Getting Started

NevPicasso

NevPicasso

New member
Hey everyone,

I'm obviously a newbie but I've enjoyed reading a lot of the posts made here over the past couple weeks. Anyways, I have some of the basic newbie questions but a little more specific. Like everyone else, I'm looking for a mic or two to start myself off.

I'm hoping to use one for recording my vocals and possibly an acoustic guitar. My voice has a similar tone and range to the American Pie-era Don McLean, if that helps.

The other would be used for recording an Epiphone Les Paul or SG through a Marshall solid state amp. I assume this would require a much different mic from the previous use.

They don't have to be great mics, just need some decent ones for a low budget. Of course, I'm not opposed to good ones ;) The great stuff can come along when I have a budget to support them.

Thanks!
 
AN SM57 would be a good start ver versitile mic would be good for both vocal and the amp but beyond that your going to need something to record to weather it be a computer or to a stand alone. Ive started with a tascam dp 01 fx makes decent recordings and fairly simple to make basic recordings if you can find one used id try it out or something along that line or if you want to go the computer route something like an m box
 
Oh yeah I should have mentioned that I'm just recording it to my Macbook Pro. I'm going to read some of the books that others suggested on this site before I start working my way into all the recording equipment I need. Right now I just want an actual microphone just to make a recording at all.
 
without an interface you wont be able to hook up to the computer atleast not with any decent results intheory you could take a sm57 and use adapters to make it fit into the mic in on the macbook. or you could try something like a usb mic but generally not the greatest quality and will be useless if you upgrade to a interface.
 
Alright so you would recommend that I invest in an interface... any recommendations on one with which to start out? I know you said the TASCAM DP-01FX but it shows as discontinued on Musician's Friend. Also, would your recommendation be the same knowing I'm using a Mac?
 
What's your budget?
You need:
Microphone
Mic stand and cable and pop filter
Audio Interface
DAW (recording software)
Headphones (for tracking)
Monitors

Can you get by without some of these, maybe. Can you 'learn' with cheap equipment, yes, but in the end you may not be that happy with the results. Read lots before buying anything.
 
+1 to the advice above.

Don't bother trying to connect mics etc straight into the computer. Depending on the mic you buy you may end up not being able to pick up a signal at (without a pre-amp) or just get poor results. If you start experimenting with trying to run the output of a guitar amp in directly it's apparently even possible to damage the sound card. It can all be done that way, and it's not an automatic fail, but it just isn't the best way to go. Here's how it seems to me, so far.


  • Audio Interface:

    As others have already said, you really do need to buy an audio interface first (and make sure you don't buy a mixer by mistake, they're different things). This will allow you to either hook up mics or plug things like an electric guitar or keyboard directly in. Spend more money and you should get a greater number of inputs and better quality built in pre-amps. As you advance you'll almost certainly end up wanting more inputs so that you can either record more tracks at once (part or all of a band), or use more mics (put several on a drum kit, or more than one on a guitar), or just leave gear hooked up (such as guitar, bass, keyboard, vocal mic etc.).

    But if you're on a tight budget then you can swap things around and record track by track separately. I'd probably prefer a decent quality audio interface with fewer inputs that a cheapo one with more. However, you've got to start somewhere, and the available money is usually what dictates your first gear. It's no bad thing to learn on entry level kit and develop your knowledge, and ears, to the point that you know exactly why you're going to trade up next time. No matter what you buy it's OK gear to somebody, and pretty ordinary to somebody else, so don't worry too much.. ;)


    DAW:

    Your Mac may already have Garage Band. If so then I'd use that. It's a great program to learn on - being a nice balance between being fairly user friendly and easy to learn all the basic aspects, yet actually being reasonably powerful. I think that Audacity is probably still free, and you often get other DAWs bundled with gear, so don't worry about necessarily spending out money there just yet.

    Headphones:

    Whatever headphones you may already have will get you started. You'll need them for tracking (listening while you record), but you can also use them for mixing. This is not ideal (as many people will hasten to tell you!) but if you understand the pitfalls it can be done (or at least it can be part of the way you mix). Headphones that are good for general listening are not necessarily good for recording work, because they are built to sound 'good' rather than completely flat and true. But don't feel you have to blow a heap of cash on special headphones right at the start.

    Mics:

    There are multiple types and models so read a lot before you buy. Some need preamps and some don't. Some pick up sounds in the whole room, others are more restricted in their range (which you actually need if you don't want to hear everything else on each separate track, etc.) You don't need a stack of mics to get started, but it is good to know why you're choosing the one or two that you do buy. They need to be not just 'good', but good for the job you'll be doing most, or else reasonable all-rounders.

    Monitors:

    Again, whatever speakers you may already have will get you started, but you will want to work up to a reasonably set of powered monitors - speakers with their own power. These will be needed for mixing but, again, with any aspect of recording it's not so much a set answer but a long chain of possible answers, each better than the next. For instance, you might buy decent monitors but still get unreliable information from them because the sound is either bouncing and reflecting round your room at some frequencies and being absorbed at others. This effect can be surprisingly large too.

In general, you will be embarking on a truly absorbing and endless interest with no upper limit for either the skill and knowledge, or the quality and price of the gear, so enjoy the ride whatever stage you're at. It's probably good to avoid the real junk, so I'd tend to buy relatively mid range stuff one bit at a time as I could afford it, rather than rush out and buy a bunch of cheapo stuff all at once. But, whatever you do, it can work, it can be fun, and you'll learn something from it as you go.

Best of luck.

Chris
 
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Wow, thanks for the detailed post Hakea, it made a lot of sense. Thank you to one guy and mjbphotos as well for answering the questions that you've no doubt heard countless times.

I think I'm getting the idea of where to start. I'm gonna read around here before picking an interface.
 
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