"m-audio Firewire 410" Or "egosys Hexa-fire"?, audio recording Options

[connstellation]

Hi,

I'm very much new to audio-recording. So my question is: "What do I need to record a full Bigband?" (+-18 musicians) I already have a Powerbook 1,25 Ghz and Cubase SX.
But now... "M-Audio Firewire 410" or "Egosys Hexa-fire"?
Do I need 16 channels in from the Hexa-fire, to record the bigband or is 2 enough from the M-Audio? I did read something about "Behringer ADA8000 Ultragain Pro 8-Channel A/D D/A Converter" but don't know what to do...

Thx for the help

Brecht

[boze]

you can record any band- big or otherwise- with either of those soundcards. how many mics do you have / want to use to record?

i don't have specific bigband recording experience, but i've recorded an old jazz combo i used to play in and we just used two condenser mics ortf style (like spacing and angling them to simulate two ears on a head).

when i was in music school they'd use a similar setup to record recitals, sometimes i could see a third mic pointing straight at the performers as well.

your soundcard choice will be based mainly on your i/o needs, driver compatibility (with osx in this case- that's reason enough for me to hold off on the hexa-fire until ppl know how stable the drivers are), and price. i like the idea of a fw soundcard for a pbook, but i wish the m-audio fw410 had more inputs even if it only had two xlr's.

[connstellation]

Thxs for the answer...
I also think it is good recording with 2 mics but when I like to use more, how will I manage this?
Only 2 inputs does not mean that you can only record to 2 tracks at the same time? (I'm a professional musician but you can see that I'm VERY much new to this...)

PS: "you can record any band- big or otherwise- with either of those soundcards. how many mics do you have / want to use to record?"

Let's say: 20 mics

[boze]

20 mics! wow- so what's the customary thing to do in a studio context with that many mics? I guess you need xlr inputs for most of them? if you have a mixer with enough i/o for all your mics then you can go out the mixer into any two channel soundcard but what you lose is the ability to edit the indidual instruments after the recording has been made. you'd need to setup levels, eq, and fx for each track on the mixer before you record the performance.

do people really do this? close-mic an entire bigband and record to discrete tracks?

maybe if you had a few submixers you could use them for each section. for example, 4 mics of a drumkit could all be submixed, ditto a group of mics for the horn sections.

i'll bet my mixer or something like it would be a good choice. i have a yamaha 01v, and the routing seems very flexible to me. it also has 4 aux sends which could be used indivually to carry drums, horns, vocals, bass.

that way you could be recording maybe 8 tracks at once, and four of them could be from the aux outs, two could be the main outs with a mix of stuff from the board, and two could be lead vocal mics going directly into the xlr inputs on the soundcard or something.

maybe something like a MOTU 828 or the HexaFire might be a better bet since you have to potential for so many discrete voices all at once with your bigband.

i guess if i had to buy just one thing it'd be something like the Hexa-fire because of all it's xlr inputs, but some submixing would also come in handy and once you do that the need for a lot of xlr's on your soundcard might not be as great.

i think this question would get better response at the forums at this link http://www.homerecording.com/bbs/

i find that this place is better for mac-centric stuff and homerecording.com is better for engineering stuff.

good luck- it sounds like fun!

This post has been edited by boze: Tue 7 Oct 2003, 21:18

[boze]

i'm thinking you can definitely get good results either way- just that the more tracks you record the more control you'll have of the sound after the performance itself is over.

i'd skip the fw410 though so that you won't end up feeling stuck with only two inputs.

[connstellation]

My thinking was: "When I record all the instruments to seperate tracks, I'll have more control over the sound" but that's not completely true. As you say: "when good mixing is done before record, it has to work fine.

I like the idea of a digital mixer (yamaha 01v) but that's a lot of money , on the other hand, I think 2 inputs is not enough (I want to use all the features of Cubase SX in more than 2 tracks). So no I first have to buy a good audio-converter that works fine with, lets say, at least 8 inputs. I think I'll make groups of instruments (like you said) to record the bigband.

So my question is still: "what audio-converter?" I am now sure not to buy the Firewire 410, but there are so many options....
When I read through all the reactions on posts (from different forums) I became crazy

What do you think of the: "Motu 828 MK2"? This converter also seems interesting to me (because of the phantom power it supports and the 20 IN's).

[connstellation]

Or when I obtain for (only) 8 inputs maybe the "octafire" from egosysis is enough for me.
But I did read something about the drivers from "octa- & hexafire"? Aren't they good? Maybe the "Motu 828 MK2" is better?

*confused*

This post has been edited by connstellation: Wed 8 Oct 2003, 10:33

[boze]

it would be good to know your budget- that would help narrow down your options and other ppl's suggestions as well.

it's a tall order asking for that many xlr inputs with mic pre's. i was over at audiomidi.com and it looks like you're right to choose the hexa-fire as it has the most xlr inputs by far for that price ($799us). but i doubt you'll be able to get around the submixer idea with 20 mics.

how about a hexafire and something like this: http://www.zzounds.com/item--BEHUB2442FXP

that looks like a lot of pre's and routing capabilities for $299

take a look at this link for a pulldown that shows a good pic of the back panel as well: http://www.americanmusical.com/item.asp?UI...m=BEH+UB2442FXP

looks like plenty of independant output options. maybe something like this and a MOTU 828 or some soundcard with a nice mix of xlr and 1/4" inputs and you could use those direct outs from the mixer (maybe the sub outs too?).