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Hart
Assistant Asylum Chief
Joined: 03 Jan 2006
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Location: Foley, AL
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 Posted: Thu Jun 21, 2007 5:59 am Post subject: a new audio interface? |
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Just looking for a few opinions to help start my research. Having recently upgraded my mic (mkh 416) and my preamp (john hardy M1) I'm wondering if I should upgrade my audio interface now as well. My Presonus Firebox has served me well, but am I missing out on some of the chain's potential by running a higher end mic and preamp through a $300 interface?
I'd love any thoughts you gearsluts would care to offer. Thanks in advance.
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louzucaro
The Gates of Troy
Joined: 13 Jul 2006
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Yoda117
M&M
Joined: 20 Dec 2006
Posts: 2362
Location: Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
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| Posted: Thu Jun 21, 2007 8:51 am Post subject: |
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Of the things I find that play the most effect on my chain here's the order in order of importantce:
Microphone
Preamp
Converter
While some argue over Preamp vs. Microphone, the Converter is usually left till near the end when tracking.
That said... can you live with what you have for a while? If so, then hold out and get something to replace your current interface when the time and $ are there.
If not, then for a good quality converter, Rosetta and Apogee would be my starting points (I lean more towards the Apogee, which I feel is less colored of the two). My personal choice? CraneSong HEDD 192. It's overkill for most of us, but it's the nicest AD/DA I've found under 7K
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Hart
Assistant Asylum Chief
Joined: 03 Jan 2006
Posts: 2107
Location: Foley, AL
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| Posted: Thu Jun 21, 2007 10:14 am Post subject: |
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Thank you guys for your thoughts. I know my way around certain things pretty well, but converters are not my strong point.
Greg, yeah I can live with what I've got. The firebox is a nice unit for the money. I've been checking out the Rosetta and the Apogee stuff. The cranesong looks very nice indeed.
I appreciate the input.
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Yoda117
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| Posted: Thu Jun 21, 2007 11:06 am Post subject: |
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I can relate to your problems as for the room I'm designing, I wanted to go lower tech since it's just for me. To that end, I'm running an Onyx 1220 as the interface, but am thinking about using something like an AES16 as the actual input through use of a DB25 connection (as opposed to the FW interface, which I'm still not happy with even after tweaking a bit).
Question for me is whether to go that route or just suck it up and toss in a HEDD.
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Lizden
A Zillion
Joined: 04 Dec 2006
Posts: 8864
Location: The dark recesses of my mind
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| Posted: Thu Jun 21, 2007 11:15 am Post subject: |
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You guys slay me! 
Liz
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Hart
Assistant Asylum Chief
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| Posted: Thu Jun 21, 2007 11:31 am Post subject: |
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I aspire to be such a gear slut as Greg. In fact, I've read every topic he's contributed to in another certain slutty gear board. 
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Deirdre
Czarina Emeritus
Joined: 10 Nov 2004
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| Posted: Thu Jun 21, 2007 12:15 pm Post subject: |
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Like GearSlutz.com, perhaps?
A fellow would be hard pressed to be more of a gearhead than our Gregory.
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Hart
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Yoda117
M&M
Joined: 20 Dec 2006
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Location: Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
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| Posted: Thu Jun 21, 2007 12:37 pm Post subject: |
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LOL!
Jeez... you guys must think I put tons of money into my gear.
*looks at the four U87s*
*notices the Horch RM2J*
*trips over the 2 CMV563s*
*adjusts the stand with one of the U47s*
Uhm... nevermind.
*ducks for cover*
with all the stuff I always have on my plate, you'd figure I would eventually get a break to find the time and finish my website, the new room, and all the other stuff I want to do to branch out from my current market into more commercial venues.
/still testing the website and not happy with security
//yes I keep complaining about it
///no it won't be online anytime soon
////at least I'm at the People's Improv Theatre next week to improve my improv techniques
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Blog - A man, a martini, and a lot of microphones
Last edited by Yoda117 on Thu Jun 21, 2007 12:49 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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Bill Campbell
DC
Joined: 09 Mar 2007
Posts: 621
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| Posted: Thu Jun 21, 2007 12:49 pm Post subject: |
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OVERKILL.
