Interface choices - low budget solo acoustic project
I have a little batch of songs and instrumental pieces I'd like to record just so I can put them up somewhere and point people towards them as mine. I have basically no dedicated space, so I need to keep it small and simple.
All of the pieces are things I play on acoustic guitar or cittern, so it'd be either of those going down first, double bass on some, bits of mandolin or chromatic harmonica for melody lines, and a vocal. I'd like to keep the feel quite sparse, so really not much more than that going on. Ideally the feel would be simply recorded and vibey - I like a lot of folkies and singer songwriters from the 60s-70s, so nothing very produced sounding. Probably mixed as simply as possible, some subtle compression and a little reverb (I like plate style).
I've been getting my arrangements tidied up and and looking at how to get sounds I like with the space and gear I have. I have a couple of different low budget condensers, but I'm really enjoying the sound when I mic the main guitar or cittern with a pair of SM57s, so I'm thinking I'll go with that and let it be the character of this project. I have a fairly recent Windows 10 laptop running Cubase, but right now I'm using my old Zoom H4n as an interface, and that's definitely the weak point. It's working smoothly enough, but the preamps just aren't up to recording with dynamic mics and bring in more hiss than I'd like with the gain turned up. I'm monitoring with headphones, currently AKG K240 Studio which are 55 ohms.
So I'm looking around for an interface with OK preamps, stable with Windows 10, less than £200. From what I can find out, the EIN figure for the Zoom is significantly lower than almost anything on the market, so most of the obvious contenders should be an immediate improvement. I could get by with two mic inputs, but four would be nice in case I get a friend in on anything.
The SSL2, UA Volt 2 or Audient ID14 seem like decent potential choices for two inputs. Four is trickier at this budget - there's the Audient Evo 8, possibly an Allen & Heath Zedi 10 mixer that's less convenient on my kitchen table but might have other uses down the line. And there are assorted Focusrites also. Any thoughts on a solid choice for my application?
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The default answer seems to be Focusrite. The 2i2 is in your budget, the third generation ones (current version is the fourth iteration) can be found for less than £100.
It's the set up that I use 2 mics into a 2i2 and I've been happy with the results.
It's the set up that I use 2 mics into a 2i2 and I've been happy with the results.
I have an SSL2+ and an Evo 4 (I used to have two laptops running at the same time). Both work very well for me.
The vocal for this was recorded with a 414 B-ULs into the SSL2+:
https://soundcloud.com/andy-atkinson-91310897/jess-atkinsonrob-bowessimon-waggott-songbird
I'm using MacOS.
The vocal for this was recorded with a 414 B-ULs into the SSL2+:
https://soundcloud.com/andy-atkinson-91310897/jess-atkinsonrob-bowessimon-waggott-songbird
I'm using MacOS.
Any of the above are fine.MartinB said:I have a little batch of songs and instrumental pieces I'd like to record just so I can put them up somewhere and point people towards them as mine. I have basically no dedicated space, so I need to keep it small and simple.All of the pieces are things I play on acoustic guitar or cittern, so it'd be either of those going down first, double bass on some, bits of mandolin or chromatic harmonica for melody lines, and a vocal. I'd like to keep the feel quite sparse, so really not much more than that going on. Ideally the feel would be simply recorded and vibey - I like a lot of folkies and singer songwriters from the 60s-70s, so nothing very produced sounding. Probably mixed as simply as possible, some subtle compression and a little reverb (I like plate style).I've been getting my arrangements tidied up and and looking at how to get sounds I like with the space and gear I have. I have a couple of different low budget condensers, but I'm really enjoying the sound when I mic the main guitar or cittern with a pair of SM57s, so I'm thinking I'll go with that and let it be the character of this project. I have a fairly recent Windows 10 laptop running Cubase, but right now I'm using my old Zoom H4n as an interface, and that's definitely the weak point. It's working smoothly enough, but the preamps just aren't up to recording with dynamic mics and bring in more hiss than I'd like with the gain turned up. I'm monitoring with headphones, currently AKG K240 Studio which are 55 ohms.So I'm looking around for an interface with OK preamps, stable with Windows 10, less than £200. From what I can find out, the EIN figure for the Zoom is significantly lower than almost anything on the market, so most of the obvious contenders should be an immediate improvement. I could get by with two mic inputs, but four would be nice in case I get a friend in on anything.The SSL2, UA Volt 2 or Audient ID14 seem like decent potential choices for two inputs. Four is trickier at this budget - there's the Audient Evo 8, possibly an Allen & Heath Zedi 10 mixer that's less convenient on my kitchen table but might have other uses down the line. And there are assorted Focusrites also. Any thoughts on a solid choice for my application?
