Advice on Upgrading My Home Studio

R

Red_Dog

New member
Hi guys,

I'm looking to upgrade my (very basic!) home studio, here's what I have so far:

- macbook (w/garageband '09)
- pod XT floor unit
- SM58 and SM57 (from live gigs)

I'm recording electric guitar through the POD directly into the microphone jack of the macbook. The results have been decent for getting a guitar sound, but I'm having trouble with:

- recording vocals
- recording more than one track at once (ie, vocal and guitar)
- recording something acoustically (voice, acoustic guitar, even mic'ing an amp)

Right now I'm mainly making instructional videos for my new blog (for an example vid check out youtube video /watch?v=e3ma7BPHrcc). In future I'd like to be able to conduct video interviews, record small live performances (acoustic etc...), and eventually record multiple instruments for an album.

Any advice would be great!

Thanks :)

Steve
 
Down load Reaper as your DAW and then get an interface with as many inputs/outputs you'll need to record as many sources at one time.
 
moresound said:
Down load Reaper as your DAW and then get an interface with as many inputs/outputs you'll need to record as many sources at one time.
Click to expand...

Hi moresound,

Thanks for the advice. I checked out some Reaper reviews, it looks really good for what I need - nice price and plenty of room for expansion. It looks like a pretty steep learning curve, at least at the beginning (no default track EQs, for example), but I guess that may not be a bad thing.

What interface would you recommend? I've heard of the M-Box.

Thanks again,

Steve
 
Red_Dog said:
Hi moresound,

Thanks for the advice. I checked out some Reaper reviews, it looks really good for what I need - nice price and plenty of room for expansion. It looks like a pretty steep learning curve, at least at the beginning (no default track EQs, for example), but I guess that may not be a bad thing.

What interface would you recommend? I've heard of the M-Box.

Thanks again,

Steve
Click to expand...

I'm not moresound, but I recommend anything Tascam.
I'll be picking up a Tascam US1800 soon.
It looks really sweet (8 xlr ins) and comes with cubase
 
do you have any experience with other tascam interfaces?

i'm not trying to be a dick but people on here often recommend what 'looks' good.
 
Steenamaroo said:
do you have any experience with other tascam interfaces?

i'm not trying to be a dick but people on here often recommend what 'looks' good.
Click to expand...

I have a Tascam DP008 that is wonderful.
And a close friend of mine has a Tascam US600 that he uses with cubase le 4 and it's sound awesome. crystal clear. He also has a tascam mixer. I've used a US100 in the past with an acoustic into audacity and it too had awesome results.

I've never had any problems from Tascam, and have used a number of their products which is why I feel comfortable buying from them and recommending them.
 
I dont think the Reaper learning curve is any worse than Cubase or ProTools... I wouldn't worry about that. You definitely need a decent interface, stop using a pc sound card, those are the worst - They contain the best A/D converters 42 cents can buy!
 
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