I am a newbie considering n-track...

[Cooney]

Hello,


I am a newbie to home studio recording. I’ve done straight and comic voiceover work for numerous regional radio advertisements but I always go to the advertising agency studio and record my copy and that’s the end of it. I would like to do some recording of my own in my own home and I am wondering what affordable mixer/software/mics/sound card… would get me up and cooking with professional results. This is what I would like to do, nothing fancy, I would like to record voice copy and then mix in background music and perhaps some sound effects. I’d like to make my own radio advertisements and I also have some comedy fake advertisement ideas in mind that I would like to record. I’d like to be able to burn my advertisements to CD and also record them to cassette.

The reason I am looking at n-track is because it looks to give the most bang for the buck. I am also looking at the Behringer mixers as they also seem like a dependable and affordable choice. But what about sound cards, mics, other software alternatives…etc.

The computer I would like to use for the recording is an antique, it’s from 1999 and is a Dell P-2 400 running Windows 98 with two 10 Gig hard drives and 224 megs of SD RAM.

So please do let me know your recommendations and remember I’m trying to keep costs to a minimum.

Since I am a newbie I also posted this to the newbie thread.

Many Thanks for your time.


-Cooney

PS By day I am a cartoonist/illustrator/artist. Here’s my website: http://www.DavidCooney.com

Enjoy!

[Gidge]

Id say a Delta Audiophile sound card ($150), a Marshall MXLv67B microphone ($89), and either a Delta Audio Buddy($89) or DMP3($180)preamp...pass on the Behringer mixer.....

N-Track wins hands down in bang for the buck......

I think you have enuff computing power for what you want to do......

of course youll need a CD burner for storage and burning your work......

[Cooney]

I forgot to mention that I do have a CD Burner, it's an antique like my computer. It is a USB model capable of writing at the blinding speed of 2X!!

Many Thanks for the helpful advice.

Please keep the responses coming.

If you do not want to post advice here feel free to e-mail me at dcooney@sunlink.net.

[larrye]

I agree with Gidge. I don't have the audiophile, (built in preamp??) but I do use n-Track and it is by far the best for the dollar. My soundcard is an Aardvark direct pro and it has four built in preamps that are pretty darn good, so I don't need the Audio Buddy. The Ark is a good card but I can't tell you the current price, maybe $350. If the audiophile doesn't have preamps built in you might want to consider the Aarkvark, unless you are sure you won't want to record more than one track at a time.
Larrye

[TimOBrien]

Cooney, don't be too down on yourself for your 'puter. I'm running a P2-450Mhz Gateway with 2 drives, Win98SE and 384mb of Ram and I can get over a dozen 24-bit tracks or 30 16-bit tracks with N-Track.

A good 24-bit audio card definitely helps and is well worth the $200 you'll spend. Also, more RAM is a good thing and cheap these days.

Oh, and I've been very happy for over a year with my Behringer mixer. No problems with it at all.

[Cooney]

Many Thanks to all who offered your advice both here and via e-mail.

-Cooney

[mrx]

Have to add the same comment about the Behringer - great bang for the buck, and it gives you mic pre's.