few questions.

[Russ]

1) what do i need to get some condenser microphones hearable on my mixer? i read that i need a pair of monitors but how many cables and what kind of cable connectors does it take to plug them in?

2) do i need a power amp, or is that just for extra volume?

3) can i use headphones on the mixer so i can hear the result of the mics till i can afford all the extra stuff needed?

[kaosotis]

If you have phantom power, which you should, the condensers should work.

You do need an amp and speakers if you want to hear anything from the mixer out loud. But you also should be able to just listen through speakers. You can also record to a computer without power.

[nucjd]

Russ, do a search on google for you mixer and download the pdf manual for it if you don't have it because I did when you had a question earlier and it addressed all of them if I remember correctly.

[Russ]

i have one i just can't make much sense of it. i found a pair of monitors i think im gonna get for the mixer(they turned out really cheap priced). you guys know if JBL P20's are good and what i would need to connect them to my mixer?

also i wanted to know if the power amp needs to be exactly the same as the wattage capacity of the monitors or can i get a bigger wattage power amp and keep my levels low? cause i have enough to look for a used crown, but i don't want it too powerful or it might short out my monitors im thinking. and what kind of cable connects a power amp to the mixer? thanks.

[atomcorr2]

yes ,you'll need an amp for the speakers,, but with the right cords ,you could use your home stereo,if it has a line input..

[Russ]

i wasn't able to stay in budget and get passive speakers and an amp that stays within recommended wattage so i just opted to get a pair of these bad boys. i read some pretty nice reviews..

[Church Drummer]

You read my mind, I was just about to suggest a pair of powered monitor speakers. Good choice. You'll also want a good pair of isolation headphones for recording so you can hear what's going through the mixer.

[atomcorr2]

great choice , your going to have a great time ,, have you got them hooked up yet ? do you know how to hook it up? your building up a nice bunch of equipment.. cant wait to hear you ...

[nucjd]

Russ I have the passive KRKs and LOVE them. You will be happy, however you will notice the lows are a bit missing. You can pick up the sub that matches it for the low htz that those are missing. All in all excellent monitors.

[Russ]

Originally Posted by atomcorr2

great choice , your going to have a great time ,, have you got them hooked up yet ? do you know how to hook it up? your building up a nice bunch of equipment.. cant wait to hear you ...

i ordered:

aquarian texture coated over classic clear for all rack toms, texture coated w/ power dot over classic clear snare side head, texture coated response 2 over clear response 2 for floor toms, and superkick 2 over regulator w/ small hole for basses.

krk rokit 5 monitor pair, 2 horizon 18 gauge 20' speaker cables, 4 horizon 10' mic cables lo-z, 4 223 mic stands, 2 on-stage speaker stands w/ adapters,(i went ghetto on stands) AKG K240 MKii headphones, african area rug to fill bare floor space that my other one didn't, 2 mxl990 room mics, and 2 mxl991 overhead mics,(for my ride and hats) drumdial, and 2 aquarian kick pads for the superkick2's. oh and the mackie 24.4 mixer is on it's way too, i have a foldable computer table for that, as well as 21 audimute soundproofing sheets. can't wait till it all gets here so i can learn learn learn!

do you think that's enough?

[VIbes]

Sounds like your getting it going there Russ. I have a Mackie 24/4 I used to use in my studio if you need any help setting that up for recording. Are those speakers powered? If not your going to need a little power amp like a Crown 150 or comparable. Your not going to need 2000 watts to run monitor speakers.
You might think about getting a inexpensive headphone monitor system if your going to have other folks recording with you. You can get one cheap that will take 4 or 5 headphones that will connect to the Mackie.
Outside that a few mics and maybe a 8 channel mic preamp.

What are you useing to record? You will need a computer,software and Interface if you don't already have that covered.

[atomcorr2]

it looks like you have a great start .. im sure as time goes on ,you'll be adding more .. have fun bud ...

[weezy]

Originally Posted by nucjd

Russ I have the passive KRKs and LOVE them. You will be happy, however you will notice the lows are a bit missing. You can pick up the sub that matches it for the low htz that those are missing. All in all excellent monitors.

Good point. However, you need to carefull with using subs when mixing. They can make a recording sound like it has more bass than it does. The end result? You're driving in your car and wondering where all the bass went. I'm not saying don't use a sub, just that it'll take a little tweaking to find the sweet spot.

