Music Teacher looking for DAC/AMP....

[knighterrant81]

Hello!

 

I'm a music teacher, and we've recently switched to all distance learning.  I'm trying to finish my setup in my apartment. 

 

What I want to be able to do:

 

• Record, edit, render 1080p video/audio from one workstation (Davinci Resolve)
• Zoom calls with multiple monitors/tablets (for writing while screen sharing)

What I currently have:

 

• Desktop PC with a video card and 16 GB of RAM + I'm good on tablets
• All the XLR mics, cables, and mixers.

What I need:

• A DAC/AMP so I can use a XLR condenser mic to record/run Zoom with
• Some sort of stand to hold the mic (the ones I have are more for live performance, not desktop work)

I'm not so worried about running nice headphones.  I'm more worried about just running an XLR condenser mic (so I need Phantom Power).

 

Thank you!

[Heliian]

I have a Steinberg ur22 mk2 which works well but was a bit of a challenge to set up initially with the software and drivers.  Has dual inputs and phantom power, came with a software download for professional mixing also but it's overkill.  Check out their UR line for what you need.  Also, if you really want to spend some cash, check out "goxlr".

[rice guru]

ah it seems you need a ADC/audio interface  with a  headphone out what headphones are you hoping to run on them?

[knighterrant81]

7 minutes ago, rice guru said:

ah it seems you need a ADC/audio interface  with a  headphone out what headphones are you hoping to run on them?

The audio pro at my local music store just recommended an interface and Audio Technica M40x headphones.  I'm not super concerned about the headphones but I will want it to sound halfway decent too.

[rice guru]

@The Flying Sloth is our resident interface and mic guy around here though. but if it were up to me I would say a scarlett 2i2 is just the reliable pick for me sounds great easy to use. his typical reccomendation is a behringer

[The Flying Sloth]

What sort of music do you teach? The reason for my question is to determine how many inputs you realistically need to get good sound on the instruments you'll be teaching.
Rice is correct, my usual recommendation would be something from the Behringer UMC***HD line just because of the raw value offered by that series but depending on how many inputs you need another manufacturer may be a better option. Focusrite interfaces cost a little more and IMO have better external design (and internal routing software though I've never really felt the need to use it) making them another solid option if aesthetics are important for you. 

If you just need basic 2 inputs (say for voice and a mono instrument) my recommendation would be the UMC202HD, damn good for the money and the dedicated headphone amp is more than decent enough for everyday use. If you're looking for a little more nuanced explanation on interfaces or purchase options (either for mics or interfaces) I've got a decent guide in my signature you might find useful.

As for mic stands, I use a $12 'eBay sort by cheapest' scissor arm on my daily driver PC and it's worked great for me though I am using it with a very light mic (Behringer C2) otherwise I use normal mic stands.

Anyways, if you have any other question I'd be happy to answer them. 

[knighterrant81]

Just now, The Flying Sloth said:

What sort of music do you teach? The reason for my question is to determine how many inputs you realistically need to get good sound on the instruments you'll be teaching.
Rice is correct, my usual recommendation would be something from the Behringer UMC***HD line just because of the raw value offered by that series but depending on how many inputs you need another manufacturer may be a better option. Focusrite interfaces cost a little more and IMO have better external design (and internal routing software though I've never really felt the need to use it) making them another solid option if aesthetics are important for you. 

If you just need basic 2 inputs (say for voice and a mono instrument) my recommendation would be the UMC202HD, damn good for the money and the dedicated headphone amp is more than decent enough for everyday use. If you're looking for a little more nuanced explanation on interfaces or purchase options (either for mics or interfaces) I've got a decent guide in my signature you might find useful.

As for mic stands, I use a $12 'eBay sort by cheapest' scissor arm on my daily driver PC and it's worked great for me though I am using it with a very light mic (Behringer C2) otherwise I use normal mic stands.

Anyways, if you have any other question I'd be happy to answer them. 

I teach middle school choir.  I might want to do piano, but its a digital piano with all the inputs (MIDI, USB, 1/4 inch, etc, etc,) so I probably don't need to run that through a DAC/AMP.  So what I'm thinking about right now is just making my speaking voice sound nice over Zoom and when I'm recording speaking lessons.  My next consideration would be making a second setup next to my piano.  I have a cheap USB mic for that.  I'm thinking of setting up my Surface Pro (1080p webcam) next to my piano with said USB mic.  That way I can easily record speaking lessons quickly, then move over to my piano and record music at the other "station".  It does mean I'm down a monitor screen, though.  

