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tophthegoph
08-07-2008, 03:59 PM
Im starting up a project studio and I want to run my ideas for equipment by you guys/gals and get your opinions on everything. I'm looking at the Presonus Firestudio Project. Some guy at a music store was pushing the Apogee Duet on me because it has better pre's. That's all fine and good, but I'm going to be recording drums so I need at least four inputs and preamps, and I'm not going to buy two seperate interfaces right now. I'll be recording all the instruments myself, one at a time. I believe drums will be the only instrument where I'll be recording to multiple tracks at one time (one track for each of the four mics). As far as drum mics go, i'm interested in the Shure DMK57-52 package. And eventually, as money permits, I'd like to invest in a pair of condensers for overheads. I want to run everything through Logic Studio on my Mac, and was looking at using the Presonus Faderport as a controller. Has anyone used one? What exactly can you control in your sequencer with it? I'd be willing to pay a little extra for one with more features/channel strips if it added a lot of convenience to mixing. Im also looking at getting a good vocal/acoustic guitar/piano mic. I've read a lot of good things about the M-Audio Solaris, AT4033, Rode NTK and NT2 and the Baby Bottle. I need some help narrowing it down, and unfortunately I can't think of a way that I could do side by side comparisons with any of them. I'm a male vocalist and would like to use it for the guitar and piano as well. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Oh and one more thing, I believe the Firestudio has phantom 48v power which means that I could power any condenser requiring phantom power correct? As far as monitors go, I'd like to keep it at $500 max for the pair, and from what I've heard you want monitors with the flattest/truest sound possible so you can accurately mix your tracks. What's the benefit of powered vs. non-powered? What are a few you'd recommend? I understand that all of this is very broad, opinions will vary, and the best thing is just to buy something, start recording and I'll learn as I go along the way what works and what doesn't. But some suggestions would be helpful. Thanks a lot in advance for your help:)

BostonGuy
08-07-2008, 05:11 PM
You're going to get alot of opinions here, but there are 2 products I would definitely recomend. For monitors the Alesis MKII Active's are the DEAL! They sound killer, very nice to mix on.

http://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/M1ActiveMkII/

Decent mid-range all around mic for Vocals and Guitar would be the Studio Projects C3. It's got switchable pattern which is nice and sounds REALLY good for the price. I'm not sure on the others you mentioned, they look like pretty respectable mics also.

On the Phantom power thing, you're correct, Phantom power (+48v) is standard, so you have plenty of choices on mics.

And call your Sweetwater rep, I've found they are pretty knowledgable about this stuff!

Good luck!