1) Since record labels generally haven't given an advance to a new artist for a decade, almost all albums and Youtubes are now done "in your room."
2) The Yamaha AG03 is a mixing console more intended for live gigs. If you're mainly doing home studio recoding, then most people get a Focusrite 2i2 or Yamaha/Steinberg UR22 and do mixing in the DAW (computer program.) The UR22 has MIDI-in and out.
Synths often have a built-in audio interface for microphones or guitars, though sometimes without phantom power.
Otherwise, the how-to is pretty typical of how it's done. Note that the author was already quite a musician, having been in a band. YMMV!
> almost all albums and Youtubes are now done "in your room."
Hm, not exactly sure if you meant to qualify this somehow but this isnt broadly true in a literal sense.
Sure, with 1-2 musicians or DAW-heavy productions you can put together a whole album in your room (ideally with more professional mixing and/or mastering), but tracking a full band or a group of instrumentalists still generally requires studio work.
1) Interesting note, I hadn't thought much about it - I don't know much about labels, the only one I follow is 4AD and what they post, I listen to. However, they're not that talked about.
2) I'll have to look into these - thanks for telling me!
3) Unfortunately I think playing simple chords in a band, when you and the two other musicians are 17, doesn't really qualify as being quite the musician ahaha thank you still!
I don't think you'll see any appreciable difference in conversion quality by switching audio interfaces at this level, particularly with the style of music you are making (which is great by the way, well done!). It all comes down to workflow, and it seems you're getting it done just fine with the Yamaha. I'd look to upgrade if you find yourself needing more inputs.
The more obvious upgrade would be a new microphone to replace the Kenwood you are currently using. An SM-58 will last you a lifetime or if you have a bit more to spend something like an SM7b will be a great investment particularly recording in untreated spaces.
Also, you could try recording the midi information of your electric drum kit and then loosely quantising/editing the takes to retain the feel. You can map these to Logics in-built drums which are pretty great.
Congrats on finishing a body of work, most don't get that far!
Thank you for your suggestions, and specifically on the microphone one. I wanted to get a new one but I was having some difficulty choosing a good one for me. I will look into this. And thank you for your nice words!
Yeah going down the microphone rabbit hole can be confronting. It's always best if you can try a particular model before purchasing it (particularly for your own vocals), as microphones are very source specific.
Not always an option depending on where you are, but often you can find an audio-rental company nearby. It's hard to go wrong with the mics I mentioned above though. Keep it up!
Analog to digital conversion is highly variable in quality and responds dramatically to budget. If the thing you want is ADC, you want it all spent on the ADC.
Live gear has different tradeoffs. Particularly at the low end, it's not meant to produce a signal that's pleasant to listen to alone in a silent room. As you walk up in price point, money will be spent on things you don't need, like onboard processing (your DAW is better anyway), durability for touring (overkill to sit on a desk in your house), convenience of managing chaotic high-channel-count situations (studio work is methodical and iterative), integration with proprietary low-latency networking, etc. Pristine, noise-free preamps are pretty late in the list. Different needs, different tradeoffs.
The very best digital live consoles asymptotically approach the capabilities of Pro Tools on your Macbook. Having to operate in real time adds a few zeroes to the cost.
If you really must record several mics at the same time, and can't afford enough ADC to bring in the tracks separately, then it might make sense to mix the signals upstream of the recording using whatever is at hand.
> how does the choice of live mixing console vs audio interface affect production?
1) A mixer "mixes" multiple inputs down to one output. An audio interface maintains separate channels.
2) Prosumer mixers don't have MIDI-in. That's often ok for just guitar or vocals, but add a couple of synths and the routing gets complicated fast. Hope your computer has lots of USB ports!
3) The dedicated audio interfaces have adequate DACs, no idea about the prosumer mixers.
Most people doing recording want to keep the channels separate and mix in their DAW, so they don't use mixers for recording.
In this case with the AG03, there's only one or two channels, so he's really just using the pre-amp feature in isolation.
So technically he's using the wrong device, but the AG03 is so limited it doesn't matter. :)
I have a Yamaha MG10XU 10-channel mixer, and I wouldn't use it for recording since the 10 input channels get merged into 1 stereo output channel, so there's no way to individually adjust gain or effects in the DAW, only using the physical knobs. I always use my Focusrites, Steinbergs or synth interfaces for recording.
2) The Yamaha AG03 is a mixing console more intended for live gigs. If you're mainly doing home studio recoding, then most people get a Focusrite 2i2 or Yamaha/Steinberg UR22 and do mixing in the DAW (computer program.) The UR22 has MIDI-in and out.
Synths often have a built-in audio interface for microphones or guitars, though sometimes without phantom power.
Otherwise, the how-to is pretty typical of how it's done. Note that the author was already quite a musician, having been in a band. YMMV!