WOW!

[Glennyj]

I just signed UPS for my own Christmas present and carried it in. Wow. Yes it was about music. It was about a new computer for recording.
My wife is such a cool person. During the 80's we played bars everywhere. She was tagged "THE SOUND BABE". She ran sound equipment very well.
AAAAHHH, her surprise was compromised.
Sorry I'm rambling. My old Mac died when the battery blew up. I wasn't recording when I got my new "AIR".
Ok to make a really short story long, what are the interfaces the young and the talented are using today?

I have a million questions for some of the young musicians. Recording techs. Does anyone remember 2 inch 8 track tape on a TEAC.

PS! PRS does not sound that good through the clean side of my stiletto, but the hot side is amazing.

 

[Clashcityrocker]

I just signed UPS for my own Christmas present and carried it in. Wow. Yes it was about music. It was about a new computer for recording.
My wife is such a cool person. During the 80's we played bars everywhere. She was tagged "THE SOUND BABE". She ran sound equipment very well.
AAAAHHH, her surprise was compromised.
Sorry I'm rambling. My old Mac died when the battery blew up. I wasn't recording when I got my new "AIR".
Ok to make a really short story long, what are the interfaces the young and the talented are using today?

I have a million questions for some of the young musicians. Recording techs. Does anyone remember 2 inch 8 track tape on a TEAC.

PS! PRS does not sound that good through the clean side of my stiletto, but the hot side is amazing.

Recording nowdays is pretty great and affordable. The interfaces are as cheap as $99-150 for something good. For recording I'd recommend Reaper. It's a multi track recorder for $60 and it does pretty much everything.

 

[Black Plaid]

All the you tube musicians seem to use the UA Apollo and Arrow stuff, I got an Arrow, but went back to using my Mackie Blackjack after having no end of troubles with it.

I use Logic, it seems more than capable to me.

I never go to record to 2", but did do a mix for a band on it once. I used the Alesis ADATs and the Tascam equivalent mostly at the time.

 

[dmatthews]

How many inputs do you want to record at once?

 

[Boogie]

If you’re a hobbyist, USB2.0 interface is fine. If not, USB-C or Thunderbolt. Otherwise, size it to your application. I like Focusrite but Presonus, Mark of the Unicorn (MOTU), and Universal Audio (UA) make nice stuff. Ask Les, Sergio, or others with real knowledge.

 

[László]

I use a UA Apollo thunderbolt system. It sounds great, it’s expandable with other UA interfaces and processing gear, the Unison preamps are a very good idea that’s actually nicely executed, the converters are very natural sounding, and in my experience the plugins UA and some of their partners have developed for their UAD system have perhaps the finest sound quality available (some of that is due to the up-sampling the UAD system employs in its hardware processors, I’m told).

Their plugins are also very pricy, so you have the joy of digging deeper into your wallet than the parvenus making do with whatever’s on sale for cheap.

But there are other very capable interfaces out there, and Boogie has pretty much nailed it. Apogee is another vendor very much in the conversation, and Burl, Lavry, Antelope, and a few other extremely high end vendors make some wonderful stuff for those on a champagne budget.

Many interfaces use the same Burr-Brown chips, the differences are in how the conversion is implemented and the quality of the analog circuitry.

I worked on analog tape for many years, mostly Otari 2” 24 track, and Tascam 1” 16 track, and remember it well.

Also, most of the good DAW software is so deep in features that you’ll never even know half of these features are there, because they address contingencies that most musicians won’t ever need, such as automatic SMPTE frame-rate adjustment for scoring to picture. So it becomes a matter of picking a DAW that appeals to your workflow and tastes.

I use Logic, and occasionally Digital Performer, and my partner uses Cubase, Nuendo and Pro Tools.

 

[alantig]

I use Logic and Pro Tools for my DAWs. I started with Pro Tools, and I think I'm maybe a bit more proficient with that than Logic, but Les and Sergio both prodded me to work more in Logic, so I have been. Both have their advantages, but for $200, Logic is a great option. Another path you can take is to start with Garage Band - not quite as full-featured, but it also will let you take those sessions into Logic down the road if you decide to go that way. Some of the interfaces come with versions of DAWs as well, so you might get a free way to try something.

As for interfaces, my primary is now a Focusrite Scarlett - I think it's 18 in, 20 out. Previous interface (and still connected) is an MBox Pro. Before I moved into the DAW world, I did all my MIDI stuff into an Alesis D4, S4+, and Korg Karma. I recorded all that stuff in one pass into a Roland VS-1880. When I went DAW, I anticipated doing something similar, so I bought the MBox so I could. The guy I was talking to said when I started doing instruments in the box, I'd find it to be a better way to work. He was right - I rarely do it that way any more. But I bought the bigger interface to allow myself to be able to do it, and so that all that stuff is plugged in and ready to go when I want it. I moved to the Focusrite for better mic pres, and for more XLR connections, so now I have two mic cables plugged in and ready to go at all times. If I want a third - or fourth - mic, I have the two front jacks to add them, and I can plug in directly if I want to record guitar or bass through a modeler. The only thing my Focusrite doesn't have that the MBox did (and the new version of the Focusrite apparently has this) is a button to route the audio directly to the monitors from the front jacks so I can play along with something through the monitors w/o the computer being on. I can do it through software, but I have to do it before I shut the computer down the previous time. That made it easy to jam to something, but it is slightly less important since the CD player I used for that died (I need to get that fixed - they don't make it any more).

 

[Glennyj]

All of you are the most amazing helpful musicians I have ever met.
THANK YOU! G.

Just as a note... One new PRS has started all this.