Too much reading has got me confused...

[thinkintriplets]

Ya.

So I have a mixer, mics, a computer, and monitors.

I'm still confused about the sound card idea. I don't believe I need preamps because of the mixer, so I don't need a REALLY good sound card right?

Thanks for any help.

thinkintriplets.

[siski]

It depends on what you wanna do, reading from you previous posts are you still just trying to capture your bands jam sessions or have your goals changed? If your going down the mixer, pre-amp and monitors route I would say they have and your entering the realms of "proper recording".

How much control do you want post recording the jam session? Why not go the full hog? In for a penny, in for a pound.

Si.

[brandondrury]

so I don't need a REALLY good sound card right?

I have no idea what your definition of "really good" is.

You are correct in that your mixer has built in preamps. However, you still need a low latency, real deal recording soundcard. Now you can get a soundcard that does not include preamps at all.

Brandon

[thinkintriplets]

Ya siski... my goals have changed. The guys I share my room with have a couple mics they told me I could use when I brought my computer in. As soon as that happened, many more possibilities ran through my head. That being said, I'm not building my own home studio. I'm just trying to use what available, and invest as little as possible on my side to make everything sound as best as possible. In terms of budget, I still want the SM 57, and a condenser, and finally the soundcard.

As for a really good soundcard, I was looking at Firewire, and they seem really good. Currently, mine is integrated into my motherboard. The computer itself is pretty powerful, but when I made it I did not have recording music in mind. However, since I have the pre amps available in the mixer, I'd rather not spend money on a Firewire sound card, however I would like to record maximum 4 channels simultaneously.

I guess what I'm beginning to realize as I write this out is that I don't understand the function of the soundcard!! Damn...

thinkintriplets.

[siski]

OK, I'm no guru but this is the way I see it...

The soundcard has to be able to process recording 4 simultanious tracks at the same time (this means 4 inputs on the soundcard have to exist), plus if your overdubbing, push out whatever you've recorded previousley to the monitors so you can here it/play along with it. Thats 5 things its got to do at the same time with no probems. (I personaly think that your gonna want more that 4, especialy if you wanna record drums)

The one in your computer is not designed to process this amount of information at the same time and will fuckup with this amount of work to do(latency). Its designed to play one audio track from your favorite game, plus it won't have the number of inputs your looking for.

Also now that you've decided that you want to record multiple tracks then you have to make sure that your laptop is powerful enough. (I think you've opened up a can of worms here my son )

As I say I'm no guru so I strongly suggest you read the "Get Starting With home recording" again, sorry bro

[brandondrury]

I don't understand the function of the soundcard!!

The soundcard generally converts the analog signals to digital and sends the signals to the computer. It also pulls the signal out of the computer and converts it back to analog.

The biggest reason to get a real deal audio interface is for the low latency capabilities. The average stock soundcard may have a latency of up to 250ms. In other words, if you wanted to record a vocal track monitoring through your recording software (so you can use compression while tracking) it would take 1/4 a second for the sound of your voice to be heard in your headphones.

If you try to crank the latency down to a crappy stock audio interface, you'll get tons of clicks and pops or just crash your computer altogether.

If you don't see the need in a soundcard, put the money for one aside and use your stock one for a while. The odds say you'll be ordering an audio inteface fairly soon.

It is possible to do all of your monitoring within the mixer, but I expect you'll have issues with a cheap audio interface even then.

[thinkintriplets]

You guys have been a great help.

I think I'm going to go with the Firepod to get my recording started.

This forum rocks.

thinkintriplets.

[brandondrury]

If you decide to get it from Musicians Friend, do me a favor and click here.

Brandon

[thinkintriplets]

I actually wanted to, but the problem is that they don't ship to Quebec, Canada.

I was pretty pissed off.

thinkintriplets.

[brandondrury]

Oh yeah. I knew that. I need to figure out a new advertising system based on Geotargeting. There just aren't enough hours in a day.

Brandon