Sound Guru's

[Remington]

I'm trying to put together a "sound cart" for my school and I'm looking for some suggestions. We're trying to put together a small cart for live sound and video recording purposes. We would like to have a small mixer, a CD-R/CD-RW recorder and whatever else might be necessary. I'd like to put either a Mackie 1402VLZPRO 14 Channel or a DFX12 Live Sound mixer on the cart with a Tascam CDRW750 CD Recorder but we're working with a small to medium sized budget (maybe a max of $1,000 total) so I'm not sure if those are plausible options. Like I said, I'm looking for suggestions on what might be good for the budget we have. Thanks for the help.

[Muzikman]

How many channels do you need? Do you need all the mics too? Would multi-track be useful or do you only care to record in stereo? What are you going to be recording exactly? Will effects proccessors be needed?

Basically...are you going to be recording something that is already being mixed down, or are you going to be doing all the mixing and effects yourself? Ie. if you are recording a band, are you planning on plugging into the house board, or are you going to mic the stage yourself?


This makes a big difference in determining if you will be able to stay in your budget and get half decent gear.

[Muzikman]

Ok, this will be out of your budget, but here is a budgeted system I would use.

Mixer: http://www.musiciansfriend.com/srs7/g=rec/search/detail/base_pid/631225/

ADAT Interface: http://www.musiciansfriend.com/srs7/g=live/search/detail/base_pid/185555/

Multi-Track: http://www.musiciansfriend.com/srs7/g=rec/search/detail/base_pid/246021/

Mastering Deck: http://www.musiciansfriend.com/srs7/g=rec/search/detail/base_pid/246018/

[Remington]

How many channels do you need? Do you need all the mics too? Would multi-track be useful or do you only care to record in stereo? What are you going to be recording exactly? Will effects proccessors be needed?

Basically...are you going to be recording something that is already being mixed down, or are you going to be doing all the mixing and effects yourself? Ie. if you are recording a band, are you planning on plugging into the house board, or are you going to mic the stage yourself?

This makes a big difference in determining if you will be able to stay in your budget and get half decent gear.

Well, here's the situation. We have an existing control room with, if I recall correctly, a Mackie SR24•4-VLZ PRO. We obviously don't need something that extensive for a sound cart and we'll only be using a max of about 8 mics at a time, so maybe a 12 channel? Multi-track would be nice but if it doesn't work into the budget then stereo will have to do. We plan on recording both instrumental and choral performances and we have our auditorium mic'd with between 6-8 condenser mics. I hope that answers your questions, Muzikman, if not I'll be happy to answer anymore you might have for me. Thanks again for your help!

[Muzikman]

Ok, so you are not plugging into a house PA. Hmm...

Your best bet would be to use a Multi-Track workstation. They even have some that have burners built right in.

http://www.musiciansfriend.com/srs7/g=rec/search/detail/base_pid/240269/

That will do everything you are looking for in one unit.

[Remington]

Ok, so you are not plugging into a house PA. Hmm...

Your best bet would be to use a Multi-Track workstation. They even have some that have burners built right in.

http://www.musiciansfriend.com/srs7/g=rec/search/detail/base_pid/240269/

That will do everything you are looking for in one unit.

That looks perfect but I only see two mic inputs at the top. :confused: Thanks again for your help Muzikman! :clap:

[Muzikman]

Hmm, I dunno, in the back maybe? I have never used that model, but have used many Fostex machines over the years. It states 8 Mic in puts, but they might be 8 unballanced and only 2 balanced (XLR). Which would suck, but most of these little machines are designed for singer/song writters to put down some music.