1. 買了很高檔的 mic, preamp 就能錄出高質量的歌曲嗎? 不一定。 The main reason is that it is all a big system and it is only as pure as its dirtiest pan pot. One humming cable can obliterate the gains made by otherwise great sounding gear. A pristine mic preamp connected digitally to a soundcard with the jitters will be defeated. Your whole chain has to pro quality, from preamps, in and out of the converters, into top quality monitors.
2. 有了全套高檔 gears 就能錄出高質量的歌曲嗎? 也不一定。 It is not just gear. It's technique. Someone with a $2,700 Neumann U87 and a top of the line Great River preamp will still have an awful recording if the mic is not placed well, or if the room brings out undesirable characteristics. If you apply to much compression on a vocal while recording its going to sound bad no matter what gear you have. This is all to say, positively, that when you know how to apply eq, processors and plugins you will be on your way to achieving a mix of high sound quality. This brings me to the point. A person who really knows and works with their gear can deliver greater sound quality at 16 bit with lesser gear than a person who just plugs in and goes on top of the line 24/96 recorders. Technique is as important as gear which is more important than bits and rates. And there is only one thing more important that technique and gear.
3. 有了好gears, 高超的後期技巧,就能錄出高質量的歌曲嗎? 還是不一定。 The most important point is saved for last, and I've said it before, and will again. Great music recorded on a crappy cassette deck will win more hearts than a turd polished at 24/192. Your talent is more important than anything else, and you can't buy that. So remember to practice, work on your technique, when you can afford to, upgrade your signal path, and then when the pearly gates of Sound Quality open, then consider 24/96 as you would a nice finish on a well-crafted piece of art.
開始買了個E-MU 1212M ($149) (musiciansfriend.com)。主要覺得滿足以上所有要求,而且獨有E-DSP hardware-accelerated effect with no CPU overhead. 32 channels more then what I needed. 但買來後,安裝說明和實際操作有誤,從網上下載的最新驅動也不能按說明更新,費了很大力氣才工作。但ASIO interface 不能在sound forge 上工作。(也可能是我的問題)。無奈隻好退貨。
最後買了個ESI MAYA 44($110)(Amazon.com)。目前用起來還不錯。ESI 是個專業 audio 產品公司。總部在德國。 喜歡的地方: 支持所有上麵要求,而且自帶 +48V phantom power supply。這樣,對condencer mic 就不需再買pre-amp了。 安裝明確,界麵簡單明了。 不喜歡的地方: 沒有US本地電話技術支持。email 非常不及時。 phantom power 無使用說明,一開始怎麽也不工作,給英國的 技術支持email,至今沒有明確回答,隻是索要序列號。最後還是自己亂試出來的。所以也不知道是不是正確的操作。 鑒此,不推薦購買。
買了以後才發現,此卡在大陸非常流行,以至於盜版橫行,多人上當。
話筒 話筒(musiciansfriend.com): 趁降價,買了個口碑還可以的MXL 990 condenser mic ($49) 比起各位用的名牌就遜色多了,但自我感覺比我的shure 57 音色要明亮許多。特別是中高頻好。個人覺得話筒可以多買幾個,不同的話筒可能效果不一樣。所以還會陸續再買些。
pop filter(musiciansfriend.com): musicians gear double pop filter ($20) 話筒架(musiciansfriend.com):DR Pro tripod mic boom stand ($60)
near field monitor 所謂 near field monitor 就監控音箱。因為監控音箱的主要作用是真實還原聲源,不誇大(重低音效果之類),也不縮小(質量差的)。所以一般的音箱或玩遊戲的5.1, 7.1 帶 subwoofer 都不合適。最好要買 near field monitor。(記得丫丫問過 類似的耳機)