recording digitally

[ramjam]

Hi all,

Would anyone have experience or information on good software/hardware to record audio (voice and music) digitally. I am trying to record some voice translations from an external microphone and insert them into the music at certain times. Should I be concerned about whether I use PC or Mac? Has anyone had good experience with Protools for windows. Appreciate any help. Thanks very much,

ramjam.

[fink]

Hi.. I can only give you anecdotal recommendations...

I'm in the music industry.. most of the musicians I know and work with who do their own recording for demos and in some cases releaseable material use Protools... virtually every major recording studio has it in their arsenal of goodies to be used in recording sessions and they advertise having it as well.. it's always in demand.

I work with live sound so don't get the opportunity to use it myself but the only other thing I can add is that almost everyone who uses it has the MAC version... they claim it's far more stable and faster.

I have also heard that the free version sometimes has an occasional tendency to crash when used with 98se or ME.. another reason why MACS seem to be preferred by those who can't afford/ don't want to purchase the complete version. On the other hand when the free ver works it does a good job... Just fewer parameters to work with.

Additionally, a bit of free advice... make sure your soundcard and hardware (mics, cables etc) are also of good quality... that's as important as the software you choose. If you can, use a sound card that has balanced low impedance inputs. Also make sure that impedances are always matched and use transformers to do so if necessary... don't patch a high impedance mic into a low imp input (& vice versa)without using a matching transformer... otherwise sound quality will suffer and it could add noise/distortion to the end product. If you choose to use a condenser microphone also use a high quality phantom power supply. That makes a difference as well.

One last thing.. unity gain (0db) is there for a reason.. try to always get levels to average around 0db on the meters.. that's where all audio is designed to work. If you have to, err on the low side (-3->-6) overloading digital hardware/software creates very nasty sounds.

[ramjam]

Thanks very much for your reply Fink. I have heard the same about Mac being better than PC, but haven't tried the free version of the software. Moreover mine is a PII which I presume is not good as the current ones. Upgrading to P4 is the first thing to do.

As far as the sound card, would you have any recommendations for a good quality one for this purpose. I am looking into the Digi001 system from Digidesign; suposedly includes the appropriate soundcard. Are there any online resources?

Again thanks very much for your time and helpful suggestions.

ramjam.

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Originally posted by fink
Hi.. I can only give you anecdotal recommendations...


Additionally, a bit of free advice... make sure your soundcard and hardware (mics, cables etc) are also of good quality... that's as important as the software you choose. If you can, use a sound card that has balanced low impedance inputs. Also make sure that impedances are always matched and use transformers to do so if necessary... don't patch a high impedance mic into a low imp input (& vice versa)without using a matching transformer... otherwise sound quality will suffer and it could add noise/distortion to the end product. If you choose to use a condenser microphone also use a high quality phantom power supply. That makes a difference as well.

One last thing.. unity gain (0db) is there for a reason.. try to always get levels to average around 0db on the meters.. that's where all audio is designed to work. If you have to, err on the low side (-3->-6) overloading digital hardware/software creates very nasty sounds.

[fink]

Well, like I said my expertise on specifics of PC/MAC multitracking etc is limited but a search on google came up with a wealth of info on pro soundcards..

http://www.google.ca/search?q=professional+soundcards+balanced+inputs&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&hl=en&btnG=Google+Search&meta=

But is seems to me that the company that designs protools would have a lot to lose if the soundcard they sold/recommended wasn't up to scratch and they would know best what works best with their software.