Home recording guide

[trueman]

how much do neural speakers cost roughly???


any 1??

[gaz12369]

From around £50 for budget ones, and the sky is the limit...you could pay well over £2000 for monitors, probably far more than that.

Gaz x

[trueman]

ok thanks man

[blackbird2]

What about recording with a multitrack recording unit? How well does this work, and will it produce good quality sound. (I mean useing a multitrack recordrign unti instead of a pc.) I already ahve a mixer and several good quality mics. Thanks for any help. And can you suggest any multitrack recorders?

[moaner]

What about recording with a multitrack recording unit? How well does this work, and will it produce good quality sound. (I mean useing a multitrack recordrign unti instead of a pc.) I already ahve a mixer and several good quality mics. Thanks for any help. And can you suggest any multitrack recorders?

yes, you can get some pretty decent results.

Look at the tascam porta range.

[KKKKKocaine]

yes, you can get some pretty decent results.

Look at the tascam porta range.

Does everyone remember the mp3 I linked to of a cd quality country song done on a tascam 424 mkIII?
It's more the mics and external units you use with it, if you put cheap mics in with bad cables, you'll get noise, if you use good quality equipment and use it well, you'll get good results.

[gaz12369]

Does everyone remember the mp3 I linked to of a cd quality country song done on a tascam 424 mkIII?


Could you re-post or link me to it, i havnt heard that:( Also could you just put a short list of all the equipment you used (mics etc?)

Thanks, Gaz

[KKKKKocaine]

Could you re-post or link me to it, i havnt heard that:( Also could you just put a short list of all the equipment you used (mics etc?)

Thanks, Gaz

It wasn't something I'd done, but I'll post everything I find.
http://www.banjr.com/audio.htm
http://www.joshbecker.com/music/
http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/toddedwards/from/folklib
http://www.bryankimsey.com/music/clips.htm
http://chrw.usc.uwo.ca/mp3/2003/Scott%20Walmsley%20-%20Best%20of%20Scott%20and%20his%20Kemikul%20Orkis tra/walmsley5.htm (download jedi mind tricks :lol: )

That's only a few I found, not many have a full rock set up. But if the tascam can give great quality acoustic and electric, then it can give great drums e.t.c.
Hope that helped :)

[Retrovertigo]

I'm planning to do some recording over the summer break (July and August), as I'm almost guaranteed to have lots and lots of free time. So I figure I could actually do something with my time, this includes recording drums, bass, guitar, and a slight chance of vocals, but most likely not.

What I think I need, (or at least want):
- Sm57 (1)
- Beta 52 (1)
- Beta 98D/S (3)
- Ksm109 or Ksm27, don't know between the two. (2)
- Room mics, one or two. (condensers?)
- A mixer to accomodate these mics, with 4 outputs. (Snare, Bass Drum, Toms, Room/Overheads)
- A soundcard to accomodate said outputs, and normal speakers.

I know there's a flaw somewhere in there, so I'd like some help with:

- Good mixers, options with them, etc
- Good soundcard
- Any other mics I should consider (the tom mics are absolutely tiny, makes me uncertain)
- What mics to use as Room Mics

Any help will be appreciated. I know most of my mic placement, but I suck when it comes to the technical side of things. I already have recording software to do this with. I'm mostly thinking I will rent this stuff for the break, but there's a tiny chance of me affording it by that time.

Thanks in advance.

[moaner]

you probably don't want to try and reocrd each drum mic as a seperate track. I'd get yourself a behringer mixer (maybe that 5 mic 5 line peavey clone?), and a USB audio interface (look at m-audio)

what country are you in?

[Retrovertigo]

I'm in Canada.

What exactly do you mean don't try and record each drum as a seperate track? My understanding is that the mixer puts certain things together, allowing them to be EQ'd as it makes sense, i.e. toms with toms, snare, bass, cymbals and hihats and room mics, etc.

[KKKKKocaine]

I'm in Canada.

What exactly do you mean don't try and record each drum as a seperate track? My understanding is that the mixer puts certain things together, allowing them to be EQ'd as it makes sense, i.e. toms with toms, snare, bass, cymbals and hihats and room mics, etc.

I think he means that you should run all the drum mics through the mixer and then record all of those into 1 single track rather than say having one track containing all your kick drum hits, another for the snare e.t.c.

[Retrovertigo]

Ah. My drum teacher told me what I said was ideal, and a magazine I have on recording drums suggests this. Wouldn't it allow for more EQing options? But then I'd need to buy another soundcard, correct?

[KKKKKocaine]

Ah. My drum teacher told me what I said was ideal, and a magazine I have on recording drums suggests this. Wouldn't it allow for more EQing options? But then I'd need to buy another soundcard, correct?

Syncing it will be an utter bitch. You have to remember that when you load these tracks into an audio editor, you will have to make sure they are in time.
It's a preferable method to record on single tracks but it's not really neccessary, if you're putting together a demo or e.p. then sticking all the drums onto one track should do fine, you can still e.q. them before.
I'd only reccomend single tracks if it's completely neccessary to have a perfect drumtrack otherwise you'll be getting stressed out by syncing on your pc.

[Retrovertigo]

Why would it not be in time anyways? :\

[Retrovertigo]

and a USB audio interface (look at m-audio)


This? http://www.m-audio.com/products/en_us/MobilePreUSB-main-1.html

Is that just like a soundcard?

[moaner]

Syncing it will be an utter bitch. You have to remember that when you load these tracks into an audio editor, you will have to make sure they are in time.
It's a preferable method to record on single tracks but it's not really neccessary, if you're putting together a demo or e.p. then sticking all the drums onto one track should do fine, you can still e.q. them before.
I'd only reccomend single tracks if it's completely neccessary to have a perfect drumtrack otherwise you'll be getting stressed out by syncing on your pc.

yeah, it'll be easier to get a fairly good sound wwith it as 1 track, than it will to get a fairly good sound all seperate.

you can EQ on the mixer for each individual mic.

[moaner]

This? http://www.m-audio.com/products/en_us/MobilePreUSB-main-1.html

Is that just like a soundcard?

yeah, kinda like a USB soundcard.

[Retrovertigo]

What makes it different from normal soundcards?

[moaner]

What makes it different from normal soundcards?

Its USB, it has more inputs

[Retrovertigo]

Its USB, it has more inputs

So it can play like, through monitors and speakers, whilst taking line in from a bass and a mixer?

o really big shi

[I'd Hit it]

Wow! Kkkkkkkocaine, could you give me any details/info on that joshbecker./music link?? I listened to 'aftershock' and that was very good quality sound. Especially the drums and the drummer was awesome!!! Any details on the mics used, drums, recording unit would be great. (If you any of that)

[moaner]

So it can play like, through monitors and speakers, whilst taking line in from a bass and a mixer?

o really big shi

it could record the line in from a mixer and a mic from the singer, and send it to both the PC and the drummers headphones, and the studio monitors.

[KKKKKocaine]

Wow! Kkkkkkkocaine, could you give me any details/info on that joshbecker./music link?? I listened to 'aftershock' and that was very good quality sound. Especially the drums and the drummer was awesome!!! Any details on the mics used, drums, recording unit would be great. (If you any of that)

The recording unit for the home demo was a Tascam 424 MKIII. http://www.americanmusical.com/item--i-TAS-424MKIII--brand-265.html
Mics I have no idea about but you should be able to easily find out by emailing the owner of the site.

I actually much prefer the home demo to the rough studio mix, the keyboard comes out so much brighter and cutting in the home demo, however the vox could do with some lifting to bring it out in the mix.
As far as I know, the drums in the home demo were programmed and not actually played.

[Retrovertigo]

it could record the line in from a mixer and a mic from the singer, and send it to both the PC and the drummers headphones, and the studio monitors.

Can it be used with the stock PC card in peace?

[moaner]

Can it be used with the stock PC card in peace?

yes, happily.

[I'd Hit it]

nah, I doubt I'd be impressed by programmed drums... see ^_^ : Music and Lyrics by Josh Becker
Studio Rough Mix MP3 (4:17)
Ron Platt: Vocals
Von Eric: Drums
Josh Becker: Guitars, Keyboards, Bass


Listen to that one, the drums are pure talent. I wouldn't think that is even do-able with a drum track machine.

But thanks for the response!!

[Retrovertigo]

Are those mics good?

And whats a good mixer?

[tunafish_scumbag]

the other thing is for my other band we have drums
BUT
we don't have the money for the mics and ****

I'm not sure if this has already been addressed, but you can usually rent mics from large music stores.

[blackbird2]

Could any one suggest a good multitrack digital recorder that will give me good results. Also what condenser mic would be good for vocals? Thankyou

[blackbird2]

Also what are the advatages/disadvatages of a digital multitrack recording unit compared to pc set recording.

[moaner]

Also what are the advatages/disadvatages of a digital multitrack recording unit compared to pc set recording.

Go to the "who wnats a chuckle" thread and see why small digital multitrackers are a BAD idea.

Either get a tape one or use the PC.

[blackbird2]

Im thinking about getting a recording with 20 or 40 gigs worth of storage. How would the overquality of sound and available options match up to a computer

[Shaven_Raven]

hey...some fantastic lessons, loads of helpful info. i was just wondering thho...how much would a decent set of drum mikes cost? our drummer is really against buying them coz he thinks they cost loads...

thanks

[airborne50caliber]

well buying them separately you could get away with

shure sm57 = 120 euro (snare)
3 x those tom dynamic clipons = 160 euro
decent bass mic eg beta 52 = 150 euro
two decent overheads = 300 euro

so 730 euros for a good set of mics when buying it seperately. (I only know euros from personal expirience, not what I see on sites)

When you buy them together you often don't get the overheads and on the sites they cost quite a bit. Example:

http://www.shure.com/microphones/models/dmk57-52.asp

just three dynamics, (two for toms, one for snare) and 1 bass mic. no overheads. and that only is more than $800 on the site.


http://www.shure.com/microphones/models/pgdmk6.asp

nearly $1000

- 2 tom mics
- 1 snare mic
- 1 bass mic
- 2 overheads

but maybe its worth it coz you get a carrying case, clamps and all the cables.

[moaner]

you can get a set of drum mics for about £150 if you try, with overheads. maybe even less, i'vce seen a set of drum dynamics for £50.

you certaintly don't have to pay shure prices if you're on a budget.

[airborne50caliber]

no you have a point there

[thelemon32]

just out of curiosity, whatever happened to theabstract?

[Shaven_Raven]

thanks...were did you see the £150 mics??

