If you were me, what gears you'll go with?

[buffoon38]

What I have now are:

1. An iMac 8,1 with 2.4 GHz Intel CPU/4GB Memory - with GarageBand 08'
2. A YAMAHA Electronic Piano P-70 - with MIDI I/O

What I'm going to record for the beginning:

1. Vocal (Bel Canto) with Piano accompany
2. Strings (Classical)

What I may need to buy:

1. An Interface with MIDI input for the YAMAHA.
2. A large-diaphragm condenser mic for Tenors/Strings.
3. A small-diaphragm condenser mic for Sopranos
4. A dynamic mic - do I really need it?
5. A headphone - before I go with monitors
6. Reflexion filter and pop filter - buy or make?

Question is: If you were me, what you'll go with if you have $1000.00?
What if you get $3000.00?

I'd like go with Apogee Duet (FireWire but no MIDI input) or M-Audio Fast Track Pro-4 (there are MIDI inputs but go with USB). Is there some way that I can connect MIDI output to Duet? What's the difference between FireWire and USB for the Studio? Do you think these two are good or prefer
something else?

I'll keep going to do my home work. But I'll like your opinions, too! Thank you very much!!!

 

[Dr Sound]

1. An Interface with MIDI input for the YAMAHA. DIGIDESIGN DIGIDESIGN DIGIDESIGN.. I am a Pro tools guy so I will say that everytime..


2. A large-diaphragm condenser mic for Tenors/Strings. Not sure about hos good the Cheap stuff

3. A small-diaphragm condenser mic for Sopranos.. Not sure about how good the cheap stuff is



4. A dynamic mic - do I really need it? Yes what about a Talk about mic.. SO you can talk from your control room to iso booth... Get a Shure SM57 or sm58 they are Life savers.. They can be used on anything...


5. A headphone - before I go with monitors

I love Sennheiser HD280 Less then $100

6. Reflexion filter and pop filter - buy or make? Make they are easy to make and you can adjust as needed...


Again I would Spend your money on Pre Amps, Cables and Microphones if you can...



If i had the choice I would get an 002R interface with a Liquid Channel and then use what I had left to pick up the rest...

 

[Mattaut]

I second the liquid channel. They did a test using grammy award winning engineers where they played a sample of something recorded using liquid channel emulations and something recorded using the real hardware and they guessed which was which wrong majority of the time.

 

[zimv20]

forget the midi, you don't need it. forget the liquid channel, too -- it's $2500 for a single channel and, well, ridiculous.

the info you're missing is how many channels you want to record at once. the Duet would probably serve you well, but can you live with two simultaneous channels? if so, i'd do this:

$1000
-------
1. Duet ($500)
2. pair of Avenson Audio STO-2 mics ($550)
3. make your own basstraps from OC 703
4. if you want to do stereo recording of an ensemble, make your own Jecklin disc

$3000
-------
1. Duet ($500)
2. pair of Josephson C42 mics ($950 matched pair)
3. pair of Adam A7 monitors ($1150)
4. spend the rest on basstraps and a Jecklin disc

GarageBand is fine for this purpose, and with some bass trapping and intelligent mic placement, you have the tools to make awesome recordings.

 

[ChrisA]

What I have now are:

1. An iMac 8,1 with 2.4 GHz Intel CPU/4GB Memory - with GarageBand 08'
2. A YAMAHA Electronic Piano P-70 - with MIDI I/O

.......

I'll keep going to do my home work. But I'll like your opinions, too! Thank you very much!!!

You audio interface does not need to have MIDI. Yu can buy a standalone MIDI/USB cable for $40 and use that along side of the Duet.

Firewire is best if you are doing more than a small number of audio tracks at the same time (No I don't define "small" but maybe it is the same as "handfull")

Someone above said "forget midi". Yes you may or may not want to use MIDI. It is not just a technical decision but an artistic decision and should be left to the artistest not the engineer even if that is the same person.

If you go with MIDI then the piano sond is being generated by software inside the Mac. You can buy some really nice software or use Logic or Garageband which is "not bad". But the keyboard player just might prefer the sounds his keyboard makes internally? You have to ask him. In that case you would cable the headphone output to an audio interface. My gues is that you will want MIDI. You can edit edit and change the sound in a million ways.

