recording nerds....what cha using

[dean castile]

show me yours and i'll show you mine......ha ha,

honestly, i have wanted to create a "local users group" of local studios, engineers, and home users to know what people were using and build a network of information for us local engineers so when things go wrong with your computer, software, you name it ...... (and it will!) we could have a local source of help....
i am using digidesign pro tools le on a mac and have extensive knowledge with the program and using apple computers. i use and have used digital performer, logic, nuendo, live, reason, garage band on the mac, and on the pc side....and its been a long while now, acid, soundforge, protools, and a few others i can't remember.
i know there are a number of cubase users locally, a few logic guys, digital perfomer, reason, acid pro, as well as adobe audition users.

the thing that really excites me about this day and age of DAW users is the ability to pass projects around and have people work on projects in their own space.
record your guitar and vocal at home, want jason ezzel to play every instrument..send him the files.... need justin belew to play any other instrument under the sun....send him the files. want me to mix and master the song.....bingo send me the files. i know this is nothing new to any of us. but we have a wealth of talent locally and i want to know what people use to record and what instuments they play.

the ability to "pass the harddrive" has been part of every project i've worked on in the past year, and most recently, i had a project where the client uploaded the tracks from his korg 8 track to my idisk (online storage space) as .wav files....i downloaded them, mixed the song, emailed the .wav file of the mix back to him....he was happy with the mix, he payed me via paypal and had it posted on his myspace page by the end of the day....and i didn't even have to leave the house!

so, now show me yours....

dean
document studio

[Bill Becker]

Dean,
This is a perfect example of how the forum should work. Remember the MIC site also has a FREE classified section so you can sell, buy, rent or trade or just shop for musical instruments and equipment. Right now it hasn't been used, but it's there. As we go forward with this site hopefully folks will let us know what other functionality they'd like to see. We'll make every effort to get it up and running.

[Brent Lindley]

I pay you cats money and you do all this stuff for me.

[brian Mallard]

I use a ZOOM MRS 802B, 8 track digital recorder with an MXL boom microphone. It's pretty cool once you catch on to how it works, and once you learn Martian, you can read the instruction manual! LOL!

[Jason Ezzell]

First of all Dean, my name has two "L"s in it. You should be ashamed.

I'm currently using Cubase SX with the plugin expansion pack...highly recommended....I absolutely share Dean's love for Pro Tools but I started on Cubasis and this was a natural progression. It works in much the same way and graphically is quite similar. It lacks some of the things I like about PT though...for example, their version of "Beat Detective" seems a lot more remedial to me, and I haven't really figured out how to use it to my advantage. But all in all, I'm quite happy with the whole setup. Currently I have it running on a Dell Inspiron 2500 but I'm about to upgrade to a custom build that myself and Tony Skahan are going to put together...as soon as I get the $$, ha ha.

I'm also running thru a Behringer stereo tube pre, a Tascam US-122 USB interface, and a RNC Compressor (thanks Deano). I use the pre and the compressor on pretty much everything right now because I like the sounds I'm getting. I have a variety of omnidirectional and condenser mics that I use depending on what's needed...MXLs, Shures, Joe Meeks, CADs (thanks again Deano), Audix, and Audio-Technica. I like to experiment a lot with miking patterns and unconventional methods.

I can't stress enough sound reinforcement. I'm learning a lot about it right now. I recently got hold of some old office cubicles and it has certainly made a difference in my recordings.

Peace to you all and to all a good night.
-J

[dean castile]

you know i didn't even talk about my gear...or atleast the gear i'm lucky enough to be using from friends.

digidesign 002R/pro tools le 6.9
mcdsp, massey, urs, and more...plug ins
apple powerbook
great river mp1nv "neve" pre
rupert neve designs portico 5012 dual pre
presonus digimax lt 8 channel pre
tl audio dual tube pre
ampex 300 tube pre
fmr audio RNC and RNLA compressors
soundcraft spirit studio 16 channel board
yamaha ns-10 studio monitors
universal audio 1176 compressor
pultec EQ-2H tube eq
neumann U-67
2 neumann km-84's
shure sm-7
shure sm-57
senniheiser md 421
senniheiser 604's
CAD E-100's
sony md 7506 and v6 headphones
rolls 4ch and 6ch headphone amps
hafler p1500 power amp
hammond m100 organ
fender rhodes mk 2 stage piano
some vintage amps and guitars

