Recording - June 2018 - 24

UPGRADE YOUR DAW!
Ears and mouth: audio interface
and monitors

What you record into and what you listen to on playback
might not seem like parts of your DAW at first, but they are.
I recently upgraded my audio interface and monitors, and
there's been a sizable and favorable impact on my audio
quality and my mixes!
There are a number of reasons why you might want to
upgrade your interface. Maybe you need more inputs; maybe
you want different output/monitor mix options (Figure 5 shows
the RME TotalMix software with its many choices), or to use
ins and outs to feed external hardware effects while mixing.
Maybe you're looking to improve the quality of your audio
with higher-quality onboard preamps and better converters, or
lower your latency with a faster connection.
In general, go with an interface that has enough units to do what
you need, plus a bit more if possible... or at least with the ability to
expand. In my case, I got a unit with eight
inputs. Four had their own mic preamps; the
other four were line inputs fed by my standalone pres. There is also an 8-channel
optical input, so I can add a rackmount
8-channel preamp/converter later on.
Monitors and headphones never get
enough attention. You really can't produce a
good finished product if you aren't confident
about how it sounds. Investing in high-quality
headphones is a logical upgrade for home
recordists who have to respect noise levels
in a shared living/work space. You need
headphones that you can trust.
You'll also need at least one set of
speakers that you can rely on to tell you
the truth about what you're listening to.
Investing in a pair of better
monitors is a very wise upgrade, along with some basic
room treatment if possible.
Room treatment? Yes! If your
mixes sound great in your mix
environment, but not when you
play them back on another
system, your monitors may
not be telling you the truth, but
first things first-take a good
hard look at your mix environment and see if there isn't an
acoustics problem that needs
to be sorted out. A flatter room
might be all you need.
24

RECORDING June 2018

My acoustic environment isn't perfect, but it's better than
most. Knowing that, I recently upgraded from my trusty old
NS10s to a modern pair of powered monitors, which give
me a much clearer and flatter picture of my sound field. I'm
pleased, and so are my clients.

Soul: the DAW

If the CPU is the heart and brain, your DAW software is the
soul of your system. Fortunately you can buy as much or as little
digital audio soul as you need! Most of the major DAW software companies offer their products at different price points with
different feature sets. Costlier versions give you more refined
features, more audio and/or MIDI tracks, more mix buses and
sends, more channels of audio I/O, surround vs. just stereo
mixing, more plug-ins and virtual instruments and bundled sound
content... or any combination of the above. As you ramp up
your audio recording sophistication, you will benefit from having
access to these expanded features.

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Recording - June 2018