[HenrySalayne]

@knighterrant81

I would recommend to use just one large audio interface for everything (UMC202 or even UMC404 depending on the number of sources you want to record simultaneously). You can't record audio from different audio devices simultaneously. For example, if you want to record your piano and your voice-over, you have to switch between the USB microphone and the audio interface (piano) as a source. If you plug a microphone and the piano in the same interface, you can record both simultaneously as two seperate tracks.

 

For the Surface Pro you could use the free NDI tools. They allow you to send a screen capture or your built-in cameras as a video stream over the network (Scan Converter). Then you can use Virtual Input on your desktop computer to feed the video stream in most applications as a generic webcam input. For me it works just fine via WiFi, but my WiFi is not clogged with large number of devices and it will take a stable connection with a enough bandwidth to work properly.

 

To mount the microphone to your desk, you could use something like a K&M 23840, 23850 or 23860 microphone arm. I don't know what you're willing to pay for somehting like that, but these are some solid options if available in your country.

[Ahoy Hoy]

On 8/27/2020 at 11:44 PM, knighterrant81 said:

Hello!

 

I'm a music teacher, and we've recently switched to all distance learning.  I'm trying to finish my setup in my apartment. 

 

What I want to be able to do:

 

• Record, edit, render 1080p video/audio from one workstation (Davinci Resolve)
• Zoom calls with multiple monitors/tablets (for writing while screen sharing)

What I currently have:

 

• Desktop PC with a video card and 16 GB of RAM + I'm good on tablets
• All the XLR mics, cables, and mixers.

What I need:

• A DAC/AMP so I can use a XLR condenser mic to record/run Zoom with
• Some sort of stand to hold the mic (the ones I have are more for live performance, not desktop work)

I'm not so worried about running nice headphones.  I'm more worried about just running an XLR condenser mic (so I need Phantom Power).

 

Thank you!

If you've got mixers and microphones you just need a interface. 

I don't personally rate Behringer products due to poor quality control. So Id recorded a focusrite 2i2 or solo. That will give you either 2 or 1 xlr input into your computer via usb and then just plug your audio mixer in and use that. 

[The Flying Sloth]

6 hours ago, Ahoy Hoy said:

I don't personally rate Behringer products due to poor quality control. . 

If this was 2006 I'd agree with you for sure but they have genuinely great and well built products now. That stigma was well and truly earned but also well and truly heated when they released great products like the X32, ADA8200 and UMC***HD line of interfaces. The Scarlett stuff does the same job for more money with very little to push it over the Behringer other than styling.

[Ahoy Hoy]

17 hours ago, The Flying Sloth said:

If this was 2006 I'd agree with you for sure but they have genuinely great and well built products now. That stigma was well and truly earned but also well and truly heated when they released great products like the X32, ADA8200 and UMC***HD line of interfaces. The Scarlett stuff does the same job for more money with very little to push it over the Behringer other than styling.

Do you have stock in Behringer?
I understand they have a place in the market supplying low end equipment at a very competitive price but you got to understand that it is low end equipment and that comes with many problems. such as the poor warranty system, terrible customer support, poor quality control.
The UMC is acceptable at best. Its not good and its not bad and its simple enough that even behringer cant mess it up. It just does the job okay at a very low price point.

BUT the X32 which i do think its a very capable audio desk with great features for the price point is terrible at quality control and breaking.
I have personal experience of about 10 x32 desks. 6 went back to the supply on day 1 because of faulty knobs and faders. And I have had to get spare parts for x32 on multiple occasions (getting spare parts for the x32 is painful). Compared to other sound desks from Yamaha and Digico I have never had a faulty product straight out of the box and I also never need to send them for repair or get a spare part in the 6 years they have been in operation.

[The Flying Sloth]

7 hours ago, Ahoy Hoy said:

Do you have stock in Behringer?
I understand they have a place in the market supplying low end equipment at a very competitive price but you got to understand that it is low end equipment and that comes with many problems. such as the poor warranty system, terrible customer support, poor quality control.
The UMC is acceptable at best. Its not good and its not bad and its simple enough that even behringer cant mess it up. It just does the job okay at a very low price point.