[Russ]

i gotta tell ya i was listening on youtube at speakers/monitors with subwoofers hooked up to them and i was kinda turned off from it all. without one it just seemed more cleaner, more defined and pure toned. i don't see myself needing one yet for any recording i do. but maybe when in the future i can, i would look into investing in one, just to see if they turn out any different.

[nucjd]

Remember Russ the mix is about tranportability. Ask yourself,does it transport? How does it sound in the car, on the home stereo, headphones, and monitors. You will notice as you mix the sound you get in your room where the monitors sit will be different when you take it out of the room. The reason is the acoustics of the room. I recommend things like ARC software which evaluate the room sonically and adjusts what you hear out of the monitors so you are not fooled by things like bass build up and high end wash. So a sub is NOT a problem IF the room is managed appropriately acoustically.

[Russ]

im in kind of a tough spot.. i have a live mixer, but studio monitors, and no computer or recorder aside from a camera that i can have in the studio at this time, which basically means the mics and room acoustics would be wasted on the camera only. should i-- a) try and get a computer in the room, and shop for an 8 input digital recorder? b) shop for a low budget pa system and a zoom recorder?

my total funds will be 400 so im definitely feeling my limitations here, as well as my blunder of not knowing what to buy before i did..

[nucjd]

Definitely..........A. Russ, you are almost there keep going and you will so much more satisfied and enjoy the equipment you already have. You can see the light at the end of the tunnel.

[nucjd]

I understand your quandary. Seems like everyone wants a mixer, However for recording ALL of the mixing can be done"in the box" meaning, in the computer and you do not need a mixer unless you are using it to gig.

[Russ]

i totalled it up but the computer route is 200 over what i can work with.. im prolly gonna go the pa route and make rough recordings. i also don't have the power outlets to support a computer/interface/monitor setup. what a shame

[nucjd]

That's cool Russ. I am sure you will end putting out some cool stuff. Just keep your eyes open on ebay. You will be surprised what comes up for recording.

[Russ]

i think im gonna ask my roomate if i can borrow his computer for the jam room since he barely uses it anyway. is there any way i can use the features of my mackie with the capabilities of the computer? like what would i need to play through the mixer and master on the computer? i'm tryin to get cubase software, but after i get some software what would i need? rca cables?

[Larrysperf]

RCA cables and USB interface. Also you dont need cube base, very exspense for what you need. Also I have computer you can have if you want to pay shipping

[nucjd]

I prefer fire wire interface over USB. There are latency issues with USB. Russ. check out the other threads in this forum when you get a chance. It is discussed in full. There are a hundred ways to skin this cat. Mbox, Mbox pro, Digi003, presonus firewire interface. They all work great. Jut remember to buy as much as you can afford input wise because the mbox has two XLR, inputs versus the 003 with 8 inputs. This will be important with tracts on your computer for plugins. The cool thing though is you can adjust input and eq with busing prior to the input into the computer with your mackie.

[Russ]

i was weighing out my options yesterday and i think i came up with a great idea but tell me what you think you guys.. play through the pa and record it onto the zoom or other type of pocket recorder, and then i use the included usb cord to load it up to my computer where i have cubase 5.1(i still have to configure it) and a beefed up audacity with about 100 plug ins or more, and i master my rough mix. *dances* "oh yeah oh yeah, whos yo daddy, get down, get down like its yer birfday"

[nucjd]

You can definitely do that, however.... The total number of tracks you will have on cubase to work with will be two ( if I am correct about the Zoom, two mics therefore two channels). Now, if you go with a A/D interface with say 8 inputs then you will have a snare channel, bass drum channel, stereo overhead channel from two overhead mics, and all of your toms mic'd independently. THis will allow a much better final product, because lets say you want to put a reverb tail on your reso head snare mic to give you that monster snare sound you can do it with messing up the bass drum track which will have been scooped out on the middle using the EQ and side chained compressed to the bass guitar to allow the slap to come through. So you can see separate channels in the computer is the way to go if you can. Now that being said, you can say get an MBox with two xlr inputs and do all of you mixing in your mackie board and then interface into your computer. IMO, I would not use a PA with a zoom sitting in front of it. The fidelity loss will be through the roof with the analog/digital conversion and there is only so much you can do with plugins once it is in the box. You have a good mackie board that will allow you mix on the board and buss it down to two channels and then direct input into your computer the right left out.The better it is coming in to the computer the happier you will be. I would think for the same price of getting a PA system and a zoom you could pic up mic's and a decent A/D interface that comes with pro tools, cubase, etc and that my friend would definitely put you in the game, but do whatever you like.