Do a Good Turn: Help a Newbie Wrestle with Wax

[frosted-flakes]

Hey all,

I admit it: this thread is not entirely about vinyl. But a good portion of it is, so read on!

I'd like to expand my studio setup and was hoping a few patient souls could help point me in the right direction.

Below is a rough list of gear I'd like to buy/rent/steal/"acquire," followed by a few questions about each item. I'd love to hear any feedback or suggestions regarding my thought process. Without further ado...

Looking for the following:

- Pair of studio monitors (Most likely Yamaha HS5s - flat response, affordable)
- Turntable (Mid-range belt-driven Technics? Not interested in scratching, just sampling stuff to an SP-303 and casual listening)
- Mixer (Not even sure I'll need one but I've heard it's necessary for properly grounding a turntable?)

And now a few questions:

- Will I need a subwoofer to complement the monitors?
- Are monitors alright for casually listening to vinyl?
- Where does my audio interface come into play? Do I still need one if I buy a mixer?

Thanks in advance for your various insights and advice. I've learned quite a bit from this forum in the last few months, and I'm eternally grateful for that! Cheers.

 

[Stazbumpa]

Ok, forgive me for sounding a bit dim, but what is your overall aim/mission objective?

Monitors: I have a pair of Adam a7's for studio use, they sound excellent. However I also have a pair of very old Wharfdale speakers on my DJ setup, not studio monitors by any stretch of the imagination, but they also sound brilliant. If you are looking to build a home music farm then probably go for the best monitors you can afford. A lot of people swear by the KRK's, other will shout Yamaha at you, or M-Audio, or JBL or whoever.
Audition in person where you can, research like mad where you can't.

Turntable: For listening/sampling the main requirement is a decent needle and cartridge. I use DJ stylii, they sound really good but there might be better alternatives with regard to sound quality in the hi-fi area of the market.

Mixer: Um...not sure about this one. You can ground a turntable on an amplifier if it has the grounding screw somewhere on the case. Are you planning on getting more hardware that might plug into said mixer?

Your questions:
You don't need a subwoofer. A good quality pair of monitors will sound better than a cheaper pair + sub.

Yes studio monitors are perfectly good for listening to vinyl on.

An audio interface will be needed if you're planning on making your computer the centre piece of whatever tomfoolery you have up your sleeve. Plug your audio interface into your computer and your monitors into your audio interface. Choose the right one and you may be able to hook up the turntable into it and sample straight to your computer.

Ok, that's just my personal opinion based on my experience so far. I hope it is of use to you.

 

[frosted-flakes]

Ok, forgive me for sounding a bit dim, but what is your overall aim/mission objective?

Monitors: I have a pair of Adam a7's for studio use, they sound excellent. However I also have a pair of very old Wharfdale speakers on my DJ setup, not studio monitors by any stretch of the imagination, but they also sound brilliant. If you are looking to build a home music farm then probably go for the best monitors you can afford. A lot of people swear by the KRK's, other will shout Yamaha at you, or M-Audio, or JBL or whoever.
Audition in person where you can, research like mad where you can't.

Turntable: For listening/sampling the main requirement is a decent needle and cartridge. I use DJ stylii, they sound really good but there might be better alternatives with regard to sound quality in the hi-fi area of the market.

Mixer: Um...not sure about this one. You can ground a turntable on an amplifier if it has the grounding screw somewhere on the case. Are you planning on getting more hardware that might plug into said mixer?

Your questions:
You don't need a subwoofer. A good quality pair of monitors will sound better than a cheaper pair + sub.

Yes studio monitors are perfectly good for listening to vinyl on.

An audio interface will be needed if you're planning on making your computer the centre piece of whatever tomfoolery you have up your sleeve. Plug your audio interface into your computer and your monitors into your audio interface. Choose the right one and you may be able to hook up the turntable into it and sample straight to your computer.

Ok, that's just my personal opinion based on my experience so far. I hope it is of use to you.

