personal rig for project, suggestions? / experience?

[joeymusicguy]

hey everyone

i have a plan to write and record a record on a mobile setup
the setup will be purchased specifically for this purpose

the material will be mostly metal based, similarities to opeth, btbam, dimmu borgir (so lots of technical orchestration and composition between instruments)

i want to be able to do this from a laptop so i can add / mess with anything practically anywhere anytime

im planning to go upper end mac book pro, but im open to suggestions

planned daw: logic / pro tools

control: fader port, axiom 49 pro

interface: ??

monitor solution: ??

please share all suggestions / experience!

the entire project is to be entirely in the box. i need to be able to travel and record guest vocalists and guitar players.
no need for multi tracking drums on this setup.

 

[PhilTheBeard]

You can always get a profire 610 those are pretty badass or just a mbox 2 pro. thats if your planning on running protools. if you run logic then maybe you could check out the fireface 400's.

 

[joeymusicguy]

You can always get a profire 610 those are pretty badass or just a mbox 2 pro. thats if your planning on running protools. if you run logic then maybe you could check out the fireface 400's.

it sucks because im on the fence about pro tools compatibility...

i can't decide what daw to use, my experience tells me that cubase is going to be open ended power, where as pro tools is going to be stable but limited power.

and logic is a native system just like cubase, but im not very familiar with logic yet..

tough choices, but thanks for the suggestions.

 

[ParsonsMatt]

Reaper Apogee Duet would make a nice portable interface if the ins/outs aren't too limiting. Alternatively, an RME Fireface 400 might work well for you.

 

[joeymusicguy]

yeah i've thought about the fireface 400 for a while, i currently have a fireface 800

any pro tools suggestions? possible problems, or limitations?

 

[PhilTheBeard]

well your not going to have as many usable tracks with le that you do with hd. but le still inst a bad daw what so ever. i have 002 and pro tools 8 works just fine. but hey if you get a protools compatible interface and decide not to use pro tools. cubase works fine on all those interfaces at least i know when i used my mbox mini cubase worked great on it.

 

[ParsonsMatt]

yeah i've thought about the fireface 400 for a while, i currently have a fireface 800

any pro tools suggestions? possible problems, or limitations?

You could potentially use any interface to track with, then get the M-Box mini(?) for pro-tools compatibility in mixing.

 

[LydonB]

You could go with a Metric Halo ULN-8. A friend of mine uses it with Logic. They mainly do classical and jazz recordings with it. Really pricey unit though.

 

[joeymusicguy]

You could go with a Metric Halo ULN-8. A friend of mine uses it with Logic. They mainly do classical and jazz recordings with it. Really pricey unit though.

nice find, i wish one of these companies would step up to the mobile market and make some pt compatible mobile devices like this one

like the lynx that tricks the hd cards into having a 192 interface hooked up.

 

[joeymusicguy]

i think im just gonna go pt guys

but i dont know anything about the native land of pt

what should i focus on?

 

[gabriel g.]

Track limitations, no delay compensation..... everything else is fine!!!

But for a mobil-rig, and a mac-book-pro I say: Go with logic 9!!!
Why?
-Delay compensation.
-You can use a lot of plugins while tracking (like waves stuff)
-SUPER stabil
-great virtual instruments (which are very easy to use, and sound great)
-using the great osx sound-engine
-You have a big cubase backround (it took me like 2 days to get comfortable with logic after 5 years of cubase)
-You can use any interface you want
Like your profire 800, the small audient, the small apogee (so you get a cristal clear high-end sound quality without hooking up any M-audio lightbridge....)

-You can buy Logic 9 and install it on your Mac-pro AND on your Mac-book-pro (because you are allowed to and dont need any dongle)
-Logic is super efficient on your ressorces (which are limited on the MBP)

cheers

 

[ahjteam]

Why not Cubase 5? It works with mac.

 

[gabriel g.]

Cubase 4 works on mac too (but only on the paper IMO)
Cubase 4 was the reason I switched to logic.....

Dont know about cubase 5 and macs. It is worth a try because Joey owns it anyways ...

 

[joeymusicguy]

guess i'll have to wait to see what happens at namm

i need to learn pro tools efficiently, and this project might be a way to help that

also cubase on mac is really uncool, i have it on my mac pro for session importing

 

[dani]

cubase mac is uncool?! D:

cubase 4 mac is fine, for me..!

thought of any of the line6 stuff? the UX2 is small, and comes with pod farm (ie, no ilok needed). the UX8 is pretty nang too, however, some people have allergies or something when it comes to USB interfaces and multiple ins and outs (i've never had a problem with mine, though).

cubase 5 is rewritten for cocoa, so it should be like a million times more stable and usable than cubase 4 (which is written for carbon).

you've already decided on pro tools, though.. sad times.

joe, you have lost some respect from me! (oh noes..)

thanks,

 

[ahjteam]

btw, how mobile this has to be? like car mobile or aeroplane mobile? Here are something that came in mind

A car-mobile rig that can multitrack drums too:

a 19" rack filled with:
- 2U DigiDesign 003+ Factory or 1U M-Audio ProFire 2626 _OR_ whatever Avid releases with PTHD native
- 1U Focusrite Octopre (if you need more than 8 in, otherwise not required)
- 2U rack drawer for triggers, 2 headphones, headphone amplifier and microphones
- 4U rack drawer for cables and a snake
- Optional: 1U-2U for a channelstrip for vocals
- Optional: ~6-10U Foamed locker to fit the monitors (something with 5" woofers?)
- Optional: 2U If you choose a smaller keyboard (25 keys or no keys at all), you can fit them to the rack
+ 2-4 tall micstands


Aeroplane mobile rig for just vocals and guitars:
- 2U Digidesign Eleven Rack or 1U M-Audio Profire 610
- 2 micstands, 2 mics, 2 XLR cables, 2 jack-cables, 2 headphones

 

[rlcramer]

Why not get something like an Apogee Duet (which sounds 100% killer regardless of the price and it works amazingly well with Logic), and then forget about PT compatibility. You can always export stems and import them into PT for your final mix. Who are you kidding - you're never going to complete the ENTIRE project on the MBP. You know you're gonna mix it on your main rig once it's done. As long as you can export to PT from the MBP, I think you're cool.

Oh yeah - and go for a good set of headphones for monitors. There's no such thing as "mobile" monitors (unless you're talking --mobile-- as in - "Let me drag some gear into dining room" mobile).

Just my 2 cents.

Bobby

 

[ze kink]

My suggestions:
-15" Macbook Pro
-Logic 9, unless Avid releases something cool at NAMM. Logic is IMO far nicer for writing etc. and it doesn't have track limits and such annoyances that PT LE has. And you don't need to have the PT compatible interface plugged in all the time; you can just open your laptop to do some quick edits on the couch or whatever.
-Genelec 8020's as monitors. They come with a bag and should be light enough to carry around.
-I'd probably use the Fireface 800 as the interface, as you own it already. Obviously you could always sell it and get the Fireface 400 or similar, if you need a smaller interface. However, I don't think that a 1U interface is too much of a burden. You could get a nice and light 2U/3U rack (with wheels and a place for your laptop or whatever) and then just add a nicer 1U or 2U preamp.

 

[JeffTD]

also cubase on mac is really uncool, i have it on my mac pro for session importing

Curious as to what you're referring to... I use it on both Mac and PC and it's fine on both?

 

[joeymusicguy]

Curious as to what you're referring to... I use it on both Mac and PC and it's fine on both?

its sort of slow and unresponsive on my system

it also looks really weird, like wave forms are blurry