[Cousin Patty]

I am very much wanting to start recording my own music at home. Very amateur stuff, nothing too fancy. I dont really want to spend alot of money so here are some of the things that I'm looking at right now:

Mixer: http://www.zzounds.com/item--MAC1202VLZPRO A little overkill right now but I figure it'll be a nice investment down the line.

Soundcard: http://www.esi-pro.com/viewProduct.php?pid=43&page=2

Monitors: http://www.zzounds.com/item--KRKRP6

Mic: Ive got a Shure SM57

Software: Ive got Steinberg Nuendo

Now, what I'm confused about is what the best way is to connect all this stuff. Im pretty sure the best way is to keep as much as possible balanced correct? Bare with me here...

The mixer has LEFT and RIGHT balanced outs using XLR connectors that would go into the Juli@. The Juli@ site says that it has balanced TRS I/O. I checked Blue Jeans' website and they make a balanced XLR cable to TRS but where Im getting confused is how many connectors are on the ends. Is it 2 XLR's on one end into a single TRS? Or 1 XLR into one TRS or what? And how would the Juli@ connect to the balanced inputs of the monitors?

I'd appreciate it if anyone could clarify all this cable madness. Thanks

 

[Jahn]

are you planning to get one more mic? if not, no matter what, your signal is going to be mono. therefore, it doesn't matter if it's L or R or L+R.

i use a SM57 too, and from my DMP3 preamp run that mono signal to the 0404. Yes the DMP3 does balanced outs, but the 0404 only accepts unbalanced in, so that's moot. Just pick a channel, L or R, then from your computer just pan that baby over so the mono signal plays in both channels.

on the other hand, if you want to record in stereo, say you have two SM57s, then you plug one mic into each channel of the DMP3, then have one go into the L channel of the 0404's input, and one go into the R channel. Then you don't have to do anything from the computer side, since you are getting two separate signals, one from each channel.

as far as i know, TS stands for Tip-Sleeve, which is the 1/4 plug used in a mono cable. TRS stands for Tip-Ring-Sleeve, which is the 1/4 plug used in a stereo cable. When you have two XLRs feeding into a TRS, it just means you have two mono signals, one from the R channel XLR plug, one from the L channel, and they both feed into that stereo plug, which you plug into your card. or say it's your card that has the XLR mono inputs? then you just plug that stereo plug into your DMP3 (or mixer), and bingo, out comes two signals, one channel into each XLR.

personally, i'm lazy, so instead of manipulating the channels via panning on the computer side, i just do it via old school wiring - my DMP3 has a TRS plug output going into two 1/4 TS mono plugs. I plug one into the 0404's 1/4 L channel, and the other into the R channel. Bingo, the same mono signal shows up on my computer in both channels.

 

[Jahn]

I just took a look at that Mackie mixer. It has an ok mic preamp on it, but nothing fancy. What you can do with it is have a xlr cable go from the mic to the mixer. Now on the mixer itself, leave that mono signal alone and just get another xlr cable and hook the mixer to your soundcard's xlr input, doesn't matter which channel. from your computer, pan it over so the mono signal plays in both channels.

this way, you only buy two xlr to xlr cables (you can get some Mogamis for under 7 each), and you don't use the mixer for anything but pre-amping your mic (remember, the SM57 is dynamic, so no need for phantom power). If later on you buy another mic to go stereo or add an instrument to record with the mic in real time, that's when the mixer comes into play.

 

[ooheadsoo]

TRS is 1/4 balanced, so it's 1 XLR per 1 TRS. You may not need any adaptors, there are 1/4 jacks all over that mixer.

 

[Cousin Patty]

Thanks Jahn. That basically answered my question. Right now Im just going to be using one mic to record my guitar's amp so that makes sense to only use one of the XLR ouputs on the back of the mixer.

What about connecting to the monitors though? Would it look like this?:

Juli@ TRS Left out>TRS to XLR cable>monitor
Juli@ TRS Right out>TRS to XLR cable>monitor

 

[HypnoLobster]

This is the best forum I've found:

http://www.studio-central.com/phpbb/...93dce7e51cbbff


The Juli@ has TRS in and out, and the mackie mixer has XLR in and out. You need a TRS to XLR cable, which is a balanced, three wire cable. One XLR plug to one TRS. The Juli@ connects with either TRS to TRS, or TRS to XLR. Both are balanced, three wire cables.

So, your paths would be:
Mic to Mackie mic in, via XLR to XLR cable - then:
Mic output of Mackie to Juli@ input via XLR to TRS which would give you your amped microphone signal into Nuendo.
From the Juli@ outputs, they would go into the Main Inputs on the Mackie
Then the monitors would be XLR to TRS connection from the main outs on the mackie, to the inputs on the KRK's. The KRK's have two kinds of balanced connection, so it's your choice to use XLR to XLR or XLR to TRS.

I would personally suggest you buy a Studio Projects C1 condenser mic as a vocal mic, and a starter acoustic guitar mic.

