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Senate
User

Joined: 25 Nov 2003

Posted: Tue Mar 02 2004 17:21 Recording Equipment Question
ill start by saying i bought a mackie mixer, and condenser mic, pop screen etc. etc. ive come to the conclusion that i dont like working with the mixing board.. now this is my question would it be a wise idea, for quality recording to just get a decent condenser mic, a preamp, and a compressor? then right them into my sound card? if not anyone have any other ideas.. affordability is a problem... thank you

Senate
User

Joined: 25 Nov 2003

Posted: Tue Mar 02 2004 17:31
i might as well add that, im only gonna be using recording with one thing. which is my mic, for vocals.. because i record hip hop music... thanks for the help in advance

D Vibe
Registered User

Joined: 04 May 2003
Location: Sweden

Posted: Tue Mar 02 2004 19:50
If you don't have any external sound hardware such as synths I can't see the idea of having a mixer at all .. Just get a headphone preamp aswell! /Daniel
https://www.dvibe.se

Senate
User

Joined: 25 Nov 2003

Posted: Tue Mar 02 2004 21:21
exactly.. what would the purpoe of a headphone preamp be? just incase i cant afford one

Senate
User

Joined: 25 Nov 2003

Posted: Wed Mar 03 2004 14:49
i do need a compressor though as well as a pre-amp...so it keeps the vocal levels right? i thought that was what it was for, someone please clarify this for me.. as well as headphone pre amps

D Vibe
Registered User

Joined: 04 May 2003
Location: Sweden

Posted: Wed Mar 03 2004 17:47
Well, it's often no good idea to listen to the sound from the headphone output of your soundcard. They often have very cheap amplifiers, and gain lot's of noise. That's why it's nice to have a headphone amp, and/or a mixer which have that buildt in often. Well, the compressor is for keeping the dynamics more "tight", the higher parts get's closer to the lower parts, which means that it can't clip, which also means that you can gain up the input volume to the compressor extra. Be sure that you have a *gate* in the compressor though, so you can close out sounds from your room such as noise and natural room reverb/echoes. /Daniel
https://www.dvibe.se

Senate
User

Joined: 25 Nov 2003

Posted: Wed Mar 03 2004 17:56
so look for a compresser that has a "gate" option? also wouldnt the mic pre-amp run off the soundcard? thanks... and is this really a good way for me to record?? thanks again

Senate
User

Joined: 25 Nov 2003

Posted: Wed Mar 03 2004 18:04
so in order to do what i want i need mic preamp gate compresser/limiter headphone amp?? thanks

Senate
User

Joined: 25 Nov 2003

Posted: Wed Mar 03 2004 23:01
is that correct? any particular ones i should look for

Blaster
Registered User

Joined: 04 May 2003
Location: Netherlands/Germany

Posted: Thu Mar 04 2004 00:56
Isn't there a software solution for the compressor idea? Haven't explored sound editors as such, but it seems to be you can set some plugins in some software app somewhere for realtime recording. It's more flexible if you use a software solution in this case. About the headphone amp. Isn't this dependant on the soundcard and headphones you have? I own an Audigy and have borrowed my brother's hi-fi headphones, but it sounds just as good when I hook the computer up to a hi-fi system. Though I wouldn't know how it sounds on "pro" equipment I did look around for some mic preamps a while back and found them very expensive (for having only 1 function). I'd rather buy a good quality mixer cause it allows more possibilities in the future (doing a live "battle" with some friends or something). Also I do hope you have a quality mic, else the rest would be a bit silly imo
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Senate
User

Joined: 25 Nov 2003

Posted: Thu Mar 04 2004 14:17
i planned on purchasing a new mic anyways.. .do you have any suggestions????? as well as anyone have any suggestions on any of the other things>. thanks

Blaster
Registered User

Joined: 04 May 2003
Location: Netherlands/Germany

Posted: Thu Mar 04 2004 15:50
Shure SM58 mic.
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Big Mo
Registered User

Joined: 05 May 2003
Location: Hoogeveen, The Netherlands

Posted: Thu Mar 04 2004 23:16

Blaster wrote:

Isn't there a software solution for the compressor idea? Haven't explored sound editors as such, but it seems to be you can set some plugins in some software app somewhere for realtime recording. It's more flexible if you use a software solution in this case.

I like the compressor in Cool Edit. It's usable for quite a lot of purposes, as compressor, limiter or expander. You can draw a curve in it, too.
Also Cool Edit has a hard limiter.

Blaster wrote:

I own an Audigy and have borrowed my brother's hi-fi headphones, but it sounds just as good when I hook the computer up to a hi-fi system.

I think that is because the Audigy drive has a preamp (when you plugged in the headphones there, as I always do), because I don't hear noise or bad quality sound on headphones.

Blaster
Registered User

Joined: 04 May 2003
Location: Netherlands/Germany

Posted: Fri Mar 05 2004 08:50
No, I have an audigy player. No drive.. headphones go into the speaker output, but I have to turn the volume all the way down so I guess that is pre-amped too. Oh in case you're also buying a new soundcard/audio interface it might be a good idea to get one with all this built in. The M-Audio firewire 410 looks sweet in this respect.
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QBical
Registered User

Joined: 04 May 2003
Location: Utrecht , The Netherlands

Posted: Fri Mar 05 2004 12:45

Blaster wrote:

Shure SM58 mic.

It's a great mic for live use, but if you're realy planning on doing extensive vocal recording, try the beta 58...

I actualy use that mic live often and it's just great!

And about all the compressors/gates and stuff.

Try going with your mic first, a good mic is better than tons of hardware aplyed over the signal afterwards. Sure all the knobs are cool, but imo you don't realy need it till you need it!

So try the mic a while, aply some software over the recorded signal, but wait with buying expensive hardware until you realy need it. Getting an over compressed vocal is a far to easy mistake made so often, I generaly aply very little compression over a vocal. Instead try encouraging the person that's singing to put more into it, then adding some EQ and record the whole thing thru a good tube mic-preamp...

anyway, stay with your mic and add the other things later!

grtz
qbical

PC: P4 HT 3ghz, 1gb ram, 500GB+ Storage, plextor DVD-rw, M-audo Audiophile 2496
Laptop: Apple Powerbook G4 15inch
Other Stuff: Phonic MU802 mixer, Alesis M1 Active Mk2 Monitors, Ipod 2nd gen. 20GB, maxtor firewire HD 80GB

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