[KKKKKocaine]

just out of curiosity, whatever happened to theabstract?

He's currently working with darkwhite (who left the forum) to set up a big musician community website with some help from me.
He's on msn a bit but I don't know why he doens't post anymore.

[moaner]

www.baldbeat.co.uk

www.dawsons.co.uk

just shop around though.

[moaner]

He's currently working with darkwhite (who left the forum) to set up a big musician community website with some help from me.
He's on msn a bit but I don't know why he doens't post anymore.

bridgethegap.tk?

i remember that. it was such a blatant mf rip... :lol: iwth a couple of lessons on it.

[groomits]

hey, I plan on making a little studio in my garage, and I can't really move my computer in it, so I need a recorder. I'm short in cash, so people talked to me about the fostex mr8. some say this is really good, some say this is crap... I can't spend a lot of money now, so I need a good recorder and a condenser mic to start, after I'll buy more mics. so should I go with the fostex?

and other thing, can someone explain me what is a mixer??? Is it essential?

thank you.

[airborne50caliber]

a mixer in its most basic form has 2 or more inputs (usually much more), where different signals can be mixed and panned into a stereo output. I don't think a mixer exists that does only that, but that is what a mixer is in its most basic form. if you get a recorder, you won't need a mixer to start with, but you will want one very soon. the experts can go into details here.

[moaner]

My first thoughts are for a Tascam 414 MK2 and a behringer tube mic pre-amp with large dia condenser, but i/the k will answer in more depth tommorow.

[thelemon32]

He's currently working with darkwhite (who left the forum) to set up a big musician community website with some help from me.
He's on msn a bit but I don't know why he doens't post anymore.

let me know when the website gets all setup

[groomits]

My first thoughts are for a Tascam 414 MK2 and a behringer tube mic pre-amp with large dia condenser, but i/the k will answer in more depth tommorow.

thank you, but the tascam is a tape recorder, can I put the recording in the computer after?

[airborne50caliber]

thank you, but the tascam is a tape recorder, can I put the recording in the computer after?

yeah, you can mix it down to stereo once you've finished trackin and mixing it. you can then master it on your computer.

[KKKKKocaine]

bridgethegap.tk?

i remember that. it was such a blatant mf rip... :lol: iwth a couple of lessons on it.

The difference being that MX sucks. And is about as much help to bands as a used condom being thrown around a high school bus.
Bridge The Gap is being designed as something MX will never be.
MusicianForums is designed to help musicians, and it's essentially the by-product of MXtabs* which isn't really around for helping bands.

*A massive breach of copyright. I have contacted Jeremy about this but I was ignored and my thread was closed under the basis of "There are loads of tabsites around, it's legal" by him and another mod who parrotted this reason.
Unfortunately, it's not,

http://news.com.com/2100-1023-212236.html?legacy=cnet

Fact of the matter = tabs are illegal unless you have permission, I don't neccessarily agree with this, but it's the truth and the law, disagreeing with a law doesn't exempt you from it. Jeremy has ignored my warnings about tabaleture being illegal so if mxtabs is shut down then that's his fault.

EDIT: Before anyone reads all of that and says "Ah but the clause says non-commercial use it cool, AHA!"
Jeremy makes alot of money from MX.

[groomits]

The threadstarter was saying that I could record with my computer. I said that I could not move my comp into my recording room, but maybe I'll be able. The thing is that there's a lot of humidity in the room in summer, will it affect my comp? Maybe you're not specialists about computer though...

[groomits]

ok I must be boring... but I changed my plans. I don't need of a recorder anymore. I'll record with my comp.

here's some questions :

1. What do I need to record with my comp? (mixer, mics, software, sound card and?)
2. What free software can I use?
3. Where I plug the mixer?

I'm a total noob in that recording thing, I try to learn the more I can...

[sCrEaMcArEfUlLy]

hey abstract,
:confused: is there anywhere to get monitors, mixers, and other equip. for cheap?????if so how much on average?

[Dancin' Man]

http://s45.yousendit.com/d.aspx?id=1QWRQOL9NI68T0AJQ5O56FUPXH

Anyone who knows anything about recording, listen to that tell me which of all of the sounds sounds best and then how to eq it so it sounds better.

I just miced my smaller amp (the other is too powerful to mic properly, I shake the house off it's foundation) and I need to know which sounds the best out of all those. This may or may not be the right thread for this.

The mic was about 2 inches from the not-center-part of the speaker.

I'm using a dynamic mic because my friend has my condenser at the moment.

[blkmxma]

hey, the abstract. Thanks for this post...I can't believe I'm finally finding something so informative.....plus when you said you love the chili peppers I just about **** myself. Have you tried or heard anything about the Audigy 4? I'm looking into buying a good soundcard here soon and am debating on which one....should I just go with the Audigy 2 platinum pro?

[Metalixia]

Hey dude! thanks for the lessons!

[thisisromance]

if i bought an SM57 now, would i want to replace it with a BETA 57 later? and whats the main differences between the two? thanks

[gaz12369]

if i bought an SM57 now, would i want to replace it with a BETA 57 later

Probably not, unless you have way too much money to burn

[airborne50caliber]

no sm57 is fine. I have one, it's reat. you don't need to replace it, you'll hardly be ble to hear the difference anyway. There's way better things to burn out your dosh on.

[Kirk's Puppet]

Kickass lessons!

[lee_duffy]

DOES ANY ONE KNOW ANYTHING ABOUT SOUNDFORGE 6.0 AND IS IT POSSIBLE TO RECORD MULTIPLE TRACKS OR RECORD OVER A TRACK WHILE NOTHING IS BEING DELETED



PS GUITAR COMPETITION
@ http://gccv1.proboards39.com/index.cgi

[airborne50caliber]

instead of wasting your energy advertisising the same thing in more than one thread, which pisses everyone off, waste it on pressing the caps lock before you start typing.

question: this is not related to studio, but just in general, for a two speaker + subwoofer hi-fi system: is it better to have the subwoofer on the floor or high up? I'm guessing on the floor...

[Nicko_Shmicko]

Subs on floor ^^^^ hey everybody im Nic, i used to be the abstract, i wrote this thread, but i got banned, and im still not certain why, but im back and rockin, thanks for keeping this thread alive guys. Oh yeah and im not in The Abstract any more, im in a new band, a five piece, im the singer, the bassist from the abstract plays guitar, and we have a new bassist, keyboarder and drummer, so yeah, keep askin those recording questions!

[invrtedflag]

ok so a tascam portastudio 488 wont record right it just plays back really really slow if i try to put it in a tape player

[moaner]

ok so a tascam portastudio 488 wont record right it just plays back really really slow if i try to put it in a tape player

you have to master to a different tape in a seperate tape player.

[blkmxma]

I'll try again: anyone had any experience with the Audigy 4 and whats the difference between that and the Audigy 2 Platinum?

[invrtedflag]

could you explain it a lil more im new to this

[moaner]

I'll try again: anyone had any experience with the Audigy 4 and whats the difference between that and the Audigy 2 Platinum?

no, fraid not.

try harmony central maybe.

[moaner]

could you explain it a lil more im new to this

record you're 4 tracks as normal, set the levels. then, plug the 4 track line outs into atape player/PC, press record on the thing you're mastering to, and then hit play on you're 4 track to record a useable version of the song.

[invrtedflag]

ok thanks

[blkmxma]

cool thanks man

[airborne50caliber]

what's the difference between distortion and overdrive for guitars?

[moaner]

what's the difference between distortion and overdrive for guitars?

overdrive is smoother, less harsh, and maintains moreof the original tone.

[airborne50caliber]

really! I didn't now that! So assuming I have no good distortion possiblities on my computer and I have to haev the amp on distortion/overdrive, overdrive will be better for recording? (My guitar recordings are often 'farty')

[moaner]

really! I didn't now that! So assuming I have no good distortion possiblities on my computer and I have to haev the amp on distortion/overdrive, overdrive will be better for recording? (My guitar recordings are often 'farty')

well, overdrive is never high gain. the thoery of it is that distortion has the waves clipped squarely, whereas overdrive has the peaks lowered, so it still clips, but its still a curve.

All metal sounds are generally distortion.

[thisisromance]

what does anyone think about the audix i-5 opposed to the sm57?

and does anyone have any experience with the behringer ultragain mic200 preamp?

sorry for all the questions and not many answers in return... im learning.

[thisisromance]

really! I didn't now that! So assuming I have no good distortion possiblities on my computer and I have to haev the amp on distortion/overdrive, overdrive will be better for recording? (My guitar recordings are often 'farty')
you might try double or even triple tracking the overdrive to add more gain without loosing much tone. just make sure you keep the levels down on the software.

[airborne50caliber]

what does anyone think about the audix i-5 opposed to the sm57?

and does anyone have any experience with the behringer ultragain mic200 preamp?

i have both the mic100 and shure sm57, at you wont be dissapointed at the very least. See the K for more detail on the mic200 specifically.

[thisisromance]

thanks :)

[KKKKKocaine]

i have both the mic100 and shure sm57, at you wont be dissapointed at the very least. See the K for more detail on the mic200 specifically.

Yeah the Behringer MIC200 and 220 are good models. I found the two output channels to be very useful, I could put my back-electret into the pre-amp and send it to my 4 track with a balanced trs jack to jack instead of using up another XLR input.

[airborne50caliber]

mic 220? new model?

[KKKKKocaine]

mic 220? new model?

My bad sorry.
Got the MIC200 confused as the 100. And thus I just added more numbers onto it :)

[airborne50caliber]

haha. its automatic for you now.

/was getting excited. a new tube ultragain??? :lol:

[thisisromance]

well i think im going to go ahead and buy an mic200 for my mics and my pod and try it out on a keyboard. thanks.

[Nicko_Shmicko]

I had the mic200, didnt think it was that great and sold it lol. Hey ive noticed more recording threads starting and the idea of this thread was to stop those, so i'm bumping this to make it obviouse that it exists

[Nicko_Shmicko]

yeah, it'll be easier to get a fairly good sound wwith it as 1 track, than it will to get a fairly good sound all seperate.

I tend to dissagree, having all the drum mic's on seperate tracks is a blessing, it makes life 10 times easier

[allthegoodnamesweregone]

i agree then you can eq each drum and cymbal in the mix as a whole at the end

[airborne50caliber]

yeah although less is more in terms of drum eq.