By the time your VO airs on a broadcast station or website, you couldn't
tell the difference between a Soundblaster and an Apogee.
At my radio station group, we recieve major national ads from the likes of
Home Depot and Dodge at 128 or 192 kbps in stereo!!!
I'd spend the money on MARKETING your services.
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TheVoiceOfBob
14th Avenue
Joined: 05 Oct 2006
Posts: 1411
Location: Pittsburgher in the Carolinas
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| Posted: Thu Jun 21, 2007 1:00 pm Post subject: |
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| Yoda117 wrote: | I can relate to your problems as for the room I'm designing, I wanted to go lower tech since it's just for me. To that end, I'm running an Onyx 1220 as the interface, but am thinking about using something like an AES16 as the actual input through use of a DB25 connection (as opposed to the FW interface, which I'm still not happy with even after tweaking a bit).
Question for me is whether to go that route or just suck it up and toss in a HEDD. |
What is it you don't like about firewire? (not challenging you, just curious technically)
Do you like the AES16 mainly because it is dedicated instead of a shared type input such as FW or USB?
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Yoda117
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| Posted: Thu Jun 21, 2007 1:12 pm Post subject: |
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| TheVoiceOfBob wrote: |
What is it you don't like about firewire? (not challenging you, just curious technically) Do you like the AES16 mainly because it is dedicated instead of a shared type input such as FW or USB? |
Actually I love FW over USB and have no issues with it on a technical or acoustic front whatsoever.
The FW interface on the Onyx is junky at best. The card can handle higher rates than 96Khz (which the drivers limit you to), and the poor coding within the card's firmware (and the drivers used for the DAW interface) allowed for more loss than I prefer.
Having heard the same mixer through a DB25 interface, I found it to be more pleasant sounding each and every time I used it, which is why I'm somewhat torn with the choices currently facing me.
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Yoda117
M&M
Joined: 20 Dec 2006
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Location: Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
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| Posted: Thu Jun 21, 2007 1:26 pm Post subject: |
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| Bill Campbell wrote: | OVERKILL.
By the time your VO airs on a broadcast station or website, you couldn't
tell the difference between a Soundblaster and an Apogee.
At my radio station group, we recieve major national ads from the likes of
Home Depot and Dodge at 128 or 192 kbps in stereo!!!
I'd spend the money on MARKETING your services. |
double post no-jitsu
I have two answer for this, one snarky and one less so:
snarky: A crappy voice deserves crappy gear.
not-so-snarky: Several of my pieces are not merely vintage, but considered to be historical due to the nature of their previous owners. Others within my collection are rather difficult to acquire or afford, and are rented out to other studios.
It's not so much a matter of $ or marketing for me, but of time. Always has been. It's the curse of having too much initiative, but on the flip-side it allows me to afford the aforementioned gear without thinking twice about it.
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Philadelphia based Voice Actor
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Bill Campbell
DC
Joined: 09 Mar 2007
Posts: 621
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| Posted: Thu Jun 21, 2007 1:48 pm Post subject: |
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| Yoda117 wrote: | | Bill Campbell wrote: | OVERKILL.
By the time your VO airs on a broadcast station or website, you couldn't
tell the difference between a Soundblaster and an Apogee.
At my radio station group, we recieve major national ads from the likes of
Home Depot and Dodge at 128 or 192 kbps in stereo!!!
I'd spend the money on MARKETING your services. |
double post no-jitsu
I have two answer for this, one snarky and one less so:
snarky: A crappy voice deserves crappy gear.
not-so-snarky: Several of my pieces are not merely vintage, but considered to be historical due to the nature of their previous owners. Others within my collection are rather difficult to acquire or afford, and are rented out to other studios.
It's not so much a matter of $ or marketing for me, but of time. Always has been. It's the curse of having too much initiative, but on the flip-side it allows me to afford the aforementioned gear without thinking twice about it. |
This wasn't a personal attack on you, just a "real world" comment.
Collecting and using cool gear can be fun, but it's not what's going to get most people alot of VO work.
The sonic differences between high end gear and cheap stuff can be noticeable in a studio, but by the time it's transmitted on the internet
or a broadcast station, the differences are small.
I know tons of people using Studio Projects and MXL mics doing great sounding voice-overs and getting a lot of work.
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