Personally I think Focusrite are the safest bet with drivers and support if you aren't going to get into higher end things like RME, Lynx, Avid, UA.
robinbowes said:I have an SSL2+ and an Evo 4 (I used to have two laptops running at the same time). Both work very well for me.
The vocal for this was recorded with a 414 B-ULs into the SSL2+:
I'm using MacOS.
Sounds good! How do you find the Evo to work with, given the single knob design? I quite like the look of the form factor (controls on the top, connections on the back), but it does seem a bit minimal.
There's an app to adjust the settings.MartinB said:robinbowes said:I have an SSL2+ and an Evo 4 (I used to have two laptops running at the same time). Both work very well for me.
The vocal for this was recorded with a 414 B-ULs into the SSL2+:
I'm using MacOS.
Sounds good! How do you find the Evo to work with, given the single knob design? I quite like the look of the form factor (controls on the top, connections on the back), but it does seem a bit minimal.
But once you've set it up for a session, you're not going to be touching the settings much, I wouldn't think.
R.
Hmm, the Focusrite 4i4 or 8i6 3rd gen are good prices at Thomann, that would do the job for my day-to-day two mic recording and still have scope for plugging in another with an external preamp later.
I moved from an Audient Id14 to an Audient evo 8 and I much prefer it.. they’re both great but the evo is simpler and has a cool auto gain staging .. you can still go manual but it’s marvelous (and small!)
I think if my old Presonus interface died, I would buy one of the Audient models.mrleon83 said:I moved from an Audient Id14 to an Audient evo 8 and I much prefer it.. they’re both great but the evo is simpler and has a cool auto gain staging .. you can still go manual but it’s marvelous (and small!)
mrleon83 said:I moved from an Audient Id14 to an Audient evo 8 and I much prefer it.. they’re both great but the evo is simpler and has a cool auto gain staging .. you can still go manual but it’s marvelous (and small!)
Yes, the Evo 8 does tick a lot of boxes for me, especially as I'm working on a pull-out table in the living room until my step-kid moves on from the spare room at some unspecified future point! So a small, neat unit might be the way.
To be quite honest, I'm getting a touch of option paralysis. Reviews seem like little use as for any given interface there are people who found it works smoothly and sounds great, and some who found it noisy, unreliable, bad drivers etc. Some have more attractive software packages with them, but then I have a DAW that's running OK on my system and a lot of extra stuff might just be a distraction.
Have you tried a recent round up of interfaces: https://www.youtube.com/@SanjayC/videos I find him to be unbiased & would be my first port of call on YouTube.
Focusrite 4i4 here. Super easy to use and cheap enough.
duotone said:Have you tried a recent round up of interfaces: https://www.youtube.com/@SanjayC/videos I find him to be unbiased & would be my first port of call on YouTube.
Interesting, he seems to not rate the sound of the Evo or the range of gain available for dynamic mics. I'd seen the gain mentioned in other videos, but they suggested it was lower than advertised but still viable for dynamic mics. Though an SM57 is still hotter than the SM7b that seems to be the benchmark for the podcast crowd.
After spending far too long watching YouTube videos, I've ordered the UA Volt 4. A few people comparing interfaces seemed to rate the sound of the preamps, the software package looks good and functionally it's probably as good as anything in this class.
I shouldn't need the extra inputs for what I have in mind right now, but it means that if in future I wanted to record stereo acoustic guitar with my partner singing, or lay down a simple 2 or 3 mic drum setup with a drummer friend while I play bass, that's an option. I could use either a small mixer or a preamp I have laying around to bump the extra mics up to line level.
That’s great! I’m glad the SanjayC videos were of some use. Let us know your thoughts when you’ve had some time with it.MartinB said:After spending far too long watching YouTube videos, I've ordered the UA Volt 4. A few people comparing interfaces seemed to rate the sound of the preamps, the software package looks good and functionally it's probably as good as anything in this class.I shouldn't need the extra inputs for what I have in mind right now, but it means that if in future I wanted to record stereo acoustic guitar with my partner singing, or lay down a simple 2 or 3 mic drum setup with a drummer friend while I play bass, that's an option. I could use either a small mixer or a preamp I have laying around to bump the extra mics up to line level.