What should I get that works with what I have?

G

geusey

New member
Hey everybody,first post, but I've been reading on this forum for a little while and have found it extremely helpful already. I am trying to figure out a good recording set up for my band. We already have some pretty decent live sound equipment, but not a lot in the way of recording. I am just trying to figure out what I need to get into recording our own demos. First, let me tell you what I have in the way of recording:

Sony Vaio laptop: about one year old, windows 7, intel core 13 processor and 4 gigs of ram, pretty good performance for a laptop.
A full set of drum mics
Shure sm57
a couple of dynamic mics used for on-stage vocals (im not sure of the makes/models, but I know they won't cut it for recording)
Soundforge 10
mackie 16 channel mixer (not ours, but at our disposal)

For now, I am recording going straight into the mic input on my computer from the mono line out on the mixer (Is this even a good idea?). so my question is, what else do I need to be able to record vocals, drums, electric and acoustic guitars, and bass? I am thinking that I will need a good studio condensor and something to connect mics to the computer, like an mbox or an external soundcard. Something? I'm kind of lost in all the techno-babble. Also, we are in need of a new mixer. Would a mixer with a USB connection be able to interface with my computer and record multiple tracks at once? (I ask this questions mainly for the drums, since that's really the only thing I can think of that we would do multiple tracks)
Any input is appreciated. Thanks in advance!
 
Welcome to the form Geusey.

Depending on how many channels that are going to be used up on drums you may need a few 8 channel USB interfaces linked together. But this is only if your going to record the band all at the same time if not one 8 channel USB interface will do.

Really no need for a mixer but if you must you must. The mixers with an USB out is only a group stereo out and not the individual channel that you are hoping for.

Hope you have checked out Reaper and have down loaded it as your DAW.
 
Oh and now to showcase my ignorance:
What is Reaper? What is a DAW?
And no, I do not intend to record the whole band at once. I was simply hoping that, since we are in the market for a mixer for live functions anyway, if one with a USB interface to a computer would basically act as a sound card, letting me record multiple tracks on at once for me and my set. I suppose if not, a regular mixer will do, no need for USB. I can set levels on the mixer with the drumset manually when I record.
Also, to answer your question, my set normally records with 6 tracks: bass, snare, mounted tom, floor tom, and 2 overheads.
So, what is a better set up to use than plugging straight into my microphone jack on the computer? I know that can't get the kind of sound quality I am after, right? What kind of hardware should I look into?
 
Ok, so i did a little googling and this is what I came up with:
We are in the market for a new mixer for live performance. I am thinking that If I get one with usb capability, I will be able to use it as an audio interface for recording: 2 birds one stone. It won't get me the multiple tracks I thought it would, but it will do one heck of a lot better than plugging into my sound card, right?
Also, as far as DAW's go, I already have SONY Soundforge 10.0, so I think I'm good, right? Any other software I should look into?
 
geusey said:
Ok, so i did a little googling and this is what I came up with:
We are in the market for a new mixer for live performance. I am thinking that If I get one with usb capability, I will be able to use it as an audio interface for recording: 2 birds one stone. It won't get me the multiple tracks I thought it would, but it will do one heck of a lot better than plugging into my sound card, right?
Also, as far as DAW's go, I already have SONY Soundforge 10.0, so I think I'm good, right? Any other software I should look into?
Click to expand...

I'm not familiar with Soundforge, but I'm sure it would work. I recommend REAPER as well. Its got a 30 day free trial and its only about 40 bucks to buy it. The only reason I say to go with REAPER is for support. Many people on this forum use it so troubleshooting will much easier if everyone is familiar with the DAW.
 
Here's my two cents.

Recording and live are different animals. Everything depends on what quality of recording you want to make. As mentioned, USB out of your mixer will only give you 1 stereo track, basically it's recording the mains. So, you are recording your live performance. You can eq, compress ets, but you just have the stereo track to work with.

Now, getting a multi-channel interface will allow you to record seperate tracks. These can then be tweaked, modified, changed. The sky's the limit. Surprisingly, interfaces are not that expensive when you think about what they can do. Soundforge is mostly used for audio restoration, podcasting etc. It definately has great features and can be used for multi channel recording, but personally, I would look for a true DAW software. Reaper is great, so are lots of others. One thing to consider, is that most interfaces will come with a DAW lite version of software, so you kill 2 birds with one stone.

Have a look at the Presonus stuff, but that's just a suggestion. There are tons of good inexpensive interfaces: PreSonus

Make sure to post some stuff for us to critique. Welcome to the dark side. All your time, money and effort will now be recording!
 
You can use the mixer with stereo output for recording - but only 2 tracks (one panned left, one right) can be recorded individually at one time. Or you could plug in 8 mics (for example) to do the drums, mix them down to a stereo output, then shoot that mixed drum set as a stereo track to your DAW. Of course that means if you decide to boost the kick, or snare, (or whatever) volume you are shit out of luck - you'll be changing the volume of the whole mix.
 
Washburn100 said:
Here's my two cents.

Recording and live are different animals. Everything depends on what quality of recording you want to make. As mentioned, USB out of your mixer will only give you 1 stereo track, basically it's recording the mains. So, you are recording your live performance. You can eq, compress ets, but you just have the stereo track to work with.

Now, getting a multi-channel interface will allow you to record seperate tracks. These can then be tweaked, modified, changed. The sky's the limit. Surprisingly, interfaces are not that expensive when you think about what they can do. Soundforge is mostly used for audio restoration, podcasting etc. It definately has great features and can be used for multi channel recording, but personally, I would look for a true DAW software. Reaper is great, so are lots of others. One thing to consider, is that most interfaces will come with a DAW lite version of software, so you kill 2 birds with one stone.

Have a look at the Presonus stuff, but that's just a suggestion. There are tons of good inexpensive interfaces:

Make sure to post some stuff for us to critique. Welcome to the dark side. All your time, money and effort will now be recording!
Click to expand...

For what we're doing, we don't need more than one output. As I said, we are recording one track at a time. I think recording multiple tracks at a time is just asking for trouble. Too many variables. I like the isolation of recording one at a time. That said, I think I'll check out what PreSonus has got, and, if it's in the budget (we are a Christian rock band that plays for practically nothing), I'll consider it.

I will definitely post some stuff for critique as soon as I get some of it done. I think our band has a great sound, I just need to figure out how to convey that through some recordings.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top