Investing in new hardware

Visceral

Beatmaker
ill o.g.
Easy Everyone, long time no post I know, been out of production for a while after my last computer got fucked. Anyways, I'm getting a new one soon and I'm looking to step it up with some hardware without having to sell any vital organs. After doing a bit of research I'm looking at getting a Behringer XENYX 1204FX mixer and M-Audio Firewire Audiophile. What do you lot reckon? I know most of you have a lot of technical knowledge so please, enlighten a technophobic brother. Cheers
 
T

The Bastard

Guest
beringer makes good mixer, m audio makes good sound cards, cant go wrong there
 

Visceral

Beatmaker
ill o.g.
My budget is like £300, can't go much over that. I'm recording mainly hip-hop but some trip-hoppy/R&B style experimental stuff too
 

Formant024

Digital Smokerings
ill o.g.
naw, I meant, if you would record your hardware, mics etc. If not than you dont need a console right away, just go with a proper soundcard with some I/O or perhaps an mic pre so you can record vocals. Get with an emu 1212m secondhand, they should come cheap and come and are very good, second you can check for any keyboard, synth with midi as your midicontroller. Just look up on ebay, or sound on sound and look for something cheap with enough keys ( minimal 4 oct. keys ). Then start saving for monitors like genelec 8020's to 8040's.
 
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The Bastard

Guest
thedreampolice said:
"behringer" stuff is crap, period.
what would make u think that? i think their shit is pretty nice especially for the price
 

Formant024

Digital Smokerings
ill o.g.
yeah, nice price but dont expect quality, its overal known for cheap use of electronics and what not. They make nice stuff for PA purposes but studio wise there's noooo behringer getting in my signal chain. I like their midi controllers, just bought a nano BCN44 for 30 bucks..I can make em myself but not for that price (other bcr, bcf etc are nice too), other nice tool is the powerplay, a 4 channel headphone pre amp with eq also hella cheap and usefull...the rest...naaaah better off saving your money or completly mod them caps and op amps but then you might aswell buy a better piece of gear. Consider it like this, its a cheap solution for a while but in the end it becomes useless and its money thrown away so better spend it right.
 
T

The Bastard

Guest
thedreampolice said:
No offense "The bastard" but you must not have ever listened to NICE preamps before I mean 2k+ per channel.
YEAH I TOOK AUDIO ENGINEERING IN SCHOOL, GRANTED NOT A GREAT SCHOOL BUT WE USED A LOT OF EQUIPMENT THAT WAS DONATED TO US FROM BERKLEY SCHOOL OF MUSIC IN BOSTON, SO IVE PROLLY HEARD BETTER MIC PRES THAN YOU HAVE CONSIDERING THE EQUIPMENT WE HAD. AND I STILL THINK BERINGER GEAR IS GOOD SHIT FOR THE MONEY.USE TO USE USE BERINGER MIXERS FORL IVE AUDIO TOO WHEN I WAS WORKIN FOR A DJ/KAREOKE COMPANY
 

thedreampolice

A backwards poet writes inverse.
ill o.g.
Battle Points: 21
lol, Well I went to berkley school of music for audio post production (and am finishing online now)I also ran a recording studio and before that I worked at several. I still do freelance engineering to this day, I have also been on several projects for labels (not top 40 but independant) What is the nicest pre amp you have used? I am really not trying to start trouble, and I did not mean to insult you (I am sorry if I did) but I really feel that behringer is a complete waste of money and that money is better spent if you just save a little longer for something better. For example RNP is a great pre amp that runs around $500
http://www.fmraudio.com/RNP8380.htm

The Grace 101 is also nice
http://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/101/
it runs around $600

I have used MANY, MANY different pre amps from all price ranges. BTW what school did you go to? I hope we are cool, I am really not trying to be a jerk.
 
T

The Bastard

Guest
thedreampolice said:
lol, Well I went to berkley school of music for audio post production (and am finishing online now)I also ran a recording studio and before that I worked at several. I still do freelance engineering to this day, I have also been on several projects for labels (not top 40 but independant) What is the nicest pre amp you have used? I am really not trying to start trouble, and I did not mean to insult you (I am sorry if I did) but I really feel that behringer is a complete waste of money and that money is better spent if you just save a little longer for something better. For example RNP is a great pre amp that runs around $500
http://www.fmraudio.com/RNP8380.htm

The Grace 101 is also nice
http://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/101/
it runs around $600

I have used MANY, MANY different pre amps from all price ranges. BTW what school did you go to? I hope we are cool, I am really not trying to be a jerk.
nah i wasnt tryin to be a prick either, just tryin to let u know that when it comes to recording, i know the difference between what sounds terrible and what sounds decent. cuz u were implying that i couldnt. and ive heard sum decent recordings that people have made with euroracks,your an engineer so you know betetr than me when it comes to recording u can do a lot with a little,long as u use the proper techniques.i went to bunker hill community college,media tech program
 

Visceral

Beatmaker
ill o.g.
Alright guys, I apprechiate all the suggestions but I'm on a fairly low budget and I am a big believer in the art over equipment (but good equipment helps I know). So I was thinking that instead of getting a mixer and soundcard I could get one of these; http://www.nusystems.co.uk/product/PreSonus.Firebox Presonus firebox, apparently has good premps. Yay or nay?
 

Visceral

Beatmaker
ill o.g.
thedreampolice said:
The pre amps are ok, but that unit has no flexibility. When you save up and get nicer preamps you wont be able to use it.

OK, might do for what I'm after though. Unless there's anything else in that price range you can recommend over it?
 
T

The Bastard

Guest
now that we on the subject, and i dont mean to takeover the thread, what would u guys suggest as a betetr upgrade, buying a dedicated pre amp for my mic and hookin it up to my beringer mixer, or buying a mackie 1202vlz mixer and jsut using the onboard pre amps on that
 
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