An Affordable Pro-Quality Sound Card?

TFGeditor asks: "The company I work for is launching a pre-recorded radio program. I will be working with other staff (all in remote locations) to create the sound clips and then cobbling the show together (mixing). I will also interface with the co-host at a remote studio over the net via uber-broadband connection, producing our portion of the show as if we were in the same studio interacting with each other. What is the best sound card for the money (PC/XP) for this type of application?"

Comments

Wrong place.

[Eideewt]

Get thee to an Audio forum, fool.

I'm not normally one to complain about "Ask Slashdot" questions, but this isn't the best community to turn to for a recording question. There are forums in which nearly every member has bought many different audio interfaces -- you want one of those, not Slashdot.

some general advice...

[wrfelts]

First, identify the tools (software & hardware) you will be using. THEN, see which boards are 1) recommended and 2) of good reputation with said software+hardware (review sites & blogs are good places to search). Look for reported compatibility problems and see if the vendor has corrected them. After you get done with that, you will have a very short list of boards you KNOW are working in the field.

good luck...

Parent has the right answer

[Optic7]

I'm no expert at this, but hang out in certain audio/video boards and read professionals' opinions on this (and stayed at a Holiday Inn last night). The common advice is to get an external audio interface that hooks to your computer via USB 2.0 or Firewire. The reason for this is that the electronic environment inside the PC case is extremely noisy (RF interference) making it almost impossible to get really clean audio if the analog audio circuitry is in there. That's why any professional audio card you see is usually external. I have seen M-Audio and motu recommended too. Oh, and what someone said about noise-free environment (quiet room) and correct microphone are also very important.

By the way, I imagine you'll probably find a better selection (and prices) of these interfaces at your local Guitar Center or discount music superstore than at your regular computer parts store.

Good luck.

Re:Your output is no better than the weakest link

[nnet]

note: Balanced and unbalanced I/O :)

Re:audiophile + motu

[DrSkwid]

Yeah, I can't think why we use Firewire to transfer data from our DV cameras into the computer for online editing ready for TV broadcast, it's just so lossy! 25 Mbit/s is just sooooo demanding.

Stick to what you know sunshine.