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 getting:

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?
 
if you want your studio to get going Id get near field monitors in the first place...you wont be able to mix for toffee without them to be honest..
 
I am still quite new at this myself but I will agree with KC. My mixes got much much better when I got some near field monitors. So I would make those a top priority. IMO you can record the greatest tracks ever and they will sound like trash if not mixed right. Most of the stuff looks like it would get you going pretty good. I will add that while I have never experienced this I have read alot that AMD processors are not good for recording audio at all. So maybe do a bit of research on that.
 
The cheaper interface alternatives I know about are the Delta 1010LT and the Lexicon Omega. The Lexicon Alpha is the bast value I've seen. I always buy used when I can.

You need some decent speakers too. Keep in mind that the most common small monitor speakers found in big time studios are actually home stereo speakers, and not even expensive home speakers.

So I wouldn't rule out some used high end home stereo speakers. I've seen Advents and KLH's for peanuts (like $10) at Salvation Army. I have a set of Infinity speakers I got there for $20 that wouldn't be bad at all to mix on.
I personally would rather have a pair of high end speakers like I've mentioned than a pair of cheap studio monitors.

If I was starting out I'd spend the most on my mic and the least I could get away with on my computer, interface and speakers. After the mic was covered I'd upgrade the speakers, then the interface, then the computer.
 
If I was starting out I'd spend the most on my mic and the least I could get away with on my computer, interface and speakers. After the mic was covered I'd upgrade the speakers, then the interface, then the computer.[/QUOTE]

Gotta agree Here with dintymoore for the mic is the first and most important part of your recording chain and you might want to consider more than one mic (maybe get an advance on next years xmas money) cause different mics for different sources. lets face it after a while be prepared to spend thousands upon thousands of dollars for this addition that we all love. so get to work for we all have to start somewhere before that gold record is printed.
 
Yeah unless your planning on doing some serious multi-tasking on your comp I would not worry about the CPU.

What is your budget for equipment and what are you looking to do? You should consider where you will be setting up your equipment. Making instrumentals always sounds easy, especially when your talking about FL studio and some free sounds. There is so much more that goes into it if you want to succeed. How you hear the sounds may not be how other people will hear the sounds. Monitors are a good option but some room treatment will also help.

Help us out and answer the questions above for a bit more indepth help.
 
Nothing wrong with AMD for recording (or anything else for that matter). My recording machine is an aging AMD single core Athlon 2500 with a gig of ram. I regularly record 14 simultaneous tracks when I record bands. Its not unusual to get up into 30+ tracks after overdubs. I have 2 Delta 1010lt cards and Reaper.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top