[allthegoodnamesweregone]

i knew that... man i need a new set of drum mic's a nice 20Hz for the bass*drools

[moaner]

I tend to dissagree, having all the drum mic's on seperate tracks is a blessing, it makes life 10 times easier

yes, if you can do that. however, doing it one drum at a time would give a "drum machine" type sound.

[allthegoodnamesweregone]

doing it onedrum at a time is just plain silly...

[moaner]

thats what i meant.

[allthegoodnamesweregone]

i know i was reafirming the sillyness lol

[airborne50caliber]

in the music biz we learn to kiss *** and rephrase the truth to something that sounds less offensive, allthegoodnamesweregone.

[allthegoodnamesweregone]

meh im blunt

[Nicko_Shmicko]

yes, if you can do that. however, doing it one drum at a time would give a "drum machine" type sound.

who on earth does one drum at a time? never heard of a multichannel soundcard?

[Seafroggys]

"Hey guys, we have to run the track again. Gotta record the part for my secondary crash!"

[Nicko_Shmicko]

"Hey guys, we have to run the track again. Gotta record the part for my secondary crash!"
hey maybe you should record that hi hat again man, you hi hat was kinda lagging dude :lol:

[moaner]

who on earth does one drum at a time? never heard of a multichannel soundcard?

yes, i have. where did you fish that quote from? I seem to recall that some guy suggested doing one drum at a time.

[Nicko_Shmicko]

yes, i have. where did you fish that quote from? I seem to recall that some guy suggested doing one drum at a time.

i got the quote from just up the page a bit :confused: and no-one suggested doing one drum at a time i dont think, we were just talking about getting drum's onto thier own tracks for ultimate control of the sound. Im sorry for being rude man, i just thought that you thought by getting drums on thier own tracks means doing them one at a time. 1000 appoligies man, im so sorry.

[Nicko_Shmicko]

and i also misread what you wrote
god im sorry man

[moaner]

:lol: no worries


"Wait up guys, i've got to do my ride"..." :lol:

[Nicko_Shmicko]

hehehe yeah 10 hours in the studio recording the drums for one song

[moaner]

actually, although wee may laugh, i beleive i read somehwere that the drum solo on the intro to "time" (PF) by nick mason had to be done a drum at a time, because nick mason didn't have enough roto toms, and so had to record one, retune the drum record enother etc... apparently it took ages.

[airborne50caliber]

actually, although wee may laugh, i beleive i read somehwere that the drum solo on the intro to "time" (PF) by nick mason had to be done a drum at a time, because nick mason didn't have enough roto toms, and so had to record one, retune the drum record enother etc... apparently it took ages.

...Borrow more roto toms???

[moaner]

:lol:

who knows. they sure could afford them.

[taztonik]

sorry... im new to this, but what is a lead? Also, ya know how lots of metal bands have distorted guitars, but they still sound clear? Well i have protools (digi 001 rack) and when i record distorted guitars, they sound crappy, and if i wanna put on another harmonized part or something it just sounds EXTRA crappy. Where as bands that record in a studio, it sounds really nice and clear. Ive tried adding distortion on the little onscreen mixer... ive tried using my distortion pedal... and ive tried recording distortion from the amp. Nothing works... can you help? is there a way to get that sound without spending lots of money?

[allthegoodnamesweregone]

mic an amp

[AshesOfHate]

i have a question....i am a one man band. Like i d everything then i am trying to find a good drum kit for the drums. I was wondering exactly what stuff do i need since i have to recored one thing at a time...like do i only need one mic. I plan on getting a better computer and a program i just was wondering what stuff dont i need that you listed.

[Phototropic]

AshesOfHate

I like you was in a one-man band for 3 years, then a singer joined

Basically I did it like this

Bought a Tascam 4-track tape recorder, and recorded a couple of songs using my guitar

Experimented a lot with layering guitars

After awhile I bought a Fostex VF-80 digital 8-track and has been the best thing I've bought since :)

The things I use for every song are

Guitar: Leads to line in or a Condensor mic to mic up my amp (bout £35)

Bass: Same as Above

Drums: If you're going to record a full kit you'll need a set of drum mics, about £180 I think, but if you want a lot better quality you might have to pay a bit more, I use my Mac to program drums

Vocals: Use the same mic for acoustic guitar (£35)

Hope this has helped

[AshesOfHate]

Thanks alot man....im gonna use a comp program for drums and mixing and stuff. But thanks alot you answered just what i wanted

[airborne50caliber]

Phototropic, are you DeadInLove or did you steal his avatar?

[Phototropic]

Thanks alot man....im gonna use a comp program for drums and mixing and stuff. But thanks alot you answered just what i wanted

Anytime, good luck

Phototropic, are you DeadInLove or did you steal his avatar?

Yeah I had my account name changed :D

Thanks for noticing :thumb:

[soheaven]

wow, this is VERY helpful. Thank you so much!

[moaner]

Anytime, good luck



Yeah I had my account name changed :D

Thanks for noticing :thumb:

your new name is better than your old one.

congratulations.

[Phototropic]

Cheers man, tis a Kyuss song :p :D

[moaner]

shhhh.

pretend its just a cool word you made up.

[Phototropic]

Oh ok

*pretends* :thumb:

[SaM_tHe_DrUmMeR]

Hi there, I've only read up to lesson 3 and so far it's AMAZING, but I have a question...

Well, me and my band have played a lot of shows in the year we've been together, it's been incradibly fun and we're going for recording in a 'in-home recording studio'. Now, in all the shows i've played, the technician I always had always told me that we don't really need mics for cymbals (in a show) because they're so loud anyways... which is true because you hear them FINE. But now... i'm guessing recording could be different?... do you reallllllllllly need mics for cymbals... or would the other mics pic up anyways? And also.. you probably don't need mics for each cymbal you have right? Because.. I have a pretty intense set of cymbals.. and for renting mics it would cost a lot if you know what I mean. So.. can you help please! And thanks again for this awesome thread.

[Phototropic]

Sam, I think although don't hold me to this

The overhead mics pick up the sound of the cymbals as well as the over-all kit

You usually have 2 overhead mics set above the drum kit about 4-5 ft

[airborne50caliber]

The function of the overheads depends on what you are doing.

Case 1: You are a minimalist who wants to record the whole drum kit with a good quality stereo pair of overheads. You find a good compromise in positioning for picking up drums and cymbals in a good blend, then you may want to add close mics for the snare and bass. In any case, the overheads are picking up the whole kit.

Case 2: You are looking for a punchy rock sound and decide to close-mic every section of the kit. In this case the two overheads will be more spaced from one another than in case 1, and will be closer to the kit because they only need to pick up cymbals, not get an accurate stereo image.

In case 1, everything will be picked up by the overheads. In case 2, you will need 2 overheads in addition to your drum kit mics. The hihat is more often than not left to its own devices: it will be picked up by the overheads and will spill into the other mics: in this case your open hihat sound will be far-sounding and continous, you will not be able to hear the single hits (usually) and this is desirable for certain engineers. When you want to distinguish your hihat sound, every single hit, and want it to be very front-end in the mix, you would mic it up separately with a small diaphragm condenser.

[SaM_tHe_DrUmMeR]

Alright cool cool... thanks

[LgndryOutlaw]

Umm... I read up to page 10 and I don't know if it has been posted yet, but... is there a link to the printable lessons yet? Or can someone send it to me at a3r0sm17h@yahoo.com ? Thanks in advance.

[zandordandor]

Hey.. I need some advice about recording.. I got a PODxt hooked up on my PC for recording, but I would like to get some drums in too but I have no idea what samplers or MIDI's are as I'm a total noob in this area! Could anyone be so kind to explain this stuff for me or share a link? Many thanks!

[hantge30]

OK i need somone to go into more detail about sound proofing(or close) i heard blankets help but how many-and theres like sound isulation-will that help-im on a tight budget-thanks!

[shishin]

I have a question about stereo inputs. Can I make them into mono channels with some kindf of adapter, cause that would save me tons.[drummer has 13 mics....]
Oh, and I'm buying a firewire interface and If I use a mixer to put all the channels into one will I still be able to mix each drum as a seperate track or is it stuck like that? [ I know its a little hard to understand, but I'm tired and thats the best i can do]

[shishin]

OK i need somone to go into more detail about sound proofing(or close) i heard blankets help but how many-and theres like sound isulation-will that help-im on a tight budget-thanks!

If you can get carpet padding and put it up on walls or just throw it everywhere that helps, and its really cheap++.

[spongeboobs]

heh i downloaded something called fruity loops and it look really great but i plug my guitair in to my computer but how do i make it record to the program.



And 1 other thing u guys r saying to put a microphone to the amp? y dont u just have a seprate chord plug into ur head phone jack of ur anp and into the computer that would give u the best quality i think but tell me if i dont under stand the hole microphone next to the amp. :thumb:

[moaner]

You mic your amp because the power amplifer and speaker have a large effect on the tone.

[XxRoycexX]

It all depends on your amp. If your using solid state such as line6 or through a fx box with a pre-amp; its best to record through the (line in) jack. (if your sound card isnt a generic one). If it is a generic soundcard you will notice a constant buzzing from the hard drive in your recordings. You dont need a top of the line sound card to make really good demos and such. I went out and bought a audigy II for 60$ (can) and it sounds crystall clear. I use fruityloops 3.5.6 for mixing and havent even thought of upgrading to the pro. Its awsome. For just recording the guitar get total recorder or ar wizard 3.0 or somthing not windows recorder it sucks. Oh and record as mono not stereo or else it will only record on one speaker, this happens with alot of solid state amps. once you have a rough recording put it in a wave editor to take out blank sound and noise unwanted (the best prog for that would be wavelab. once thats done you import it into fruityloops in the samples folder. And then you can place your riffs into the digital mixing board. This all takes a ton of patience for a noob as i once was digital recording. There are many other programs to do this stuff out there, this is just my choice of progs, seems to work fine. Check out a couple of my recorded tracks to hear the quality of a 60 dollar sound card and tell me if it sounds good ;) >> http://www.sectionz.com/detail.asp?rType=mp3&SZID=19603#

[Wire]

Yes, I enjoyed this thread so much that I felt I should register, and share my own $0.02 as well!

First off, theabstract, great work on the lessons, you make great suggestions and way to get started. Kudos to you, you have done a great job.

Now, my additions :)


When I first started home recording in 2000 I made TONS of begginer mistakes.

I had decent software (Cakewalk 9.0...in my opinion the best version of this software! Homestudio blows!), an okay card (Soundblaster Audigy), a behrringer 1202 mixer, and a Shure SM58 (the worst mic on the face of the planet! Many will disagree, but I hate it!)

