Q/A Audio Interfaces

[worldsluckiestman]

Hi Guys,

I was wondering how much difference an audio interface makes when both recording (vocals+guitar) and listening to audio through it.

I was talking to a citymusic sales rep and he said the audio interface was a glorified sound card, so I can use it to record (He said recording without one would sometimes lead to recordings being out of time....but never occured to me) guitar properly AND use it to listen to audio- it would sound much better than listening to audio normally by plugging headphones into the output jack on computer.

My questions are:

1. In your opinions, how much difference does an audio interface make? If you guys can link to one bit recorded normally and another using an audio interface would be great!

2. What is the difference? (being in time, clarity, volume, less noise) I use audacity now, and there's quite a bit of noise that I have to remove manually using audacity's noise removal function. Does having an audio interface take away the need to do this? Cus the buzz/noise is anoying...

3. Do you guys use the audio interface to listen to music and does it sound better than the normal way?

4. How many inputs would you guys recommend for an audio interface? I do mostly home recordings of myself.

Thanks for all your input!

 

[PatheinRaindropMoe]

audio interface is usually preamp(microphone and instrument), analog to digital converter(convert instrument signal to digital signal so that it can be understood, process by software recorder), digital to analog converter(to convert the recorded/processed/arranged signal back to the sound thats being play back and understood by us, human hearing)

technically, software should be quiet, its should not have noise. If theres noise, most likely it could be from the source instrument for recording and the path where it travel along to computer plus the non recording interface soundcard(eg computer general sound card) to begin with.

Audio interface is hardware, audacity is software. The audio interface is a middle man, for instrument signal (when instrument being plugged into the interface)to be properly processed and able to record into computer(digital domain) via the software(adacity).

The difference of the interface(internal) in simplified ways, are the preamp, adc and dac(varies from different manufacturer) inside. On the exterior, its the amount of input, outputs, s/pdif in/out, midi in/out, usb or firewire connection(usb and firewire connection is another separate topic by itself, for more info, just google for it, theres tons of info on this)

Audio interface is not a noise reducer(unless theres any with in built ones), it doesnt reduce noise, it just do conversion/bring up to proper level of the of the instrument signal for digital recording.

to listen to music, you dont need the audio interface, you can just get a dac(digital to analog converter, prodvided your music source is a digital source to begin with, aka cd, mp3, flac kinda)). Connecting this to your music player, it should bypass the internal DAC and go thru the external one. This is what some audiofolks use with their ipod. I dont use it, so dont know much on it. If interested, can try google for it

number of inputs is depending on how you want to use it. All of us have different needs. If just mainly for multi tracking purpose, 2 input will be enough, one for insturment, one for mic, if singing and playng at the same time(if just recording track by track, a minimal audio interface with 1/2 input will be enough). If need to record many people at one go. Than of course, the more input, it will be easier, but can be at the expense of some other issues depending on the interface connection type(usb or firewire), computer spec etc.

another thing to note is the issue of usb interface or firewire interface. This one involve data transfer and depending on your recording habit, (multitracking or all sorta instruments/voice at one go). As mentioned earlier, theres tons of info found from google(and also some info of these in the recording/computer section of soft.com.sg as well. Do a search on it and see where it leads you to.

 

[gutturalpiss]

1. In your opinions, how much difference does an audio interface make? If you guys can link to one bit recorded normally and another using an audio interface would be great!

On top of what has been said above, it is generally the following:

They're all the same, a built-in soundchip or card has a preamp, input (mic OR line, or for desktops both), outputs (2, 5, 7 etc), whereas a dedicated card for (semi-)professional audio work has those of higher quality (and of course may have more inputs/outputs but those are not in the equation).

Depending on your needs, it can:

1) Make no difference at all

OR

2) Make a huge difference

2. What is the difference? (being in time, clarity, volume, less noise) I use audacity now, and there's quite a bit of noise that I have to remove manually using audacity's noise removal function. Does having an audio interface take away the need to do this? Cus the buzz/noise is anoying...

"Being in time" is "latency", the lower the better. Windows users will feel this the most because the Windows architecture is technically bad for pro audio usage (sound streaming goes through several software layers before reaching the destination). ASIO and ASIO4All circumvents this. So here, I'd say it doesn't make that much difference.

A proper audio interface will be able to handle lower latencies because of the quality of the components, but your HDD speed and CPU also plays a part. But this, again, is not really a big factor since ASIO4ALL with onboard audio chips can go as low as < 30ms. If you don't use Windows, onboard audio can go as low as 5ms. But that's another topic.

Yes, built-in audio chips/cards have inherent noise. However, this noise is not audible at average levels. If it's audible, then there's a problem with your input port or adapter/jack/cable.

3. Do you guys use the audio interface to listen to music and does it sound better than the normal way?

Uhmm..you need external speakers/monitors. If you're going to plug in the same headphone you use to plug to your built-in output port, there'll be no audible difference. Then again, "audible" to one person may be "inaudible" to another. The human ear, and age, contributes a lot to this aspect.

Music through better monitors sound bad, if they were mixed badly. Better monitors are better at exposing bad records. However, if you're going to use some hi-fi speakers and play back some music and ponder about quality, I think you should join the audiophile club, and get those $30000 Hi-Fis to satisfy your subconscious needs for the law of inverse returns.

4. How many inputs would you guys recommend for an audio interface? I do mostly home recordings of myself.

2 = 1 Mic, 1 Line