Budget Studio for beginner.

B

Brad_C

New member
My friends little brother is a fairly talented musician. Now of course he is not the smartest person in the world, so we are going to get him started into basic recording. I think the best thing for him just to get started since he doesn't have alot of money would be;

1. A preamp

2. A dynamic mic

3. of course the cables

He doesn't have firewire so thats out of the questions. So is there anything you would recomended that he can make a system with these compnonets for under 300 bucks canadian.
 
Does he have a usable sound card already?

How about an Art Tube MP Preamp ($49) and an SM 58 ($100). Then you even have money for an Audiophile around $100US. And then the rest for cables etc...
 
I'd go with an audiophile, one of the $100 large diameter condensor mics, and an audiobuddy pre/di box or cheap mixer. With that setup, he could record vocals, acoustic guitar, electric guitar, and bass. That all adds up to a little under $300 in US dollars new. Might have to buy used in order to be able to afford the needed acessories:

1 or 2 rca to 1/4" cables, an xlr cable, a mic stand, and a pop filter.

$300 is tight. If he's only gonna do a few tracks per song, he could maybe skip the sound card for now. I have managed with onboard 16 bit sound and it sounded ok using the audiobuddy and a mxl 990 mic for a first time setup. You can listen to some quick and dirty examples here (the 7th, 8th, and 9th tunes):

http://www.soundclick.com/bands/1/travisthompson_music.htm

There's also a couple of things I did with a $2 pc mic straight into my onboard sound. The $2 mic is'nt reccomended though. :D

If you go with a dynamic mic, I'd still get a pop filter. Dynamic mics don't give as much detail as a condensor mic does though.

He will also need some free software for recording:

Audacity - free multitrack recording software
Kjaerhus Audio - free VST effects plugins
Leaf Drums - free drum sequencer
Natural Studio kit - free acoustic drum samples
ASIO4all - free generic driver which provides low latencey audio for non ASIO sound cards

I have'nt tried Audacity so you might ask around about how good it is. Leaf Drums is a little confusing to use. There are some free samplers that would probably be easier to use.

If you need any help with the software side of things, pm me and I'd be glad to help.
 
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i used audacity for years, i still do sometimes for quick recordings. i don't think it can interface with anything but the default computer soundcard but i might be wrong.
anyway, i existed for a few years writing and recording songs with nothing but a cheap mixer, some cheap dynamic mics that i paid no more than $10 for at various sales at sam ash, my computers built in soundcard and audacity. it was fun!
 
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