The fun thing was micing things in close, I got a terrible sound. I got this crappy clipping in my ears. But the levels on the board and in the softwear were both in the green.

This clipping was coming from the mic strip. There are two major items on the strip that can cause clipping, the volume and the gain or trim knob. The volume is usually the slider, and the gain/trim is the tiny knob underneath the input. The gain knob is just like that on your amp, the higher the gain, the more 'distortion' your going to experiance. When I record guitar, I usually keep this VERY VERY low, and bring the strip and master volumes up to get my recording level high enough in the software.


I also was recording for a good 3 years without any kind of preamps. Preamps are nessacary it seems while recording. They beef up your sound, and just make it overall warmer. My current low-cost fav is the 'Joemeek ThreeQ". It's about $300 Canadian.

As implied earlier, a decent mic can go from making your Mesa boogie Dual Rectifier sound like a menacing titan, or it could make it sound like a Marshall MG10. (Funny though how Eric Clapton did many records with low powered practice amps) Therefore if you only have $150 in your budget for a mic, get an Shure SM57!

The SM57 is the workhorse of the home studio. You can do vocals, guitar amps, snare drums, toms, overheads, even kick drum with it. (Yes kick drum. It's best used on the batter head and blended with another kick mic thats on the front). If your going to buy only one mic this year, and you don't have one already, get a Shure SM57!!!!

What I did for three years before shelling for a new sound card, I went Stereo out from my behrringer mixer into the 'aux' ins (RCA) on the front of my audigy box. This worked for quite a while, but added A LOT of background hiss. I recomend poping the wallet for a $150 Maudio box or a Edirol UA-25 USB box. These two boxes can both recieve two balanced input signals (that you can bounce to two different audio tracks), the UA-25 even has midi in/outs which is a nice feture to have!

If your working off of your computer you probably have noticed an area to use 'plugins'. Plugins have been a saving grace for me on numerous occasions. Waves makes a great package called 'Rennisance' that I use quite often. It's pretty pricy, but definatly worth the cash! (or you can probably get a 30day demo of it from your local music retailer and just skip your comptuers **** back every 30 days to enjoy it longer!)

The big plugin that always finds its way onto ALMOST every track I record now is the Rcomp by Waves. Compression is a pretty much a must have in this day and age of music. Pretty much compression squeezes the audible frequency range to make things sound louder. using Compression is an art, as too much is bad, and not enough can make it sound weak. My big gripe with compression is hte fact that it seems to cut out the highs and lows.

What is a Compressor? OK, Imagine you had a vocalist who would whisper words quietly and then belt out some loud screams. You, the engineer, has to record such a take. You find the whispers are too quiet unless you boost the fader and the screams require you to quickly lower the fader so you don't overload the recorder. That is the time-honored technique called "riding the gain" (gain is another word for volume). A compressor is an audio circuit that automatically rides the gain. It pumps up the volume when things get quiet and slams down the peaks when they get loud. The goal of the compressor is to achieve a more uniform, more consistent audio signal that is optimum for recording and listening.


Finally, I will further emphaise the fact that MONITORS ARE GOD!!!!! They will aid you in the 'it sounds good at home but crappy in the car!'

Actually, one of my first tests on most 'mixes' is to throw the mix on my iPod and jump in the car and listen to it. Most people listen to their music in the car, so if my newly recorded track sounds great on my dads stock Ford Tempo stereo, and great on the system in my RX-7...then it should sound good in any car!

The acoustics of your room can disrupt the sound of your mix as well. I for one mix in a very crappy room, even with monitors the vocals sound clear as day and everything else sounds like poo, or like its way off in the background. On headphones the SAME MIX sounds evenly balanced and well put together. In the car....the vocals disapear. It's a game, a frusterating one, but one that should be mastered!



After five years of doing the most frusterating thing I have ever done in my life, I also find it the most rewarding. While I do not have the best gear in the world, I would like to think I still do good indie recordings. (checkout www.myspace.com/rolodexrock/ for an idea) This is my setup:

System:
AMD Athlon system 1.2GHZ with 512 ram (OLD and lame for recording!)
Mini-Mac (VST linked with my AMD. The AMD is my main machine)
Comptuer link box (Allows me to work both machines from one monitor, keyboard, mouse!)
Cubase SX3 (I had a protools Digit02 rack system and hated it!!!!! That and you can link mulitple computers together to split the workload!)
PreSonus Firepod (This is the greatest device I have EVER used! So worth the $750!!!!!!)
JoeMeek ThreeQ (compressor, EQ, and preamp all in little 1/2 space rack unit! and it sounds GREAT!!!!)
EVERY Waves plugin currently available (A staple in all of my recordings)
BlueSky Media Desk monitor system (Hey, if it's good enough for Lucas Sound it's good enough for me!)

Mics:
Audix OM2 Vocal
Audix OM5 Vocal
Audix OM7 Vocal
Audix IM5 Instrument (like the SM57, but better!)
Shure SM57 x2
Audix DP5 Drum mic kit
Audix Fireball Wind Instruments
Blue BlueBird Condensor (multi-purpose)
AKG C1000S x2 Condensor (multi-purpose)

TONS of high-grade bulk cable. (low quality cable has lots of noise)

[Wire]

More quick tips:

1: if you got a 'single shower' (not a shower/bath combo!) record vocals in the shower with the door closed! Laugh not! I find this is a great way to record vocals. It gives you a great natural room reverb that is hard to beat with plugins! Also, the enclosed quarters gives you the 'vocal room' effect used in high-quality studios for pretty much nothing!

2. Smaller amps are wicked for guitar. I use a Vox AC30 live, but in the studio I disconnect the interal spearkers and goto a smaller 25 watt powered single 12' speaker cab. I prop the cab up on a stool or chair, angle it upward about 30 degrees and mic it with my bluebird or Audix I5 staring right into the cone. I then take a second SM57 or Audix I5 and back mic the cab. The mic usually sits about 5mm from the speaker paper. Send each mic to separate inputs and each input to sepearte tracks. Blend to taste and record. (this will help the lower range frequencies to not overpower the mids....which is what guitar is mosty made up of!)

For gutiar mics it really depends on the sound you want. I use a Sennisher E609 for more percussive peices, a 57 for rhythm tracks, and the I5 for lead tracks.

3. For bass I like to use the combo method again. But this time with four inputs.
A: Mic'd bass cab (D6)
B: Straight into the sound card
C: Ampeg SVT DI
D: MXR Bass Distortion DI
Once again, plug them all into sperate ins and tracks and mix to taste.

4: For Acoustic guitar, two mics (one of which I forgot to mention earlier) are what I primarily use. And if the guitar has a built in pickup, I also use that.
A: SM57 on the frett board
B: Sennisher E609 on the sound hole
C: internal pickup.
Believe it or not, the internal pickup is usually set the quietest, and the 57 loudest... Dunno how it works out that way...but it does. :P

4. Recording everything at once is the best way to capture a rock bands 'live' feel. It is a hard thing to do with multiple input soundcards, and even harder if you just got a stereo input box... I've done it both ways!

For a stereo input box: Three mixers for this mehod are required. Usually your local music shop can rent you what you need. One mixer handels JUST drums and runs stereo out into a smaller mixers stereo ins. Mixer two handels guitars and bass and runs stereo into the smaller mixer. If you wish to do vocals, straight in to the smaller mixer is the way to go. Headphone out from the smaller mixer into a headphone splitter and off to however many sets of headphones you need for each musician.

Mix every instrument seperatley. Starting with the drums. Move your guitar amps into seperate rooms/areas as to help get rid of that terrible microphone bleed. Also, hit the 'low end roll off' switch on all channels but the 'bass' and 'bass drum' channels. To help get rid of low end rumbles. Get everyone to jam on the track for a while while you mix everyone on the smaller mixer. Hit record! You can also muti-track vocals into the mix at latter date (my preferance!) http://www.rolodexmusic.net/lwh.mp3 is an example of this method.

For multi-in boxes: I had an 8 channel in for the following method:
Rhythm guitar went one mic into input 1 (guitar was in a seperate room)
bass split signal into two DI's, mixed into a mini-mixer, mono out to input 2
Kick drum input 3
snare drum input 4
overheads inputs 5 and 6
toms were sent to a mixer, then stereo out to inputs 7 and 8
Each input had a seperate track in Cubase.
This yields great results that give you that 'live feel' and the flexability of a 'muli-track' recording. (ie mixing things later and re-recording fudged gutiar/bass parts) as long as the drummer dosn't screw up....it's allllllll good! http://www.rolodexmusic.net/trebuchet.mp3 (a great show of what you can do in this method with vocals and guitars added later!)

Finally... what if you want to get rid of the terrible mic bleed from that loud guitar amp even though it was 30 feet away, down a hall, and locked in the bathroom? Simple. Same situation as above, but use a Pod or Tonelab to do the guitar tracks. Use the gutiar/bass tracks as scratch tracks. What this enables you to do is record more guitar and bass later without having the original 'live' recordings guitar tones bleeding into the drum overheads. Go back later, add in the guitar parts later, and there you have it. Multi-track with that 'live' feel!

5. Learn when to use certain techniques:
Seems like a given...but the two main techniques I'm talking about are 'mulitrack' (one instrument at a time) and 'live off the floor' (my perfered way of recording)

Multi-track is great for more technical music. Usually a 'click' track will be the 'bed' track (first track laid) and is played to keep the drummer in time. Then another 'click' made for the guitarists, bassists, etc is made if the time signature differes from the drummer and they record their tracks. This is great for making everything match up perfect. It's the perfectionists dream! Great for technical stuff, metal, country, ska, pretty much everything! The major con to this however is that it does suck out a bit of the life force. When your not playing with other musicians at the same time your adrenaline dosn't get pumping as hard, and can make the recording lose 'life'.

Life off the floor gives you that 'feel' of a live band. I find its great for bands that are very straight ahead and basic. I also encourage this method for when a song has a solo, as the soloist can feed off the energy of the song and his/her bandmates. Making for an amazing solo! I have found that the best 'solos' in the bands I've recorded were played this way, instead of 'dubbed in' at a later date.


I hope the above info was helpful to some, and I'll answer any questions I can.

While I don't have tons of experiance, I've only been doing this 5 years. I still got a lot to learn, and I could have used all the tips in this thread when I was getting started too.... I just want to lend a helping hand! :)

[kevbud187]

dude you ****ing rock! i'm gonna use some of this advice for my studio/label now.

