Newbie looking for advice

O

OuroborosJR

New member
I am a "newb" to message boards and recording.

After reading everything in this thread, I believe that, I'm in a somewhat peculiar position.

Music has been a very involved part of my life for about 20 years. I've worked very hard to be at the level I am at. The many thousands of hours I've dedicated to music involve performing, theory, and ear training. Along my path I have acquired a plethora of random and non-specific bits of information regarding recording, mixing, equalizing, acoustics, etc...

Here's where I'm at; I need guidance!

I recently started acquiring gear from literally nothing. (I didn't even own a guitar pic!) I've always focused on playing in a band, touring, and putting out records but now want to focus on writing and recording everything on my own at home.

From a clean slate, I am acquiring only usefully/quality components. Only items that can stay with me forever and have "legitimate" use through out my life.

I need help getting started with standardized home recording. I know how a compressor works and what causes phase, HOWEVER, I can't figure out how to record guitar tracks in GarageBand with an iRig.

That should give you an idea of where I am at.

I need suggestions for my first 4-6 mics to use to record.

If I can get 2 uses from 1 mic, I can get a better mic.

I need to record vocals, guitar amp, bass amp, and drum set.

I don't want to start out with a mic for each drum. At most, two room mics and MAYBE bass drum mic.

So what are some good multi-purpose mics? NOT AMATURE/CRAP mics.

I am also debating if I should get a small board for mixing.

I DONT KNOW WHAT IM DOING!!! HELP ME!
 
#1 "items that can stay with me forever and have "legitimate" use through out my life. & #2 "NOT AMATURE (amateur) /CRAP mics."
What do you have for a budget??? You can certainly do this relatively cheaply, ridiculously expensive, of somewhere in between. The fact is you will undoubtedly end up spending more than you had imagined. Another fact is that no matter how much you spend you won't be guaranteed to get what you want from it... at least not right away. Your #1 is a nice sentiment, but unless your'e prepared to invest a considerable sum, meaning more than the average Joe can afford, you will probably need to start out with some stuff you will later grow out of. In the mean time, being a trained musician is a tremendous advantage. The more work you put into nailing down arrangements and getting the parts figured out ahead of time will simplify & streamline the recording process immensely. And while your'e making your list, some acoustic treatment for your space would be helpful. As I told someone the other day, you don't necessarily need to blow up your financial situation to make this happen, but your'e definitely going to put a good dent in it. As for microphones, you can't go wrong starting with some 57's & 58's. An Re20 and/or SM7b would always be viable. Any of the Audio Technica microphones would be a nice safe affordable choice. A related question is what to plug the mics into. Cheap mixer using the direct outs? (Yuk!! Noisy Noisy) Rack mount microphone preamplifiers? (Even the cheapest are some serious coin) Computer interface with built in microphone pre-amps? (Convenient but mehh sounding unless you spend a small fortune) later ...d
 
pouxhawk said:
#1 "items that can stay with me forever and have "legitimate" use through out my life. & #2 "NOT AMATURE (amateur) /CRAP mics."
What do you have for a budget??? You can certainly do this relatively cheaply, ridiculously expensive, of somewhere in between. The fact is you will undoubtedly end up spending more than you had imagined. Another fact is that no matter how much you spend you won't be guaranteed to get what you want from it... at least not right away. Your #1 is a nice sentiment, but unless your'e prepared to invest a considerable sum, meaning more than the average Joe can afford, you will probably need to start out with some stuff you will later grow out of. In the mean time, being a trained musician is a tremendous advantage. The more work you put into nailing down arrangements and getting the parts figured out ahead of time will simplify & streamline the recording process immensely. And while your'e making your list, some acoustic treatment for your space would be helpful. As I told someone the other day, you don't necessarily need to blow up your financial situation to make this happen, but your'e definitely going to put a good dent in it. As for microphones, you can't go wrong starting with some 57's & 58's. An Re20 and/or SM7b would always be viable. Any of the Audio Technica microphones would be a nice safe affordable choice. A related question is what to plug the mics into. Cheap mixer using the direct outs? (Yuk!! Noisy Noisy) Rack mount microphone preamplifiers? (Even the cheapest are some serious coin) Computer interface with built in microphone pre-amps? (Convenient but mehh sounding unless you spend a small fortune) later ...d
Click to expand...

Replying with a +1 to this^^.
 
OuroborosJR said:
I am a "newb" to message boards and recording.

After reading everything in this thread, I believe that, I'm in a somewhat peculiar position.

Music has been a very involved part of my life for about 20 years. I've worked very hard to be at the level I am at. The many thousands of hours I've dedicated to music involve performing, theory, and ear training. Along my path I have acquired a plethora of random and non-specific bits of information regarding recording, mixing, equalizing, acoustics, etc...

Here's where I'm at; I need guidance!

I recently started acquiring gear from literally nothing. (I didn't even own a guitar pic!) I've always focused on playing in a band, touring, and putting out records but now want to focus on writing and recording everything on my own at home.

From a clean slate, I am acquiring only usefully/quality components. Only items that can stay with me forever and have "legitimate" use through out my life.

I need help getting started with standardized home recording. I know how a compressor works and what causes phase, HOWEVER, I can't figure out how to record guitar tracks in GarageBand with an iRig.

That should give you an idea of where I am at.

I need suggestions for my first 4-6 mics to use to record.

If I can get 2 uses from 1 mic, I can get a better mic.

I need to record vocals, guitar amp, bass amp, and drum set.

I don't want to start out with a mic for each drum. At most, two room mics and MAYBE bass drum mic.

So what are some good multi-purpose mics? NOT AMATURE/CRAP mics.

I am also debating if I should get a small board for mixing.

I DONT KNOW WHAT IM DOING!!! HELP ME!
Click to expand...

Thread moved to your own new post.

PM me when you get a chance. :)
 
Of the various people that record regularly and post regularly on the forum I have one of the most basic set ups. If you're working alone and therefore tracking all of the instruments separately you shouldn't need much:

1. A computer.
2. Mics. If you're recording drums you'll probably need 4 (see Greg's basic drum-kit micing thread) 2 condensers and 2 dynamics - at least one of which should be an SM57 as it will also be great for micing up guitar cabs. Don't know where you live but you can get an SM57 in the UK for about £75. There are also similarly priced options on condensers.
3. An Audio Interface. Cheapest decent option that will take 4 mics is probably the Focusrite. ~£250.
4. A DAW - Reaper is the cheapest, its very easy to use and has everything you'll reasonable need as a home recorder.

With care and practice.... lots of practice, you should be able to get good results with the above set up. That's about as basic as I think you can go through given that you've said you want to record live drums. But including the computer this set up should cost you under £1000. What's that $1250?

Fuck GarageBand and iRigs. They're shit.
 
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