Help with what equipment to buy

[ronimlach]

Hi Guys

I have started construction of my studio in my cellar i have 2 rooms control room and live room both rooms are 6 M3 i have got advice on the acoustics from company in London.
The equipment i have so far is not so much and need advice on other components i will need in future till now i have Alen and Heath Z436 digital mixer and Tascam 2488 NEO recorder and a joemeek 1Que Delux chanel strip

Info on other gear i need would be big help

Ronnie

[Dogbreath]

Well, I guess first off I'd ask you what your budget is.
Do you have monitors yet?
What do you have in the way of mics?
What do you plan to record? Instruments? Vocals?
Are you tracking live drums?
Ya got headphones?
Maybe a headphone amp for multiple headphones?
Are you tracking just yourself or a whole band?
Do ya have a lava lamp?   

[stainless]

+1 on the lava lamp!

I'd put monitors at the top of the list- how you "hear" it impacts everything else

rather than repeat Dogs questions over... we'll await your reply

OH... and WELCOME to HRS! 

[ronimlach]

Hi Guys

Thanks for the info.
For Budget i don't really have 1
mikes i have ordered AKG and sure mikes for studio monitors i have ordered Tannoy Precision 8D monitors    i also intend to use protools 8 software

[stainless]

2 things immediately jump out here, both around ProTools 8.0 (I'm a long time PT user) 

a quick of the Tascam Neo doesn't mention ProTools, and Protools does require an interface (M-Box, 002, 003...HD), so do the research to see if the Tascam and PT are compatible.

Also, with PT8.0  make sure the computer meets all the reqs AND will be able to keep up with the Win or OSX (Snow Leopard) changes for some time, otherwise you'll immediately obsolete yourself

It sounds like your making the investments into recordsing and ProTools has big pluses as well as pitfalls-

Personally, If i was starting over I'd not choose PT because of the proprietary hardware, track count issues, and ADC on M-Box and LE... and at these point HD is no longer (IMHO) worth the quantum leap investment for the added features (many of which are now standard on most of the other softwares)

[ronimlach]

what Mbox would you rercomend me to buy  as im new to ProTools

[ronimlach]

Ah
I am having rack mounted Pc built for me so no problem woth the pc

[stainless]

ProTools is ..."quirkey" when it comes to motherboards, chips sets, and processors.... Make sure whoever is building the PC that they're familiar with the requirements of ProTools

the Tascam is a stand-alone workstaion- The USB is for backing it up to a computer...... Is you're interest in ProTools is strictly mixing?  greater than 24 tracks?  If this is the main purpose for PT (and you won't be recording directly into it, just get an M-Box so you can run the software

Another thing to ponder- Can you truly by-pass the pre's on the Tascam?  Looks like it's 8 input simultaneously.  This is an issue with many of the DAW's and their onboard pre's-  if not truly by-passable, then you will be gain-staging which somewhat dampens the advantages of having better outboard gear. 

[ronimlach]

Thanks again for the info

The tascam is kind of a toy for me   the real system i am building is with the Alen and Heath Zed 436 i am realy new at this so need as much input from you experienced guys as possable i want to build a realy good system that i wont always have to be adding to budget is not really a problem   I am from Scotland but stay in Czech Republic so not much people there i can turn to and ask advice.

It will be mostly guitars and Vocals i will be recording so i would like to get the right gear first time around and not be shelling out money on things i wont ever use. what i realy need is advice on what heardware i need and a basic idea on what it does  sorry if i am sounding vage on the subject but to be honest i really am

NEED HELP

Ronnie

[stainless]

OK- so we take the Tascam out of the equation

If I'm reading this right

Now looking at the A & H ZED- it doesn't appear to have motorized faders, so any automation will be "in the box/using the mouse"- so for mixing, the board may not be all that useful. Did yours come with Cakewalk or Sonar... or whatever software is being advertised as bundled with it?  Since proTools is not mentioned in the marketting verbage, this may be an issue

So you can use the A & H as input console-  Protools uses it's own interface to get audio into the computer and  the interface (M-Box, 00x, etc) will determine how many inputs it will accept simultaneously

I think some more research is needed as you may be better going with another software than ProTools

If you've never gone over to the Digi's user forum- I would make a point of it
 [url]http://digidesign.com/index.cfm?navid=75&langid=100&itemid=5071/url]

find out if anyone is using the A & H Zed with PT and ask how they've got it connected.

[ronimlach]

Thanks for the link for Digidesigne im still trying to digest the info there   

I had a call today from the company in UK who i bought the A&H mixer as i don't want it delivered till mid January as my control room wont be ready till  then they have buyer for it and will order me another.
On the other hand they offered me a Tascam DM 4800 mixer at super price meaning i would have little money to spend to upgrade to the Tascam DM4800 Do u think this would be better option for me to take as i was told this would be compatible with Pro Tools.
Your advice again most appreciated

Ronnie

[stainless]

ooohhh DM4800!!  that's a very nice board! I've looked at it as a future move away from the PT proprietary, and YES it will work with ProTools!

[ronimlach]

Ah ok

Thanks again  im going to go for the DM 4800 do u think i should also take the meterbridge?

[stainless]

absolutely... no point in having to constantly look away from the board at the monitor to see levels!

to me that would like buying a car with no spare, no side mirrors.... or seats 

[ronimlach]

Ok cool

I will order also the meter bridge next piece of heardweare what u reckon a Digidesigne box?  which one ?

[stainless]

have you considered (at all) not using ProTools? just curious

here again, it depends on how many tracks will you be recording at one time? an acoustic, or a singer... or a full drum kit?

If the latter an M-Box probably won't help much- as you've not mentioned ProTools HD we can rule that out

the 002R, though older, it pretty affordable, and IMHO the 003R doesn't really offer that much in the way of improvements- either unit gives you 4 inputs (with non bypassable pres....  ) and 4 direct ins, plus another 8 channel ADAT/light pipe, and 2 more SPDIF, though I've never needed 16 tracks (I have a Presonus DigiMax via lightpipe in my 002R)

Now, if the M-Audio ProFire 2626 will work with 8.0, I'd go that route- it would use M instead of LE, but according to most reviews has better pres, and a better clock and with 26 I/O

I would hold off till after Winter NAMM later this month to see if Digi rolls out anything "new"