[punkrock760]

thanks \m/

[Joe]

so i've tried several times in several threads but this one seems to get posts so i'll try it here.

i've got a mixer and i'm going to buy mics to amp my guitar cab, but for software do i need the interface? i'm not sure what it does. guitar center guys suggested protools with the interface but it's $200 more than I want to spend. and also is there an easy way recording drums with just the on screen midi and not buying a keyboard or drum kit?

[Up)iN)SmOke]

sry if this sounds newbie but how do u plug ur guitar into ur sound card??????

[Joe]

sry if this sounds newbie but how do u plug ur guitar into ur sound card??????

well i'm not very educated about this either, but is your soundcard just like the line in or something? if so, then you take your guitar and use a normal plug and get a 1/4" to a 1/8" adapter. or you can buy a new chord, one end 1/4" and one 1/8"

[Wire]

well i'm not very educated about this either, but is your soundcard just like the line in or something? if so, then you take your guitar and use a normal plug and get a 1/4" to a 1/8" adapter. or you can buy a new chord, one end 1/4" and one 1/8"


Get the interface, you'll save yourself a lot of troubles.


To plug your guitar straight into your computer (which will sound like poo) you CAN go from your guitar LINE in (not Mic in) right into the computer via a 1/4' mono cable to a 1/8' mono cable.


To really get a better sound you should get an interface, like the pro-tools system. But if it's $200 more than you wanna spend... Then I think your SOL.

Decent software is $100 to start with. Then an interface that has at least two line/mic in's is at least another $200. More if it's Midi.

The pro-tools Mbox sells for just under $500 here in Canada and is a good starting point.


To get your guitar to sound half decent by plugging directly into your soundcard I highly recomend pickuping up a copy of Native Instruments Guitar rig or Guitar Combos' software. ($450 for rig, $200 for Combos) and that will give you an okay tone.


WHAT EVER YOU DO when recording tones, DO NOT (and this is a hard thing for a lot of people I've talked to that are getting into this) go from your SPEAKER OUT of your amp head or combo (on many this is the only kind of output that are on your amp!) into your sound card or interface. You will smell smoke and have either a toasty computer or interface...neither of which is really covered under waranty. To make matters worse you may also fry the output transformers on your amp... to give you an idea of this non-waranty repair its about $200 per transformer... usualy 2 per amp...and $50 an hour for shop time.


Your best and safest bet for recording and getting started is:

Protools Mbox or Presonus Firebox (the firebox comes with Cubase SL recording software)
Shure SM57 microphone
25 foot mic-cable.

That should give you what you need to get started easily.

[Riding The Short Bus]

wow theabstracts you have helped so much. Thanks

[Joe]

Get the interface, you'll save yourself a lot of troubles.


To plug your guitar straight into your computer (which will sound like poo) you CAN go from your guitar LINE in (not Mic in) right into the computer via a 1/4' mono cable to a 1/8' mono cable.


To really get a better sound you should get an interface, like the pro-tools system. But if it's $200 more than you wanna spend... Then I think your SOL.

Decent software is $100 to start with. Then an interface that has at least two line/mic in's is at least another $200. More if it's Midi.

The pro-tools Mbox sells for just under $500 here in Canada and is a good starting point.


To get your guitar to sound half decent by plugging directly into your soundcard I highly recomend pickuping up a copy of Native Instruments Guitar rig or Guitar Combos' software. ($450 for rig, $200 for Combos) and that will give you an okay tone.


WHAT EVER YOU DO when recording tones, DO NOT (and this is a hard thing for a lot of people I've talked to that are getting into this) go from your SPEAKER OUT of your amp head or combo (on many this is the only kind of output that are on your amp!) into your sound card or interface. You will smell smoke and have either a toasty computer or interface...neither of which is really covered under waranty. To make matters worse you may also fry the output transformers on your amp... to give you an idea of this non-waranty repair its about $200 per transformer... usualy 2 per amp...and $50 an hour for shop time.


Your best and safest bet for recording and getting started is:

Protools Mbox or Presonus Firebox (the firebox comes with Cubase SL recording software)
Shure SM57 microphone
25 foot mic-cable.

That should give you what you need to get started easily.


Finally! Thank you very much.


Ok so tell me some more. What actually is the interface? What do you plug it into and what do you run to it? What does it do? Do both of the programs you recommended have it and which do you like better? I have a mixer already, do I run...

Guitar -> Pedals/Amp -> Shure SM57 microphone -> Mixer -> Interface -> Software? that makes sense to me, but I'm not very smart when it comes to this stuff

[jam9383]

OK folks It's time for

LESSON 3 PART 3

Hey all, i'm still at home sick so i just thought i might aswell get this done...

All right guitars and bass. Well theres and age old question when it comes to recording guitar and bass... To mic the amp or to go strait in... the answer: well you decide i'll just run through both options

GUITAR

Micing: to mic a guitar amp, a dynamic mic is used, athough a large diapham condenser can be used. The closer you put the mic to the speaker, the more in your face it is in the mix and vice versa. SHURE SM57, are pretty much the standard mic used by producers everywhere for guitar amps.

Direct In: Pretty much a big fat no no in the world of recording. Guitars sound small and lifeless when going direct in...UNLESS, you have an amp simulator like a V-amp or a POD, in which case, going direct in sounds awsome, and you have no problem of the guitar amp mic picking up the drums or whatever!

BASS

Micing: you can get a very good bass sound by micing an amp, however you need a great mic that can handle the...well...basiness. This is where having a job comes in handy because mics that handle low end sounds can be partuculary expensive. The good news is that you can use the same mic on your kick drum, so maybe your drummer will go halves, or maybe not?

Direct in: Bass direct in can sound good. Isuggest going out of the line out of the bass amp and into some rack gear, like compressors limitors etc. Spending alot of time, can get you a great warm sound. A amp modeler like a Bass V-amp is reallly good too.

Both: If your sound card has a few inputs, then this is your best option! Mic the amp and go direct in, record them onto separate tracks and blend the two in the mix. The mic should have a big phat warm tone, and the direct in will have your more mid-high end sounds and sultle pick noises etc.

Remember: the better your instrument is, the better it will sound once recorded..
Next Lesson: recording vocals, (i might put off piano for a while cos I don't think many people will find it interesting, stop me if i'm wrong)
Have Fun Amigoes!

Is this the kind of V-Amp thats being reffered to or is it some program
http://www.musiciansnews.com/guitars/99/behringer_x_v_amp_guitar_recording_live_sound_mult i_effect_p.shtml

[moaner]

broekn link, but yes, he means somehting like the behringer v-amp 2.

[Kirk's Puppet]

However, you linked to the X V-Amp. Get the V-Amp 2, with the 2, or the V-Amp Pro, they are better.

[super_kick08]

kudos to theabstract and wire :thumb:

[Wire]

Finally! Thank you very much.


Ok so tell me some more. What actually is the interface? What do you plug it into and what do you run to it? What does it do? Do both of the programs you recommended have it and which do you like better? I have a mixer already, do I run...

Guitar -> Pedals/Amp -> Shure SM57 microphone -> Mixer -> Interface -> Software? that makes sense to me, but I'm not very smart when it comes to this stuff


The Interface is a small box that connects to your computer via a USB2.0 port or a Firewire port. (I recomend getting a firewire card as they are a LOT faster and reduce 'latency' which is the time it takes for your input signal (guitar) to get processed in the computer and spat out as a wav file.)

(www.presonus.com for info on the Firebox)

I like Cubase better as I've been using it longer than Pro-Tools. But converting a guy from Cubase to Pro-Tools is like converting the kid from Pepsi to Coke.


AS for hoook up:

Guitar -> Amp -> Shure SM57 -> Interface -> Computer

Now thats if all your doing is recording guitar.

Guitar -> Amp -> SM57 -> Mixer
Bass -> Direct Box -> Mixer Mixer -> Interface -> Computer
Drum Mics -> Mixer


Any help?

[jam9383]

However, you linked to the X V-Amp. Get the V-Amp 2, with the 2, or the V-Amp Pro, they are better.

thanks ill try to get one off eBAy

[lightningmetal666]

Hi, I was wondering if you could help me. I have the program audacity and I need to convert those files to Mp3 format. I'm from the Metallica forum and some of the guys (including me) want to upload a cover. I want to record the Rhythm part of "For Whom The Bell Tolls", and upload it so the other guys get a feel for my playing. Any suggestions as to how I might be able to do that? I've tried using lame.com and it really is as the name suggests. Any other good decoder suggestions?

[allthegoodnamesweregone]

google mp3 encoders...

[Joe]

The Interface is a small box that connects to your computer via a USB2.0 port or a Firewire port. (I recomend getting a firewire card as they are a LOT faster and reduce 'latency' which is the time it takes for your input signal (guitar) to get processed in the computer and spat out as a wav file.)

(www.presonus.com for info on the Firebox)

I like Cubase better as I've been using it longer than Pro-Tools. But converting a guy from Cubase to Pro-Tools is like converting the kid from Pepsi to Coke.


AS for hoook up:

Guitar -> Amp -> Shure SM57 -> Interface -> Computer

Now thats if all your doing is recording guitar.

Guitar -> Amp -> SM57 -> Mixer
Bass -> Direct Box -> Mixer Mixer -> Interface -> Computer
Drum Mics -> Mixer


Any help?

sweet, thanks.

ok here's a completely different problem. i downloaded cakewalk (so i can record while saving up for something better) and when i record on the program the speakers come back with the guitar but it's extremely fuzzy and static-y and echo-y. anyone got any idea as to what it is? it's sonar 2

google mp3 encoders...

those ones suck.

[allthegoodnamesweregone]

ihhh the sony one is ament to be epic... thought of buying it... its £17 (i think) but it is ament be fantastic

[airborne50caliber]

The sony one is meant to be epic.. good joke

[allthegoodnamesweregone]

im glad you saw it...

[airborne50caliber]

I don't think many did

[The Falling]

sorry if this questions been asked before but which recording program would you recomend for a beginer recorder? and also would you recommend fruity loops for a drum midi program for beginer?
thanks

[airborne50caliber]

audacity

[allthegoodnamesweregone]

yup audaccity for beginers although i find that recording to logic hit kit (on pc this is) then mixing on audacity is **** fine... due the teh fact you have plug ins via audacity and midi/synths via hit kit...