[dean castile]

hey brian, i applaud you and your zoom. i used to have a yamaha aw4416 that i used for a couple of years. it was a great machine, but editing was a major hassle, but it does make me appreciate all the things i can do in the computer in a fraction of the time it used to take. it took me a LONG time to come to terms with the idea of using a computer as my main recorder. (i started on a cassette 4 track) i would record all the audio into the yamaha and then transfer it to the computer to edit and mix, but i started spending soo much time transfering things that i had to make the jump to only using the computer. with all that said....i strongly believe in using a recording system that you know well and can do the job you need to do, whatever the format. its all about the music.

[Mike Childree]

Hola Dean! Still enjoying that bargain basement Sennheiser?

Me, I'm your average ADAT-n-Mackie home demo setup, although it's been quite a while since I unboxed the tape decks. When I do things, it's mostly to demo a tune for myself or somebody else and I just use an old version of Cool Edit Pro (before they were bought out by Adobe), using my Mackie 1604VLZ as mic pres. Ancient technology, I know, but I work in ultra-high-tech all day long and for some reason, it seems to mar my enjoyment of music. I want simple and uncluttered. Also have the average home monitor setup..Alesis Monitor Ones. Mics come, mics go...

[dean castile]

hey mike, man i love that mic. i use it all the time. been doing any thing cool?

[Jonathan Edwards]

I use a Behringer 12 track mixer into a lambda interface. I'm a total cubase noob but I also have experience with nuendo and some magix products. I use guitarport a lot. And I got a plethera of other misc crap like condensors and effects and mid tools and what not. I'm looking to get the new Zoom handrecorder H4. That thing is sick!

[Glen Giles]

I'm old school and cheap. I have an M-Audio Omni Studio which is a break out box w/ 2/xlr and a couple of 1/4" inputs, phantom power mic pre's and that cables into an M-Audio Delta 66 sound card. I'm using this on a pc running XP. I record into Sony AcidPro 4.0 I think and I edit my waves, mix, and master in Sony Sound Forge 5.0 I think. I use the Delta 66 to record and my onboard, cheapie Soundblaster card for playback so I have ZERO latency. I use an MXL-V67 large diaphragm condensor mic for vocals and acoustic guitar. I use a Johnson J-station for electrics and bass. I use Acid drum loops and one shots to build drums. I mix on cheap headphones and an Altec/Lansing 3 piece pc speaker system that has a subwoofer. I've recorded some other people in my livingroom w/in the past year, but I've not recorded any of my stuff in about 2 years I guess. Who has the time?

[Andrew Neuhaus]

All the songs I've written (which are on this site) have been keyboard-only songs... oh, all except the song "Water." Been using a $400 Roland BR-600 (8 track digital recorder) with all effects on-board the keyboards. Cheap I know, but seems to suffice until I do some -real- recording.

I've retired all my other keyboards / synths - used 9 keyboards + 4 rack-mounted keyboards back in the "day"... was really fun setting up for every gig. Now everything you will hear me do is recorded using 4 pieces of gear:

Korg M3 w/ RADIAS expansion board (73 key)
Roland Fantom X8 (88 key, weighted)
Roland BR-600 (8-track digital recorder)
Behringer Mic (forgot the model #)

My old guitar player lives in Florida, so when I wanted him to put his guitar tracks on "Water", I exported the 14k .wav file to my computer, converted to MP3 (due to the monstrous size of .wav files,) then sent it down to him. He imported the mp3 using the DAW of his choice, threw 3 or 4 guitar tracks down, exported each as a 16-bit .wav. I then used my cheap DAW (Reaper) to import all original .wav files to re-master. Converted to MP3, and there ya go.

Simple as pie. Only problem with long-distance recording is the size of the files. Most e-mail servers will only accept files less than 8mb in size. Each of these .wav files can be from 50-80mb in size (and that's for a single track.) Our solution was to setup a personal FTP site. I use Serv-U as my FTP server, but any will work.

My kingdom for a pocket guitar player *wink*

- a