Audio interface

[Kirk Smith]

Hi everyone, I am new to this forum and need some advise right out of the gate. I use to do all my recording on the Tascam 988 until it took a dive. I ordered the DP24SD and should receive it from Sweetwater next week.
My question is, will I need an Audio interfaces with my Rode NT 1 studio mic to get good vocal recordings out of the 24? I am prepared to buy one if I need one. Hope someone can give me some sound advise.,I am sure I will be on here a lot needing help on this new machine. Thanks everyone
Kirk

 

[Phil Tipping]

Hi Kirk, welcome to the forum. The DP machine has mic pre-amps and phantom power so you can use dynamic or condenser mics directly.

The input sockets are 'combos' which take both 3-pin XLR and 1/4" jack, but they are connected differently inside the machine; the XLR's have more gain so use these for mic-level signals. If you have a dynamic mic with a 1/4" plug, use an adapter or preferably use a cable with an XLR plug. Phantom power only appears on the XLR pins of the socket.

You can use external pre-amps, but there is no need unless you prefer the sound of one in particular. If you do use one, they usually have line-level outputs so you should connect it to the 1/4" sockets and turn the trim down to reduce the effect of the internal preamp.

There's also lots of info/advice in the sticky posts at the start of this forum, so make sure you read at least the first few about getting started before doing anything serious.
Have fun with your new machine

 

[Kirk Smith]

Thank you Phil, I so appreciate your help and I look forward to my first recording after reading some of your tips and tricks.

 

[Kirk Smith]

Phil, could you give me some good recommendations on a good mic say in the $300 range that would capture good vocals?
Thank you

kirk

 

[Phil Tipping]

There are several active recording engineers on this forum so they're the best to advise... although you'll no doubt get lots of options and the bottom line will be down to you and what you want. Mics give different results depending on factors such as the person's voice, mic placement, room acoustics etc., so there's no one solution which fits all occasions.
Your requirements will also have some bearing on this, for example, your avatar suggests you play guitar so if you wanted to record you singing and playing guitar at the same time, a figure-of-8 mic can be good for reducing spill. The track snippets on this mp3 file were recorded using one of these, along with another basic mic for the guitar... so you might end up getting more than one mic
I can only speak for my mics which have served me well for years so I've had no need to keep up to date on what's available nowadays. Fwiw, my main mics are Rode K2 and Neumann TLM103, but they are very different and were bought for different purposes; not sure what the current prices are.

 

[Kirk Smith]

Thank you for you response, I will just have to try a few and see what best suits what I will need.
Thanks again

kirk Smith