BUT the X32 which i do think its a very capable audio desk with great features for the price point is terrible at quality control and breaking.
I have personal experience of about 10 x32 desks. 6 went back to the supply on day 1 because of faulty knobs and faders. And I have had to get spare parts for x32 on multiple occasions (getting spare parts for the x32 is painful). Compared to other sound desks from Yamaha and Digico I have never had a faulty product straight out of the box and I also never need to send them for repair or get a spare part in the 6 years they have been in operation.

I've only had one piece of Behringer gear die on me in my years of working in and running music studios and that was a $20 microphone that 1, They sent me a replacement for as soon as I let them know it was DOA, 2, I fixed myself in about 20 minutes... And 3, I still use every single day. I'm not sure how you find it difficult to get replacement parts for an X32, they're extremely easy to source and if you constantly have issues with things breaking on them either you've got terrible luck or just don't treat your gear right. The x32 is a completely different beast from analogue mixing desks like Yamahas MG (or other) series and much like driving a sports car vs a sedan, the more complex system of course has more points of failure and that's to be expected, just not to the scale you've experienced it at.

I wholeheartedly disagree that Behringer products (especially the UMC and ADA lines) should be discounted as "acceptable at best. Its not good and its not bad and its simple enough that even Behringer cant mess it up." The UMC series of interface are damn good devices for the money and IMO do just as good of a job as the Scarlett line from Focusrite. I've spent extensive time with both series and the differences are minimal except for aesthetics. Marginally cleaner preamps on the Scarlett? yeah sure but there's not enough clean gain to use dynamics or ribbons without an inline preamp and condensers are well and truly powered by both series so the extra headroom means nothing in practical terms, the headphone amp in the UMC line is actually more powerful based on the responses we've had here so there's not even that argument to make. As for the ADA8200, there was a blind test on another forum that found users couldn't tell the difference between it and a Lynx Aurora 16 converter, now that's really something considering the price. 

Again, you sound very much like some still stuck in the 2006ish era when Behringer products were genuinely trash, they've made leaps and bounds since then and I'm more than happy to let Music Group products into any studio I work in.

[knighterrant81]

So I got the PreSonus AudioBox USB 96 Interface.  I'm using the AT2021 Mic.  I have it on a desk stand pretty far away from me.  It works, but the volume is rather low.  I have to crank the volume on the interface to really get much response. (Yes, I have Phantom power on).  I'd rather not have to put it in front of my keyboard or something.  I know this mic is plenty capable from a distance since I've used it for amplification and recording at 10+ ft.  Any ideas on why I'm getting a weak response from this setup?

 

Thanks!

[The Flying Sloth]

Volume is proportional to the square of the distance from the audio source, move the mic closer.
The 2021 is a good mic for voice calls, a close friend uses it as their daily driver discord mic and being supercardioid somewhat ironically the closer it is to your mouth, the less it will pick up your keyboard due to the highly directional nature of the capsule and the way off-axis rejection works.

I'm not sure why you have such a low signal, by all rights the AudioBox should work just fine with the 2021, if it doesn't get much better by moving the mic closer you could possibly have either a dead mic or interface.
 

[knighterrant81]

14 hours ago, The Flying Sloth said:

14 hours ago, The Flying Sloth said:

Volume is proportional to the square of the distance from the audio source, move the mic closer.
The 2021 is a good mic for voice calls, a close friend uses it as their daily driver discord mic and being supercardioid somewhat ironically the closer it is to your mouth, the less it will pick up your keyboard due to the highly directional nature of the capsule and the way off-axis rejection works.

I'm not sure why you have such a low signal, by all rights the AudioBox should work just fine with the 2021, if it doesn't get much better by moving the mic closer you could possibly have either a dead mic or interface.
 

It does work better when I move it closer (obviously).  I'm trying to save some desk space.  I'm used to having a bit more head room with this mic.  I'll go troubleshoot it on my regular setup. The impedance on this mic seems fairly high (250 Ohms) and the impedance on the interface seems low (1200 Ohms) so I thought that might be the issue.  The interface should be 10 times the impedance on the mic, right?  I'm just figuring out that part.

 

Thanks again!
 

Edit: I fired up Audacity and did a sound check with a second mic.  First check is right behind the F7 key on my keyboard.  The desk stand I have won't let me get much closer.  The second test is at the corner of my keyboard, with the channel and main on the interface at ~75% of full volume. Still seems a bit quiet.  Doesn't seem to be the mic.  Might be a bad interface.  I'll check with the pro shop.

