DI boxes for recording

Ando

Any recommendations? Experiences? If people use them, would you consider sharing some tips on getting the most out of them with a Selmac?

Right now, I get lots of hiss from recording direct, and I don't know where it comes from -- maybe too low a signal from the little electret condenser mic I'm using? Or is it coming from the soundboard? Would a DI box solve the problem?

I'm surprised there isn't a general discussion area for "Recording Gypsy-Jazz."

Cheers,
Ando

Paganini

Ando,

I can really recomend the Fishman Pro-EQ Platinum. It works very well. I do use a condenser mic (a normal mic). I work with a Terratec soundcard and Cool edit Pro.

zav

Ando, what you mean saying

Right now, I get lots of hiss from recording direct

- do you plug your mic into soundboard mic input?

In any case (even if you don't have a lot of hissss) it's better to use a out-box mic preamplifier, connecting it's output to the soundboard LINE input.

I use a fine mic preamplifier (with a limiter, so no problem of distortion and very easy to use for all my test recordings) with my condenser mics, and yesterday I've started to use Alto mixer that I've bought as a mic preamp - the result is also very nice. So, if your only task is a recording - get a good preamp (by the way, what a sounboard do you use?), but if you a playing with a group - good mixer could be use as a preamp at home and as a normal mixer - on stage.

Good luck!
Anton

Ando

Yes, I've got it plugged into the soundcard mic input. The card is a Soundblaster (not the new 24-bit one).

Thanks for your input!

zav

The card is a Soundblaster

Yeah... I also use a simple SB Live now, but I wanna (and also recommend you to do) change it (in perspective) for some better 100-200 bucks card - as all simple SB cards have a lot of hiss on all inputs together with general poor quality analog and analog-digital-convertor parts. Well, simply speaking there are only gamer-multimedia cards - if you'll get only a super-bupper preamp the sound will die in SBs - so my proposal is to get an aproximatly equal-level preamp + mics and a SoundCard (sorry about some changing of topic, but I only would like you to understand the total situation - the sound goes a long way to reach your hard disk! ;-) ).

Cheers,
Anton

Ando

Anton

Thanks, that's exactly what I've been hearing from others as well. It seems the SB card I have now has a relatively weak and noisy pre-amps for the mic input. I've been looking into better soundcards (never having done so before), and there certainly seems to be some good technology out there.

The Delta 44 from M-Audio looks good, for example:

http://www.m-audio.com/products/en_us/Delta44-main.html

Cheers,
Ando

Kcox

Funny I should come across this thread, I was looking into some m-audio stuff the other day. They offer two budget solutions that I can see, the "firewire solo" or the "audio buddy" pre-amp + "audiophile 2496" soundcard. Any opinions on which might be better?

Thanks,

Kevin

dennis

kevin i was actually considering those for my laptop too .... if you ever want to go to archambault to check them out or something let me know

Ando

By the way, my crappy little recording experiments are noisy because either 1) the electret condenser mic was dropped at some point, 2) the soundcard's pre-amp is lousy/noisy, or 3) both.

I'm reading a lot at this point. It seems the microphone is the most important part of the signal chain. The pre-amp has to match the mic's specs appropriately, or the fidelity benefits of the mic will be lost. I'm still unsure about the soundcard because I'm not sure what *audibles* could be gained by sampling at 96 in 24 bits. I don't know if I'd ever hear the difference, given the common headphone, loudspeaker, playback technology. As for CPU speed, what's required depends on how many threads you record at once, and at what sample fidelity.

My approach here is minimalist. I'm considering making most of my investment in a mic and go for a single-mic, live performance capture, straight into a computer.

There is an incredible amount of marketing hype out there, isn't there?

Cheers,
Ando

Kcox

My brother in law does a lot of studio jive, and is not a hardware junky (meaning he is practical more than one of those cutting edge types). He told me flat out that my SB audigy 2 card simply would not cut it. He insists that even the SB "professional" grade cards do not hold a candle to cards like the m-audio 1946. Again, this is not personal experience but from someone whom I trust completely (he holds a Phd in music--composition, I think--from Columbia).

Dennis, for sure let's take a trip down sometime. My major concern with the firewire solo is whether or not you can actually use both inputs at once. If you can it seems like the perfect solution for me. It's a bit cheaper than both the preamp and soundcard combo, and would likely work better with your laptop. Of course, there is lots of USB gear you could use as well if you wanted more versatility... anyway, as you say, let's go on down sometime.

Cheers,

Kevin

zav

Ksox,
all that your brother in law said about ALL SBs - is sad but truth...

Ando,

I haven't done a final desision about a new card yet.
But I'm looking also at the direction of M-Audio cards or maybe ESI Juli@ card

http://www.digit-life.com/articles2/esi-julia/

(because it has a digital I/O, which could be usefull for me also).

Good luck!
Anton