Forum n00b speccing friend's setup

[Racerdeth]

Hey there guys, my housemate wants some help speccing a computer recording setup for in our house (he's a dentist so can actually afford to unlike myself ) and I've been thinking about. I've just finished a music tech degree so am familiar with production techniques and whatnot (though experience-wise I'm a total small-fry in comparison to a lot of you guys here! Been lurking for a while - you guys fucking ROCK!) however I'm not too well up gear-wise as to building a recording setup.

He's going to be building a PC from scratch, so I was thinking about the best way to interface. I would have made it pretty simple, but he's after using this setup to track drums as well, which makes the input requirement a whole lot greater. As his producer/engineer I prefer doing the majority, if not all of my work "in the box"

Does it make sense to get a pair of saffire pro 10s/pair of MOTU 8pres/pair of firepods and perhaps a digital desk? I don't think I'll be using more than 16 mic inputs at once (I do like quite a few mics on a kit but 13/14's usually most.) Music's gonna be mostly thrash metal for his kinda stuff or tech/prog metal for my stuff, though more likely I'll be programming/sequencing.

Of course I'm totally at the mercy of your greater experience so if I'm being a complete dumbass, then any better suggestions are more than welcome. My lurking has made me deduce that between you guys you're the be all and end all of home metal production so I'll be hanging around for a long time.


Cheers
Nick

P.S. Budget's not *really* a limit but space probably is. Thanks again

P.P.S. I'll probably be using Cubase SX 3 if that makes a difference.

 

[Machinated]

I'm not sure how much you will need a desk if you plan on doing everything in the box. Maybe if you want to use your hands go for a control surface of some sort.

There are a ton of options for you, which really comes down to budget. I'm currently running a MOTU 896HD and a Mackie Onyx 800R joined via ADAT for all my input. This means I have 16 XLR input's (+ 1/4 jack on the MOTU) all with phantom power, plus 2 digital inputs which I can use with my PodXT Pro for example. Going for an 8pre/saffire pro/firepod/whatever will give you a similar rig.

If you want to have a more high end rig, you can get some better A/D converters, and run a load of nice pre's into them. There are quite a few threads on preamps right now, so maybe have a skim through them.

Good luck with it!

 

[Racerdeth]

Thanks man, I'm so glad this forum's full of people with great knowledge that are so helpful too, it can be a little daunting asking for help on such things. It's a big relief!

Are you using the ADAT for linking the two units together? How well does that work for you? Is firewire generally the accepted connection method to PC around here? I'm gonna have a read up on the units you mentioned, cheers.

As for guitars that I'll be recording I'll be using a Marshall TSL100 through a 2x12 with T-75s, and my BOSS GT-pro through a TSL100's poweramp and 2x12 with V-30s (might consider whacking those two cabs together, see what happens actually) also probably using the GT-Pro's digi-out also. On my own computer I make rough demo recordings that way just running into an M-Audio Audiophile 2496, but it's not the best thing for multitracking really Guitars are an Ibanez RG1527 with DiMarzio Evo7 and Air Norton 7, Ibanez Jap RG470 with DiMarzio Evo and Air Norton, Maverick F1 with stock pickups (though I'm doing some audio demos for a pickup manufacturer soon so the stockies'll be replaced) and my co-guitarist's Ibanez RG7321 still with stockies and his LTD AX-400 with DiMarzio FRED and Air Norton pickups.

 

[Machinated]

ADAT is a pretty cool feature, it allows up to 8 channels of audio to link optically into another interface at 44.1/48 kHz, or less channels at higher sample rates. So basically I have my Onyx plugged into my 896 via ADAT and then everything from the 896 gets into my PC via firewire. You can get some interface with a ton of ADAT in's, so you could just buy a load of preamps with ADAT outs and link them that way. Or you could buy analogue preamps and the A/D converters and then to your interface.

There are so many options haha. I suppose what you go with does correlate to what you would like to spend.

 

[Racerdeth]

Wicked. Cheers again for all the advice. Good call on the 496. Methinks I'll shove him in the general direction of a pair of them.

Each preamp's going to clock in at a fair few hundred quid each, right? I'd start to think 16 of them is taking the piss, even for a dentist

Thanks a lot Machinated, you've been tres helpful.
It's great to be back on UM, I used to post on the unofficial maiden board before the official maiden board refugees came over and the entire board erupted into dance of death flaming (rightly so ) and the Arch Enemy board until it erupted into Anthems of Rebellion flaming and Angela Gossow retired as moderator (though she did reply to PMs so fucking respeck' to her!)

Cheers
Nick

P.S. and another quick n00b question... Impulses - are they essentially speaker simulators?