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Post by Die Bullen on Dec 2, 2020 15:53:19 GMT
I had no idea where to post this one so I will post it here! It isn't really guitar equipment...
NED for New Equipment Day!
I'm sure many of us have had to switch to virtual sessions for our gigs, either recorded or via live stream. I had been using a very old Shure X2u as a recording interface and it worked pretty well until last week when the interface failed immediately before a live recording for a library, making me switch the recording to be from my phone (ugh!)
So I immediately went to GC and bought a Focusright Scarlett 2 channel interface. Looks like a good piece of equipment with 2xXLR inputs for 2 room mics or that can be run off a mixing board. We'll be putting it through the paces with the band on Friday but my son has been using it for video calls. It is a much better design than the Shure, which doesn't allow you to actually see where your gain and volume controls are set.
Who would have thought that USB interfaces would become essential gear for performances?
dB
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Post by johnreardon on Dec 2, 2020 21:26:43 GMT
I would place it in the Studio section.
I have a Focusrite Clarett 2 Pre USB. My son has a Scarlett and he loves it. I use mine with Logic Pro X to mainly do demos of mainly my songs for the rest of the band. Never used mine to record the band at rehearsal sessions. The few occasions we rehearse, one of our friends always records a video and sends it to me where I often enhance it in Logic.
Good luck
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Post by Die Bullen on Dec 3, 2020 0:11:10 GMT
Thank you, I am looking forward to putting the thing to good use!
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Post by Die Bullen on Dec 5, 2020 3:01:31 GMT
Tried it out tonight on a virtual concert gig for a library,worked pretty well. Definitely better than the old Shure
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Post by Bill h on Dec 5, 2020 3:45:14 GMT
Ok, I have to ask. How does a virtual gig work? What does it take to pull that off?
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Post by Die Bullen on Dec 6, 2020 16:04:25 GMT
Ok, I have to ask. How does a virtual gig work? What does it take to pull that off? It really isn't that difficult. What we do is set up the band in my living room with 2 room mics. The Scarlett is great if that because you have 2 XLR inputs and can trim levels independently. I use my Markbass as an amp for song announcements because otherwise the voice doesn't come through very well to the audience. We could run the band through a mixing board but I feel 2 room mics are enough. We capture audio and video on a laptop and steam through Zoom or whatever the group hiring us is using. Some important zoom tips: 1.Always set the audio to uncompressed or you will sound like you are coming through a telephone. 2. Have someone else (preferably the organization hiring you) administer the session. Once you are playing you have no idea if an audience member sneezes or had background noise that is interrupting the broadcast. This is important because video streaming programs are NOT full duplex, which means that only one audio source will come through. The host needs to make sure that all lines are muted. It is best if the host does the meeting as a Webcast with you as the only speaker. 3. Either hard wire your laptop to your router or make sure that your bandwidth is stable and sufficient. If your connection is unstable you will not know if the audio cuts out. 4. Make sure the house phone is off the hook!!! |
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Post by Sinster on Dec 14, 2020 19:14:02 GMT
Can't go wrong with Focusrite. I have 2i4 and have owned 6i8 in the past. Which I should have kept, but I wanted a "new" gen version. Focusrite support is good and their free plug ins are good as well. I still get freebies once and a while.
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Post by Die Bullen on Dec 15, 2020 2:27:05 GMT
Can't go wrong with Focusrite. I have 2i4 and have owned 6i8 in the past. Which I should have kept, but I wanted a "new" gen version. Focusrite support is good and their free plug ins are good as well. I still get freebies once and a while. I've heard from quite a few guys that the digital processing is much better in the newer generations but I have no point of reference to confirm or deny that... |
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Post by johnreardon on Dec 15, 2020 9:27:16 GMT
Can't go wrong with Focusrite. I have 2i4 and have owned 6i8 in the past. Which I should have kept, but I wanted a "new" gen version. Focusrite support is good and their free plug ins are good as well. I still get freebies once and a while. I've heard from quite a few guys that the digital processing is much better in the newer generations but I have no point of reference to confirm or deny that... I have a Clarett 2Pre USB I purchased in April 2020, so I assume it's a new generation.
Only issue I have found with it is getting the level right for mic inputs. Instruments are fine, usually setting the gain around the 9-10 o'clock mark. Mic input is a lot harder to find something that doesn't peak out. I usually have it around the 3 o'clock mark which to me, seems quite high. Mic is an SM58.I have to mess about quite a bit in Logic to stop it peaking. It was a lot easier in my Akai EiE Pro, but unfortunately Akai stopped support for it on Mac
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Post by Die Bullen on Dec 15, 2020 18:28:02 GMT
On the Scarlett, we also have to have the instrument mic gain set very high around 3:00. I never plugged an instrument straight into the interface I just capture with the room mics.
I'm usually okay with levels but the darn trombone always winds up playing louder than he plays during sound checks, causing orange clipping warnings. At some point I might mic each instrument individually and run through a mixing board then to the Scarlett
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