Recording Advice Needed

M

Mr Green Genes

New member
I have been playing guitar for 14 years now and I have finally decided to pony up some dough to set-up my own recording studio. I recently purchased Cakewalk Sonar Home Studio XL and I am trying to find out the best way to eventually achieve what I am looking for. I want to be able to record live music efficiently and I also want to record some overdubs for professional sounding demos. Guitar, bass, drums, and vocals (one day) are the main instruments.

I have been looking into several audio interfaces (USB only for simplicity), but all of the reasonably priced I/Os only have two inputs for microphones. I am only interested in recording guitar through my amp with a microphone as I am a tone freak. I was also looking into USB mixer boards as well, as I am wanting to have several inputs for miking drums properly. I could get away with the I/Os and the two mike inputs for rough sounding cuts for ideas and such, but that leaves me very limited for recording songs for demos and personal enjoyment.

I just have a few questions concerning this stuff and I need some advice. Do the mixer boards have the same quality effect as the I/Os as far as sound card quality, latency, etc...? Is it is really necessary for me to have to buy a mixer just for the extra mike inputs? I really like the Audio Interfaces, like the E-MU 0404, but I need more inputs. The I/Os I have seen with 4 or more inputs are EXTREMELY expensive, so that is out of the question. I already have a few microphones (well my bandmates do) so I have the capability to record the way I want to.

I am just looking for a convenient way to record all of the instruments in the most cost-efficient way. I know quality home recording is expensive, but to get the bare-knuckle, basic stuff I want should be attainable from just one interface device and a few microphones. Any help would be appreciated.... thanks
 
I'll let people more knowledgeable about your chopices answer your specific question.

But one thing I can say that might help is this: If you buy a mixer, make sure it has individual outs for each channel. If there are no individual outs, this will force you to send a 2 track mix to your computer which means you'll have to get your drum mix perfect while you track, and you won't have control over the separate drums when mixing.
 
Hey Mr GG... welcome aboard... expect the response rate to slow down a little over Christmas!

Generally it's a good idea to give people here an idea of your budget when asking for specific gear advice... you say you've seen multi-channel interfaces but they're expensive, but what's "expensive" in your terms?

There've been probably a dozen threads over the last month about this topic in this forum, so do a bit of searching and you'll find various recommendations.

Also, on the expense thing... my most expensive single piece of recording gear, a microphone, is about half the cost of my most expensive guitar... it's all relative.

Don't buy a mixer unless you need a mixer for other purposes, but if you do, as Rami says, individual track outs is da bomb.

I'm not an interface guru, so like Rami, I'll leave it to others to answer your specific queries.
 
Armistice said:
Hey Mr GG... welcome aboard... expect the response rate to slow down a little over Christmas!

Generally it's a good idea to give people here an idea of your budget when asking for specific gear advice... you say you've seen multi-channel interfaces but they're expensive, but what's "expensive" in your terms?

There've been probably a dozen threads over the last month about this topic in this forum, so do a bit of searching and you'll find various recommendations.

Also, on the expense thing... my most expensive single piece of recording gear, a microphone, is about half the cost of my most expensive guitar... it's all relative.

Don't buy a mixer unless you need a mixer for other purposes, but if you do, as Rami says, individual track outs is da bomb.

I'm not an interface guru, so like Rami, I'll leave it to others to answer your specific queries.
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Well, I am not trying to spend anymore than $250-ish for an I/O or mixer. I want the inputs for the drums and I have found a Tascam 8 CH interface for around $250, but I was wanting to spend a lot less. I was looking at the E-MU 0404 and I think it would work to start out, but (like I keep saying) I want more inputs. I can record guitar and bass all day, and even use the virtual instruments for drums.... but there is nothing like the real thing and my drummer is good.
 
Not sure you're going to find anything useful in that price range.

Tell your drummer to buy it or at least pony up some $ - after all he's the one that needs it to be properly recorded.

Again, I'm not the interface expert so have a trawl round some historical threads and see what's recommended. Have a look in Recording Techniques too... the question often comes up in there as well..

Cheers
 
I would rather buy all of this myself; you know how drummers can be as far as dependability. Anyhow, I did peruse the forums for more suggestions as far as mixers and interfaces. There is one in particular, the Zoom R16, that may fulfill my needs. The Tascam US-800 is also very nice. I like the 8 inputs on both, but the Zoom only has 2 outputs whereas the Tascam has 4. I am looking to run everything into my computer through Cakewalk, so would paying the extra 150 for the Zoom be worth it for the easier mixing capability. I can just use Cakewalk for the mixing and use the Tascam for just recording, right? As you can tell, I am very amatuer with this but I want to get the most I can out of any hardware I buy regardless of my experience level. Any more suggestions??
 
Tascam 1641 will do just about everything you would ever need. For a little more money, you could go with the PreSonus Firepod. Either would be great choices.
 
