Hey Guys! Studio Equipment Question!

[Corbic]

Hey guys, so I'm putting together a small studio for my apartment here at school, and I want to have the ability to record 4 tracks at once. I like a lot of older recording techniques and older sounds, so I'm not looking to do anything super crazy. I want to record a three-piece band live, with a mic on the guitar, a direct-input bass, and a Recorderman (two-mic) setup on the drums. So here's my question.

If I got two more mic preamps, could I connect four mics to this device and record all four at once? If so I think this would be my perfect solution, for now at the least, until I have the money to really upgrade to a nice setup. Until then, I want something I'll be able to get usable sounds from, and if it does the above, I think it'll fit the bill! Thanks guys!

Heres the device in question: http://pro-audio.musiciansfriend.co...B-2.0-4channel-AudioMIDI-Interface?sku=583089

 

[That90'sGuy]

Re: Hey Guys! Studio Equipment Question!

The Tascam stuff is pretty good equipment for the money. I have a US-122 that I still use for my Midi stuff. I used to record with that thing all the time when I first got into it, but it was mostly for laying down guitar and vocal ideas.

Unfortunately, however, that particular unit won't work for you. That particular one only has (2) XLR inputs [your microphone connections]. The reason why they're calling it a 4 channel is that there are separate 1/4'' inputs for the other 2 channels. Microphones typically use XLR because they're balanced lines as opposed to 1/4'' which are considered unbalanced. What type of mics you'll be using will determine what features you'll need. For instance, if you plan on using a condenser mic, you'll need what they call "Phantom power" which is 48v that gets delivered through the XLR connectors to the mics.

The problem that I see so far is that finding a USB interface with (4) mic inputs as the minimum will run you atleast a good $400 which I'm sure is probably much more than what you want to spend at this point.

 

[uOpt]

Re: Hey Guys! Studio Equipment Question!

I not sure that one can even record the XLRs and 1/4" plugs and transmit it to the computer simultaneously. It might force you to mix them right there and only does stereo to the computer.

I also have a US-122 and it does it's job well, but it is limited.

You could get one of these suckers and mic preamp that has XLR in and use that one with the computer's soundcard for now. Then you'd have your 4 channels in.

 

[Corbic]

Re: Hey Guys! Studio Equipment Question!

I apologize if I sound like I'm beating on a dead horse here, but is it possible to use something like this on those line inputs? That way I could plug a mic or a bass preamp into this and send this into the line input, if it could work that way? Sorry for the repetitive questions, I just want to get all my facts straight on this!

The second device in question: http://pro-audio.musiciansfriend.com/product/ART-Tube-MP-Studio-Mic-Preamp?sku=180581

 

[Corbic]

Re: Hey Guys! Studio Equipment Question!

uOpt I didn't see your response when I responded! Thank you guys for the information, looks like I'm off to find some different equipment again!

 

[uOpt]

Re: Hey Guys! Studio Equipment Question!

No problem

That tube unit is mono in case you didn't see it. Enough for your particular setup with 3 mics and one line-in if you use the soundcard. Problem is, you probably don't know whether your soundcard is any good.

 

[Virtual Kevorkian]

Re: Hey Guys! Studio Equipment Question!

Just get something like the FirePod or FireStudio with more preamps than you need. No sense in buying outboard pres on a budget, and nobody makes anything with only 4 onboard preamps besides RME and Apogee, but that's out of your budget.

 

[That90'sGuy]

Re: Hey Guys! Studio Equipment Question!

uOpt I didn't see your response when I responded! Thank you guys for the information, looks like I'm off to find some different equipment again!

As uOpt mentioned, that Art pre would work for your setup to give you a 3rd mic input. The quality would be questionable, however.

Just get something like the FirePod or FireStudio with more preamps than you need. No sense in buying outboard pres on a budget, and nobody makes anything with only 4 onboard preamps besides RME and Apogee, but that's out of your budget.

This. The PreSonus stuff is pretty darn good bang for the buck and would probably be the better investment overall. At some point, you're more than likely going to want atleast 1 more mic input (vocals?) and you'll appreciate having that available.

 

[Corbic]

Re: Hey Guys! Studio Equipment Question!

Thanks again for the advice guys! I'm going to go for the Firepod, I've found a few for sale that fit in my budget, and along with that I should be making the other main purchases within the week to finish my setup! I'll post some tests of it as soon as it's all come together in hopefully a weeks time.