Need help & suggestions putting together a computer recording rig.

[BornAgainBass]

the package deals are usually good bang for your buck and focusrite is a good brand. You are not going to be able to get new speakers that are accurate and have deep bass response in that price range though. You may need to use headphones to hear the low bass. Mixing low bass can be tough. Unless you're doing hip hop or electronica of some sort, less is usually better anyway. Good luck and have fun!

Thanks And I. Thank God the packages are good lol. I was actually checking out the package deals at the local GC today. The packages I was looking at didn't have the speakers with them. But I seen that you can pick up a good set of speakers for under $200 a set so that's not bad at all. I am going to go with your advice and keep it simple for now. Thanks again for your help.

 

[BornAgainBass]

I'm really quite happy with my FocusRite Scarlett 2i4, and I agree, you have to spend quite a bit of money on monitor speakers to get decent bass - a decent set of headphones is a much cheaper solution.

Thanks bholder. I was looking at the FocusRite Scarlett 214 and 616 packages today without speakers. I could always find more money for speakers since the packages I was looking at were all ranging up to $400.00 with better mics in the packages. I seen that I could get a good set of speakers for about $200.00 which isn't that bad. They were busy at GC today so I plan on going back this week and talking to someone more about everything in these packages and see if they have any on the floor to try out. Thanks again for your help!

 

[BornAgainBass]

i wouldn't use headphones as my only listening device for any mix--and i have a $300 pair of studio monitor headphones. they're great as an addition to some speakers to hear the bass that the speakers won't provide, but mixes done through headphones only tend to be poorly balanced. YMMV, of course.

Thanks for the heads up on when to use the headphones. I also have a set that's around that price. My wife wanted me to get the best pair for the money. I told her that I see no reason for buying such an expensive pair, but when I used them with my amp, I changed my mind and was happy we got them. Once I move to the country, I will probably go with using the speakers mostly since I won't have any neighbors to bother lol. Thanks again.

 

[NSJB]

I definitely agree with And I said about headphones. I record stuff in my spare time and unless I put in the time to mix with my speakers or my IEMs; the mix sounds horribly unbalanced. I used to run really cheap speakers, which even then worked a bit better for mixing than my expensive headphones. I use the Focusrite 2i4 that you're looking at and I think it is fantastic. If you're interested in hearing something recorded with a 2i4 just checkout anything on my soundcloud in my sig.

I don't use protools, but the plugins included with the Focusrite stuff is top notch. Also to throw in another brand, Tascam is pretty nice. I like my 2i4 better but I know someone with a Tascam and it seems to work pretty well. They also package two different DAWs with their interfaces. I would recommend trying the free trials for the DAW that comes with whatever interface you are looking at. Even if you can't record, you can still tell a bit about how intuitive they are for you specifically.

 

[BornAgainBass]

I definitely agree with And I said about headphones. I record stuff in my spare time and unless I put in the time to mix with my speakers or my IEMs; the mix sounds horribly unbalanced. I used to run really cheap speakers, which even then worked a bit better for mixing than my expensive headphones. I use the Focusrite 2i4 that you're looking at and I think it is fantastic. If you're interested in hearing something recorded with a 2i4 just checkout anything on my soundcloud in my sig.

I don't use protools, but the plugins included with the Focusrite stuff is top notch. Also to throw in another brand, Tascam is pretty nice. I like my 2i4 better but I know someone with a Tascam and it seems to work pretty well. They also package two different DAWs with their interfaces. I would recommend trying the free trials for the DAW that comes with whatever interface you are looking at. Even if you can't record, you can still tell a bit about how intuitive they are for you specifically.

Thanks NSJB. Appreciate the help. Yeah Tascam has been around a long time. I think I will probably end up going with a FocusRite because you all seem to like them and my buddy at the store also recommended them for what I want to do with a DAW. Since they also come with great software, that is a major plus for the FR's. BTW, I listened to your Sound Cloud stuff today. Definitely good stuff you got going on there! Thanks again for your help. Much appreciated!

 

[Tulsa Teddy]

I used a Presonus Audiobox iTwo for about a year. You can get it in a package deal that includes a condenser mic, mic cable, and headphones for right about $220. People have latency issues with the audiobox but they are workable if you adjust the buffer size. The package also comes with Studio One Artist. It's a pretty good DAW. I don't know how it compares to other DAWs since it's the only one I've ever used. I'd recommend the presonus package. I know they have other packages as well that include reference speakers. It's worth checking out. I personally believe Audiobox and Focusrite are about the same quality. I'd go with whichever one you can get the best deal with.

I personally just got a new Behringer XR18 and will be using it as an interface instead of the audiobox. It served it's purpose well for me.