[musicamigo]

I just came across this forum yesterday, reviewed quite a few posts,
and after recognizing the caliber of the participants, figured I'd
register and post a note to see if I can tap the collective brain
of the participants.

I'm looking for advice on ways to "get to the next level", and
thought the best way to solicit input would be to offer info
on my current setup and (somewhat limited) experience, and see
what others had to say.

Currently, the equipment I have is a Presonus FP10 digital
interface that I'm using with the packaged software Cubase LE 4,
along with a couple of cheap ART tube preamps.

I originally started out with a two channel Tascam interface,
and purchased the Presonus about a month or so ago. My original
reason for getting setup for digital recording was to establish
a "working method" to share ideas with other digitally enabled
musicians, and also to be able to practice "long distance" with
a few musicians that I play out with on a regular basis. To that
end, the bare bones setup has worked great, allowing me to trade
audio back and forth to establish arrangements for finished tunes,
etc.

At first, sound quality was a secondary issue ... as long as the
musical structure was intact, the utilitarian aspect of the
recording worked fine. Over the past year or so, I've spent some
time experimenting with improving the quality of what I am sending
into the digital interface, as well as becoming much more familiar
with the audio software. In the last month, I recorded some
sessions/tunes of the trio I play in, and after massaging the tracks,
have come up with some mixdowns that are acutally starting to sound
pretty good (when compared to what I've done in the past).

Which leads me to my question ... given the equipment I've noted,
what would you folks suggest I pursue next, with the goal being
to improve the quality of the recordings? I'm willing to drop
a few more dollars (let's say a max of $700-900) if need be, but
would like to make sure that any money a spend is addressing
the weakest link in the recording chain.

Part of me wonders if I should just keep trying to improve
the quality using what I've got - in other words, maybe
the weakest link at this point is still my inexperience
at using the tools I have?

At any rate, I'd appreciate any input. Currently, my recording
involves an acoustic guitar, another acoustic guitar or mandolin,
a "hybrid" electric guitar, and three vocalists. The hybrid electric
sends a signal through an octave pedal which then outputs a dedicated
line that's an octave lower (essentially acting as a bass line).

My recent experiments of recording the trio have involved
recording 7 tracks at once - 3 vocals (SM58's), and acoustic
with a piazzo run through a Bagg's box/preamp, mandolin with
a piazzo, through a cheap tube preamp, I'm sending the "standard"
electric guitar output from a Bose system's balanced XLR out into
the digital interface, and am mic'ing the bass output with a kick
drum mic, and running through a cheap tube preamp. I've got
two of the SM58's running directly into the two Presonus channels
that have preamps, and the third is run through a Helicon voice
correct preamp/box.

I can only imagine I'm going to get flack about not mic'ing
the acoustics, and I plan to do so, but for now, I'm
just telling it like it is. Again, keep in mind that at
up to this point, I've been looking to make recordings that
we use as reference material. I put the tunes up at a website,
and when we're preparing the set lists for a gig, if we
throw in a tune we haven't played for a while, the reference
tune is available for a listen so we can brush up on our parts.

So ... at this point in my foray into recording, where would my
energy (and dollars) be best directed?

Here's my list of current equipment:

PreSonus FP10
Cubase LE 4
AKG C1000S condensor
AKG D112 Kick Drum Mic
Shure SM58's (used for gigs)
Electro-Voice 667A dynamic cardoid
Bose Personal Amplification System (used for gigs)
TC-Helicon voice correct preamp/box (used for gigs and some recording)
Behringer 6 channel mixer (used for funneling to the Bose for gigs)