Recording One-Man Band

[CabbageStabbage]

Since the two bands that I'm in are either terrible or never practice, I want to record my own songs. I can play guitar, bass, sing, and I don't know what I'm going to do about drums.

This will probably be done on a computer. I need:
-Software. I've used Audacity in the past, is it still good?
-Microphone. One that can plug into a computer. This is to record guitars, an organ, vocals and whatever else I find lying around. Reccomendations?

What's the best way to record tracks on top of other tracks? I plan on putting a midi and recording parts over it, then dropping the midi from the final mix. Also, can I record from an amp's line out to a sound card without destroying the sound card?

Also, how much of a problem will computer background noise be?

My budget will be around 100 bux.

Thx for tolerating a complete n00b.

[Moseph]

Since the two bands that I'm in are either terrible or never practice, I want to record my own songs. I can play guitar, bass, sing, and I don't know what I'm going to do about drums.

This will probably be done on a computer. I need:
-Software. I've used Audacity in the past, is it still good?
-Microphone. One that can plug into a computer. This is to record guitars, an organ, vocals and whatever else I find lying around. Reccomendations?

What's the best way to record tracks on top of other tracks? I plan on putting a midi and recording parts over it, then dropping the midi from the final mix. Also, can I record from an amp's line out to a sound card without destroying the sound card?

Also, how much of a problem will computer background noise be?

My budget will be around 100 bux.

Thx for tolerating a complete n00b.

Your budget could stand to be expanded. A decent preamp and mic will easily cost you 2x that amount. If you can afford to get yourself a Blue Snowball ($159.99 at musiciansfriend.com) that would be a one-stop device for mic, preamp, and USB connectivity.

On the other hand, I've never liked the Snowball for anything except podcasting spoken word. If you're really stuck with that small a budget, you might be best off purchasing a DI box, and getting vox with a computer mic until you have enough for something decent. I'd much rather suggest to you purchasing a PreSonus TubePRE and a Shure SM58.

[Aus_rock_god]

What I use is Fruity Loops for the drums, I DI the guitar and bass through an effects processor, and I use an SM58 for vox.

Do your drums up first is my advice, and use that to set your songs out, then record the vocals last.

[Knifeboy]

Yeah.. Just buying an sm58 can improve your sound alot.. You could even use it to mic up your guitar amp and get an ok sound

[Aus_rock_god]

Ya. An SM58 (just like a 57) can be used for just about anything.

With a 58 you want to mic things at more of a distance, with a 57 you want the mic to be right up close.

Depends on what you're micing, and a 58 really, honestly, isn't a good recording mic, great live or for demos though.

[Moseph]

Depends on what you're micing, and a 58 really, honestly, isn't a good recording mic, great live or for demos though.

A SM58 is about as good a recording mic (for general purpose) as the posters on this forum typically recommend. It has a very similar sound to the SM57, though placement is a little different as you already said.

In most situations, either mic is probably not the best choice, but if it's what you can afford, you make do.

[Aus_rock_god]

Correct. Condencer or ribbon all the way for professional vocal recording. But, as musicians, they cost a lot more than we can typically afford.

[CabbageStabbage]

Thx for the help.

So basically:
SM58 for vox
Guitar -> Effects pedal(s) -> DI box -> USB/sound card port?
Bass -> Amp -> DI box -> computer
Drum machine program like Fruity Loops

[ClaireEast]

If you can somehow plump up yur budget a bit I found an EDIROL UA-25 was great. It cost me about 256.00can and it came with a copy of SONAR LE.
It had two ports in the front for either your Guitar, Bass or Mic and a MIDI in-Out in the back. I was endlessly impressed with it when I was starting out and while SONAR was far beyond what I knew, I was sold to CakeWalk after learning LE. I use SONAR 5 PE now and the best part, that EDIROL interface is still in my studio, we run the Alesis through it and the Guitars. It was really just like a Studio in a cardboard box.

Good luck!

Hey I just noticed your from Canada too. Try LA Music Online. I buy almost everything from them.

-Claire

[Aus_rock_god]

Thx for the help.

So basically:
SM58 for vox
Guitar -> Effects pedal(s) -> DI box -> USB/sound card port?
Bass -> Amp -> DI box -> computer
Drum machine program like Fruity Loops

Oh, **** no, all you need is a 1/4 to 1/8 adapter that costs $2 from the guitar shop.

Guitar -> effects (make sure you buy a board with a cab simulator like a Boss GT8 or Korg AX1500G) -> soundcard
Bass -> soundcard

[CabbageStabbage]

Yeah, I recorded my bass before with a 1/4 to 1/8" adaptor and it only came out of the left speaker. The adaptor was kinda bent tho.

Will bass -> amp -> soundcard sound better or worse than bass -> soundcard? I have an old active bass (Ibanez CT)

[Knifeboy]

As long as you line-in the bass, there's not much you can do wrong

[El-Ahrairah]

If you can somehow plump up yur budget a bit I found an EDIROL UA-25 was great. It cost me about 256.00can and it came with a copy of SONAR LE.

I have had good experiences with EDIROL stuff, too. I own an FA-101 firewire interface with two mic preamps and 10line-ins/10outs.

