Total studio setup and equipment questions

[Pennywizz6]

Hello,

I am 16 and recently built my 1 room (hopefully 2, i need an iso ) studio. With a little help I almost built this room all by myself from scratch. Total completion took several months but the room is done. I added furniture and recently bought equipment such as mixrs/mics ect. My overall goal was to make a digital multitrack recording setup and not having it cost a fortune (16...no real job...)


My first setup I bought and currently have is a Delta 1010lt PCI card with 10 channels. I planned on using my Yamaha mg16/4 mixer as the main hub for all the input and use the mixers I/O's into my Delta and have each channel on my mixer a seperate channel in my DAW. Here is an image of what im trying to do. The problem was that the only way to adjust the input level in my DAW was to adjust the gain, which cause a ton of noise. Also I could not get the signal back to my mixer. I used TRS split into 2 RCA. The only way I can get the signal back is if I half click the 1/4 into the I/O and doing that results into making it impossible to use DX and VST plugins in live playing.

That setup seems to be dead in the water and I have tried so many different configs that itseems hopeless.

Option 2 is using several different rackmount units and use a mixerless setup. Here is a diagram of that setup Theoretically I have found no flaws except how can I wire it so I can run my PA's out of a stereo out and how will I wire it to get computer effects for live playing?

I might be missing something totally different too. Id rather not use a full digital control surface like the tascam reason being that there arent enough output options to run PA monitors seperately.

I have roughly 500$ for 6 channels of mic preamps, 1 patchbay, 1 8 channel DI box. I already have the Delta PCI card.

So if you have any tips, comments or suggestions to what exactly I should be doing please let me know. Also, I have AIM and feel free to contact me via that! That would help me out a lot!

Thanks!

Fill

[Pennywizz6]

Heres my most recent setup idea. This one seems powerful, flexable, and pretty cost efficient.



Thanks,

Fill

[gullfo]

another option - get a second mixer. the first mixer is your input - using the preamps and eq in the mixer. the second mixer is dedicated to monitoring the output from the i/o card - basically using the line in on channel. this way you have total control over the input and output. or get a mixer with 8 busses... probably cheaper to get 2 smaller mixers...

[Aaronw]

Fill,

First off, can you please resize those pix. I can't get the whole thing on the screen and I'm using a 19" @ 1024 x 768 pixels.

Second, give me a day or so and I'll take a look at the posting. A little busy for Monday morning.

Thanks.

[Aaronw]

OK,

So what is it you're actually trying to accomplish here. Are you setting up for a multi-track recording, is this for live sound, or trying to multi-track record for live sound?

Give me a little more detail (unless I missed something above) of what it is exactly you're trying to do.

Thanks.

[Pennywizz6]

Sorry for the lack of detail. This may seem over detailed but im going to go through my needs, ideas, and goal for my setup.

First off my goal is to set up a small recording studio that appeals to those local garage bands who want quality recording, but cant afford big name studio time.

I like simplicity, which sometimes has a counter effect of loosing recording quality however firewire seems to be the best medium between all other setups in my price range.

8 channels of seperate (key word, seperate no 4 stereo channels) is a bare minimum, more is always best and exspandable is another good option. For instence an average band setup would consist of something like 2 vocals, 2 guitar, 4 drum mics (possible to mixdown, not encouraged, but will accept) and keyboard in stereo. Right there is 8 channels, 10 if you add the KB in digital input, w/e. So as you can see if a band comes in with even 3 vocals or an extra guitar id have to mixdown or something.

Price is unfortunately the biggest barrier. I have about 400 for a firewire console, 200 for 4 additional preamps and 70 for a DI box. Whatever it may be 700ish is about the capper with tight negotiation 800 is possible .

I have ran through various forewire configs and here is what they consist of either the...

Yamaha i88X Rackmount Audio/MIDI Interface
E-MU 1820 Computer Recording System
Hercules 1612 FireWire I/O Computer Recording System

Each one exactly 400$ Along with them, the following pieces...

Behringer Ultra-DI PRO DI800
(2) Behringer MIC2200 Ultragain® Pro

I pretty much am set on the DI and Pres, especially with the reviews and price of the behringers, however the firewire console is so much of a tossup I dont know what to choose. Next I will list the Pros and Cons of each one.

Yamaha i88X
Pro
Legendary Pres
Yamaha quality and performance
Flexable drivers
ADAT Optical for 8 aditional channels

Cons
8 channels of analog inputs that might be controlled as 4 stereos (not fun)

Hercules 1612
Pros
16 channels of seperate inputs (much awesome)
2 sets of midi in/outs

Cons
No ADAT
Hercules name and quality?.... (BIG deciding factor)

E-MU 1820
(same pros and cons of the i88x except higher sampling rate 192khz)

So as you can see it is very close, mainly between the yamaha and hercules. Why I dont just go for the hercules is because i am un-aware of their name and quality, if i heard good about it, it wouldnt be much of a competition but as it lays its so tight.

Here are the references to the different products mentioned

Behringer MIC2200 Ultragain® Pro http://www.musiciansfriend.com/srs7/g=l ... id/182440/
Behringer Ultra-DI PRO DI800
http://www.musiciansfriend.com/srs7/g=r ... id/182486/
Hercules 1612 FireWire I/O Computer Recording System
http://www.musiciansfriend.com/srs7/g=r ... id/244230/
E-MU 1820 Computer Recording System
http://www.musiciansfriend.com/srs7/g=r ... id/242511/
Yamaha i88X Rackmount Audio/MIDI Interface
http://www.musiciansfriend.com/srs7/g=r ... id/700432/

Thanks a lot!!!

Fill

[Aaronw]

AAAHHHHHHHH!!!!!!! Why can't the industry stay analog!!!

OK, first off, w/ the PC & choice of hardware/software, you're on your own unless someone else here knows the program.

Next questions: Do you need a cue system? The speakers you show in your diagrams...studio monitors or stage monitors? What's your idea there?

Basically, looks like your going from (signal flow here...) mic, pre, to firewire box input, to computer, and record. I know you posted a few links, but haven't had the time to research your particular equipment list in terms of flexibility, ins/outs, etc. Most of your configs are probably going to be software based in terms of routing and levels (w/ exception to outboard pre's).

Your best bet would be to have a mixer w/ your setup as shown in one of the above diagrams. This would offer the most routing options, and reduction in latency for cue mixes (depends on the recording software).


I'm outta time at the moment. Gotta get back to work. Sorry I haven't been able to spend much time on the answers, and I've only had a chance to glimpse at the questions, so I may still be missing something.

Thanks for your patience.

[Pennywizz6]

thanks for your reply

I will be using Cubase as my main DAW program.

The whole studio and stage monitors setup is comprised of two studio monitors, and two large PA monitors.

The big monitors are just jamming tools, practice monitoring (all my amp modeling is digital so I have no amps) and two small studio monitors wouldnt handle the volume demands. The PA amps will have all the tracks that need amplification and the effect returns from the computer.

The small studio monitors will just be used to carefully monitor the mixes and used to listen to the final production for mastering and other tools.

Thanks,

Fill