What are you planning on recording?

 

[Jahn]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Cousin Patty Thanks Jahn. That basically answered my question. Right now Im just going to be using one mic to record my guitar's amp so that makes sense to only use one of the XLR ouputs on the back of the mixer. What about connecting to the monitors though? Would it look like this?: Juli@ TRS Left out>TRS to XLR cable>monitor Juli@ TRS Right out>TRS to XLR cable>monitor

are those powered monitors? just making sure you're not trying to amp em up using the tiny onboard line out amp on the soundcard! ( EDIT- just read the link - looks like you're ok, they're powered!)

as far as connections go, you don't even need a TRS plug on the soundcard side, since you're threading a mono signal into each monitor. even if the signal from your computer was stereo, it's still just one line signal out from each channel, right? so you just need a TS plug from the card's L channel into the xlr plug of the L monitor, and the same for the right side is fine.

 

[HypnoLobster]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jahn are those powered monitors? just making sure you're not trying to amp em up using the tiny onboard line out amp on the soundcard! ( EDIT- just read the link - looks like you're ok, they're powered!) as far as connections go, you don't even need a TRS plug on the soundcard side, since you're threading a mono signal into each monitor. even if the signal from your computer was stereo, it's still just one line signal out from each channel, right? so you just need a TS plug from the card's L channel into the xlr plug of the L monitor, and the same for the right side is fine.

Actually, you'll want to send the soundcard's outputs to the mixer, then from the mixer to the powered monitors.

All balanced, too.
This is to give you physical control over the volume of the monitors, as the only other way to change the volume would be with the two respective controls on the back of each monitor.

the volume control ont eh back of the monitors should both be wide open to 0dB, not attenuated at all.

 

[Cousin Patty]

Quote:

Originally Posted by HypnoLobster This is the best forum I've found: http://www.studio-central.com/phpbb/...93dce7e51cbbff The Juli@ has TRS in and out, and the mackie mixer has XLR in and out. You need a TRS to XLR cable, which is a balanced, three wire cable. One XLR plug to one TRS. The Juli@ connects with either TRS to TRS, or TRS to XLR. Both are balanced, three wire cables. So, your paths would be: Mic to Mackie mic in, via XLR to XLR cable - then: Mic output of Mackie to Juli@ input via XLR to TRS which would give you your amped microphone signal into Nuendo. From the Juli@ outputs, they would go into the Main Inputs on the Mackie Then the monitors would be XLR to TRS connection from the main outs on the mackie, to the inputs on the KRK's. The KRK's have two kinds of balanced connection, so it's your choice to use XLR to XLR or XLR to TRS. I would personally suggest you buy a Studio Projects C1 condenser mic as a vocal mic, and a starter acoustic guitar mic. What are you planning on recording?

Thanks. This was pretty helpful.

Right now I'm just going to be recording my guitar amp, acoustic guitar, and I plan on getting a keyboard with MIDI out at some point. Later on I'll add a drum machine or something. I'm not really interested in recording vocals right now so I'll hold off on the condenser mic (although it would be nice for recording acoustic guitars). This is really just a way of getting my ideas recorded and to learn how to do this kind of sound engineer type stuff.

 

[HypnoLobster]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Cousin Patty Thanks. This was pretty helpful. Right now I'm just going to be recording my guitar amp, acoustic guitar, and I plan on getting a keyboard with MIDI out at some point. Later on I'll add a drum machine or something. I'm not really interested in recording vocals right now so I'll hold off on the condenser mic (although it would be nice for recording acoustic guitars). This is really just a way of getting my ideas recorded and to learn how to do this kind of sound engineer type stuff.

Awesome. If you are going to be doing a lot of acoustic guitar, I'd recommend a pair of Shure SM81's down the line for acoustic guitar. One to start would be excellent. Stereo pairs of small diaphram condensers on acoustic's would worlds better than a single dynamic and often better than a single large diaphragm condenser.
EDIT:
If you feel like saving money, http://sound-room.com/customer/produ...8&cat=3&page=1
Those are regarded as the basic pair of decent Small diaphram condensers. Pretty dang good for a start with stereo acoustic guitar micing.


You're getting yourself into a really, really big money pit. It's extremely fun and quite a lot of things to learn.

 

[Cousin Patty]

Thanks for you guys' help and suggestions. I think I have enough info now to get started.

 

[NightWoundsTime]

Propellerhead's Rebirth drum machine/synth software is now free since Reason was introduced.

http://www.rebirthmuseum.com/

Just a simple way to get some beats and maybe bass into your recordings if you don't mind cheesy synth sounds.

Nuendo should probably be able to "Rewire" to direcly record and play from Rebirth.

 

[Senn20]

Think about picking up a Studio Projects B1 for recording acoustic guitar and vocals. The Shure will work fine for the amp, but for vocals and acoustic instruments you really need a condensor mic.