Newb to recording, good startup setup?

J

JeffDRO

New member
First of all im very new to audio recording. I did a song I did myself with Virtual DJ and a 15 dollar mic and said wow if I can do something like this amagine what I could do with some quality equipment.

Second of all. I love Hip Hop and that is what I want to do... I want to be a rapper, producer and a DJ.

I plan to go to www.mediatechinstitute.com and do their Recording Arts Program which lasts 58 weeks to really learn more about something I love.. Music.

Here is my startup setup that I will be purchasing with some christmas money.

I will be using my computer which I believe is perfect for Sonar8 which I will be using to edit my Music.

PC Setup:
AMD Athalon X2 5800+ 3.0ghz
3GB DDR2
AMD HD 4870 512 Video Card
Asus M3A32-MVP Deluxe Motherboard

First off im either getting:


PreSonus FireStudio Mobile FireWire Audio Interface

http://www.zzounds.com/a--2676837/item--PRSFSMOBILE

or

Emu 0404 USB 2.0 Audio/MIDI Interface

http://www.zzounds.com/a--2676837/item--EMU0404

For my mic I have decided on:

Audio Technica AT2035 Studio Microphone w/ Mic stand and Stoppit

http://www.zzounds.com/a--2676837/item--AUTAT2035

For studio headset I chose:

Sennheiser HD280 Pro Headphones

http://www.zzounds.com/a--2676837/item--SENHD280PRO

The reason I want the mobile Presonus is because I can take it to a friends house where he has a booth and use it there with my mic. Still the Emu is very good.

I also plan to get some monitor speakers in the near future but thats when I get my studio really going.

What do you all think?
 
Sounds good. If you get the firewire interface, try to make sure your computers firewire chipset is TI as they generally work better than a brand like Ricoh. The AT mic is wonderful too. I got it for christmas and am recording a rap song this week on it. Get the monitors as soon as you can. Headphones are good for tracking, but for mixing, you really need quality monitors. Overall, you have a good basic setup which could be expanded as you need to. Good luck!
 
I agree. You have about 200 times more power in that than I had when I started a long time ago.

Here's some more info for you:

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My obligatory standard reply-for-newbies that I keep in Wordpad so this is just a paste (I don't want to re-type this all the time):

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/04...mp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=0470385421
(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-Gui...=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1215734124&sr=1-1
(I got my copy at a place called Half-Price Books for $6!!)

And you can get a FREE subscription to TapeOp magazine at www.tapeop.com

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 and have good tips:
http://www.tweakheadz.com/guide.htm
http://www.computermusic.co.uk/page/computermusic?entry=free_beginner_pdfs
http://www.harmony-central.com/articles/
http://www.gearslutz.com/board/tips-techniques/168409-tips-techniques.html

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) and NOT quality music production.
#1 Rule of Recording: You MUST replace the built-in soundcard.
Here's a good guide and tested suggestions that WORK: http://www.tweakheadz.com/soundcards_for_the_home_studio.htm
(you'll want to bookmark and read through all of Tweak's Guide while you're there...)


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/smm

Another great option is REAPER at http://www.cockos.com/reaper/ (It's $50 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 ($25) 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 and July 2009 issue they put out Samplitude10SE. FREE. It pays to watch 'em for giveaways...)
 
12milluz said:
Sounds good. If you get the firewire interface, try to make sure your computers firewire chipset is TI as they generally work better than a brand like Ricoh. The AT mic is wonderful too. I got it for christmas and am recording a rap song this week on it. Get the monitors as soon as you can. Headphones are good for tracking, but for mixing, you really need quality monitors. Overall, you have a good basic setup which could be expanded as you need to. Good luck!
Click to expand...

I have some Klipsch B-3 Synergy Bookshelf speakers im going to use for Monitors.
 
yea, you definitely got the basic idea right.

I can personally vouch for the EMU 404 usb 2.0, thats the interface I use, have ran it damn near daily for about 8 months and it works great, although the headphone jack stopped working for awhile once (pretty bad problem)......It comes with pretty clean reasonable pre's and a ton of other features (especially for the price.)

Why the hell can't you take it to a friends? just bring the installation disc and use it, unless his cpu doesn't have usb!?!????!??! I switched computers many times with the EMU, no problem, thats why usb 2.0 is great

I feel you can't go wrong, but have not checked the market in many months. So quite likely a new product even nicer has came along at the same price point....... so when it comes down to it definitely decide yourself.

It's really been a workhorse for me, the USB thing is SOO convienient too, USB version 2.0 is MUCH better than normal USB, so keep that in mind.

Audio Technica (Sp) makes great mics, always a solid first choice, also check out the SM7B, especially if your room isn't accoustically treated....It has been used on many classic hip hop albums, I wanna say Wu-Tang for some reason but you can call me on that....Micheal Jackson's thriller was recorded on a SM7B 100% forsure. I have heard at least 10 different rappers who sound very goood/ great on they SM7B's...I mean like I question picking up my $700 Rode K2 tube condenser sometimes (but not often :)...that SM7B stacks up against my mic no problem though.....Im not really familiar with the AT2035, but I know the AT4040 is pretty widely used in hip hop, also a great first hip hop vocal mic....You gotta fork out about $400 for a decent mic from experience, but I saw an interesting thread saying you can get pretty good chinese tube mics (oxymoron!?!??) for 200 ish, the posters insisted they would smoke my K2, maybe they would...I never heard one in person on me though so I can't say. SM7B 350ish, best deal around.
 
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