Hello MacMusic!!!!

I'm in a band who is being asked by their indie label to rerecord and make some new tracks for an album--we've been using reaktor and reason and logic and whatnot--the label recommended a recording guru who recommended the following products:

-----clipped from his email------

Really Nice Mic Preamp (STEREO)--
http://www.mercenary.com/fmrrnmp.html -- this is the best
price/performance pre I've heard.
Sytek--might get a 4 channel on ebay for 750$.
API 200 or 500 series, TUBE TECH MP-1A, NEVE, Great River...These are
higher end and more expensive.

A to D converter possibilities:
Lucid AD96/24 (never used this, I've heard good things)
Apogee Rosetta AD/DA (not heard, pretty standard but you get the DA as
well for monitoring)
Mytek AD or DA(these are around 1000$ for a stereo unit, really good)
Lavry AD or DA
------------------------------------------

The problem is, said guru is now in the middle of a recording session and hasn't responded to our follow-up emails... and we have even more basic questions like, what mic should we get? should we use a mac laptop? can that even work with these a/d things and whatnot... etc....

Can anyone please please shed some light? we definitely need to use better recording equipment... and we'd like to switch over to protools but really have no clue where to start... any advise would be great!!!!

thanks!!!

JF

If you go the 002 fader pack LE route you need the fastest Mac you can get your hands on, lots of RAM and an external firewire drive to record onto.
He's quoting some pretty familiar commercial studio converters there, Apogee certainly are highly rated and can interface with Pro Tools TDM systems, not LE.
An Apogee trak 2 would be fantastic, mic amp and interface, only 2 channel converter though but you haven't said whether you're doing live takes or tracking, 2 channels may be enough unless you have live drums or something, usually with stuff like reactor and reason etc you can get away with two.
Mic is very important, don't skimp as the saying goes..garbage in, garbage out. It may be an old programmers addage but it works. Get something like a Langevin mic and you won't regret it, buy a cheap large condenser and you'll be forever trying to tweak out the harsh top end or handling noise, pops, clicks and general distortion.
Certainly if you start buying all the quality gear you're listing inc esoteric names like Neve, Apogee, API and then you throw a cheap chinese mic into the mixer you may as well pack up and go home as the rest of the gear will really show up how poor it is.
It's a chain of events...sound source to mic to amp to converter to computer to converter to speakers.. or something like that. If you start at the beginning and choose well you won't go wrong.
How about a nice mic or two, a trak2 with firewire, a 64 bit mac with a drive and a good set of self powered monitors and some decent headphones. Kinda self contained too, if you got an imac then the whole lot could fit into a suitcase.
The only other thing I would add is valves or tape, a lot of people say that digital is too clean and it needs to be warmer. Something like a trak2 has an insert point so you can patch effects etc into the signal chain, you could put a tape machine or a valve guitar pedal in here to add warmth, or do it in software with a plug in.

Dear OurManFlinty,

Thanks so much for your advise!!!! Apogee it is... do we have to use ProTools or can we stick with Logic--we're just not sure what the diff is and if it's gonna slow us down? Also, is there a laptop solution or should it def be a 64bit mac? thanks!!!! and i realise this is tantamount to blasphemy, but as pc's are quite cheep these days, is there a reason not to use them?

thanks!!!!

JF

Hi Juicefriend

Pro Tools / Logic, the two often go together, people use logic software with their Pro Tools hardware, you should stick to Logic, it sounds as if you've got experience there so make the most of it.
Logic is mac only unles you go for an older Emagic version so that rules out PC's and anyway who needs the technical overhead of trying to run multiple programs on a pc and keep all the virii out and the whole thing together, use a mac and just let it all flow.
You get a lot more power with a the 64 bit goodness in a new imac, a surprising amount, reaktor, reason and logic all going hammer and tong without a hiccup., just fit plenty plenty RAM, the drawback is that you can't do it on the move like a laptop can.

good luck!