[CrazyDrummer09]

LESSON 1

Seting up your Home Studio
The following are essentials in decent home recording setups
-PC
-Soundcard
-Mixer
-Microphones
-recording software
-Monitors
-headphone
-a spare room

P.C.
In a big studio like mine, the mixer is the heart of the setup. In a home recording setup, the computer filles this space. Your computer needs to be good enough that it's not going to blow up, or freeze while your in the middle of recording. Any new PC bought from a shop nowdays is ussually pretty good. I suggest spending about $600 on the PC, unless of course you have one already!

SoundCard
The souncard you choose really depends on how many different sources your going to record at the one time. Soundblaster make really great cards for home recording. If your only recording one thing at a time, then you can use the sound card that comes with the PC. If your a 3-4-5 piece band then I would sugest the Sound Blaster Audigi 2 platnum external card. They Have 5 inputs and are great for bands!

Microphones
Depending on what your recording, a studio needs a good microphone, or several good microphones. I will run down different models and how to use them effectively in a later lesson. Just to give you an idea, you can spend anywhere beween 50 and 700 dollars.

Mixer
A mixer you can live without, but they are truly very, very, helful. The mixer is always conected to the sound card, so you can plug whatever you recording into the mixer and ajust the eq and input level on the mixer. Mixers can also be very handy to record drums, for example, you plug all the mics on the kit (snare, kick, toms etc) into the mixer, adjust the levels and eq and then all the mics come out as one stereo signal, therfore only taking up two of your inputs.

Recording Software
There so much recording software out there today that its not funny! The best program by far for begginer recordists (is that a word?). The only problem it wont record from multiple sources. Enter Cubase. Cubasis takes a very, very long time to figure out, but once you have, it is well worth it. Other programs include cakewalk, fruity loopz 4, sonar, logic. Its really up to the user to decide which one they like. You can download them all from Kazaa.

Monitors
Monitors is a fancy word for studio speakers. Monitors arn't just like your average CD player speakers. CD player speakers are designed to make the music sound as good as possible. Thats not what you want. Thats why studio monitors are designed extremely nuetral, so that they play exactly whats coming out of the computer. This prevents the following scenario:
Jonny Producer Dude records a local rock band. This is his first time he's recorded a band because he's just set up his studio. Johny has just spent heaps of hard earned cash on gear for his studio, but Jonny doesn't know ****. Jonny and the band have spent a week on the new demo. They are listening to the songs through the monitors, which just so happen to be his CD player speakers, and it sounds awsome! The band pay jonny lots of thier hard earned cash, get thier CD and go home. On the way home, Bill Drummer, and Frank singer decide they are going to put on the CD. It starts playing but it sounds like ****. Frank and Bill turn around and drive back to johnnys house and lets just say he wont produce another CD in a while! If your music sounds good on real monitors, it'll sound good on any CD Player! Behringer Truth monitors rock!

Headphones
You NEED these. In my studio I have 5 pairs of headphones. You need these. There is nothing worse than having a great vocal track ruined because the vocal mic picked up the monitors! the soloution: headphones! Not Earplugs, Headphones! When your recording something, the only thing the mic should hear is the thing you want on that track.

A Room
You might say yeah whatever I can do it in my garage, or bedroom, and thats fine... If you want to be P***ed of while you record and p***ed of when your doing stuff in your room. Besides it being anoying trying to record while theres mess everywhere, acoustics are very important also. So a room that you can do stuff to the walls in is great (i also wouldn't want to live in a bedroom that has blankets hanging on the walls!
I'll go through how to treat a room for acoustics in another lesson...

Conclusion
So thats what youll need!
Please comment on the lessons and ask questions and i have a go at answering them!
If you want you cant tell me to shut my big mouth too.

Next lesson, I'll go through how to connect the studio together, and some basics on how to get is running. Also I'll go through acoustic design and studio layout

Have fun buying all your Gear!

Do the monitors need to be active or passive?

[allthegoodnamesweregone]

uhhh i dnt think it matters

[moaner]

depends if you want to buy an amp for them or not

[slpntrx5]

okay, here's wahat i have in my "setup"

tascam 4 track recorder (not really necessary, is it?)
2 shure sm57's
behringer eurorack ub802 mixer
lots of leads
audacity
the 2 inputs in the back of my computer (line and mic)
50 dollars (american)
my family pc
my laptop (with only a mic input)
a noob band that's broke as ****
the need for an ok quality demo

now, here's my questions:

1.do i need to buy a special soundcard and if so what kind and why?
2.if i don't need a soundcard, then which plugin should i use?
3.will you send me some money?
4.do i need monitors or studio headphones?
5.what should i record together? (ie guitars,bass,and drums and do the vox seperately or what?)
6. do i need more mics?(obviously for the drums, but any special mics for the vox?)

[allthegoodnamesweregone]

ok thats a nice set up now yo answer your question

1) no the one ytou have will record BUT the quality will be poor and you will HAVE to get the levles right on the mixer

2) i recomend another sound card however the can be expensive one with 8 tracks as pci should be ok as for plug in's i dot understand

3) no will you send me money

4) Both idealy however if your short on money normal closed heads phones will do

5 i recomend them all seperatly but thats only best done with a large sound card with multipul inuts

6) more mics, you could use a condenser however for a live demo (which i guess you will be doing i think a sm57 will be nmore than fine

some asdvice is to Mic the gutair cabs and run the bass directly into the mixer but ddeffanatly more mics...

[Joe]

Ok so i've got a few questions about my set up too

two cheap mics that pick up very well
cheap cables
eurotrack ub1622FX pro mixer
-> computer sound card
cubase

my problem is is that the recording gets there too slowly. when i play it back it's delayed a little bit and it's a painful experience getting it exactly right. does anyone have any ideas how to make it faster for not too much $ (don't have a job yet, but that's coming around)?

Also, recommended was the Sound Blaster Audigi 2. Is this one any good?

http://www.pricegrabber.com/search_getprod.php/masterid=1251021/skd=1/search=sound+blaster+audigy+2

[master_yoda_2]

sorry if these questions have already been asked but

1.Are Behringer mixers any good. Im considering the 1202FX.

2.Would connecting a guitar amp recording out straight to the mixer or computer sound better or worse than just micing the amp

3 I want to record my 5 piece drum kit. How would I be able to record it on a 4 mic input mixer

[Phototropic]

sorry if these questions have already been asked but

1.Are Behringer mixers any good. Im considering the 1202FX.

2.Would connecting a guitar amp recording out straight to the mixer or computer sound better or worse than just micing the amp

3 I want to record my 5 piece drum kit. How would I be able to record it on a 4 mic input mixer

1. Duno sorry :(

2. Micing the amp is always better than going direct, you get better vibe, atomsphere and usually tone

3. 1 mic for the snare / hi-hat, 1 mic for the bass drum, 2 over head for the cymbals and toms

(not really experienced with recording drums :upset: )

[10571z]

hey guys im confused just say i have a mixer it has a 8 tracks and i have a computer with a 8 trakc soundcard and i put a lead lineout of the amp into the computer will that come out as 8 tracks in the computer how does it work some explain !!!! please

[moaner]

don't panic. commas, calm and karma go a long way.

no, it won't. unless the mixer is a digital mixer with a digital out and the soundcard has a digital input.

[darrell]

Ok so i've got a few questions about my set up too

two cheap mics that pick up very well
cheap cables
eurotrack ub1622FX pro mixer
-> computer sound card
cubase

my problem is is that the recording gets there too slowly. when i play it back it's delayed a little bit and it's a painful experience getting it exactly right. does anyone have any ideas how to make it faster for not too much $ (don't have a job yet, but that's coming around)?

Also, recommended was the Sound Blaster Audigi 2. Is this one any good?

Longest Link Ever (http://www.pricegrabber.com/search_getprod.php/masterid=1251021/skd=1/search=sound+blaster+audigy+2)

We had that problem. It's your computer. We had two computers to use, but one we couldn't use at the moment so we used the other one. After about 20 minutes of playing around with it, we realized that the computer wasn't up to par for recording and used the other one. Problem free after that.

Best bet is to get a computer strictly for recording if you are serious about it. Don't go on the internet with it... Don't do anything. Just record.

But that's just me.

[slpntrx5]

ok thats a nice set up now yo answer your question

1) no the one ytou have will record BUT the quality will be poor and you will HAVE to get the levles right on the mixer

2) i recomend another sound card however the can be expensive one with 8 tracks as pci should be ok as for plug in's i dot understand

3) no will you send me money

4) Both idealy however if your short on money normal closed heads phones will do

5 i recomend them all seperatly but thats only best done with a large sound card with multipul inuts

6) more mics, you could use a condenser however for a live demo (which i guess you will be doing i think a sm57 will be nmore than fine

some asdvice is to Mic the gutair cabs and run the bass directly into the mixer but ddeffanatly more mics...


****! i need more answers than 1!!! :confused:

[ATC]

Do you guys know what a good program to sample out certain parts of existing songs might be?
For example, I need to get just the chorus of Nevermore's I am the Dog for sampling in a little songwriting project for my uni course.

[fuzzyhair]

Okay this is sorda on subject but anyway...
I ran my mic through an older guitar amp and it sounds fine, i am satisfied with that. But I was getting a load of feedback, and it was making me angry, i read on the internet that to kill the feedback just turn the treble down and the bass all the way up. Does this sound right or what should I do? The amp has been sung through before, and i got it for free, so i dont really care if it dies or not, but it works now :). thanks.

[fuzzyhair]

Do you guys know what a good program to sample out certain parts of existing songs might be?
For example, I need to get just the chorus of Nevermore's I am the Dog for sampling in a little songwriting project for my uni course.
audacity, just highlight where the chorus is, copy, delete the song, and paste it back in audacity.

Ok I need an answer to my question.

[10571z]

hey can anyone tell me what a compressor does??? im wanna take my home reocridng further.. also anylink to cheap ones would be good thanks!

[airborne50caliber]

Behringer Mdx2600, excellent piece of gear

[AbInitio]

hey can anyone tell me what a compressor does??? im wanna take my home reocridng further.. also anylink to cheap ones would be good thanks!

Put simply, it narrows the dynamic range.....so it makes "quiet" sounds louder, and keeps the "loud" sounds level, but this all depends on how you set the controls.

I don't know much about any cheap ones......are you talking about rackmount or....??

Try behringer, or look on ebay for used. i've seen some reasonable priced compresseors on there, but i have no idea of their quality.

