I Really Need Help

[HELPME]

I'm in a sex pistols meets nirvana punk type band(Keep reading...). Were in need of some sort of home recording equipment. This will be our first puchase.

I checked out a few items and this one http://samash.com/catalog/showitem.a...departmentid=9
caught my eye. Is this a good choice?

ALSO

Do any of you have a suggestion for a first time recording system? Which do you recommend...the "box thing with knobs" or a computer program?? Also, what specific products do you recommend? We can spend from 400-850 dollars right now. If you could answer these I would be really happy and worship you. TELL ME WHAT WE GOTTA KNOW PLEEEASE!

[SRR]

Do you have mics, cables, stands, right now? Or are we starting with nothing but a dream?

http://cgi.ebay.com/PreSonus-FirePod...QQcmdZViewItem

Its a box with knobs that plugs into your computers firewire port. Comes with Cubase LE, Headphone amp via mail in rebate, some mics, and Mic Cables.

With this setup you can record upto 8 tracks at the same time (you will need more mics of course), 8 is just enough for nice drum micing setup.

You will then also need some monitors, your computer speakers are probably not going to cut it. Personally I went with some Wharferdale 8.2s, but speakers from m-audio, krk, event are all nice speakers.

Might have killed your budget right there. But its all nice entry level stuff.

You could also go with a sound card from m-audio or emu, and then buy as many pre-amps as you will need, assuming the sound card that you bought has enough ins. Here is what I did, I got a M-audio 1010lt card (10 inputs, 8 analog ins, 1 stereo digital in), and have added preamps to it. But you will need a program to go with it, I think it comes with abelton live or something like that, but from my understanding its a very limited program (I never even bothered loading it, shame on me).

If any of that makes sense, let us know, and if it doesn't we can dig deeper it what you really want of your recordings and how to go about that equipment wise.

[Ed Dixon]

Some basic questions first:

1. How many in the band?
2. How many vocalists?
3. Do you already have a good PC or laptop
4. Anyone with good PC skills
5. Where will recording be done?
6. Beyond regular amps and PA gear, what other gear do you have (extra mics, cables, etc)

For rock bands, I like the “box thing with knobs” approach. It’s very portable, fairly flexible, and can produce very good results. If you have a PC, you can later transfer all recorded material to PC and mix final version there. This is one example:

http://www.musiciansfriend.com/produ...ive?sku=240341

8 track recorder. Records up to 4 tracks at a time. Lots of other similar options here.

There are two basic recording approaches:

1. Record music and vocals at same time
2. Record music and vocals separately

1 is faster but harder to get the best result. 2 is slower, but usually results in better results. Consider using 2.

Recording the music portion can be tricky. Many amps have a line out control. This can work well for bass, but less well for guitar amps. If guitar players use modeler gear (anything like Line Line 6 POD), then direct outs from this works well. Micing drums is another story. You will likely need 2 or more mics to get the best drum sound.

Ed