You'll want a semiprofessional audiointerface, as onboard cards tend to have a lot of latency and software micboosts are pretty ****ty, if I may say so.

It's a solid piece of gear and I've learnt to appreciate it. Costs quite a lot though, 500$+ I guess. (I'm in Europe though and everything is even more expensive here :naughty: )

Vox: As previously stated, SM58

Guitar: FX (PodXT, TonelaSE etc) into line-in or amp + preamp'd SM-57

Bass: LineIn, EQ in your recording software.

Drums: A pain in the *** to record. You'll need like 2035092835 microphones, and therefore the same amount of preamps.
I normally use a software sampler (Drumkit from Hell II). The software I use is called Cubase SX3. You can easily get a copy of it if you look hard enough. Once you're earning money with your music you can still buy a copy.

[Aus_rock_god]

Yeah, I recorded my bass before with a 1/4 to 1/8" adaptor and it only came out of the left speaker. The adaptor was kinda bent tho.

Will bass -> amp -> soundcard sound better or worse than bass -> soundcard? I have an old active bass (Ibanez CT)

Because bass and guitar have a mono output (which only comes out the left speaker). You need to record the tracks in mono in order for them to come out both speakers.

[Aus_rock_god]

I have had good experiences with EDIROL stuff, too. I own an FA-101 firewire interface with two mic preamps and 10line-ins/10outs.

You'll want a semiprofessional audiointerface, as onboard cards tend to have a lot of latency and software micboosts are pretty ****ty, if I may say so.

It's a solid piece of gear and I've learnt to appreciate it. Costs quite a lot though, 500$+ I guess. (I'm in Europe though and everything is even more expensive here :naughty: )

Vox: As previously stated, SM58

Guitar: FX (PodXT, TonelaSE etc) into line-in or amp + preamp'd SM-57

Bass: LineIn, EQ in your recording software.

Drums: A pain in the *** to record. You'll need like 2035092835 microphones, and therefore the same amount of preamps.
I normally use a software sampler (Drumkit from Hell II). The software I use is called Cubase SX3. You can easily get a copy of it if you look hard enough. Once you're earning money with your music you can still buy a copy.

You can actually get away with 2 mics (1 overhead, one kick).

And you don't neccissarily need a pre-amp for an SM57.

[El-Ahrairah]

You can actually get away with 2 mics (1 overhead, one kick).

And you don't neccissarily need a pre-amp for an SM57.

That's correct. But if you're serious about recording, you'll at least want kick, sner, and every tom separately plus an overhead mic for cymbals/ride/crash/hihat/cowbell etc.

It's always better (but it means more work!) to have these parts of a drumkit recorded seperately. It means you can add some reverb on the sner, tune the toms, eq the kick and cymbals seperately etc.

I think it's easier and less financially challenging to make drums artificially using a software sampler - and if you do it right, they sound quite nice in the end. I think even the pros do that sometimes (except that the sample sounds are triggered by a real drum or midi drum).

About the SM57: you can use it without a mic preamp indeed. You'll just have to amplify the digital signal afterwards... I don't know if that's bad, but I've never regretted having a mic preamp for the SM57. ;-) But as soon as it comes to condensor mics, you'll definitely need a preamp.

[Aus_rock_god]

Reminds me of an experiment I'd love to do:

1 kick drum mic
1 spare mic
1 hi-hat mic

360 uni-directional shotgun mics as overheads.

[El-Ahrairah]

Hehe.

[Aus_rock_god]

The only logistical problem is I'll need 363 channels to record it properly.

The only way I've figured around it, is to have seventeen 25 channel mixers, 15 of them for the individual mics, one as a left channel bump, the other as a right channel bump.

You'd have to have each pan set exactly as you want it, and each take would have to be perfect, because achiveing smooth editing would be a nightmare, because all you'd have is a stereo track.

[stevenkeith]

Whats a good inexpensive mic pre-amp?

I'm thinking of getting into recording again. I have an sm57, adobe audition at the moment.

Thinking of getting an MBOX 2 but thats quite expensive. I'll probably just be recording me and my accoustic guitar initially. Was thinking of getting an sm58 and some sort of pre-amp.

Any ideas?

[Moseph]

The only logistical problem is I'll need 363 channels to record it properly.

The only way I've figured around it, is to have seventeen 25 channel mixers, 15 of them for the individual mics, one as a left channel bump, the other as a right channel bump.

You'd have to have each pan set exactly as you want it, and each take would have to be perfect, because achiveing smooth editing would be a nightmare, because all you'd have is a stereo track.

You're over-reaching with acuity. Unless you have a diameter of something like 15 feet, even the smallest capsule microphone isn't going to fit into 1 degree of the circle. Plus the cabling alone would cost you more than $3000 (XLR runs about $2-3/foot for bulk cabling: I'm assuming 3 feet or so from the mic to the input, which is never going to happen).

You'd be surprised how well microphones do with a little bit of overlap in their pickup patterns. A 6-8 channel array would do a lot of work. Though at that point you're getting into complex surround configurations, and my thoughts are instead to go with a KEMAR head (probably best for stereo), or a Blumlein configuration.

[Aus_rock_god]

Unless you use an AKG 568 in the middle of a large studio (bout the size of a small basketball court, yes, they do exist).