What Equipment Is Best For Starting Out?, Starting new studio using Mac G4 Options

[everybodysnobody]

Hey everyone.... I'm looking to start a new recording studio using a Mac G4 w/Digital Performer... I'm just curious what equipment you'd recommend to start out with. (i.e. - what mixers, midi, monitors, mics, preamps, synths, etc....) Basically just looking for some different ideas for complete studio setups for starting out using the mac g4 w/Digital performer. Any advice would be much appreciated. Thanks.

[lepetitmartien]

uh… Don't you think the question is a bit… uh… wide…

What kind of music do you want to do ?
How many tracks do you want to make at once ?
Budget ?
etc.

answers will start to sprout if you help the answerers

If you want to make your own rock band, have a choir at home, hip hop jam, or just make some electronica it's definetly not the same issues even if the basic material can be the same.

[everybodysnobody]

lol.... sorry... umm.... I want to record anywhere from 4 to 16 tracks, mostly doing acoustic guitars and vocals, possibly some full rock band recordings, but mostly just acoustics and vocals to start out, and probably would like to get a midi controller to work on some electronica, based off that, what equipment do you think would be good to obtain or essential to start out? I'm using a mac G4 w/digital performer, and thinking of getting the audiophile firewire interface. Should i use something other than digital performer, should i get the interface, and if so... what else should I get or would be recommended to just kind of start learning the recording process and be able to gradually pick it up and buy more equipment. Just kind of looking for the basic essentials to be able to start recording some tracks and working with software and mixing and editing and then eventually build up to a bigger/more efficient studio setup.

[The King of Hell...]

Hello there,
You are alright with Digital Performer and the G4, that is more than enough to start doing your first recordings and probably for a really long time you will be using this software and computer.
I would not recommend at all the interface you are looking at now though.The Audiophile Interface is not the right thing for what you want to do, the analog inputs are Line Level RCA so you could never record a guitar or a microphone and this what you want to do.
In this case it far better suits your needs the M-Audio Firewire 410 Interface with two mic preamps and two line level jack connections(so you need two mic preamps to use the four analog inputs simultaneously).Anyway one of the things you have to made up your mind about is how many audio tracks you will record at once.Just imagine you are going to record a drum Kit, or a live set.In this situation you will probably need more than 4 mics to get a good result.If that is the case you need to look at other options as MOTU 828 MKII (this is the interface I have, it works pretty well) and the Digi 002 Rack (with 4 mic preamps instead of two of MOTU and shipping with Pro Tools LE instead of Audio Desk from MOTU, a little bit more expensive as well).

I hope it helps!!!

[kaboombahchuck]

As far as monitors go, I highly recomend the Alesis M1 active Mk2 studio monitors. They are every bit as good as the high end monitors but at a mid level price.

[everybodysnobody]

thanks for all the great advice...., I was looking into possibly the motu 828, i heard a lot of good things about it... if i decide to go with that though, i'll need 4 mic pre-amps and obviously some good mics, but what in addition to that? Should i go with the digi 002 rack? Also... to the other response, i'll definitely check into the alesis monitors... thanks.

[The King of Hell...]

Hi there,
The Motu 828 has two mic preamps, the Digi 002 has four mic preamps.But besides this there are more differences between them.Unfortunately I have never been able to compare them myself, the really interesting thing would be to know if one sounds better than the other for whatever reason (AD converters, the mic preamps themselves, etc).I finally went myself for the Motu for a question of budget and knowing that many people thinks it is a good option and it sounds alright, at least to me!!!!.
What you need to get from there is a question of budget, you need more preamps up to the point you have as many as tracks you want to record simultaneously (limited to 8 analog inputs in the Motu 828 and 8 as well in the Digi 002 as far as I can remember).
It is recommended a compressor as well to get the best signal to noise ratio inserted after the mic preamp and before the AD converter.That way you avoid digital compression while having a good signal recorded.Specially indicated for percussive instruments.
It is recommended to have an external hard drive (running at 7200 rpm) dedicated to record and playback your audio files.
Besides this the sky is the limit!!.Anyway as I said it depends on your budget, if you can´t afford a compressor buy it later but start recording anyway.If you can´t afford more than two extra mic preamps, you will have to make do with the ones you have.Imagination and good taste can´t be bought with money!!!!!!!.Sometimes I think we worry too much about the gear (me included), it´s all about music!!!!!

Good Luck!!!!

[everybodysnobody]

Thanks for the input! I totally agree with the "I think we worry too much about the gear" I think the Motu 828 is the best decision for now, especially running Digital Performer, I don't think there should be any conflict speaking that they're both MOTU. A compressor is definitely something worth looking into, I understand that completely, but what should I get for a AD converter? I'm a little confused on that, I'm assuming for converting analog to digital, but again, I'm new at this. I have an extra hard drive I can hook up for the external, which perfectly makes sense as well. I'll just have to pick up some more mic preamps at a later date, not in the budget right this minute, but definitely something i'll be looking into. I guess the only thing I have a question on is the AD converter, any help is of course appreciated. Thanks!

[The King of Hell...]

Sorry Mate,
AD converter as you perfectly figured out is a device that converts the analog audio signal into an audio digital signal.The Digi 002 or the Motu 828 or any other audio interface contains an AD converter besides having any other components (like mic preamps, etc...).This is their main task, converting the analog audio signal coming from your source (microphone, guitar, etc...) into an audio digital signal so that you can get the signal into your computer and edit it.
In short, the audio interfaces are basically AD converters.
As you can imagine this is a crucial step, that is way I was saying that if one audio interface delivers a better quality digital audio signal the reason will surely be that their AD converters are better.
Just for the sake of it check if you want the Apogee audio interfaces.You will see immediately that they are very, very expensive.Their converters are truly professional and that makes them cost a lot of money.The Apogee Mini-Me. is just a two channel audio interface and it costs as double as the Motu 828.

Anyway, I do not think it would a good investment right now.The Motu sounds good and is affordable so let´s record music!!!!!

[everybodysnobody]

Thanks for the advice, I think the motu 828 is what I'm gonna go with, the apogee's are expensive, but totally understand what you're saying about the AD converters. Definitely gonna get started on some recording, one other thing is what do you think is a good idea for a midi controller? One with all the patches, to umm... well, possibly write some electronic music, and also possibly use it with some software programs such as Finale or band in a box, to write actual sheet music, with like orchestrated parts, just looking for an opinion or advice in that area, without having to buy a complete full keyboard (i.e. Korg, Kurzweil, etc..) right now.