pieces that'll fit the final pie

[J Wah]

I would like to upgrade my home recording. I will have to go at it piece by piece and want to have a plan before the purchasing begins. What should I replace or buy that will improve recording with a 4 track that will still be used if I start to use a PC. I use my current mixer for vocal, drum machine, keys, cd, etc. and think I would like to continue to have a mixer. I don't have a computer but will probably get a new one in the next year or so (I would probably have to start with a SB).

Here's what I have:
-Bare bones 6 channel powered mixer
(no effects loop, no mic pre amp, EQ, speaker and line outs only)
-Tascam Porta 02
-LR Baggs Para EQ pre amp for acoustic guitar (nice little pre)
-Multi effect board for guitar
-Audio Tech mic (mid quality)
-passive speakers
-2 track tape for mix down
-Nice floor monitor that's not used now

I'll probably start with about $500

[tubedude]

Have a good computer? Thats where I'd start.
How pristine do you want it? I want perfection, therefore my advise would be as such...

Editing in...
Unless you need them live, then sell the floor monitors and buy some studio monitors...
Sell the porta 2 and buy a good program...
Sell the other stuff and get a good soundcard and preamp...
Sell your house and pimp your wife and buy a Neve console.
Ummm,,,, that about covers my end, until you're ready for more!
If you already have a good computer, go for a good soundcard and multitrack program... followed by a GOOD preamp, not a crappy $50 one... then a GOOD mic selection, NOT whatever that was you said you had.
Soundcards, check out the Delta 1010
preamps, check out the Presonus mp20
Programs... well I like Sonar... opinions vary dramatically.
Enjoy...!

[J Wah]

It will be a year or so untill I get a computer. What can I do before then? The studio monitors I have will work for now. I will sell the 02 eventually. The powered mixer I have can go. I rent. My wife has already paid for my collection of guitars so I guess the Neve is not going to happen. That leaves me with $500.

Sound is important, but I will never be able to quit my day job and the quipment will probably never see beyond the walls of my home studio.

How about a new mixer and power amp. I hate to start this again but... I was thinking of a Mackie 1202 Pro and Alesis RA 150. Then someone said look at the Behringer 1604. I could get a Behringer 1604 and a Rode NT1 or NT3 for the price of the Mackie. Is the difference that great if its not going on the road?

[bongolation]

Originally posted by J Wah
It will be a year or so untill I get a computer. What can I do before then? The studio monitors I have will work for now. I will sell the 02 eventually. The powered mixer I have can go. I rent. My wife has already paid for my collection of guitars so I guess the Neve is not going to happen. That leaves me with $500.

I could get a Behringer 1604 and a Rode NT1 or NT3 for the price of the Mackie. Is the difference that great if its not going on the road?

If you need a pro-quality studio mike cheap, get a _good_ Oktava MK-219 for $99.99 from Guitar Center (do a search for "Oktava" and my name and see my posts on how to get a good one). That's the best deal on a studio mike in the world, hands down, but on this budget, I'd say forget about microphones for the moment.

As far as software, _anything_ you want is available as warez if you are really bucks-down and struggling. I'm not giving you a how-to and I don't want to start some pointless flamewar about warez, but if someone I knew was really poor and was consumed with a compulsion to start quality recording of his work, I'd say upgrade the computer first, get some kind of basic preamp and A/D converter front end and then get as much pricey software as warez as he could find to ameliorate the hardware shortcomings.

I'm not making any moral judgements on that plan, nor am I going to listen to any, but if the question is merely "how can I do this for $500?" I can't see how else it's possible, and huge numbers of people do it that way.

Considering that the previous message suggested pimping the old lady, bringing up warez seems downright _mild_. 8-)

You can't massage output from crummy hardware without the software and you can't run all that stuff on a primitive machine, so that's where I'd put the money. Getting a decent MB/CPU/Memory combo is _dirt_ cheap if you shop hard. Pricewatch.com and crucial.com are indespensible.

Good luck!

[Dolemite]

Actually, $500 buys you a very decent and capable computer, especially if you're willing/able to put it together yourself. Unfortunately, it doesn't leave much of a budget for a sound card like a Delta or Aardvark, but even an SB Live will work surprisingly well and I'd check ebay for a Midiman 2044, Ego-Sys Waveterminal, or similar cards. Those cards are starting to show their age but they still work extremely well. Even though they lack the 24-bit/96kHz capability of the newer cards, the design principles of making a good-sounding card haven't changed, especially on the analog side. I got a Midiman 2044 for $75 that I'm quite happy with.

Also, Steinberg has been closing out their "Project Card" which is basically a rebadged Audiotrak Maya. This is a 2-in 2-out card with a buit-in mic pre (which is probably pretty bad, but still usable) and even 12V phantom power for your electret condensers. The card comes with Cubasis and a bunch of other software so it might be a good place to start. I have seen it at marsmusic.com and samash.com for $80-100. I have heard that support (drivers and tech support) from Steinberg has been rather poor, but you can always use Audiotrak's Maya drivers since its the same card.

[J Wah]

Thanks for the input. I guess what I'm looking for are things that I can use now and still be able to use with a different resorder. I must say I have not done any hard disc recording and I'm not sure if I would like it. From what I read, thats the way to get a decent recording at home so thats the way I'll probably go, but I still like turning knobs. There must be things I can start with that will improve what I have and still be used when I upgrade my recorder to any format; PC, stand alone HD, MD, new tape (probably not). I just don't want to be replacing them in a year.

[bongolation]

# even 12V phantom power for your electret condensers.

TWELVE volts? That's weird...every mic I see requires 47/48v.

[charger]

as far as software to get started multitracking, if you don't want to go the warez route, Pro Tools Free gives you an 8-track audio recorder with 48 MIDI tracks, and it will run with a soundblaster or other standard PC audio card. Also, you can learn Pro Tools... And did I mention it's free? go to digidesign.com and search for it...