Somewhat of a Newb Recording Q

[JeffTD]

Long time looker, first time poster here. Great forum to get advice from on both gear and recording techniques, and a great enviornment, socially.

Forgive me for asking, but I've wondered this for a while. In professional studios, or even home studios, after micing the amp, running the mic pre and effects, what actually puts that sound into the computer? Surely it's not run through a soundcard. I know Tascam makes a nice USB mic-pre/mixer that is good for home recording, but what do guys like Andy, James Murphy, and Steven Wilson use to run the sound to the computer?

Also, and this is probably going to be an even more newb question, but when mixing, are the individual tracks EQ's and levels controlled via the recording software, or are they somehow routed out to a mixer and individually tweaked?

Thanks a bunch!
Jeff

 

[Brett - K A L I S I A]

My guess is that in most studios, Pro Tools is used, so to transfert the tracks from the real world into the mazes of their computer, studio engineers do it with Digidesign Interfaces (such as 192 I/O, 96 or 96i) - connecting pres directly into these. James doesn't use Pro Tools (hardware) yet and "only" uses a MOTU soundcard. Concerning the routing for the mix, both cases apply, some people do it completely internally, others go through a high-end mixer.

 

[Ermz]

Yeah it all depends on the individual. The opportunities for routing audio in a digital system are pretty numerous.

To answer your first question though, the 'interface' that's used to get audio into a PC functions more or less as a soundcard. As far as I'm aware there is a PCI component, then the actual front-end box itself which houses all the jacks, preamps etc.

 

[JeffTD]

Alright that makes a lot of sense. So they just use what is essentially a very high quality soundcard, designed specifically for recording, often found in a rack system or other format (Mbox)?

As for the mixing question, Brett said people use both ways mentioned. With the mixer route, is there a special outboard controller/mixer that taps into the software, or is it more like a 'route the signal out to the mixer and back in' type of thing? I'd assume it's the first, as the latter would be tedious for each track and probably end up in a loss of sound quality, running it in and out like that.

 

[James Murphy]

My guess is that in most studios, Pro Tools is used, so to transfert the tracks from the real world into the mazes of their computer, studio engineers do it with Digidesign Interfaces (such as 192 I/O, 96 or 96i) - connecting pres directly into these. James doesn't use Pro Tools (hardware) yet and "only" uses a MOTU soundcard. Concerning the routing for the mix, both cases apply, some people do it completely internally, others go through a high-end mixer.

i use a MOTU 2408mk3 i/o which mounts in a rack, same as the digidesign i/o's..not "only a soundcard".

 

[Ermz]

Alright that makes a lot of sense. So they just use what is essentially a very high quality soundcard, designed specifically for recording, often found in a rack system or other format (Mbox)?

As for the mixing question, Brett said people use both ways mentioned. With the mixer route, is there a special outboard controller/mixer that taps into the software, or is it more like a 'route the signal out to the mixer and back in' type of thing? I'd assume it's the first, as the latter would be tedious for each track and probably end up in a loss of sound quality, running it in and out like that.

There are controllers that can be digitally hooked up to the PC that control your DAW virtually. They pretty much directly interface with Logic, Cubase, PT etc. whatever you want them to.

Another way of mixing the audio, if you're more of an analogue sort of person is to get the audio out of your DAW as individual tracks instead of back as a stereo bus. This lets you use an outboard mixer to control everything in an analogue environment. This is great if you simply want to use the computer as a 'tape machine' and have it just play the audio back to you whilst mixing. Not sure why you would, but hey, the possibility is there.

Another cool thing to do is you have a good sounding desk (like the ancient Harrison console we have down in the academy) is do your mix in ProTools or whatever and bring all the tracks out individually through the mixer and mix it down in an outboard environment. This puts the 'sound' of the desk onto the individual tracks as they'll all be running through the analogue circuitry.

If you've got the gear to do that, it's good to use it. But for most of us, we'll be struggling just to get barely-decent preamps and ADDA converters so doing all that would just be an unnecessary hassle.

 

[Impy]

Another cool thing to do is you have a good sounding desk (like the ancient Harrison console we have down in the academy) is do your mix in ProTools or whatever and bring all the tracks out individually through the mixer and mix it down in an outboard environment. This puts the 'sound' of the desk onto the individual tracks as they'll all be running through the analogue circuitry.

Why would you do the mix in pro tools when there's a Harrison Console handy? That seems a bit odd to me...
It's like people sitting in the SSL 9000K studio at my uni and they mix in pro tools only using 2 channels on the K for monitoring.
If you wanna get the sound of the console, mix through it...

 

[Awake_In_Animosity]

i use a MOTU 2408mk3 i/o which mounts in a rack, same as the digidesign i/o's..not "only a soundcard".

please excuse my ignorance James but is the soundcard built in to the 2408 box or is it external to to go into your pc?

 

[James Murphy]

please excuse my ignorance James but is the soundcard built in to the 2408 box or is it external to to go into your pc?

with motu it's very similar to pro tools... you install one or more pci-424 cards into your computrer.. each 424 card can run up to 4 rack mounted i/o units... i have one 424 card in my mac and connected to it are 3 different MOTU interfaces, mounted in my desk's rack and they all work together as one system. that's very similar to PT where you install the HD card and then hook up the the digi interface rack units to it. PT HD is of course more powerful than a motu system but i've done many albums with my MOTU system without problems and PT HD is a LOT more expensive.

having said that, i am putting together a PT HD Accel rig now... but i will keep the Motu Digital Performer rig to use in the B room and for my own composing.. i love writing with DP.

 

[Awake_In_Animosity]

Excellent thanks for the clarity, the motu website did not explain this very clearly.