With no two jobs being the same, deciding on the right box to channel the real world to and from the DAW has never been straightforward. With so little time, and so much gear, we share our five best tracking interfaces to fit into any scenario.

Tracking is my favourite part of the recording process. If you’re working with a band it’s refreshingly social compared to most of the life of an engineer, and when you hit record for the first take it’s exciting. Getting sounds, choosing mics, even sorting out the inevitable foldback issues all make this part of the process more of a buzz than comping vocal takes or making tweaks on a compressor you’re pretty sure no-one will ever notice, but you do them anyway…

However, there is a lot which can get in the way of that moment when you play back the first take of the first song and hear the fruits of your labours. Choosing the right interface can really help. Here are 5 different interfaces which can help your tracking experience be as fruitful as possible, for 5 different reasons.

1 - Tracking With Pro Tools - Avid CARBON

DAW choice sometimes influences equipment choice. No DAW more so than Pro Tools. If you’ve ever tracked using an HDX system you’ll probably understand why it is that Pro studios which don’t record to Pro Tools are the exception rather than the rule.

Being able to record and drop in without having to think about latency is the biggest reason for the existence of DSP based Pro Tools systems in 2022. It used to be about offloading the plugin processing to DSP but these days it’s the near zero latency that people are investing in these systems for.

You can use various workarounds such as built in DSP mixers which offer low latency monitoring paths and if you want to track as well as mix through plugins too there are alternatives from brands such as Universal Audio, Apogee and Antelope. But if you want to have near zero latency tracking through plugins, seamless drop-ins and setup of headphone mixes all within Pro Tools software then you have to use an Avid DSP system. This used to mean the expense and complexity of an HDX system until Avid released the CARBON system. With HDX style DSP, 8 mic preamps and expansion via ADAT, and 4 independent headphone outputs this was the middle tier tracking solution for the serious home recordist or project studio.

The CARBON has been supplemented by the addition of the CARBON Pre which allows expansion to 24 mic inputs all controllable and recallable from Pro Tools. If you want to track in Pro Tools, CARBON is the no compromise solution.

2 - For Keeping The Songwriter’s Flow - Audient Evo 4

With creators increasingly finding themselves at the engineer’s end of the mic lead, a number of tools have grown up around their specific needs. Of these, perhaps the most important can be summed up as great quality audio and simplicity in use. Most take an active interest when it comes to making their music sound the best it can, however despite consistent audio quality, any enthusiasm can be quickly killed off by unfriendly tools.

The Evo line of interfaces from Audient brought about a welcome rethink of what the small interface should be when introduced back at the start of 2020. With three models comprising 2, 4, and 16 input variants, we have chosen the Evo 4 as our writer-friendly desktop-dweller. Thanks to its sharp concise lines with icons replacing conventional labels, driving Evo 4 is a rewarding experience that musicians can get along with, and engineers can appreciate.

While the Evo 16 relies on ADAT expansion to bolster its octet of built-in inputs up to 16, the Evo 2 at the other end of the range could be conceivably outgrown beyond very basic work. The Evo 4’s four mic/line inputs, two headphone outs, plus accommodation for an extra monitor speaker pair will make this, for some, the ‘just right’ option, making it feel more like a small studio tool than a mere laptop sidekick. In keeping with its clean, easy to understand top panel is an equally uncluttered DSP monitor app with loopback. The jewel in the Evo 4’s crown must however be Smartgain. Press the green button, play, and the levels are set: the ultimate flow-enhancing party-piece.

3 - For Flexibility - Focusrite Red Range

When choosing an interface for recording, one of the first questions to ask is how many simultaneous inputs do you need? After all, if you’re building up your productions overdub by overdub and you’re unlikely to ever track and drum kit, you’re probably better off getting a 2 channel interface and some high quality front end than spending money on a a bigger interface with 8 mic pres, DI, line and ADAT inputs you’ll never use.

A few years ago this was a decision which needed to be made and if you changed your mind and your IO needs grew you ultimately faced replacing your interface. ADAT expansion has always been available to even modestly sized interfaces but in a 2 channel interface with a single pair of ADATs you’re ultimately going to max out at 10 inputs, enough for a basic band recording but only just.

AoIP changed this. While the benefits of technologies like Dante were obvious in live sound, AV install and institutions, for studios they were less obvious but one of the biggest areas in which this networked approach brought immediate benefits was that it made systems modular, meaning that if you needed more IO, you bought some and added it. The other benefit is that it decentralised the hardware away from a central, large interface.

Focusrite were early adopters of Dante via their RedNet system and uncompromising quality, ultimate routing flexibility and the ability to add and remove IO as your needs change, and to place that IO next to the performer, whether that is a little X2P next to each performer in the live area or tracking guitar amps in a separate part of the building. The ability to use a rednet system as a big digital patchbay is one of the advantages which is less often spoken about, including incorporating hardware outboard into your studio in a recallable way. Check out our interview with Will Biggs at Challow Park studios in the UK which is a large new build studio designed from the ground up around RedNet.

The Red4Pre is Julian’s daily driver and disregarding the Dante functionality it is still an ultimate for quality and flexibility.

4 - For When It Really Matters - RME UCXII

Studio recordings can grind to a halt for any number of reasons, with the need to Go Again never far away. What’s far less common is the gear itself calling time on a take, however if it ever does kill proceedings the damage can hopefully be contained. The same, of course, cannot be said for the live recording.

On the assumption that every recording is important, RME’s UCX II is an unassuming half-rack interface with features that belie its small footprint. As the second UCX unit, this box offers something that is far harder to come by on an interface in the form of backup recording to USB. Added to that is RME’s deserved reputation for stability, thanks to their approach to drivers which sees an integrated approach that is anything but off-the-shelf. You can read more about these technologies here.

The UCX II proves that those capturing mission-critical recordings no longer have a binary choice when choosing their system. Whereas conventional options may have included a dedicated hardware recorder, or perhaps a stereo backup recording to an external device derived from a DAW rig, the choice is no longer a binary one. Having on-board backup recording on the hardware, for some, will represent a rig that will be as compact as it is solid.

5 - For Ultimate Analogue-like Tracking - UAD Apollo x8p

If you’re looking to get a great sound while you’re tracking then tracking through plugins is likely to be high up on your list. Re-creating tracking through a world class console and mic preamps, using the very best plugin versions of classic vintage hardware on to a well set up tape machine. No one does that better than Universal Audio and the success of the Apollo line is testament to that.

If you’re open to trying a different DAW then the options get even more interesting when UAD hardware is combined with LUNA, UAD’s DAW which brings seamless tracking through plugins to the UAD ecosystem.

There are a few models to choose from but our pick for tracking bands would be the x8p, with its 8 Unison equipped mic preamps which mimic the interaction between vintage preamps and the microphone. Try Unison with any of the wealth of guitar amplifier plugins available and you’ll see how for the ultimate in in-the-box analogue UAD are still hard to beat.

Console photo by Christian Wiediger on Unsplash