proposed home rec set up for u to crap on

[owly jr]

Hi folks

Yet another newbie on a budget humbly requests your opinions on his proposed set up...

I want to record vocals and acoustic/classical guitar on my PC (Pentium D 1.66Ghz, 1Mb RAM, XP sp2) and combine this with effects, synth sounds, samples and loops etc.

After much pondering and snooping around, I've more or less decided to buy the following hardware:

E-MU 0404 USB2 Audio interface and Korg K25 midi controller

I'm having a problem with choosing a microphone - I was given a fairly good electret STEREO condenser mic (sony ECM-MS957) but the cable ends in a 1/8" stereo miniplug (for minidisc, DAT etc). Also, I don't know if this kind of Stereo mic is much good for recording vocals and instruments?

So do I buy a multitude of converters to try to plug this mic into the two XLR mic inputs on the E-MU?
Or do I buy a different audio interface with a 1/8" stereo input - the only reasonably priced one I can find is the M-Audio MOBILE PRE but it has no MIDI i/o! And if I plug my mic in here, will the sound be as good as going through the XLR inputs?
Or do I sell this baby on EBay and buy a nice, simple MONO condenser mic that can be used for vocals and guitar (I was thinking the Samson C3). I'm not looking for amazing sound - just decent.

Software wise I'm thinking of using Reason rewired into Cubase LE or SONAR LE - Do the LE versions of these programs (which both come free with the E-MU) allow me to REWIRE?!

Any advice or comments will be appreciated

 

[deadleafecho]

I would sell the mic and buy a new one

 

[Dags]

Hey there owly jr

Software & pc hardware -wise it all looks fine. I'm a Mac user so I can't comment on specific PC specs except to say that you should probably boost your RAM as much as possible to let the pc cope with effects & stuff. Windows itself is a renowned RAM hog so it will take about 1/2 your available RAM before you fire up any software.

The mic you have is ok for just messing around and getting to learn how to arm a track, record, apply effects, etc, but I would have to second what deadleafecho so eloquently states - you may want to think about getting a larger diaphragm condenser mic that permits you to run phantom power via a balanced XLR cable for getting clear, crisp recordings in your studio.

By all means keep the electret mic - you might find it useful to capture a bit of room ambience, or for experimenting with.
I'm sure that people out there have had successes with using little stereo mics through big preamps for various applications, so for the moment hold onto it if you can. Besides, you can always use it with a portable recorder for capturing environmental sounds to sample & use in music later on!

Dags

 

[owly jr]

Thanks for your opinions gents - I appreciate it.

Dags - unfortunately I'm on rather a tight budget at the mo so I'm gonna have to sell that stereo mic and buy a new one I think. Unfortunately, there doesn't seem to be much demand for stereo minidisc mics here in SA.

I actually just bumped my RAM up to 1Gb (from 512Mb) so I'm sincerely hoping that will do me!

A stupid question here I'm sure -
If I use an external USB audio interface like the E-MU 0404, can I listen to music, movies and games etc through the interface i.e. by plugging my headphones into the interface?

 

[ssscientist]

If I use an external USB audio interface like the E-MU 0404, can I listen to music, movies and games etc through the interface i.e. by plugging my headphones into the interface?

Sure.

I do it all the time.

You'll need to set it up correctly though --- and not being able to listen to music, movies, etc. is a sign that it's not set up right.

When you do get it set up it will take the place of your stock soundcard, just with better resolution and fidelity.


.

 

[ssscientist]

And anybody who would 'crap on' a newbie just for having a modest budget and a correspondingly modest setup is not someone you want to take advice from.





.

 

[owly jr]

Thanks for that Ssscientist. I'm sure you'll be hearing more from me when set up time arrives! I've gone with the Alesis IO/2 rather than the E-MU as it's cheaper and has more or less the same features (apart from being USB 1.1).
Excitement is building....

 

[Lectric_Lab]

Hey owly jr. the main thing about electret mics is, they are prone to be noisey when you use them, so try and keep it stationary. I use a coupe of pieces of Alesis gear and am satisfied with it, good luck with your endeavor.

 

[vadoom]

And anybody who would 'crap on' a newbie just for having a modest budget and a correspondingly modest setup is not someone you want to take advice from.





.

Even I'm going to keep my fingers from typing anything irrelevant... uhm... was that irrelevant? ...uhm.... Doh!!!!!

 

[Toker41]

I would drop a big turd on that whole set up. A great big log. I might even eat a box of ex-lax, and 2 cans of cream corn, and then sh*t it out all out all over the newbies set up.

However, it's not about the equipment being no better than a toilet. It's about the talent of the person using it.

It's not what you have, but what you can do with it.

Sgt. Pepper was recorded on a couple of 4 tracks.

Best advice anyone can give a newbie: Although having good equipment is always nice, don't get caught up in how good your equipment is, or isn't. Don't spend more than you have. Pay more attention to your art.

 

[owly jr]

And anybody who would 'crap on' a newbie just for having a modest budget and a correspondingly modest setup is not someone you want to take advice from.

I would drop a big turd on that whole set up. A great big log. I might even eat a box of ex-lax, and 2 cans of cream corn, and then sh*t it out all out all over the newbies set up.

This is the kind of person you warned me about right Ssscientist?
That ex-lax / cream corn thing really is a disturbing image....

By the way, I'm an absolute genius musician so I should be alright

 

[pipelineaudio]

Toker is a nutter but one of the good guys

 

[Lectric_Lab]

thinkin' the 4 track machines the Beatles used cost around 80 thousand dollars each...

 

[ssscientist]

This is the kind of person you warned me about right Ssscientist?
That ex-lax / cream corn thing really is a disturbing image....

Yeah.

But I think there's been some electronic slight-of-hand going on with this post. This was first posted under the name 'Yourmammasass' --- a newbie without any rep --- now all his posts are under the name 'Toker'.

????