Any audiophiles out there?

[fftaz336]

I have a question. I have a customer that wants to take music and record their singing with the music. The computer specs are not a big deal, I have the computer specs together. My big question, I guess, is what other hardware do I need.

Do I need a mixer with a USB port like the Behringer BCA 2000?

-or-

Can I use a sound card and a digital microphone.

They already have a mixer and speakers, but the mixer does not have a USB port. Can I plug the mixer into the sound card?

I cam getting the Cakewalk Home Studio for the software.

Any help would be appreciated.

[SonicVanguard]

Soundcard = MAudio Audiophile 24/96
Mic = Behringer B-1 (can't be beat for under $100)
Preamp of their choice (Behringer makes two excellent mic preamps).

No need for a 'digital' microphone.
Don't run the mixer in-line - less circuitry in the signal path the better. The only thing the mixer will accomplish is EQ and the software can handle that.
Don't go USB - can't handle the bandwidth or low-latency needed to record.

Dave.

[fftaz336]

What is the preamp for? They have a 6 channel mixer. Sorry about the questions, I am doing this for a friend and don't know much about music. He wants me to build the computer though.

[SonicVanguard]

Preamp is for the mic - the B-1 is a condensor mic and requires phantom power. A preamp will supply clean power without adding anything to the signal path. A mixer is capable of the supplying the power as well (well, most mixers supply phantom power) but the gain stages must be set properly or the signal path is compromised. Audio recording is all about clean signal paths - the simpler you keep them, the better off you are. I've been doing this for many years and am very comfortable in the studio setting up gain stages - but people who are new to recording (but may have experience in live sound or so on) are not going to set those various stages correctly and that will add unwanted noise to the recorded sound.

Dave.

[fftaz336]

Thanks for your help. I greatly appreciate it. Could you explain to me step by step how to hook up the microphone to the computer. I am not big on the music end as I said. I appreciate all of your help.

Also, will the mixer hook to the computer or do I just bypass the mixer.

[SonicVanguard]

As I said, bypass the mixer if at all possible.

Hook up would be: Microphone (via XLR cable)--->Preamp (via 1/4" to RCA cable)--->Audiophile 24/96 card.

BTW, those links are to a very reputable on-line audio dealer. I use them and Sweetwater Music almost exclusively.

Dave.

[fftaz336]

Great, Thanks!

Another question...

Could you use a Sound Blaster Audigy2 ZS with a digital microphone?
How would the sound quality be?

This was a question posed to me.

[SonicVanguard]

A digital microphone is not what you think it is - all it does is replace some electronics in a condensor mic with a small CPU - it does nothing to the sound and does nothing in terms of connectivity. All it does is make your wallet lighter.

The Audigy2 ZS and Audiophile 24/96 differ in one rather large area - latency. Latency is your computer's ability to record a signal in time with another signal. The Audiophile 24/96 will have true ASIO drivers (special drivers for recording) that will give it roughly 9ms of latency. The Audigy2 will have to use generic DX ASIO drivers that provide maybe 150ms latency. In digital recording, that's an eternity.

Dave.

[fftaz336]

Thank you so much for your help. It is greatly appreciated. If I have any other questions, I know who to go to.

[Smidget]

You have received some great tips, but you still may want to refer to production forums for PC advice as well. There needs to be more attention given to PC's with recording in mind. Some chipsets may have problems with the soundcard\recording software etc you have in mind.

Chipsets which excel in regular PC's may flake out for recording PC's.

Cubase.net and perhaps the one you are choosing (Cakewalk.com or Sonar net) would probably carry discussions on which chipsets\mobo's\processors\etc have problem with their software and choice of musical hardware.

A general rule of thumb was to stay away from Creative products awhile back; It still may be true now. The Audiophile 24/96 also has only 1 pair of stereo I\O. If they are recording with more than 1-2 instruments and want to edit instrument tracks individually and clean up the details, the Audiophile has bigger brothers than can receive more than 1 stereo In\Out, listed on the M-audio homepage.

There are other semi-pro/pro soundcards discussed on production forums as well and less on the gamer soundblaster cards.

[meblumen]

I just stumbled upon this post so I don't know if you've already solved your problem or not but while I can't attest to being a computer expert I work as a sound engineer so I can answer your audio related question. I noticed that someone recommended purchasing a behringer b-1 which I would advise against. While its not a terrible microphone for the price I would suggest getting a studio projects b-1 if your looking for a condensor mic for vocals. Another alternative under a $100 would be to pick up a Shure SM-58 which is a dynamic mic and while many people use it for live sound, great singers like Bono use it in the studio as well.

The MAudio Audiophile 24/96 isn't a bad card for the cash but there are alternatives out there that have built in mic pres and that connect via usb and firewire and subsequently don't require a PCI card. Sonic I noticed you warned against using a usb based sound card, however for fftaz's client it would be fine. USB works great when your only recording 1 or 2 tracks at a time (which is all the MAudio Audiophile 24/96 can do) and playing back the recorded material in stereo. I have a tascam us-224 which I bring on the road with me to demo my own stuff and it works great, the pres aren't api or neve and the converters are a far cry from apogee but it only cost $250 too so its a pretty good deal.

As far as pres vs. mixer goes, you could go either way. You could pick upa small behringer or mackie mixer with two mic pres, it will probably also have some rca inputs and maybe a few line inputs as well (for hooking up audio outs) and then connect the outputs of that into some speakers or you could use some powered speakers and just buy either two seperate mic pres or a two channel unit. Unfortunately unless your willing to spend a few hundred bucks most mic pres are either complete crap or those fake tube mic pres which work ok for recording bass guitar or adding some dirt to tracks but aren't hi-fi mic pres either. Personally I would get a small mixer (sub $100 deal) and be done with it. It will give your client a mic pre or maybe more, eq (which contrary to what sonic said, there is eq available in software recording programs, unless your working with a high quality program the eq usually isn't that great) however low end behringer/mackie eq is crap too, aux sends for adding fx and a few other features.

As for cakewalk I don't know much about the program, based on its price and features it doesn't sound like the most advanced program but thats probably a good thing. Nuendo (or its baby brother Cubase) and ProTools are industry standards but they have a pretty stiff learning curve and ProTools requires specific hardware which usually is quite pricey.

Hope this helps, if you have any additional audio questions feel free to ask or goto www.tapeop.com, gearslutz.com or even harmonycentral.com (which isn't as good but also helpful) for additional recording help