Hi,
I am in a rock band and we usually record in a studio with a full hd pro tools system. We record all the music there but I never get the best results with my vocals in the studio. Don’t know why this is i guess its a time pressure thing, anyway what I am thinking of doing is recording the vocals in my own time and then giving it to the engineer to mix with the rest of the project.

I will obviously need something that will be compatible with hd pro tools so I am looking at the M Box 2 Mini with pro tools LE. Would it be possible to take a project recorded with HD transfer it to LE to record the vocals and then for the engineer to use it on the HD.

Sorry if this seems like a silly question but I have never recorded anything myself before but like the idea of doing my vocals in my own time. Any advice would be appreciated, is this the best way of doing this?

Also will it be compatible with my laptop running Vista Home Premium, Service Pack 2, 32 bit, Intel Core 2 Duo T5550 @ 1.83GHz, 3.00 GB RAM.

Thanks,
Calum

PT HD should have problem reading your session but the studio can save it down to a compatible session for to work with it at home.and essentially you can just record an audio file out of any DAW and they can easily put it into pro tools. But streamlining just makes thing less complicated.

__________________
Messy Bedroom Luxe & Reduxe

Good exchange with Cham Clowder.

It's definitely possible, just keep in mind that are crappy sounding room, mic and preamp for vocals are often the things that can let down home recordings...
It is definitely possibe to get great results though - just spend time making a cubby house out of doonas and blankets. No really, seems dumb, looks dumb but can sound fantastic!

Thanks for that reply.

Yeah I thought It would not be an issue with HD and LE but thanks for confirming that.

Does anyone know if my pc it compatible with LE, I have looked at the digidesign website but it is a little confusing.

My plan for a mic would be a shure beta 58 or a SM7b as I understand that these mics will pick up less of the room sound? Would either of these mics straight in to the m box give good results?

Thanks again!

Your LE session should open fine in a HD one, just so long as you are using the same version or above, there are workarounds for this, I would say the best bet is to talk to the studio about it.

+1 on blankets, at least one behind the mic to soak up the source sound (you singing) bouncing off the walls and generating unwanted reflections. Also take a bit of time with going around the rooms, and seeing where sounds best within there, then go from there with blankets etc. Might take a few attempts to get good results, but this is why you're doing it eh?

I would say the SM7B, but if you can, borrow both of them, and see which one sounds best for you. Again, set aside a couple of afternoons to do this, and take your time, as ultimately it is subjective, see which one works best within the context of your songs.

Have fun and let the ideas flow!

__________________
Ever Changing Noise Machine: Squire Super Sonic - Westone Thunder IIA ---> Korg DT-10 ---> EHX Nano Small Stone ---> Modded Proco Rat ---> Zoom PD-01 Power Driver ---> Pearl AD-08 Analogue Delay in TB loop ---> Vox AD50VT

All powered by a Diago and all on a diago gig man board

Bass - Fender American P-bass in black in maple board ---> Roland BD-700

I would recommend a large diaphram condensor mic. Yeah a blanket works for some people, so does a sheet of glass for others. It's subjective. I have also had decent results for home recording using one of those cheap $29 Art 12AX7 preamps into the line in of an interface box if you want to add some tube character or burn. I use a Presonus but they are pretty much the same. As long as you record the file in a standard format in sync with the studio mix it should be no problem. If you don't like your vocals in a song just record import the 2 track mix to your mbox. Then add as many alternate vocal tracks as you want. The enginer should be able to take the best parts of those and ad remix the whole thing.

__________________
Stage Guitars: '80s Thin line LP Custom, '70 LP Standard, '83 Squier Black Headstock Strat w/ Dan Torres pickups, '59 Black Danelectro DC, sometimes others.

Pedal Board: Nady UHF 10 -> TU2 -> Rocktron Big Crush -> 70s MXR Phase 100 -> Cry Baby -> Bad Monkey -> Early '80s Rat -> Early '80s Ibanez CS 9 -> Ibanez DE 7 -> Behringer Dr 100 Stereo Reverb

Stage amps: '63 Blonde Tremolux w/ two original 2X10 cabinets with a '60 Ampeg Rocket/18 watt VTB Marshall clone/ Epi VJ into a Mashall 1965A

Its pretty much been covered by the other guys but yeah it should work. To make it easier for everyone try to record at the same bit-rate as the rest of the project.

Also, start each recording from the start of the song (even if its just recording silence until the vocals kick in) so you don't have to try and move the vocal track around to match the song later on; that way if there are any problems importing the tracks you have a quick way to match everything up.

Learned that last part the hard way when I had to 'rebuild' 6 songs in logic that were originally recorded in pro tools hd

__________________
Fender Strat
Fender Blacktop Tele
TB FX Loop/Channel Switcher > (in loop) > Mojo Hand Analog Filter > EQD Dream Crusher Fuzz > Subdecay Liquid Sunshine > Frazz Dazzler > Line 6 M9 > EHX Memory Toy > (end of loop)
Soldano HR50+

Rig Thread