line pads like those that Shure makes.
Next important move is a great monitoring setup.
Then after this you can start worrying about interfaces, preamps, converters, compressors etc., all this stuff is secondary.

 

[nbarts]

To sum it up, I'd get a couple of SM57s, an MD421 & 2 Shure pads.

Get the least expensive decent interface.

Spend all the money possible on monitoring & treating the room you are monitoring in.

 

[stratotone]

Korg D3200 - up to 12 tracks at once, 32 tracks total, can connect it to your PC via USB 2.0 to pull down wav files and mix it on a 'big screen'. Plus it's portable enough to take to gigs... hard to beat. I also have a Korg D1600, same basic concept but only 8 tracks at a time.

Pete

 

[Khoi]

Here's how my setup is run:

Amp -> Weber Attenuator (acts as a load box and DI) -> M-Audio Profire 610 -> Reaper

I can then bypass my cabinet for a completely silent setup, and use speaker impulses

I also have a SM57, but I'm not at the liberty of playing loudly for recording (I live in a dorm )

 

[PBGas]

I have a couple of methods that I am using:
Macbook Pro --> Logic Studio 9 --> Apogee Duet --> Grendal Deadroom2 ISO cab --> SM57 and MD421 --> Diezel Einstein
The other setup will be an option and is coming shortly:
Macbook Pro --> Pro Tools 8 --> Digidesign 11 rack

I really haven't done anything with impulses as of yet.....will have to work with those at some point.

 

[mixeduplydian]

Logic Pro 9 here.
It's as simple or deep as you want it to be. I use some outboard gear and 3rd party plug ins with it, but you have everything you need to record a professional album right out of the box.
All you need to bring are some decent mics, a quality interface, and a good ear!

 

[muudrock]

I took the dive into ProTools with the Eleven rack and couldn't be happier. I was using other DAW and interfaces. Pretty much all of them will give you what you need. Reaper is great cheap alternative.
But I've been really loving the 11R and PT. The fact that I can go direct with it, put mics thru it, reamp or use it live as a preamp sealed the deal. It sounds great too. Great option IMHO.
I'd put some time into choosing you platform first--Mac or PC and then design your setup off of that.

 

[guitarnate2000]

IMAC 24 inch with 4gb ddr3 memory
3x presonus firepods
2x presonus eureka pre's
1x behringer multicom pro 4 channel compressor for toms
Logic 9
Steven Slate drume
Kontact 3
Drumagog platinum
Melodyne Vocal correction

rode nt1 mic
groove tube gt55 mike
sm57's
sm58's sennheiser 421

I love it!

 

[steve_k]

I am using a Mac and Digi 03 rack with PT8. But, the 03 rack alone isn't cutting it for me. I would like to record with the amps cranked and mic'd, but find that I am clipping the input long before I get the amp to the volumes I want. Using 57's, and a 421 for mics.

I am thinking of an outboard mic preamp and converter to handle the input volumes. Also, I am wanting a good ambient mic.

The Digi 03 I am not too fond of, and a friend is taking it off my hands to chain together with his for recording drums. So, I may start from scratch.


Steve

 

[nbarts]

Steve,

Even my hi end pres get distorted with Diezels. You gonna need inline pads either way, so get them & see if that attenuates enough for your digi & then go from there.

 

[Phrygian]

BLA modded Digi 002 here. Converters, Pres, Analog stages and Clock were upgraded.

Running API, Great River and Presonus pres. The usual suspects for guitar mics, SM57's, Senn 421's, Blue Ball's, Shiny Box 46MX Ribbon.

I'll tell ya, the best day of my recording life was hearing an API pre

Oh, and I also recommend inline pads if you must.

 

[steve_k]

What is an inline pad? Similar to an attenuator?

Steve

 

[Audioholic]

I am using a Mac and Digi 03 rack with PT8. But, the 03 rack alone isn't cutting it for me. I would like to record with the amps cranked and mic'd, but find that I am clipping the input long before I get the amp to the volumes I want. Using 57's, and a 421 for mics.

I am thinking of an outboard mic preamp and converter to handle the input volumes. Also, I am wanting a good ambient mic.

The Digi 03 I am not too fond of, and a friend is taking it off my hands to chain together with his for recording drums. So, I may start from scratch.


Steve

nothing wrong with the 003, it can do a decent job, but I don't think they have a pad on them, which it sounds like what you need. A good mic pre will probally cost you a good bit, as well as a good AD/DA depending on how many channells you need. If only a few, you may find an all in one solution.

Personally I am using Pro tools, but mainly use a Focusrite ISA 428 with digital card for my conversion and a UA 2-610. For micing a guitar amp, I have been really digging the Sure SM7 and Heil PR30/40

 

[Audioholic]

What is an inline pad? Similar to an attenuator?

Steve

Yeah, basically it cuts the signal down, to avoid clipping. Some mics have them on them as well.

 

[nbarts]

http://www.frontendaudio.com/Shure-A15A ... -01768.htm

 

[nbarts]

BLA modded Digi 002 here. Converters, Pres, Analog stages and Clock were upgraded.

Yea, like he's gonna ship his digi back & forth from Saudi Arabia.