HELP $3000 budget

[sethlit]

HI, first of all this is my first post so nice to meet ya all. Thanks for all of the great info here. okay,

MY setup is---PC,soundblaster live, cool edit pro, yamaha MG12/4 mixer with phantom, GT 55 (groove tubes) condenser mic without a preamp, 2 older dynamic mics (they sound okay not great), 3 pairs of headphones, computer speaks for monitors (but learned to get okay mix on them), and one main room (14'X12") with a smaller room attatched (6'x4').

Now here's my situation...I recently had a guy approach me about investing in $2000 to $3000 in my music and recording ventures. I am fairly new at the recording thing but an experienced musician. SO before I waste away that sorta money I NEED some advice from you guys.

My goal: to be able to record bands live and not track by track. Thanks ahead for any help!

seth

 

[DDev]

Let's start with your goal and work from there.

You say you want to record bands "live". First question, then, is whether you are wanting to do that in your current space? 14x12 is pretty cramped for a whole band, let alone whatever space gets taken up by your recording gear. You can use the smaller room for a vocal/isolation booth and remove one body from the tracking room, but it is still kinda small for a band. Additionally, in that small space you will get major bleed between instruments during simultaneous tracking. This is why most small project studios record track by track. It's OK to lay down a guide track of the whole band live, but you get cleaner and more manageable tracks (which result in better mixes) by recording them individually.

The second question is how many tracks you think you'll need to record simultaneously? If you're tracking a drum kit plus a couple of guitars, bass, and a vocalist you could be talking anywhere from 8 to 16 tracks at a time (depending on how you mic the drums, primarily). A stand alone recorder like an Alesis HD24 will be more reliable than a PC for a bunch of tracks. You can do it with a PC and a good multitrack interface (there are many to choose from by MOTU, DigiDesign, etc.). To record more than a few tracks, though, will also require that you upgrade your mixer to a larger unit with more inputs and outputs to feed to the recording device.

I'll stop there before you start having a heart attack and try to add a word of encouragement. I'm saying all this not to discourage you but rather to offer potential pitfalls you may not have considered. I do a lot of remote recording of live stuff. I have the luxury of being able to tap into a house mixer to get my signals, and then have choices in my home studio to mix analog or to go into the computer to mix if I choose. But my setup came about as a result of lots of trial and error (lots of errors) and wasting lots of money I wish I could recoup. I have a Mackie MDR hard disc recorder that is the heart of my setup and allows me to go anywhere to record. My mixing room is very small (8x8) and I can track in my basement living room (16x24) with decent results (as long as the dog doesn't bark, the furnace doesn't kick on, the phone doesn't ring, etc.). You can do anything you put your mind to, but think it through before dumping money at it unwisely.

Good luck, and come back with more questions. We'll help as we can and hopefully see you through to your goal.

Cheers,
Darryl.....