The 1641 works great for me. The 10 built in preamps are very clean though not high quality by any means. Use a good preamp whenever possible. For your purposes I think this is the cheapest/best interface. Direct monitoring makes for simple, 0 latency tracking. Found at B&H online for $201 and had GC match the price - 20% of the difference. Make sure to update the driver/firmware after installation.
 
You're between a rock and a hard place. I would recommend an 8 channel interface so you can do 4-6 drum tracks, Guit, and Bass all at once and overdub what ever else you want. Prob is the midrange quality units that have 8 pre amps/channels are Firewire not USB, (Tascam 1641 one of the few that has USB) there are many in the $500 range that are good. Better Quality is more like $750 up.

-Presonus FireStudio Project 499
-Mackie Black Jack 499
-M Audio ProFire 2626

If you're set on your budget you are pretty limited and there are fewer choices that are average quality so you're stuck with the main qualifier of price only.
I used to sell music gear. I would always point out options to customers for expandability as well. The units above are pretty close to the same quality. The Mackie is my choice in that price point. The Mackie and the M Audio can have another attached to it via an optical cable and you have a 16 track studio.........Just some things to consider.

When you do decide on a unit make sure your computer operating system is compatible with the drivers required. Hard drive speed, RAM, and ability to use an external drive as well (7200rpm firewire, or Esata drive) is recommended. I stream 16 tracks at once to a FW800 external drive. When internal drives start to get full performance suffers.

https://homerecording.com/bbs/gener...ers/interface-decent-pres-315188/#post3546642
 
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Zoom R16 is about as good as it gets in terms of USB capable devices. Expect to pay $50 per channel for anything semi-decent. Most of which is probably weighted towards the microphone preamps. You can get by with other things if you already have microphone preamps, or if the instruments supply line level like outputs. But if you have a mic there, even if it has it's own power, you'll need a microphone preamp. Plus the other stuff XLR cables, mic stands, boom arms, ..... It all adds up.

I have little more than a soccer mom with a camcorder setup, and $3K later it's a pretty good 2 channels of audio, 1 channel of video kit. With a lusting for $3K microphones (stereo pair, so $1.5K each). With most of my effort spent towards mastering in post than actually recording these days. Software even after 30+ years of computers being in our homes, is still kind of primitive.
 
I appreciate all the input. The Tascam will be fine for what I want to do at the moment. I am not trying to record the highest quality stuff, I just need the nuts and bolts right now in order to get started. The Tascam has preamps built in for the mic inputs, so until I desire much higher quality sound; I will settle for the built in factory hardware. I am anticipating problems with latency, drivers, etc.... though as I know nothing is completely problem free. My laptop is not as fast as my desktop, but it will have to do as all of my recording will not be done near my desktop (at least not the drums or bass). The laptop may not be able to handle everything at once, but I can always just overdub the drums and bass.
 
Do you use the laptop for anything else (schoolwork, internet surfing, etc.)? If not, just make your laptop a dedicated DAW tool and optimize the laptop for recording only.
 
itaughttremonti said:
Do you use the laptop for anything else (schoolwork, internet surfing, etc.)? If not, just make your laptop a dedicated DAW tool and optimize the laptop for recording only.
Click to expand...

I don't really use it for anything in particular, but I do like to get on the internet and things like that with it. I will eventually get a better laptop, so I may end up just using this one for the recording purpose only. I will need an external hardrive on down the road.

I just bought the Tascam 1641 from B&H for $210, free shipping too. I am well on my way and thanks for all the tips. Now I just need to get myself a cheap microphone so I can record myself. Again, I am not looking for studio quality right yet; so I will be going for something under $150 for mikes. My bandmates have several mikes already, two of them condenser mikes. I just need one for myself to mess around with at the house. Any suggestions on decent, cheaper condensing mikes?
 
I think you'll be happy with the 1641. I use mine for live recording and really like it.
 
You can still optimize your laptop even though you will be doing school work and such on it. I'm no computer whiz, so I can't really tell you any advice, but surely someone on here can guide you through it.

As far as the mics, you can get some GLS ES57's and ES58's to start off with. They are comparable to the Sure SM series mics and, the best part, they are only $30 each. Outside of that, I don't have many mics myself, so I can't really give any more suggestions. But hopefully this will help a little.
 
I will probably settle for a cheap microphone from a local music shop to start with. Those GLS ES-57s are not sold in many places online, according to google, but I might get lucky and find one locally.
 
The Zoom 16R records 8 simultaneous tracks at 24 into itself or 8 simultaneous at 16 through it, (as an interface in other words), into a comp.
It'll run all 16 internally recorded track to a comp or they can be uploaded via the USB.
I was given one for xmas & intend to use it with cakewalk as a) an interface & b) control surface.
 
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