Allow me to clarify: my goal is to create original, experimental electronic music using primarily samples and organic sounds (think Flying Lotus, Shlohmo, Teebs, Baths, etc.) I've done plenty of research and it seems like many of my favorite producers are vinyl aficionados, so I figured, why not give it a shot myself?

Anyway, back to my original question: do you have any reccomendations when it comes to affordable turntables? If the idea is to buy a quality cartridge/needle, then will any old "deck" to the trick? My budget is about $100 - not much by any means - but I've seen a handful of lower-end belt-driven Technics SLs sell for $50-75 each on eBay. I figure if I snag one of those, I could put roughly the same amount towards a more expensive cartridge and come away with a decent-sounding rig. Also, you mentioned something about a turntable "amplifier" - forgive me, but would you mind explaining the purpose of this? (In my mind, amplifier = speaker, so why would I need one if I have monitors?)

As for the mixer, the short answer is yes: I expect to be using a guitar, a mic, a sampler, and a drum machine in addition to the turntable. What can I say, I like my hardware. Software is nice, but I often find it cumbersome and uninspiring - although that's a whole other can of worms!

I'm still a little puzzled regarding the whole mixer/audio relationship, though. My M-Audio M-Track Plus has a few inputs - if I choose to go the mixer route, I'll only need to use one input from the interface to connect the mixer, and the rest of my gear will be fed into said mixer, correct? My apologies if that's a little unclear, I'll see if I can reword it somehow...

Immense thanks for taking the time to help me out. Your responses were clear and definitely shed some light on my situation.

 

[frosted-flakes]

Allow me to clarify: my goal is to create original, experimental electronic music using primarily samples and organic sounds (think Flying Lotus, Shlohmo, Teebs, Baths, etc.) I've done plenty of research and it seems like many of my favorite producers are vinyl aficionados, so I figured, why not give it a shot myself?

Anyway, back to my original question: do you have any reccomendations when it comes to affordable turntables? If the idea is to buy a quality cartridge/needle, then will any old "deck" to the trick? My budget is about $100 - not much by any means - but I've seen a handful of lower-end belt-driven Technics SLs sell for $50-75 each on eBay. I figure if I snag one of those, I could put roughly the same amount towards a more expensive cartridge and come away with a decent-sounding rig. Also, you mentioned something about a turntable "amplifier" - forgive me, but would you mind explaining the purpose of this? (In my mind, amplifier = speaker, so why would I need one if I have monitors?)

As for the mixer, the short answer is yes: I expect to be using a guitar, a mic, a sampler, and a drum machine in addition to the turntable. What can I say, I like my hardware. Software is nice, but I often find it cumbersome and uninspiring - although that's a whole other can of worms!

I'm still a little puzzled regarding the whole mixer/audio relationship, though. My M-Audio M-Track Plus has a few inputs - if I choose to go the mixer route, I'll only need to use one input from the interface to connect the mixer, and the rest of my gear will be fed into said mixer, correct? My apologies if that's a little unclear, I'll see if I can reword it somehow...

Immense thanks for taking the time to help me out. Your responses were clear and definitely shed some light on my situation.

An additional question: if I'm interested in sampling from vinyl, will I need a mixer in addition to my audio interface? From what I understand, the main purpose of running a turntable through a mixer (in my particular situation) is to allow the mixer's preamps to boost the sound level. On the other hand, I'm almost positive my audio interface has a set of preamps for doing the exact same thing. Therefore, does it make sense to add one more piece of hardware into the signal chain, or stick with a more streamlined approach? In essence, I'd like to know if there are additional benefits to using a mixer and an audio interface as opposed to only the latter.

 

[Stazbumpa]

Allow me to clarify: my goal is to create original, experimental electronic music using primarily samples and organic sounds (think Flying Lotus, Shlohmo, Teebs, Baths, etc.) I've done plenty of research and it seems like many of my favorite producers are vinyl aficionados, so I figured, why not give it a shot myself?

Why not indeed

Anyway, back to my original question: do you have any reccomendations when it comes to affordable turntables?

