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?

really really good thread

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

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.

His account was most-likely deleted at some point.

Adobe Audition vs Cubase

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

[QUOTE=ZildjianFrk89]Adobe Audition vs Cubase

Which one is better? I heard they are some what the same.[/QUOTE]

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

[QUOTE]Assuming that i go for middle-range equipment[/QUOTE]

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

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.

[QUOTE]with an Audigy 2 ZS sound card[/QUOTE]

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 >) [URL="http://www.ferventsoftware.com/"]http://www.ferventsoftware.com/[/URL]

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.[URL="http://www.smproaudio.com"]http://www.smproaudio.com[/URL])

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:

[QUOTE]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.[/QUOTE]

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.

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. :)

[QUOTE]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. [/QUOTE]

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:

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

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?