Portable setup

kaki putih · 24th July 2007, 11:45 AM

Hi there everybody,
first post today...

I am a singer / guitar player with a little recording and mixing experience and want to record my own project now. Drums and many other things will come from sample libraries, voice and guitar mainly from me. I also want to have several friends play and sing parts in it, and since they live far away I need a portable setup to record (and maybe mix with) them at their place. The gear doesn't need to fit in a backpack, but must fit easily into a small car.

I am already Apple user for a while, so I want to work on a MacBook Pro with Logic Pro 7 (already ordered, not yet arrived). What I am looking for is a "front end" for it - interface/converter/preamp, whatever. Important - the fewer boxes to carry, the better! I am quite clueless about Laptops and audio interfaces - should I use the ExpressCard34, Firewire or USB, what works with Apple and so on...?
Quality is more important than many features, I will probably only need 2 channels in (for mic pre, line and instrument) and out and 2 headphone outs.

I also still need to have a look at the mixing tools in Logic... I heard the Space Designer is an excellent reverb, but regarding comps/eq I might need some additional tools... any hints? I have seen that there are some DSP solutions, but that means more gear to transport again... is there a good "native competition" for them or are these DSP things simply much better? Recommendations please?

I had a look already at monitors, I think it will be Genelec 8020s. Small and excellent critics everywhere.

Any suggestions very much welcome!
Thanks!

jbuzz · 24th July 2007, 01:02 PM

My hunble and biased suggestions:

Audio Interface
Metric halo ULN2 (decent Preamps AND good converters in a package)
if u need more channels another Mio2882 ( U could even connect another ADAT Interface to that one), they would share the same control pannel.
AND the best IMHO about these Interfaces are their Firewire connectivity. U can connect them to any MAC. U dont need a express card for ure laptop and a PCI Express for ure desktop and a PCI Card for ure old G5.

Plugins:
SONNOX all the way. Most versatile package Soundwise and lotsa of quality. Sonalkis is good to, but SONNOX beats them esp. in Compression and Limiting.
again all IMHO

kaki putih · 24th July 2007, 03:19 PM

Thanks for the recommendations. I had a look at that stuff now... the ULN-2 looks good, and when I look around on this forum it is often highly praised. Any serious competition for that? I saw that there are interfaces from RME that are often recommended as very good, and then an interesting one from Mackie (Onyx 400), which is a bit cheaper and has the second headphone out, but people here seem to be a bit ambivalent about it. On the more expensive side, I found Apogee Ensemble. Is this interface "worth" the higher investment (I mean, it has more ins and outs and so on, but what about the sound)?

Sonnox looks good, especially the EQ seems to be very much loved by everybody. I found one interesting DSP, the Liquidmix. Lots of emulations for only 700 Euro, but how is their sound? If it's good it would bring lots of different flavours to the mix, wouldn't it?

Thanks again!

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24th July 2007, 11:45 AM	#1
kaki putih Registered User Join Date: Jul 2007 Posts: 51	Portable setup Hi there everybody, first post today... I am a singer / guitar player with a little recording and mixing experience and want to record my own project now. Drums and many other things will come from sample libraries, voice and guitar mainly from me. I also want to have several friends play and sing parts in it, and since they live far away I need a portable setup to record (and maybe mix with) them at their place. The gear doesn't need to fit in a backpack, but must fit easily into a small car. I am already Apple user for a while, so I want to work on a MacBook Pro with Logic Pro 7 (already ordered, not yet arrived). What I am looking for is a "front end" for it - interface/converter/preamp, whatever. Important - the fewer boxes to carry, the better! I am quite clueless about Laptops and audio interfaces - should I use the ExpressCard34, Firewire or USB, what works with Apple and so on...? Quality is more important than many features, I will probably only need 2 channels in (for mic pre, line and instrument) and out and 2 headphone outs. I also still need to have a look at the mixing tools in Logic... I heard the Space Designer is an excellent reverb, but regarding comps/eq I might need some additional tools... any hints? I have seen that there are some DSP solutions, but that means more gear to transport again... is there a good "native competition" for them or are these DSP things simply much better? Recommendations please? I had a look already at monitors, I think it will be Genelec 8020s. Small and excellent critics everywhere. Any suggestions very much welcome! Thanks!

24th July 2007, 01:02 PM	#2
jbuzz Lives for gear Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: germany Posts: 519	My hunble and biased suggestions: Audio Interface Metric halo ULN2 (decent Preamps AND good converters in a package) if u need more channels another Mio2882 ( U could even connect another ADAT Interface to that one), they would share the same control pannel. AND the best IMHO about these Interfaces are their Firewire connectivity. U can connect them to any MAC. U dont need a express card for ure laptop and a PCI Express for ure desktop and a PCI Card for ure old G5. Plugins: SONNOX all the way. Most versatile package Soundwise and lotsa of quality. Sonalkis is good to, but SONNOX beats them esp. in Compression and Limiting. again all IMHO __________________ www.beansandbacon.com

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24th July 2007, 03:19 PM	#3
kaki putih Registered User Join Date: Jul 2007 Posts: 51	Thanks for the recommendations. I had a look at that stuff now... the ULN-2 looks good, and when I look around on this forum it is often highly praised. Any serious competition for that? I saw that there are interfaces from RME that are often recommended as very good, and then an interesting one from Mackie (Onyx 400), which is a bit cheaper and has the second headphone out, but people here seem to be a bit ambivalent about it. On the more expensive side, I found Apogee Ensemble. Is this interface "worth" the higher investment (I mean, it has more ins and outs and so on, but what about the sound)? Sonnox looks good, especially the EQ seems to be very much loved by everybody. I found one interesting DSP, the Liquidmix. Lots of emulations for only 700 Euro, but how is their sound? If it's good it would bring lots of different flavours to the mix, wouldn't it? Thanks again!