Entertainment For Lively Minds
Home Recording advice please
Posted by bigsteviecook on 15 December 2010 - 10:48pm.
I know there are some home recorders here.
I've just bought a Rode NT1A condenser microphone. I've just found out my son's mixer doesn't have a phantom power supply(which the mic needs).
A quick Google search gives plenty of results for phantom power supply units priced from about £17 - £120. My main problem is that I don't really know what I need. I don't want to buy cheap stuff and have to upgrade it further down the line and I expect the more expensive units have features way beyond anything I need.
I'll probably only ever need a max of 2 inputs...guitar and vocal, and that'll be in the future when I buy another mic.
If all that makes sense to anyone, I'd be grateful of any advice.
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"anything" with 48v phantom
"anything" with 48v phantom power on it will work with your mic...aside from that the choice is almost endless
You could get a usb/firewire type interface straight into a computer (this acts as the soundcard) or the mbox series and then use protools.... or you could just get a little mixer with phantom power and then go from the line outs on the desk into the line in of your soundcard.... this may be a cheaper option but then if you just have a cheap soundcard then it will make a difference to sound quality.... but will probably be fine for reasonable sounding home recordings
It really depends on your budget and what exactly you want to do with the music
Thanks stickboy
To be honest, I don't know yet what I want to do with the music. It's going to be a long term learning process....almost a retirement project, though I'm not nearly at retirement.
I suppose I just want to record myself playing different acoustic instruments(guitar, bass guitar, vocal, bongo's etc)on different tracks, then mix them together.
My son has a mixer, a soundcard and a macbook pro. Ableton lite came with the soundcard. He mucks about with samples and other DJ stuff.
I thought it was 48v supply I needed....and I suppose I'll need 2 inputs and outputs for when I want to record vocal and guitar together. I suppose I was looking for....don't buy xxx as it's shit, or...get yyy as I've got the same set up as you and it works a dream.
Is a power supply simply a power supply?
USB
I use an M-AUDIO MobilePreUsb. It has a couple of channels and phantom power. The sound comes out pretty well. I usually just stick to guitar and vocal. Here's a link to one of my songs that was recorded straight on to my pc thru the PreUSB. http://soundcloud.com/andres-music-club/sets/andres-music-club/
Yeh probably worth looking
Yeh probably worth looking into a usb thing like described above, they do vary in price, some have better inputs but if youre not really an audiophile then even a budget one will probably do the job for what you want
i just did a quick search on a shop i like to use to give you an idea
http://www.dv247.com/search/0/0/ProductQuantity/Descending/usb+audio+int...
may be best to pop into your nearest music shop and speak to someone or phone a shop up and tell them what youre after, id say £150 mark will get you a pretty decent one to do the job
Yeh probably worth looking
Yeh probably worth looking into a usb thing like described above, they do vary in price, some have better inputs but if youre not really an audiophile then even a budget one will probably do the job for what you want
i just did a quick search on a shop i like to use to give you an idea
http://www.dv247.com/search/0/0/ProductQuantity/Descending/usb+audio+int...
may be best to pop into your nearest music shop and speak to someone or phone a shop up and tell them what youre after, id say £150 mark will get you a pretty decent one to do the job
If you don't have phantom power..
..in your mixer, you can bet that the pre-amps in it aren't going to be that great.
I'd buy a little mic pre-amp (ART or Behringer..preferably ART)which will sound better than your mixers and WILL have phantom power.
ART
Agree. ART's little preamp is about 30 quid from Thomann and sounds great. It has a valve in it too so it has a nice warm sound. A mate of mine has one and for the money it's excellent.
http://www.thomann.de/gb/art_tube_mp.htm
I used to...
...have an ART Tube Project USB preamp. It was very nice, and excellent value for money.
Many moons ago
You could get a stand alone phantom power unit about the size of a fab packet poweredcby a 9v battery which worked fine. Try eBay.
May I....
...unreservedly recommend the Apogee One?
http://www.apogeedigital.com/products/one-features.php
Apogee stuff isn't cheap - the One is about £180 - but the sheer quality of their sound interfaces has to be heard to be believed. I have a Duet - the same thing, but with two simultaneous inputs - and it's absolutely unbelievable. Plus it's superbly intuitive, has a great little software mixer and is designed for Mac.
Your Rode, the One and Garageband will let you do a LOT, to a really pretty high standard. The Duet is even better if you want the extra channel.
Honestly, I can't recommend Apogee kit highly enough. It's AMAZING. I went through a ton of audio interfaces before settling, and I can't imagine changing.
For the record, I use a Shure SM-7b (which is my go-to mic for practically everything, but is PRICEY), into a MacBook Pro running Logic Pro 9. In terms of *sound*, everything is amazing through that setup.
(I also have a few Shure SM57s around the place, since they're always useful. I don't use a condensor, since the SM-7b sounds gorgeous for acoustic instruments, and that's pretty much all I'd use a condensor for anyway.)
My advice is to see how you get on with Garageband on your boy's Mac (it's great), and if it's not quite enough, get Logic Express which uses the same audio engine and a similar-ish screen. Then, if that's still not enough, buy the Logic Pro upgrade pack.
It's a good route, as you won't be throwing the software baby out with the upgrade bathwater. It's a few, incremental upgrades, rather than replacing a cheap solution with something entirely different.
Are you sure
the soundcard doesn't have a mic input with Phantom Power? Many do. If not, then you either need to get a mixer with a mic line with phantom power or get a new soundcard with the same.
I've not used it myself but here is a reasonably priced soundcard with two powered Mic inputs and also line inputs for guitars etc:
http://www.htfr.com/more-info/MR339319
Thanks to all for your advice!
Budget wise, I realise I don't need a phantom power supply if I can get a pre-amp with phantom power for about the same dosh. I'm going to go for one of the Art Tube units. This'll get me started using my son's software/hardware. Later on next year I'll definitely get one of the soundcards mentioned above as they look like exactly what I need.
Thanks again!
peterafifer....great teacake song! Andre's Music Club though??
Peter...Andre...?
I think...
...you might be better off getting an computer audio interface now, since it will incorporate a preamp anyway. If you buy something like the ART mentioned above, with a view to buying a computer interface later, you'll just end up with a redundant preamp in your chain.
If you like the look of the ART stuff, get the version of it with the USB connection. It'll save you an extra purchase later.
Start here, maybe.
Thanks Bob!
You're absolutely correct.
In fact, I'm almost buying something on impulse. The problem being that my son told me his audio interface had phantom power when it didn't(bloody know-all teenagers). Now, after waiting a good couple of weeks for the mic to arrive, I'm unable to play with it...damn!
Buying something off the 'net now isn't going to be delivered till well after Christmas so I think I'll hold off till the new year when I can see how much I've spent over the holidays and maybe trade in some Waterstones vouchers etc.
I'm going to get a computer interface.
Thanks for your advice!
No problem at all.
Although I will say that if you can stretch to it, something by Apogee (the One or Duet I mentioned above) will pay for itself a million times over in quality. Which isn't to say the ART stuff isn't good: it is.