As some of you know, for the last 6 months or so I’ve been playing with the Presonus StudioLive 16.0.2 mixer in my home studio. Being a long-time fan and user of Presonus gear, I was thrilled to get to put this thing through its paces.
I’ve done everything from recording a live concert, to mobile tracking sessions, to recording podcasts, videos, and live streaming video/audio online.
So yes…I’ve put it through its paces. I absolutely love this thing. Having a physical mixer with all the benefits of a firewire audio interface is the bomb.
Check out this quick video where I share with you three of my favorite things about the StudioLive, and why it’s a great option for us home studio folks.
Recently someone emailed me asking what the “best” mixer was for his home studio.
I replied back and asked him, “Are you sure you even NEED a mixer?”
People get hung up on the fact that a recording studio needs a mixer, or a console. Back in the analog days, of course this was true. You needed some way to play back all those tracks from the tape machine.
Nowadays, though, a lot of the big studios may still have a big console sitting in the control room, but there’s a good chance they’re mixing everything in the box and only using two channels on the entire console.
In my last post I put up a LONG-overdue video. Now it’s time to jump back on the “Ask Joe” bandwagon.
If you’re new to HSC, I make it a point to regularly answer reader questions here on the blog. I can’t answer EVERY question, but I try to cover as many as I can. Got a question? Fill out the Ask Joe form.
Jon asked:
Hey Joe, how about a piece on basic, fairly low cost, live stage setup, for the beginning group:
If you follow me on Twitter, you may have known that I spent the weekend in the Chicago area installing an Apogee Symphony System for a client and doing some training. The install went surprisingly well, with no major issues, aside from a missing BNC cable.
If you’re not familiar with the Symphony system, you should check it out. It’s a phenomenal PCI-based system that connects any Apogee converter directly into your DAW (in this case, Logic) with insane audio quality along with virtually no latency.
The system is a dream home studio setup, and it’s all centered around the Symphony system and a Toft ATB24 24-channel recording console. (Pictured above.)
I have to admit, while I don’t use a recording console in my home studio, I grew very attached to the Toft board. It’s a great-sounding console with a ton of routing options. There’s something about running an analog signal through an analog mixer that makes you feel like a real recording engineer.
Are you looking for ways to expand your home studio? Perhaps you’re itching for a new challenge or a new way to potentially make some money?
Let’s take a step back. You have a home studio. You record your own music. You find the occassional artist to record, but you’re wanting to step things up a bit.
You’ve tried a bunch of different ways to promote your home studio, particularly going to concerts to find and meet new musicians. But what if you could take that further?
Perhaps you’re meeting a lot of great musicians, but you just can’t quite convince them to come record a demo in your studio. What if you could bring your studio to them? Better yet, what if you could offer to multi-track record their live show?
This episode of Ask Joe is a bit on the long side, but Chris asked some really good questions, and I think a lot of readers have the same sort of questions, so here we go!
Chris wrote:
Joe,
First, great website. I’ve been dabbling in home recording for a few years now, and this is by far the most user-friendly and intuitive user-generated website I’ve seen. It’s a great service, and I really appreciate it.
As I indicated, I’ve been “dabbling” in home recording for a few years. I initially got into it to make hip hop beats (a phase I went through) and to record basic guitar/vocal demos. Here’s my current rig:
