The New Recording Artist's Equipment

D

Danny Love

New member
Hi guys I'm looking start recording at home with my acoustic guitar, elecctric guitar, keyboard, and vocal cords. Now I've been looking into this for the past few months and it seems that Fostex MR8HD's are the best value for my money, I don't want to spend too much, but I am a perfectionist so I demand quality ;). Anywho, what do you guys think of the MR8HD's and what other equipment is a must for me to start recording? cables, accessories, preamps, what should I get?

Thanks guys
-Daniel :D
 
Microphones.

You're definitely gonna want one or two of these little gems.
I call them my "secret weapons".

;)
 
Hehe yeah, I've already got a post in the microphones section though, if you have any tips on good mics, etc. post 'em there, won't you?
 
We need to know your budget and end goal.

Do you want to eventually make music that you can release/sell to the public?
Is this just for you?
Do you want to eventually record bands, or just yourself.
Do you need to be portable?
 
Sneaky sneaky, multi-poster! At least your questions varied in both threads, however, that leaves people unable to give the best answer. Is the 250 you mentioned over in the mic forum your budget for mic AND whatever recorder you are looking into buying? If not, what is your total budget for the whole shebang, including the 250 for mics? Also, what type of computer do you have? If it is anything fairly new, you will be better suited with a computer interface than any standalone recorder, in my opinion. But, let us know!
 
Okay, from the looks of that Fostex, Im assuming you are looking to spend about 400 on the recorder, and then 250 more on mics. I would recommend you go with PC recording if it is at all a viable option. The Presonus Firebox can be had for 299 new, and comes with Cubase LE, which I found was a very good, robust starter program. You can find them for about 200 used on ebay, as well.

If you went down that route, you would have 100 left over from the interface, and 250 for mics. I would still say grab up that AT4040, as it will suit you well on both vocals and acoustic. It won't be perfect, but you aren't going to achieve that "pro studio" sound with any sort of moderate budget, unfortunately. I'd then say use the other money for some cables, and maybe some naiant MS-1's for the acoustic.
 
Yes $250 PLUS recorder, I don't have much time right now to reply But I didn't want to go PC route because I don't have a PC in the room I will be recording in and having a small multitrack could make my "studio" a bit more portable and I don't want to have to deal with the noise of the PC.
 
Alright, I've got more time now, the reason I posted two was becasue I was afraid if I put the mic thread here, I would be told it should be in the Microphones section and vice versa, sorry! But thanks so much for your help. Now considering my predicament with PC fan noise, etc. what do you think? And I hear that just about everyone has a preamp but I haven't quite figured out what a preamp does, I just hear that it dramtically boosts sound quality, is this true? And what brand of cords do I want to consider for XLR's? I've read that even a crappy cord can make a Neumann sound like gravel under tires.
 
Danny Love said:
Alright, I've got more time now, the reason I posted two was becasue I was afraid if I put the mic thread here, I would be told it should be in the Microphones section and vice versa, sorry! But thanks so much for your help. Now considering my predicament with PC fan noise, etc. what do you think? And I hear that just about everyone has a preamp but I haven't quite figured out what a preamp does, I just hear that it dramtically boosts sound quality, is this true? And what brand of cords do I want to consider for XLR's? I've read that even a crappy cord can make a Neumann sound like gravel under tires.
Click to expand...

Cables make only so much difference. I severely doubt that a Neumann through a shit cable (as long as the connections are being made) is going to be night versus day in comparison to the same equipment through Mogami w/ Neutrik connections and a pro solder job. If you want to look into getting some well-made cable with high-quality parts, try custom built stuff at www.redco.com -> you can get 15 foot Canare standard mic cables w/ Neutrik connections for under 20 / cable.

As for the preamp, it takes the extremely low-level signal put out by a microphone and boosts it to line-level, which is the standard level that most professional recorders operate at. This is a necessary piece of equipment if you are using most any microphone. In many cases, you will find that standalone recorders like the one you are looking at, and computer interfaces, have some preamps built-in, and it looks like the Fostex has them on the 4 inputs you can use, so you wouldn't need to worry about buying separate preamps.

In terms of PC vs. Fostex, I would always recommend PC simply because you have more tracks at your disposal, and a much more powerful editing suite, as well as the ease of use of a full software interface, versus the small, complex menuing system that most of the standalone recorders offer. Plus, you can usually get an interface that has better preamps and analog/digital conversion than what you would find in something like the Fostex. Pro's on the Fostex side? Its portable, and that's about all I can say for it, but I'm sure it would be perfectly functional for your needs either way.
 
gbondo9 said:
We need to know your budget and end goal.

Do you want to eventually make music that you can release/sell to the public?
Is this just for you?
Do you want to eventually record bands, or just yourself.
Do you need to be portable?
Click to expand...

1) Yes I want to eventually, but that's a rather long term goal. (Not concerning this purchase).
2) Most likely just myself, I will play the guitar parts, vocals, bass, etc.
3) Portability is very handy, although I'd have to buy a new PC in order to go the non-portable way anyways. So I'm just gonna say, yes portability is a must.

And aside from some good stuff from Cusebassman, no one's really said anything about Fostex's line of HDD Multitrackers, no opinions, or is it so bad that no one owns one? All the reviews are good, but I would like to hear from you guys.
 
cusebassman said:
Okay, from the looks of that Fostex, Im assuming you are looking to spend about 400 on the recorder, and then 250 more on mics. I would recommend you go with PC recording if it is at all a viable option. The Presonus Firebox can be had for 299 new, and comes with Cubase LE, which I found was a very good, robust starter program. You can find them for about 200 used on ebay, as well.

If you went down that route, you would have 100 left over from the interface, and 250 for mics. I would still say grab up that AT4040, as it will suit you well on both vocals and acoustic. It won't be perfect, but you aren't going to achieve that "pro studio" sound with any sort of moderate budget, unfortunately. I'd then say use the other money for some cables, and maybe some naiant MS-1's for the acoustic.
Click to expand...

For some reason I neglected to see how great this post was =S. The only option I MIGHT have for PC recording is a Celeron 2.6 GHz 256 Mb RAM craptastico Pc =/, that's a big might if you couldn't tell. :rolleyes:
 
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