New Kid on the block

[CTD]

No I'm not some weird gropie, lol!! I'm thinking of purchasing a M-Box 2 Mini and I thought this might be a good place to get some info.

I'm looking to do some home recording. I'm not planning to do any music production. I want to learn how to record so I can start doing some voice over production. My approach is to start doing VO as a hobby and later doing it for money. But I know I need to crawl before I can walk or run. I'm not in a big hurry to get started doing this for money, I know there is a steep learning curve here and the VO market is flooded with people trying to make a buck. I have some friends in radio and some friends at some big advertising agencys who have been telling me to put together a demo.

I told them that I would like to try my hand at VO but I'm not goiing to spend the cash to have a demo produced at a studio when I dont know anything about recording. Many of the VO people do thier auditions from home studios and produce the finished product them selfs. I would also need to be able to do this too in order to be able to compeet in the VO market.

So my questions begin.

Thinking about the M-Box 2 mini with Pro Tools LE. Would this be a good place for a newby to start?

I down loaded a trail version of Reaper just to play around with and I'm using a crapy chat mic.

Is Reaper anything like the M-box? Is it not what I want?

Thanks,
CTD

[Keybeeetsss]

Originally Posted by CTD

No I'm now some weird gropie, lol!!
CTD

Me toooo


WELCOME to the DUCZ!!! now u just need Pro tools...

[mindnoise]

Hi CTD,

welcome to the world of D.A.W. (Dreadful Audio Workaround)

Maybe it´s the better Idea for now to hang on with Reaper for a while before you spend real money on ANY application.

Reaper is a totally decent recording system, although not the most intuitive one.
But it´s free for 60 days or so and then just $60.

PT LE and a M-Box2 might be a better start, later also.
Since it has S/PDIF, which means you can add better converter without a big hassle,
while you´re stuck with the quality of the M-Box Mini.

If you get to the pro level later you need of course a good microphone and pre-amplifer. But this not a pressing issue now.

so IMHO the first thing you need to do is getting your knowledge up to speed.
for this purpose check this site:
http://www.theprojectstudiohandbook.com/directory.htm

tons and tons of info. Read what seems of interrest for you.
And one thing: always record in 24 bit. You will get a good recoding when you
recording level meter is up to 50% to 75% of the scale. and NEVER let it got red.

that´s it, in a nutshell.

best :)

[CTD]

Hey Mindnoise,

Thanks for the reply. I'll check out that link, looks like there is a lot of info there. I'm not sure what the (Dreadful Audio Workaround) is. Maybe you can explain? Reaper is working pretty well so far so I will stick with it for now.

When you stated " while you´re stuck with the quality of the M-Box Mini" what did that mean. Is the PT LE M-Box2 Mini not good enough to do industry quality recordings for commerical VO work. I was also under the impression [from the salesman] that the M-Box2 didn't require a Pre AMP. If I was to get a good quality Mic, could I just run it without adding a Pre AMP? Isn't that what the Fantom power is for.....to power the Mic? My head is spinning a bit. I have been taking in so much info both here on the Net and from the books Iv'e been reading. I would like to also thank you for putting us with my Newbyness. It's great how people come on these forums and share their experitse. I belong to another forum group, I fly Radio controlled Pusher Jets, Helis, and Acrobatic planes. It's a blast learning all the Mods everyone does to their planes to make them better, faster, and more acrobatic than the designer intended. The people there are A-Number1 class acts, just like here. Below are a couple of links to some videos of some of my FAST toys!!


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gk47jl8RHEU

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vmU6nzJKLqA

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w4Ho1McG1MM

If you have any trougle with motion sickness, this one might make you a little sick, LOL! I strapped my video camera to this plane for a nice shot of the area whare I live. The Farmer that ownes the land lets us fly there. The field is used for Polo matches 2X per week otherwise we get the fiels all to ourselfs. God bless Farmer George!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZOPdQWI6MZk

Thank You,
CTD

[mindnoise]

Hi CTD,

D.A.W - the official reading ist Digital Audio Workstation (Pro Tools, Reaper, Logic, Ableton, etc.).

But since EVERY DAW has it´s flaws somehow and working with the computer in general,
it´s good to assume that technology only works occasionally until you need to pay for the next upgrade.
Meaning: keep a lot of backup of your recordings and System Harddisk or learn the hard way. .
No, really!

M-Box Mini Quality
well it´s safe to say that the LE Hardware is not the worst on the market.
And the definition of "Industry Standart" is QUITE variing.

there are some really well produced recordings out there just made with MBox2 or similar.
But depending on your business partner they want something better.
There is a reason that a MBox2 is just $450 with other Analog to Digital Converters cost 4 times more
and can deliver much more 'spatial feeling', 'life' and 'detail'
Same goes for the Preamps you can buy that cost like double the price of the MBox alone.

or you can easly spend $1000 on mic alone.

So from what I gathered over time is that the MBox Mini quality is rated between
'useable' 'mediocre' and 'good'.
As for the salesmen which is hopefully not Guitar Center: he basically and understandably
wants to sell you something knowing you will come back in 4 month wanting something better.
Salesmen are Salesmen no matter what they sell.
But at least he´s right with the Mic.
like the saying goes: crap in, crap out.
meaning when your recording chain is bad, you never get a decent audio product out of it.


Another Problem is, that digidesign does not allow easy exchange of the audio-interface,
like Pro-Tools M-Powered does, where aouc can just switch between ANY M-Audio interface.
So, if you want to step up from the Mini to the MBox 2 you effectively have to sell the Mini
and buy a M-Box2. Or you can upgrade to a digideisgn 003r interface.
M-Powered on the other hand, does not support DV-Toolkit, which you most definately
need if you make voice overs etc. for video productions.

So, this is where the S/PDIFs (digital connectors) from the MBox2 comes in handy.
Since you can connect any other high quality ADC or PreAmp with a S/PDIF digital output, as you see fit.

There are other software/hardware solution but I am not a Post Pro, so for giving actual advice about other industry standarts
will be better offered by them.

so far. :)

M.

PS: nice vids. A friend of mine does the same thing with build in cameras and remote controlled air vehicles. But he´s into Helicopters.
He already was since I learned to know him 25 years ago. 3 years ago he went to the
US to get a real 'copter License, which he did. Now he´s flying both sizes as a hobby in Germany.
His vids are somewhere on Vimeo but I don´t have any link right now, sorry.

God bless Farmer George, indeed.

[CTD]

I have also thought about Adobe Audition 3 Win 1U.

Any thoughts on this VS> the M-Box w/PT LE set up. It's about the same price.

Thanks,
CTD

[The Weed]

I have Audition 3.0. It's a nice program. However, there are, off the top of my head, three things I don't like:

The way it references the Wave file and shows a representation of what you've done when you split a region for instance instead of creating 2 separate regions. You have to make each region unique for them to be separate.

You can only have one plug-in GUI open at a time, no multiples so you can gain stage your signal through your plug-ins.

There is no way to group tracks for volume automation, you have to lower or raise the volume on each track separately.

These are deal breakers for me.

Cheers,

[CTD]

Thanks for the reply. I'm new to all this and what I'm looking for is a beginner/user friendly system. I will only be doing voice over work with the system. I'm not planning on recording music or multiple people and insturments. I just want something I can learn and grow with.

CTD