Building a comp for recording

What computer setup you need for recording depends on what you need it todo?

How many tracks?
What type of music?
Do you want midi or not?
What gear do you already have?
 
Links o Links

Greetings,

I have been learning about the same stuff in the last few months.

Softwear, hardware and such.

You really gotta edumacate yourself first.

Learn a little about motherboards, processors, and RAM. (not everything, just enough to discuss a bit)

then learn about the prosumer level soundcards around,
there are probobly a dozen really population ones (which you can find by reading all the old topics around here and going to the manufactures webpages)

THEN come back and post your opinion, and ask for some comments (otherwise its kinda hard to get a good discussion going)

My $0.02
SirRiff
 
The delta 1010lt or 1010 would be a good soundcard for your needs. 8 analog inputs and 8 ouputs plus stereo digital input/output.

The 1010lt has a built in pair of mic preamps and is almost half the price of the 1010. The 1010 on the otherhand has a rackmount breakout box and ballanced inputs. The 1010lt breaks out into rca connectors.

Just about any new computer will be fine. It would be best to get a second HD just for audio.

As for software its best to download demos and give them a try and find the one you like best. Look for 24bit/96khz support.

http://www.m-audio.com <-- Makers of the delta soundcards.
 
How many tracks to you record simultaneously and do you need Midi capability.....I assume you are gonna do vocals?....do you have a mic and preamp?....
 
well I need to record 2 at one time

I need at least 2 tracks at one time:)

And yes I will be doing only vocals through my mics.
As of now I have a shitty shure mic. I need a good mic at a good price. Any ideas for me?

And do I really need a pre-map for the mic or mics?
 
For two tracks at a time an Audiophile 2496 from M-audio will do.

Yes, you do need a preamp when ever you use a mic. Some soundcards have built in preamps and mixers have preamps aswell. Your Behringer MX2004a has 8 preamps. I have the same board. The best way to use the preamps in the Behringer is to take the signel right from the insert.
 
if you buy behind the technology, you can get started for cheaper than some may...it will depend on how killer of a machine you want....

first question, can you put together a computer yourself?...if you can i can recommend componenets that will get you a decent system for less than $600 (without the soundcard)......

or you can go to a place like Circuit City that sells E-Machines computers and get one of the $399 packages, add a second hard drive for around $80, and you are in business......

as far as mics, a Marshall MXLv67G or a Studio Projects C1 are quite good budget mics....($149 for the Marshall,$229 for the C1).....

that leaves you with the soundcard and biggest vaiable...you need to know the maximum number of inputs you will be recording to simultaneously...you also need to know if you need Midi.......
 
WOW lots of info

I am somewhat knowledgeable in the comp world

Yes please recommend some parts I can go with :)

I heard that, that marshall mic is really good for the price

I will only be recording a total of 2 tracks at a time.

what kind of soundcard should I go with if I'm only recording 2 tracks at a time.
And I probably wont be going the MIdi route.

Thanks for your help so far, I appreciate it

Also check out this bad azz drawing
 
I think it is Slackmaster2K that is using an AbitBE6 motherboard with a 850mhz CeleronII so ill base one around those....there wont be much upgrading with this system, but if its stable and does what you want it to do now, whether that is an issue or not is up to you...

check www.pricewatch.com for some of these items

Abit BE6II motherboard $66

CeleronII 850mhz $66

300 wt case with power supply and fan $60

2 Maxtor 20 gb 7200 rpm hard drives or one 20gb and one 30 or 40GB (Office Depot has the 20gb on sale for $69)

any cheap cd-rom drive and floppy drive...shouldnt be more than $20 a piece.....

any decent video card $50

256 mb ram (Office Max has Kingston Value ram 256mb pc133 for $25)

keyboard and mouse, as cheap as you wanna get....no more than $50 for both...CompUSA always has some sort of cheap deal.....

monitor (comp usa has a 17" on sale for $89)

Delta Audiophile 2496 soundcard....$159

Im around $620 so far......

Marshall mic $149....order it from AbeMusic online, but have them match Mars price......

im almost up to $800....probably a little over already as you may have to pay some tax or shipping here and there.....
 
as far as preamps, you dont need one as you can use the preamps on the Behringer mixer you have....however, they arent exactly known as a very good preamp.....

what shure mic do you have....for vocals, if you have a decent enuff mic, id spring for a better preamp if the mic is decent enuff....i have a shure sm57 and a good preamp made a world of difference on it.....
 
You are a good helper

Once again thanks all the info your giving me.

Ok I will check out that site for those parts if not I have a few coonections here.

So with the parts you listed. this will run the vegas program with no problem?

Now to be honest I forget what the name is of the mic I have, I have to go home and check that out. :(
 
Ive ran Vegas on a crappy HP Pavillion 500mhz before....that system should run it without a sweat.....

Im not a big Vegas fan...unless you got a good deal on it;) then N-Track has many of the same features at a fraction of the cost www.fasoft.com
 
http://www.pricewatch.com is great, as someone already mentioned, but I bought all my computer parts from http://www.newegg.com when I built my computer. It was consistently very good prices from pricewatch, so I figured I'd put it all in one boat. Suggestion: Buy a monitor locally if you don't already have one, shipping a monitor is costly.

http://www.tomshardware.com is an awesome site that I learned quite a bit from, it gives you step by step how to build a computer if you want to go that route.
 
OK well i checked some stuff

And they do have some good deals on pricewatch
The page is a little generic looking but they had some good stuff though :)

Anyone else know of a good site that has comp equipment cheap?
 
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