Sadly no, I have experience with the Technics SL's (direct drive) as I've been DJing since 1994 but that's it. Google is your friend in this case.

As for the mixer, the short answer is yes: I expect to be using a guitar, a mic, a sampler, and a drum machine in addition to the turntable.

Ok, look at Mackie as they make good quality gear and their line of compact rotary mixers might suit you. There are other makes of course, plus you might prefer line over rotary faders. It all depends on your budget.

An additional question: if I'm interested in sampling from vinyl, will I need a mixer in addition to my audio interface?

From what I can gather you are interested in the hardware rather than software route, so for sampling from vinyl you might want to look at a phono preamp to work in tandem with the mixing console you said you would want. You use that as a go between for your turntable and mixer since the mixer won't have a pre-amplifier. Your M-Track Plus has inputs for the guitar and mic part of your plan, not sure if it has phono preamp though, although if you are getting a mixing console the mic and guitar will just plug straight into that anyway. Are you looking to record your efforts to a computer or is your recording system external too?

Immense thanks for taking the time to help me out. Your responses were clear and definitely shed some light on my situation.

My pleasure, I just hope I'm making a modicum of sense. This is all based on my personal opinion, I've had a blast on Google to check a few things while typing this too.

Addendum: Another way round it would be to use a DAW for the drum machine and sampler parts of your equation while using the M-Track to handle the guitar and mic. This still leaves the question of vinyl sampling, but my point about the phono preamp still stands so then it becomes a question of can that be combined with the M-Track to allow vinyl sampling on your computer?

 

[frosted-flakes]

Why not indeed



Sadly no, I have experience with the Technics SL's (direct drive) as I've been DJing since 1994 but that's it. Google is your friend in this case.

No worries, I'll do a little research and shop around. I'm thinking about picking up a Technics SL-BD27 for $100 that includes a new belt and stylus - any idea how this model stacks up?

Ok, look at Mackie as they make good quality gear and their line of compact rotary mixers might suit you. There are other makes of course, plus you might prefer line over rotary faders. It all depends on your budget.

Definitely checking out Mackie's - maybe a little 4-channel ought to do the trick, like the VLZ3 or 4?

From what I can gather you are interested in the hardware rather than software route, so for sampling from vinyl you might want to look at a phono preamp to work in tandem with the mixing console you said you would want. You use that as a go between for your turntable and mixer since the mixer won't have a pre-amplifier. Your M-Track Plus has inputs for the guitar and mic part of your plan, not sure if it has phono preamp though, although if you are getting a mixing console the mic and guitar will just plug straight into that anyway. Are you looking to record your efforts to a computer or is your recording system external too?

Yes, I definitely prefer the tactile "feel" of hardware over software, but I'll be recording my efforts into a standard DAW, most likely Ableton. Correct me if I'm wrong, but as long as everything pans out, my setup should look and function something like this:

Mic -> XLR Input
Guitar -> 1/4" Input
Drum Machine -> Sampler -> RCA Input
Turntable -> Phono Preamp -> RCA Input #2

Finally, Mixer -> M-Track -> DAW (?)

My pleasure, I just hope I'm making a modicum of sense. This is all based on my personal opinion, I've had a blast on Google to check a few things while typing this too.

Addendum: Another way round it would be to use a DAW for the drum machine and sampler parts of your equation while using the M-Track to handle the guitar and mic. This still leaves the question of vinyl sampling, but my point about the phono preamp still stands so then it becomes a question of can that be combined with the M-Track to allow vinyl sampling on your computer?

I believe my diagram above should address that. I guess it's funny because a little voice in the back of my head is saying, "Man, you're making this WAY to hard for yourself. Just grab Fruity Loops and a MIDI keyboard and go to town!" But something tells me that approach just isn't for me. I don't want to click in my drums with a mouse and wade through menus just to add a basic effect. That's why I've dedicated to go the "old-skool" route, and really start to understand and appreciate how musicians made beats in the late 80s/early 90s.