Help a Noob with questions RE: equipment, etc.

[jkeyser87]

How's it going everybody? I'm new to all of this so let me give a brief background about what my plans are and then help me with how should I go about doing it.

Firstly, I'm an MC, rapper, whatever you wanna call it. I've been rapping recreationally since I was like 16 and I've been obsessed with hip-hop since I was a knee-high, but I've just recently decided to take this seriously and put out some material of my own because I feel like I have something to offer.

Anywho, I'm looking to put together a decent home studio, nothing outrageous, because I'm 21 and inbetween semesters at college. I want to be able to put together an album/mixtape from home and I have a general idea of what I need but I need some guidance. I don't know how big of a difference there is between recording vocals and layering them over beats and recording live instruments.

Computer wise, I have a decent PC that would probably get the job done, but I just ordered a Dell Studio 17 laptop that should be here in about 2 weeks. As far as interface goes, I'm thinking Firebox since that seems to be a unanimous choice around here. As far as a microphone, I could use some help because I'm not well versed with all the specifics (i.e., condensers, etc.)
I'm not very comfortable with the mixing and editing part but I feel that I need to learn because I don't want to have to rely on someone else doing it for me. From what I've read, N-Track seems to be the most simple but if anybody has any suggestions, please feel free.

Also, I have a variety of sources for beats. My friend who's a music major has a Yamaha Motif and produces beats on there, and then I also have a few producers I've met online that use programs like Reason, etc. for production, as well as other studio instrumentals. My question is, is there any special software/hardware that I'll need to be able to use all these different sources? (i.e., some sort of software to change filetypes, etc.)

I'm sure I'll have many more questions in the coming days and weeks, so I appreciate all the help in advance. Thanks.

[antichef]

sounds like you're well on the way -- as for the software question, the answer is, um.. you may need additional software to do conversions, but probably not. You'll know much more about where you might run into problems when you set up your system, and specific questions in that area are usually easy to answer online.

[TimOBrien]

My obligatory standard reply-for-newbies that I keep in Wordpad:

First off, immediately get a good beginner recording book (spend $20 before spending hundred$/thousand$) that shows you what you need to get started and how to hook everything up in your studio:
Home Recording for Musicians by Jeff Strong - $15
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/076...books&v=glance
(Wish I'd had that when I started; would have saved me lots of money and time and grief)
You can also pick up this book in most any Borders or Barnes&Noble in the Music Books section!

Another good one is: Recording Guitar and Bass by Huw Price
http://www.amazon.com/Recording-Guit...5734124&sr=1-1
(I got my copy at a place called Half-Price Books for $6!!)

Barnes&Noble or Borders are great places to start --- they have recording books and you can go get a snack or coffee and read them for FREE! Don't pass by a good recording book --- this is a VERY technical hobby and you REALLY want to start a reference library!!!

Good Newbie guides that also explains all the basics:
http://www.tweakheadz.com/guide.htm
http://www.computermusic.co.uk/page/..._beginner_pdfs

21 Ways To Assemble a Recording Rig:
http://www.tweakheadz.com/rigs.htm

Also Good Info:
http://www.theprojectstudiohandbook.com/directory.htm

Other recording books:
http://musicbooksplus.com/home-recording-c-31.html

Still using a built-in soundcard?? Unfortunately, those are made with less than $1 worth of chips for beeps, boops and light gaming (not to mention cheapness for the manufacturer) not quality music production.
#1 Rule of Recording: You MUST replace the built-in soundcard.
Here's a good guide and suggestions:
http://www.tweakheadz.com/soundcards...ome_studio.htm


Plenty of software around to record for FREE to start out on:

Audacity: http://audacity.sourceforge.net (multi-track with VST support)
Wavosaur: http://www.wavosaur.com/ (a stereo audio file editor with VST support)\
Kristal: http://www.kreatives.org/kristal/
Other freebies and shareware: www.hitsquad.com

Another great option is REAPER at http://www.cockos.com/reaper/ (It's $40 but runs for free until you get guilty enough to pay for it...)
I use Reaper and highly reccomend it...

Music Notation and MIDI recording: Melody Assistant ($20) and Harmony Assistant ($80) have the power of $600 notation packages - http://myriad-online.com
Demo you can try on the website.

And you can go out to any Barnes&Noble or Borders and pick up "Computer Music" magazine - they have a full FREE studio suite in every issue's DVD, including sequencers, plugins and tons of audio samples. (November 2006 they gave away a full copy of SamplitudeV8SE worth $150, November 2007-on the racks Dec in the US- they gave away SamplitudeV9SE. It pays to watch 'em for giveaways...)