EDIT: Behringer Mdx2600, excellent piece of gear

That looks good, very good for the price, and it does much more than basic compression.

http://www.behringer.com/MDX2600/index.cfm?lang=ENG

[sinister]

Hey guys, my band didnt plan ahead for recording so i was wondering if you could help us sort ourselves out. Keep in mind, we like it cheap and cheerful (but mainly cheap)

Our set up is like this:
guitar 1 direct output to mixer \
guitar 2 direct output to mixer \ mixer is Peavey PV 6
bass amp micked to mixer /
drums micked to mixer /

After the mixer is where our problem is, we want to plug it into PC and record using audacity but the pc at the house where we recorded dosnt have a specialist sound card so all of the inputs are mono and the mixer output is stereo. We are planning to overdub the vocals later.

At the moment we are:
record instruments to tape, record vocals to different tape, record music off tapes to pc and splice together
But that sucks, because its hard to mix and tapes loose quality.

What can we do? Sorry for the long post, just wanted to give all the details.

[allthegoodnamesweregone]

buy an external sound card/pci soundcard???

[sinister]

I'll look into it, thanks, any good recomendations?

[allthegoodnamesweregone]

uhh edirol, m-audio,tascam...

[airborne50caliber]

you say ALL of the inputs are mono. That means you have at least 2 mono inputs. I believe you have two mono outputs on your mixer for the stereo signal. This will be perfectly accepted by youir soundcard

[blader]

Does a laptop do instead of a P.C?it might be on here but i aint read all the posts.

[mshort813]

So, I have some questions for anyone that can intelligently answer them for me.


First, what is more important, in your opinion, the software or the hardware? Big question, I know, but is there one I should be paying attention to more than the other?

Second, I have a 2 input mbox and I'm looking to get a mixer. I only have USB to work with. Do I need to get a mixer that is USB compatible or can I plug the mixer into the mbox, then to the computer? What is the best setup for this?

Third, reccommend me some good mixers for recording. I don't need much more than 8 or so inputs, and I'm willing to spend up to $350-400.


Thank you to anyone who can answer any of these, I seriously love you.

Also, theabstract, youre awesome.

[mshort813]

This is the band I just finished with. I know this isn't top quality, it's my first recording I've done, and my setup is only $300 right now. I'd appreciate any suggestions or comments on the recording. Thanks.

http://www.soundclick.com/bands/pagemusic.cfm?bandID=421538

[Hadji]

First, what is more important, in your opinion, the software or the hardware? Big question, I know, but is there one I should be paying attention to more than the other?
You are going to need to get something at least decent with both, but once you acheive that, I'd focus on the hardware. That's what really captures the sound. Software to a degree just makes it harder or easier to get a really nice sound. That's up to you. If you have crap hardware, no matter how hard you work it, it's going to come out poor. That's my opinion on it, anyways.

Second, I have a 2 input mbox and I'm looking to get a mixer. I only have USB to work with. Do I need to get a mixer that is USB compatible or can I plug the mixer into the mbox, then to the computer? What is the best setup for this?
I'd put everything into the mixer and then send the mixer to the mbox. You'll be hard-pressed to find a mixer compatible with USB within your budget.

Third, reccommend me some good mixers for recording. I don't need much more than 8 or so inputs, and I'm willing to spend up to $350-400.
http://www.musiciansfriend.com/srs7/g=live/search/detail/base_pid/630053/

I love Yamaha mixers. For the slight bit you pay more over the Behringer equivalent, you get the satisfaction of knowing that if it breaks, there's most likely someone in your area that'll fix them. All the stores in my area have stopped servicing Behringer products.[/QUOTE]

[SaM_tHe_DrUmMeR]

Woot

Is there a site or something that tells you what the settings for recording drums would be? Well.. see my school has this amp/mixer or wtv their called. So for every chn there a bunch of things to play arround with, for exemple FX, Echo, Low, Mid, High - Blah blah - ... or am I just gonna have to experiment with it?

-Samuel

[airborne50caliber]

Record flat. Tweak later. Focus your attention on mic choice and positioning.

[Bigga]

Hey i have a akai mpc2000xl (my drum machine) and i try recording my beats on my computer...when i play them through the computer speakers its fine but when i record them and listen they sound kind of distorted. can anyone help me out here .....

[airborne50caliber]

Clipping. Check your levels.

[Wire]

This is going to be a lengthy post as I will be responding to many a question.... first:

1.do i need to buy a special soundcard and if so what kind and why?
2.if i don't need a soundcard, then which plugin should i use?
3.will you send me some money?
4.do i need monitors or studio headphones?
5.what should i record together? (ie guitars,bass,and drums and do the vox seperately or what?)
6. do i need more mics?(obviously for the drums, but any special mics for the vox?)

1. Yes & no. You can do just find with your tascam recorder by putting everything onto it. However, you could trade in your recorder at a local Long & McQuade (in Canada) and RENT or buy a Presonus Firepod.

Chances are your built in soundcard is a creative something rather not suitible for recording. You will get what is called 'latency' very similar to the same kind you would experiance playing your Xbox online. Pretty much its the processing delay it takes to get from your microphone into the software... A better soundcard will help you out huge in this situation

2. PLUGINS WILL NOT MAKE A poopTY RECORDING SOUND GOOD!!!! Plugins are like guitar effect pedals. They will ENHANCE your 'foundation'. What I mean is that plugins are made to give life to a recording, make it louder, or add special effects. The most useful plugins are Compressors, EQ's, Gates, and Limiters. Of course in almost all circumstances LESS IS MORE!

3. Sorry, as a working musician/studio engineer I'm probably more broke than you are.

4. you DO NOT need monitors or studio headphones. while the make the recording process 100x easier and more efficent, they are not a nessecity. The best thing to use to mix your music is your ears. My final tests after listening to a track on studio mons and/or headphones is to export it into MP3 format and listening to it through a casset adaptered car kit in my car using my iPod. Pretty much this takes a LOT out of the recording, but it is the situation where 80% of your audience will be listening to your music.

5. Depends on how many inputs your using. For the first two years I did everything off a 4 channel Behrringer board I picked up for $50CAD and threw it into a stereo sound card. I did everything track by track into Cakewalk. So, drums first, (kick, snare, 2 overheads for mics) and then every instrument after that one at a time. (Guitar 1 plays solo, then guitar 2 plays solo, etc.)

However now, I would do this.... Kick & Snare, and two tom toms/floor tom using all 4 channels. Get your drummer to play ONLY these drums (no cymbals). Then setup your overheads Left & Right and get your drummer to play only cymbals.... the rest of the process is normal. (This is how Foo Fighters recorded their last record. And after trying the process out myself with a buddy, we realized it's definatly the best way to get drum sounds mixed!

6. You can never have to many mics. I'm probably buying a mic every second month at this rate... But the most useful arsenal of mics are going to be:

2x Shure SM57 (For toms)
2x AKG C1000S (for overheads)
1x AKG D112 (for kick)
1x Studio Projects B1 (for vocals)



NEXT!

Ok so i've got a few questions about my set up too

two cheap mics that pick up very well
cheap cables
eurotrack ub1622FX pro mixer
-> computer sound card
cubase

my problem is is that the recording gets there too slowly. when i play it back it's delayed a little bit and it's a painful experience getting it exactly right. does anyone have any ideas how to make it faster for not too much $ (don't have a job yet, but that's coming around)?

Also, recommended was the Sound Blaster Audigi 2. Is this one any good?

First and formost... sound cards you buy in computer stores (eg Comerical Sound Blaster Audigy cards) ARE NOT FOR RECORDING... they are complete crap and you should stay as far away from them as possible!!!

Get yourself a Presonus Firebox or Firepod. Even the Maudio cards are really good for those of you on a budjet.

Behringer products now ship with a small sticker on them that have a trashcan with an X through it. This implies 'do not put in garbage', however I perfer to do the complete oppostie. Behrringer mixers are A) Very Nosiy B) very Ureliable

Check out Mackie, Tascam, Alto, or Allen & Heathe boards. (Tascam make a wicked firewire board for $700 CAD that not only works as an 12 track firewire soundcard, but also as an amazing live board as well! It's new on the market)

But anyways, your main problem is latency...and this is NOT due to your computer being too slow. This is actually a problem with your soundcard being the suck and not having a good sample rate. Pro soundcards that you can get at Long & MCquade or Gutiar Center (if your in the states) is a great way to go.

DEFINATLY mic your guitar amp.

oh, and Shure SM57's are da bomb in the studio!

Okay this is sorda on subject but anyway...
I ran my mic through an older guitar amp and it sounds fine, i am satisfied with that. But I was getting a load of feedback, and it was making me angry, i read on the internet that to kill the feedback just turn the treble down and the bass all the way up. Does this sound right or what should I do? The amp has been sung through before, and i got it for free, so i dont really care if it dies or not, but it works now . thanks.

What kind of feedback?

And no, turning the treb down and bass up is probably a bad thing to do. Sure it kills your feedback problem...but what happens in your recording? No high end, and nothing but bottom... this = mud. Mud = bad

hey can anyone tell me what a compressor does??? im wanna take my home reocridng further.. also anylink to cheap ones would be good thanks!

A compressor takes your signal and squishes it to make things louder and not clip. (in theory its a sound man riding the volume on a mixing board) However, compresson kills your low/high end frequency response, sometimes making things muddy. Compression is a tricky thing to master, and can work wonders on a recording (and is pretty much nessacary to get things heard in the new music buissness).

A GREAT affordable compressor is NOT made by Behrringer as they are noisy as hell and don't do a great job. A reallly good hardware compressor is the JoeMeek ThreeQ. This small unit is a great micpreamp, optical compressor, and threeband EQ in a nice lil package that goes for around $300 Canadian.

sinister I'll look into it, thanks, any good recomendations?
10-16-2005 03:37 PM
allthegoodnamesweregone buy an external sound card/pci soundcard???


The Edirol cards are a huge pain in the *** to use IMHO. The Tascam Firewire 12 channel mixer looks DAMN cool, and will definatly be something I will be playing around with in the near future. My current fav is the Presonus Firepod. As it's pretty much plug + Play, sounds great, and has the least amount of problems or usage pains out of most soundcards on the current market.

Does a laptop do instead of a P.C?it might be on here but i aint read all the posts.

Depends on what your using for a machine.

Two years ago Laptops would have been a HUGE no-no for recording... but today anyone with a Apple Powerbook can do some decent work. My personal main recording device right now is a Dell Inspiron 6000 with a 2.0Ghz processor, 1g worth of Ram, and an external hard drive built by Rocstor.