BUT... You can also do BOTH. You can record both the keyboard's audio and MIDI at the same time and decide latter which to keep. It cost you very little extra to record both.

 

[Dr Sound]

Instead of the Duet maybe look at an Mbox2 http://www.digidesign.com/index.cfm?langid=100&navid=104&itemid=23596

They cost as much as the Duet include Midi as well as Pro Tools software and Good start on Plug-ins.. Id also think about the same Inputs and Outputs as the Duet..

All his other suggestion Look good..

Liquid Channel is Great and Worth $2500 in too many ways to list....(not for his Budget)

Side NOTE... I am currently Selling my Original Mbox on e-bay.. Don't think it will have the amount of Inputs your looking for, but if your interested PM and i can give you the link to the auction..

 

[zimv20]

Instead of the Duet maybe look at an Mbox2 http://www.digidesign.com/index.cfm?langid=100&navid=104&itemid=23596

They cost as much as the Duet include Midi as well as Pro Tools software and Good start on Plug-ins..

the duet has better pre's and conversion, which for the type of music he's recording is pretty important. further, for the type of music he's recording, i'd think one would want to favor good recording and performances over plugins.

i know i wouldn't want to use plugins on such a recording. imho, an mbox would be a mistake here.

Liquid Channel is Great and Worth $2500 in too many ways to list....

have you used it?

 

[Dr Sound]

have you used it?

Sure have Many of Times.....


Again in no way am I arguing one over the other I was making a suggestion I have never heard the Pre's on the Duet.. So I would never Compare the 2.

 

[zimv20]

Sure have Many of Times.....

what does it do for classical that can't be handled by a less expensive, clean pre? i don't understand, given the OP's budget and what he wants to do, why you would recommend it.

my reading is that he needs small diaphragm mics, clean pre's, good conversion, room treatment and smart mic placement. i don't see a need for emulation, just a good, clean signal path, several times over.

 

[Dr Sound]

Yikes....

YOUR THREAD HAVE FUN..

 

[pkoch1]

Yikes....

YOUR THREAD HAVE FUN..

Zimv was just asking. Don't worry, we're all here for discussion, not argument. Zimv was just wondering the reasoning for your recommendations, just like you were wondering the reasoning of his (the Duet vs. the MBox)

That said, I would also disagree with your recommendation of the Liquid Channel. It may be a great product, but I don't think it is worth 5/6 of his budget.


Back to the OP,

May I ask why you are looking for Large Diaphragm condensers for the Tenors and a Small Diaphragm for the Soprano?

 

[buffoon38]

This is really a great place for a newbie to learn...

What a great place!!! Thank you all for your replies...

To zimv20 and ChrisA:

Yeah! I'll go with you not think about MIDI when pick up the audio interface. That'll be much easier.

To pkoch1:

"May I ask why you are looking for Large Diaphragm condensers for the Tenors and a Small Diaphragm for the Soprano?"

The reason was that I get info from somewhere it said that using small diaphragm one to get brighter and purer high voice while large diaphragm one was good for heavier and richer voice.

I never used condenser mic, so I have no idea if I could tell the different. I think one mic is good enough for my beginning. Is it right?

To all:

People do things in different way! I get more than what I expected from all of you. Thank you very, very much for sharing your experience!!!

 

[ashjamben]

just thought i'd add in case you don't know, you mentioned you've never used condenser mic's before. whatever audio interface you choose make sure it has phantom power

 

[zimv20]

The reason was that I get info from somewhere it said that using small diaphragm one to get brighter and purer high voice while large diaphragm one was good for heavier and richer voice.

i'd look at it like this: small diaphragm mics are, in general, more accurate.

check out the mics in a concert hall, they're all small diaphragm.

 

[pkoch1]

i'd look at it like this: small diaphragm mics are, in general, more accurate.

check out the mics in a concert hall, they're all small diaphragm.

Zimv's right, which conversely means large diaphragm mics are generally a little more warm and colored, which can be more pleasing. This is why LDCs are used more on vocals.

So don't think of it being that SDCs are better for high frequencies and LDCs are better for lows. Good luck with everything!

 

[buffoon38]

To ashjamben, zimv20 and pkoch1:

Yeah, I got you! Thank you for your reply!!!