cheddatom

I bought a mic of Terry this week. I paid one day and received the mic within 2 days! I was very impressed - a top bloke to deal with, thouroughly recommended etc.

[quote name='clauster' post='922914' date='Aug 12 2010, 04:38 PM']No you're not, you're losing the control surface for automation. You can still do automation via the mouse.[/quote] Yeh, I hadn't really thought about it as you'd be messing with your physical faders for mixing. I'd find it weird to mix on a seperate set of faders to my automated ones, but to be fair it would be fine - drawing in automation where required, but getting your overall mix right on the desk.

[quote name='clauster' post='922609' date='Aug 12 2010, 12:32 PM']Regarding the point of why buy protools (or any DAW) and use an external mixer for mixing when you could use the built in automation - it's giving the computer less to do. So better latency, more tracks and more stability.[/quote] Yeh but you're losing the ability to automate. Horses for courses innit - my 5 year old PC manages songs with 100+ tracks and 50+ VSTs and automation. It does start to struggle at the top end of what I do to be fair, but it's 5 years old.

[quote name='Beedster' post='922534' date='Aug 12 2010, 11:37 AM'] I can't see many advantages of the Digidesign 003 over the M-Audio Projectmix (which has 8 mic I/Ps), despite the price difference of over £500, am I missing something?[/quote] No it's just that it's specifically designed for PT. The last pro studio I was in used one, but only as a controller. He had other Digi interfaces for his inputs, and these all came off a huge old valve desk.

The new 58s are cool. I have a 58beta something and it has much more top end than the old 58 I had.

well it's kind of standard to have 8 faders on your controller, and then you just switch up and down your virtual mixer in banks of 8. I suppose that's why. The ADAT input means it's easy to add an extra 8 mic inputs. But yeh, an interface/controller with 16 mic inputs and 16 faders would be pretty cool - it's just most people who have that kind of cash won't mind spending the extra for 24 channels. FWIW I hardly ever record more than 16 channels at the same time.

I do get the impression that a lot of people "in the know" don't like Cubase. I personally love it. That's because i've been using the same version (SX3) for 5 years now so I know it inside out. I found Pro Tools pretty easy to get going with. I had a pretty frustrating time on it due to a badly set up mac at uni (and I don't know how to fix macs) so that will bias my opinions. There's things like the Digidesign 003 which comes with Pro Tools LE and is designed to control it. It only has 4 mic inputs though, so again you'd be looking at a rack of pres with ADAT output. I've been having a look on studio spares and it all gets a bit confusing. I've just seen a tascam USB interface with 8 pre amps, 6 line ins and 4 line outs for £400 which I thought was pretty amazing, but I don't know if it'd work on a mac. Anyway, I reckon you need to divide off a certain portion of your budget for acoustic treatment before you decide on hardware, because it'll probably be the most expensive bit. You should be able to build a decent set up for whichever DAW you chose though.

I've used that behringer rack of pres with ADAT output, and it wasn't that bad - it's a cheap way to turn the m-audio into 16 channels. It might be cheaper to get a seperate controller and interface. I was just going to have a look for you but i'm not sure if you've decided on a DAW? Some controllers are DAW specific.

Just a little question- What's the point in using the PC like a tape machine (IE routing the mix back to individual channels on the desk) if you have a controller for your DAW? We used to do this at uni using hard disk recorders, but with Pro Tools we always used the controller - it just seems simpler and means your desk can be half the width.

Do it, set a trend.

No one has mentioned Record - the new DAW from Propellerhead. I've not tried it but it "sounds" great.

I voted Cubase, but i've only compared it to ProTools. I did like ProTools but not as much. I haven't tried Logic or Reaper which both look great.

[quote name='charic' post='919495' date='Aug 9 2010, 12:29 PM']You could find 8 channels very limiting. What kind of budget are you looking at for a mixer?[/quote] You can add 8 more with ADAT

Surely it would be possible to replicate the cab you have. Have you opened it? If there are several seperate sections - all of these could be seperate boxes. You could use neo drivers instead too? It could be worth trying to replicate the same design but in a more maneuverable package.

I like the look of that project mix!! Cool.

Another gig full of jail bait for me - one of our fans' 18th birthday party. There was no stage, just a little dance floor, so a few girls were up there dancing right next to us. Most enjoyable!

I used to think i'd need an octave up or down, or some sort of harmony pedal to help fill out sections. Getting my distortion sounds right, and using a guitar amp as well disuaded me (although I have a whammy on my board). Maybe try playing some chords?

[quote name='Beedster' post='916686' date='Aug 6 2010, 09:05 AM']Fair points Tom. However, whatever the rights and wrongs, if the buyer wants to use the DSR he has a limited time to do so (I think 7 days from receipt of the bass). Arguing that he was sitting around waiting for eBay to respond to his emails will not be considered an excuse if he misses that deadline. C[/quote] Yeh, and I read your link about DSR it was most informative thanks!

If you buy a used computer, always format it before using it. A fresh install will never contain viruses. escholl - I disagree on usability, but that's just an opinion. I guess you're right about sharing/swapping projects in that more people do use Pro Tools.

"the seller" is an Ebay Store. If I order a pair of shoes online as in the above example, I want to be able to return them if they don't fit. If I order a bass, from a shop, and I don't like it when it arrives, why should I not be able to return it? How do you know if you like a bass without playing it? I'm sure this will provoke the usual "well you should buy in a shop then" - so shall we make online stores illegal?

[quote name='escholl' post='916068' date='Aug 5 2010, 03:04 PM']i would suggest not using cubase[/quote] How come?

[quote name='blackmn90' post='915997' date='Aug 5 2010, 02:16 PM']For computors your going to need something with a) lots of power and lots of memory. I would personaly go for a mac just because windows is flooded with viruses that have ruined my laptop countless times.[/quote] I don't plug my studio PC into the net - just an idea.

[quote name='Beedster' post='915957' date='Aug 5 2010, 01:47 PM']Agreed, although sound-proofing is obviously a two way street, as much about keeping extraneous sound out as keeping ours in, Much as I'd like the space to have a vibe, the sound of distant farm machinery grinding away during the second verse might be a little too much character, as might the sound of the potential Mrs Beedster pulling up outside with her car stereo on 10! I think the build diary could well happen. Cheers C[/quote] Yeh, of course. At my place we get lorries and all sorts, but not too much as I only record after hours. I think the fact i'm only really doing loud rock music helps, although I did an acoustic album with a young guy, and that went really well - we just had to re-do a couple of songs because of engine noise. Mixing desk - I really like the protools mixers with integration with the computer. I think it works really well. I think they're probably out of your budget, but I wouldn't know for sure. It would deffinitely be nice to have some sort of physical control over your DAW. I have a steinberg houston, which isn't the most amazing product ever, but I got it used on here for £100ish, and it's great for transport, and for mixing and automation. I won't suggest an actual mixer as obviously you could afford one with nice pre-amps etc and I try not to look at gear I can't afford. However, deciding on the number of channels shouldn't be too hard - how many mics do you want to record simultaneously? Add 4 to that number for good measure. RE the computer, it's all down to preference. I like Cubase and PCs, but I also like Pro Tools. I use PCs and windows because I know how, not because they're better than Macs. I deffinitely think you're looking at a proper tower rather than a laptop though.