How's my setup?

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KyleHale
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How's my setup?

Post by KyleHale » Tue Feb 11, 2014 12:18 pm

Hello all,
I'm an old time tape oper who is getting back into recording for the fun of it. I wanted to get some feedback regarding my setup and what I can do to improve it, or obtain the most professional quality. I went to school for recording back in 04 and recorded bands for a bit, got a little defeated by the whole industry and and joined the corporate world. Well I'm back to make some personal music now.

I'm trying to make sure my signal path is as good as I can get it. I'm recording with a RME Fireface 800 at 128/24bit. Using a focusrite 428 for preamps and mics include C414, neuman tlm 103 and km184s. Is there anything in my signal chain that could be improved? Is 128k/24bit a good rate or too high?

I used to use CakeWalk's Sonar as my DAW via bootcamp on my Mac pro, however, I'd like to use a Mac-based DAW now. I'm looking at ProTools7 or the latest Logic. Any recs on DAW's and plug ins?
Thanks for any help you can offer.
Best,
Kyle
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JWL
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Post by JWL » Tue Feb 11, 2014 1:39 pm

I think things like your monitors and the acoustics of your space will make a bigger difference than moving from the gear you have now to "better" gear.

Personally I generally record 24bit/44.1kHz. I know people who still record at 16bit 44.1 and listening tests seem to bear out the claim that most people can't hear an improvement from going to 24 bit. I'm not sure I "buy" that (after all I do record at 24), but I do know that improving your acoustics is probably the best move you can make.

As far as DAWs, I'll let some Mac guys talk about what is good, but I really like Studio One as a DAW (available on both Win and Mac). I think it's perfect for producing one's own music. Probably 90% or more of the plugins I use are stock Studio One plugins.

dfuruta
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Post by dfuruta » Tue Feb 11, 2014 1:46 pm

I like Reaper, as far as daws go. I use 44.1/24 or 88.2/24, depending on how big I'm expecting the project to be. Can't say I can hear a difference, though.

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Nick Sevilla
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Post by Nick Sevilla » Tue Feb 11, 2014 2:15 pm

"Is 128k/24bit a good rate or too high? "

Never heard of this sample rate.

I usually use 96,000 / 24 bit for recording.

Cheers
Howling at the neighbors. Hoping they have more mic cables.

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Jeff White
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Post by Jeff White » Tue Feb 11, 2014 2:22 pm

I've been a Digital Performer user since it was just Performer back in college (1990s), and I can't say enough great things about it. However, if I was looking for a solid DAW for the Mac and starting out, I'd try out Reaper first. It really is quite a solid and feature-rich recording environment, and I really can't image you needing anything else.
Fair Pricing
There is only one version of REAPER. We offer two licenses, depending on how you use it.

$225: full commercial license.
$60: discounted license.

You may use the discounted license if any of the following is true:

You are an individual, using REAPER only for personal use.
You are an individual or business, using REAPER for commercial use, and the yearly gross revenue does not exceed USD $20,000.
You are an educational or non-profit organization.
http://www.reaper.fm/

As far as how I record, I do everything tracking and mixing at 24-bit 48kHz, as I have since I started out with digital audio in the 1990s. I see no reason for *most* of the stuff that I do to go up to 88.1kHz or 96kHz, and anything higher than those sampling rates is out of the range of my interfaces. It has been discussed to death that the "most desirable and functional" sampling-rate for digital audio lies somewhere around 62kHz. I'll take the ability to run ADAT lightpipe and the ability to have 16-tracks through solid interfaces (Metric Halo 2882 and MOTU 828mk2 modified by Black Lion Audio), clocked off of my Black Lion Audio MicroClock mk2, and all processed within the Metric Halo MIO Console, over dealing with CPU headaches, lower plug-in counts, and double the hard drive space for minimal gains with 88.2kHz or 96kHz. I've personally been actively back and forth over this for the past 2 years and I'm back to 48kHz. Mastering, however... whatever I get from a client is what get used. 44.1, 48, 88.2, 96... I work on and they get files back as they came to me... and also however they want them.

Jeff
I record, mix, and master in my Philly-based home studio, the Spacement. https://linktr.ee/ipressrecord

Bro Shark
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Re: How's my setup?

Post by Bro Shark » Tue Feb 11, 2014 3:36 pm

KyleHale wrote:I'm looking at ProTools7
I assume this was a typo. You'll need PT9 at the minimum to be able to use it with the RME box. PT7 is tethered to the old Digi hardware (mbox and 002/003 lines), i.e. is not very future-proof (although, I'm sure there are still working units floating around used for not much coin).

Another happy Reaper convert here. Wonderful DAW.

MoreSpaceEcho
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Post by MoreSpaceEcho » Wed Feb 12, 2014 12:12 am

i also like reaper.

what do you mean by 128k?

personally i like 88.2, mainly because i feel like the SRC from that to 44.1 sounds better than 96 or 48->44.1.

KyleHale
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Post by KyleHale » Wed Feb 12, 2014 9:15 am

Thanks for all the recs guys. I made a typo with 129k/24 bit, I meant 192k/24 bit, which clearly seems to be overkill. When I used to record clients, I recorded at 96k/24bit with no issues. I may give 88.2k/24bit a go based on some light reading on the Nyquist-Shannon sampling theory:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sampling_rate
My speakers are Yamaha HS80Ms.
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Neal
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Post by Neal » Sun Feb 23, 2014 11:07 am

Fuck protools. Reaper is cool. I use Cubase, but that's just me.

Depending what you're recording, 88k may or may not benefit you. I feel like it helped with a couple classical recordings I did, but the last couple rock records, I don't feel like I gained much, if anything and IDK if it was worth eating up twice as much hard drive space. Plus, I had issues with some otherwise-cool free VST plugins that didn't get along with 88k very well. I'm contemplating going back to 44k for rock stuff.

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