 

Edit 2:  Ok, I played with this a little more.  I found a spot on the Master and channel audio where anything above it, the mic just picks up anything.  Like, it picks up the air conditioner across the room.  Below that spot, my voice is barely audible.  That could be impedance, or maybe a bad interface.  I really have to crank this interface to find that spot though.

 

Sound Check.mp3

[The Flying Sloth]

I have my similar mic sitting right at the corner of my mouth and my friend with the 2021 does the same, perhaps you need to move the stand??

[knighterrant81]

I might have to switch to a boom arm instead of the stand.  The stand doesn't really work with my setup unless it is over in the corner.  However, I seem to be getting enough headroom in Zoom when I crank the interface, even when it is sitting at the back of my desk.  Will have to see how annoying my AC is for the kids I guess!

 

 

[Ahoy Hoy]

Shocker recommend the wrong microphone for the job like every post you do. Great job sloth.

[knighterrant81]

This setup is working fine now.  Mostly just a matter of cranking the volume over the impedance I think.  It does pick up my AC now though.

[The Flying Sloth]

9 hours ago, Ahoy Hoy said:

Shocker recommend the wrong microphone for the job like every post you do. Great job sloth.

1, I didn't recommend that mic or that interface or that mounting method
2, If he picked a Dynamic it wouldn't hear him at all and if he picked a LDC it would hear more of the AC, what's your point?
3, Completely disregarding any recommendations he still made reasonably good choices, it's just a matter of using them in a way most beneficial to his situation.

 

1 hour ago, knighterrant81 said:

This setup is working fine now.  Mostly just a matter of cranking the volume over the impedance I think.  It does pick up my AC now though.

That's good to hear, don't think it's impedance that's the issue (so long as the mic and interface are both functioning as normal) unless that interface functions very differently from those I have used in the past but don't quote me on that, I'm no engineer. Theoretically, if you have the mic closer to your face you can lower the gain and less AC noise will be heard through the system, like I said, my friend and I (he with the same mic as you and I with the C2) have them prettymuch at the corner of our mouths taking full advantage of proximity effect for that deeper, bassy tone and also being able to reduce the amount of background noise apparent.

Now, if the AC is loud and distracting there are open source RTX Voice alternatives on GitHub that could be used to get rid of the hum, if VSTs are more your thing you could use a VSThost and either a gate or noise removal plugin like Klevgrand Brusfri to get rid of the hum. No matter the situation, there are always optimisations that can be made that could push quality to the next level.

[knighterrant81]

Taking a 

21 minutes ago, The Flying Sloth said:

1, I didn't recommend that mic or that interface or that mounting method
2, If he picked a Dynamic it wouldn't hear him at all and if he picked a LDC it would hear more of the AC, what's your point?
3, Completely disregarding any recommendations he still made reasonably good choices, it's just a matter of using them in a way most beneficial to his situation.

 

That's good to hear, don't think it's impedance that's the issue (so long as the mic and interface are both functioning as normal) unless that interface functions very differently from those I have used in the past but don't quote me on that, I'm no engineer. Theoretically, if you have the mic closer to your face you can lower the gain and less AC noise will be heard through the system, like I said, my friend and I (he with the same mic as you and I with the C2) have them prettymuch at the corner of our mouths taking full advantage of proximity effect for that deeper, bassy tone and also being able to reduce the amount of background noise apparent.

Now, if the AC is loud and distracting there are open source RTX Voice alternatives on GitHub that could be used to get rid of the hum, if VSTs are more your thing you could use a VSThost and either a gate or noise removal plugin like Klevgrand Brusfri to get rid of the hum. No matter the situation, there are always optimisations that can be made that could push quality to the next level.

Taking a look at that setup pic, I am still wondering if a boom stand would let me get the mic closer to my face.  What do you think?  I definitely agree with closer = better.

 

Thanks!

[The Flying Sloth]

7 minutes ago, knighterrant81 said:

Taking a 

Taking a look at that setup pic, I am still wondering if a boom stand would let me get the mic closer to my face.  What do you think?  I definitely agree with closer = better.

 

Thanks!

I use an eBay Scissor arm, my friend uses a more expensive RODE one, really, doesn't matter what it's connected to, the difference from the mouth is realistically all that matters.