The biggest things you should have for a decent platform are:

min 512 of ram (more is always better! my 512 machine dies @ 12 tracks and 7 Waves plugins using Nuendo 3)
1.6ghz or better processor
7200 RPM drive with a seek time under 10ms

And of course, get that firewire or USB pro sound card... you'll thank me later!

[Wire]

Part 2

Quote:
First, what is more important, in your opinion, the software or the hardware? Big question, I know, but is there one I should be paying attention to more than the other?
You are going to need to get something at least decent with both, but once you acheive that, I'd focus on the hardware. That's what really captures the sound. Software to a degree just makes it harder or easier to get a really nice sound. That's up to you. If you have crap hardware, no matter how hard you work it, it's going to come out poor. That's my opinion on it, anyways.


Quote:
Second, I have a 2 input mbox and I'm looking to get a mixer. I only have USB to work with. Do I need to get a mixer that is USB compatible or can I plug the mixer into the mbox, then to the computer? What is the best setup for this?
I'd put everything into the mixer and then send the mixer to the mbox. You'll be hard-pressed to find a mixer compatible with USB within your budget.


Quote:
Third, reccommend me some good mixers for recording. I don't need much more than 8 or so inputs, and I'm willing to spend up to $350-400.
http://www.musiciansfriend.com/srs7/g=live/search/detail/base_pid/630053/

I love Yamaha mixers. For the slight bit you pay more over the Behringer equivalent, you get the satisfaction of knowing that if it breaks, there's most likely someone in your area that'll fix them. All the stores in my area have stopped servicing Behringer products.[/QUOTE]


Hardware is a very important peice of gear in your setup, and will probably cost the same for a mid-line studio as the best peice of software will.

You can get away with $300 soundcards that are really decent, but I would recomend saving some cash and buying a Firewire expansion card for your laptop/PC and buying a firewire soundcard/mixer.

Good starting software that I'm familiar with is Cubase SL, Sonar 4 (I think Sonar 5 just came out), and Protools is definatly a popular choice, even if it is my arch nemisis (sooooooo many problems trying to get my Mbox to work....)

Good interfaces:
Maudio makes all kinds of nice ones in both USB and 1394 markets
Presonus makes AWESOME firewire ones
Edirol = hard to use, but sound good
Tascam have this cool new 12 channel firewire mxier... get one!

And yes, Software is just going to make things easier or harder... however the difference between lets say... Cakewalk Home Studio 2004 & Cubase SX3 is monstorus in terms of audio quality... Even ProTools dosn't sound as good as Nuendo 3!

Throw your mixer's L/R outs into your 1/2 ins of your Mbox. Treat them as a stereo signal in Protools or Cubase (yes you can use an Mbox in any software!), and then premix on your board then do 'finalization' inside your software... poor mans way to go, but hey, if it works it works!

Take a look at Yamaha, Tascam, Mackie, Alto, and Allen & Heath boards. Just stay away from Behrringer... the power supplys are not sheilded properly, and like to give off tons of background hiss/noise. They also blow up on a regular basis... and you know what Behrringer does with them? Throws the boards in the garbage, reuses the knobs and casing...then builds a new one. Worst company ever...



Anymore questions?

[airborne50caliber]

Go out and use an MDX2600, man. Seriously. Maybe you have noisy ears?

[ledzeprock]

would it be easier for a young band like mine to just go into a studio and pay the guy to do it??? home recording sounds like a hassle and it sounds rather expensive

[jaykemurd]

Okay guys. I've got a question, or two, for theabstract, or anyone knowledgeable for that matter! I've begun building my home studio, based around a PC. I have a decent PC and SONOR 4 Producer, and know how to use it. This is what I currently have, or is on it's way to me:
M-Audio Delta 1010LT PCI Sound card
Behringer Eurorack UB1222FX-PRO Mixer
MXL 990/991 Condenser Mic Package
2 ON-Stage Boom Mic stands
2 extra Horizon Lo-Z XLR Cables
2 Hosa RCA to RCA Cables

I'm confident I've gotten the basic things I'll need. I will, without a doubt, be buying either a drum mic kit, or making my own drum mic kit (sm57,condensers, etc) SO, have I forgotten anything crucial? For now, recording acoustics/voice will be fine. I'll buy better mics soon. Do ya'll think I'll be able to make decent sounding recordings?

[jake plays guitar]

really really good thread

[super_kick08]

jaykemurd...you will def be able to..if you know what your doing...and know your techniques...look around on the internet for other recording tips and tricks...anything will help...also there is no wrong way to do something

[thelemon32]

I've just got a quick question about the thread, why is the thread starter's name, theabstract, not clickable or doesn't show any post count? It doesn't say he's banned.

[Hadji]

His account was most-likely deleted at some point.

[DespisedIcon689]

Adobe Audition vs Cubase

Which one is better? I heard they are some what the same.

[raz0r]

Adobe Audition vs Cubase

Which one is better? I heard they are some what the same.

Cubase.

Seeing as i'm not willing to read through 35 pages, and the search button just hates me:

I'm considering building a home studio.
Assuming that i go for middle-range equipment, what kind of price will I be looking at?
I'll need mics, a mixer, cables, and the recording software.
Instruments to be recorded:
Drum Kit (5 piece, preferrably individual mics for the toms)
1 guitar
1 bass
vocals

I'm only looking for a rough estimate of the price, just to see how feasible this is.

Thanks

[gaz12369]

Assuming that i go for middle-range equipment

Allow £700 - £1000 for the PC, more if you want a mac

Monitors: £400 - £500

Large Dia Condensor - £250 - £400
Stereo Pair Small Dia Condensor - £200 - £400
Kick Drum mic - (AKG D112) - £100 ish
Extra dynamics for drums/guitar - sm57 + 2/3 others = £200 ish

Interface (presonus firebox) - £500 ish?

Extra channel strip for more important things - £350 - £600

DAW - Sonar 5 Studio = £230
If you go mac then logic 7 express - £175

Allow an extra £100 - £200 for extra bits like a monitor controller, cables, headphones etc, and your done:chug:

I havnt included a mixer as the Firebox has 8 mic preamps anyway.

You could get say an M-audio delta 1010, (£300) which has 8 jack i/o, and then get a mixer for that, but you'd be better off getting the firebox anyway.

Gareth

[Edit] Dont forget the extra cost of the room itself. You'll need adequate acoustic treatment, in the form of corner bass traps and at least first reflection absorbers. Allow £100 - £200 or so for this, though it can be done a lot more economically DIY

[raz0r]

I've already got the computer, with an Audigy 2 ZS sound card, so I can cut that out.

But basically, I'll be looking at upwards of £2000?
I guess that's quite a bit more than I was expecting.
Looks like i'll be holding off until I have a bit more cash :(

Thanks for the help anyway.

[gaz12369]

with an Audigy 2 ZS sound card

Hate to set you back, but that isnt a recording interface. Im not sure of what it can and can't do, but i'd imagine it probably cant record high sample rates (though 44.1khz 16-bit is fine [CD quality]), but more importantly it will only allow one stereo input, and one stereo out, both of which will be on small 3.5mm jacks, which tend to be noisy.

Though this may be "ok" for very budget recording, it wont be good enough for anything more than demo recordings, if that.

There ARE ways to cut costs on that list, but you said mid-range quality, so i gave a list of that.

You can deffinatley cut down on mic's, say by getting a drum mic kit (still £200 or more for a decent ish one), but then you would only need an extra large condensor for vocals, as the other mics would be in the drum mic kit.

For software you could look at Studio to Go (found here >) http://www.ferventsoftware.com/

At £50 (or £80 boxed with manuals, which i would prefer) it seems like a good buy. Just make sure your recording interface is compatible (firewire cards tend not to be, so it may be a case of Delta 1010 and SMPro audio 8x preamps. Look here for what i mean.http://www.smproaudio.com)

I would still advise around £400 for monitors, as these are the key to mixing. You cant mix what you cant hear. I suggest Event TR8's or KRK Rokit 8's.

While this will give fairly good results, you'd be pushing it for hiring out as such. If you wanted to use your studio for more commercial means, you would need to buy better mic's (or at least add a few nicer ones to what i suggested in this post), deffinately a nice voice channel (eg TL Audio 5050, though more can be had for the money), generally better pre-amps, (eg Focusrite Octopre LE), and probably some more well known software, as im not sure what plug-in format Studio To Go uses.

If you went for the M-audio card, i would suggest Pro Tools M-Powered, as its a fairly easy to use. Personally I use Sonar 4, but Pro Tools would be adequate.

You may also want to consider a seccond Delta 1010, so you could record 16 tracks at the same time (you would also need more external preamps for this though).

To really impress in a studio, you could probably do with some outboard processors, but when your just starting out plug-ins will do a fine job, and intergrate better with a DAW

Sorry that was long, and i've probably really screwed your head up with all the info, but its not cheap to do properly! heh

Gareth

[Edit] Just had a check, and concerning Plug-ins for Studio to Go, a forum post stated:

You can run many Windows VST and VSTi plugins from the hard disk. Support varies depending on the plugin, but we have had success with a number of highly useful plugins including several of the Native Instruments ones.

So it looks like you should be ok with STG, but remember, it's not as advanced as the major's in terms of GUI, but the performance should be good enough, at least to get you going.

[Avrilkiller]

Maybe I missed it, but...

DID you mention that it's possible to record and burn a full, multilayer, multitrack demo using only Windows Sound Recorder?
That's all I ever use when i feel like copying a song down, it works fine. About a $1000 bucks cheaper than some cetups, too. :)

[gaz12369]

DID you mention that it's possible to record and burn a full, multilayer, multitrack demo using only Windows Sound Recorder?
That's all I ever use when i feel like copying a song down, it works fine. About a $1000 bucks cheaper than some cetups, too.

I may have missed it but, how the hell do you multitrack on sound recorder lol!

And yeah, its fine for the very basic of demo's (as in, just for personal reference demos), but it wont ever be good enough for any releases.

Setups*:thumb:

[Nicko_Shmicko]

just bumping this for a guy so he can find it.

[*Robbie*]

I have to admit I skipped some pages, so this may already have been answered, but...

What's the bottom level for recordings where kick drumming / distortion won't totally ruin it? I'm not looking for anything that'll give a hugely polished effect, just a recorder (multitrack would be cool), where I'm not going to need to buy like 10 mics to a four piece band, yet will give an accurate reflection of our sound without anyone who listens thinking how crap the quality is...



Can anyone point me in the direction of an entry-level recorder (four-track or eight-track would be excellent, so we could record instruments individually and/or add effects on top) that'll do the job without breaking the bank?