Audio interfaces - are they a real alternative?

gorillaonabike · Jul 31, 2012

So I've shot a couple of shorts now and one element I have noticed is the portability of a Tascam does not confer any real advantage. I have consistently shot in controlled areas, scouted well in advance for sound and portability has never been an issue.

Therefore, I was wondering if an audio interface linked to a Mac (MacBook Pro with souped up RAM) would confer any pre-amp advantage over, say a Tascam DR100?

For example, I have a Mac with Avid and FCP 7.something (the final version before 'X') and I was wondering if I could record using an audio interface with phantom into the Mac. In addition, I am on a budget so would wonder at what point I would be able to buy a used audio interface linked into the Mac at a lower cost than simply buying a DR-100.

As an idea of mic, I have a Sony ECM 674 and will also probably buy some lavs and maybe even a second mic.

The reason for asking this question is I had all my sound gear walk off and after an analysis of my financial situation, I am looking to replace at lowest price. This either means going back to a DR100 with its relatively noisy pre-amps or finding a suitable alternative. And naturally a bit of lo / hi-cut help is always handy.

And please note I am aware of the personnel issues around the kind of setup I am using but might be able to get around this.

Does anyone have any thoughts around audio interfaces and if so, what they would suggest which has better pre-amps than a DR100 which will work with my software setup?

gorillaonabike · Aug 17, 2012

AudioPostExpert said:
I agree, the MixPre-D is the next stage but IMO, a standalone converter and laptop is not. A $300 converter might give you better mic-pre's or it might not, you'd have to A/B test them to find out. Ergonomically your proposed setup has two problems, the first is being tied to a relatively immobile laptop, the second is in functionality. Most standalone converters have very little if any metering and good metering is essential to the fundamental tenet of any audio recording, good gain-staging because good gain-staging is going to have a way larger impact on your audio quality than any converter or micpre. So you would have to rely on the metering in your software on your laptop and here you have the added complication of making sure you are metering what you think you are metering. Also as I mentioned before, FCP is not primarily designed as live audio recording software so I would imagine there would be other issues which at the least would negatively impact the workflow.

Personally, if I were you and could get my hands on the tascam, I would use that and hire or borrow one from elsewhere when it's not available and save my money until I could afford a real step in the right direction with something like the MixPre-D.

G

So it looks as if a standalone convertor is only a genuine alternative in my circumstances unless I can get my hands on very cheap but effective recording software. That is interesting.

I have the Tascam 90% of the time that I need it but in certain circumstances where I do not need to be portable, I may not have it.

And the next stage above this is the MixPre-D.

Thanks! Most insightful.

AudioPostExpert · Aug 17, 2012

gorillaonabike said:
So it looks as if a standalone convertor is only a genuine alternative in my circumstances unless I can get my hands on very cheap but effective recording software. That is interesting.

I've never tried to use FCP as audio recording software, so I can't say that for sure. You should give FCP a good workout at recording audio under simulated filming conditions and see for yourself if it's able to fulfil your workflow requirements. If you do need an alternative have a look at Reaper, it has a bit of a learning curve and a great deal of audio functionality you wouldn't need for simple audio recording but it's good and cheap.

G