Cheap cheap cheap!

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Creep

Creep

Milk It
Hello everyone, hope you can help me here.

What do I want to know? How to set up possibly the shittest recording studio ever. Here's my situation:

I'm in a grunge band. We don't have much money. We're wondering if it's possible, to maybe pick up a cheap multipurpose mic (we're looking at a sm58 off ebay) however we're not sure about it. As you can probably tell, we're only looking to get an AUDIBLE sound. We know it's going to be muddy as fuck, but we just want to be able to jot down quick demo's by recording instruments separately and keeping them so we can develop them.

So what I'm wondering is: What is the cheapest, easiest, and best way to just record the standard drums, guitar, bass and vocals seperately and get a muddy but still king of audible sounding demo?

Cheers for your help if you can help me. I'm 16 and I quit my job so cut me some slack with having not much money ^_^
 
First of, what do you have to record with?

Soundcard, hardware recorder, taperecorder?

Second have many tracks of simultanious input would your recording device have after that we can talk mics;)
 
Sorry I'm so new to this. Um, I have Audacity (yeah, I know, absolute shit but - i'm a grunge musician, it's expected hahah) and I think I've only got one input because I'm going straight into my laptop.
 
Yep someone has told me about those, do you know how much they cost or any brands i should go with? Or places to get them?
 
Creep said:
Sorry I'm so new to this. Um, I have Audacity (yeah, I know, absolute shit but - i'm a grunge musician, it's expected hahah) and I think I've only got one input because I'm going straight into my laptop.
Click to expand...


From what I read from this message, I`d say the USB mic as mentioned is the way to go.

The line in on your laptop is gonna sound worse than shit:)
 
Creep,

Get a 4-track Tascam cassette Portastudio; they are selling the last new ones at very low prices (in the US, at least.):

http://www.zzounds.com/a--2676837/cat--Cassette-Multitracks--2871

You will have 4 individual tracks that (depending on model) can be recorded 1 or 2 at a time, and you can always later get a decent soundcard and pump the tracks into your PC. You'll learn a lot more by actually starting with tape. Plus you can take it with you to jam at friends and such.

(Failing that, get a cheap, but better-than-stock PC soundcard and use Audacity.)

Audacity is not a bad little program; between that, the Tascam and a Shure 57 or 58, music can be made.

Best,
C.
 
Do you know of a cheap easy way of getting a sound thats perhaps a little less worse than shit?
 
mics cheap cheap cheap

Hi,

There are plenty of wonderful mics that can be had cheap cheap cheap. There is no reason to settle for muddy.

Dynamics plug into anything.

Realistic 1070b dynamic omnis can be had for $30 to $40 a pair.

EV PL80 is a great dynamic cardiod vocal mic. I bought my last one under $25.

EV 660, PL6, RE10-18 are all wonderful hypercardiod dynamics that can be had from $25 to $75 depending on condition and features. The RE15, 16, and 18 go the highest. I bought my 660 for 25.99 shipped on ebay.

Many people on this board also recommend the ES57. Many like it better than the SM57. It's definitely cheaper. Under $40 new.

Condensor mics need phantom power or some kind of battery pack.

Naiant omni condensors are flat and clean and cheap. About $50 a pair. Some of his mics work off of a battery pack.

Condensors from Audio Technica (MB4000C) and EV (PL76, 1776) use batteries in the shaft of the mic.

All of these mics will sound better with a good preamp like a DMP2 or DMP3. These two preamps also provide phantom power and have high quality line out.

I used to record stereo to PCs all the time. I've used Turtle Beach sound cards. I found that the Creative Ensoniq has good line ins at a rock bottom price. Lately I've been recording stereo to my Iriver H320 and multitracking to my Fostex VF160. These options will cost some money so wait and

Until then.

Nothing wrong with recording to stereo cassette using a high bias tape and dolby noise reduction. Some of the good old cassette decks even have 1/4 inch mic inputs. If you can find one you can probably borrow it. Clean the heads.

I've also used four track cassettes in the past and learned a lot messing with them.

Rehearse your band. Set up two mics where you think they will work. Listen to the tapes. Move the mics and try again. Try some different mics. Experiment and learn.

It's not about expensive equipment. You can make good recordings cheap cheap cheap.

Thanks,

Hairy Larry
 
boy.....where to start? how about with: what do you want out of this demo? to get gigs? what are your "sonic aspirations"? to sound "decent"?

i'd take the money and get someone who's already got the gear to come out and record you.

i could do a FAR better job for $100 than you could ever do on your own with an SM58 and a laptop. i'm sure there's someone local who could as well. it's easy.....mic everything up into a decent sized mixer and dump it to 2-track for a "live" recording (like a gig). no punchins, no fixes, etc.....and you'd end up with a decent sounding demo. with a single 58 into a laptop.....not so much.

anyway, this is the way i'd recommend--especially if you want to use the cd to impress people (get gigs, etc).

now, if you want to get into recording yourselves just to hear how you sound, any of the above suggestions will get you there (to varying degrees of success). but for a demo? i probably wouldn't book a band that had a "demo" that sounded like an sm58->laptop in a garage....i'd want a band that put a little more "effort" into it.

but YMMV.

in the end, it's a really matter of quantifying your goals and expectations.


cheers,
wade
 
2 inputs

Creep said:
Sorry I'm so new to this. Um, I have Audacity (yeah, I know, absolute shit but - i'm a grunge musician, it's expected hahah) and I think I've only got one input because I'm going straight into my laptop.
Click to expand...

the line in is actually a stereo input (2)
just some useless info.



I'll respond latter with a cheap audible set-up.
got to get out of here for now.
 
Thanks a lot hairylarry, mrface and Lo-Fi Mike for your responses, all very helpful!

I'm not sure if this helps, or if this is regarded as a good recording sound, but this is the kind of sound I would be happy with:

https://youtube.com/watch?v=j2Wqq10wFss

And to answer your question no it's not to get gigs, we have studio recordings for that, it's just we live a long way away from any studio's so when we want to jot down a quick demo so we can develop it and discuss it afterwards, we want to be able to do that.
 
mrface2112 said:
boy.....where to start? how about with: what do you want out of this demo? to get gigs? what are your "sonic aspirations"? to sound "decent"?

i'd take the money and get someone who's already got the gear to come out and record you.

i could do a FAR better job for $100 than you could ever do on your own with an SM58 and a laptop. i'm sure there's someone local who could as well. it's easy.....mic everything up into a decent sized mixer and dump it to 2-track for a "live" recording (like a gig). no punchins, no fixes, etc.....and you'd end up with a decent sounding demo. with a single 58 into a laptop.....not so much.

anyway, this is the way i'd recommend--especially if you want to use the cd to impress people (get gigs, etc).

now, if you want to get into recording yourselves just to hear how you sound, any of the above suggestions will get you there (to varying degrees of success). but for a demo? i probably wouldn't book a band that had a "demo" that sounded like an sm58->laptop in a garage....i'd want a band that put a little more "effort" into it.

but YMMV.

in the end, it's a really matter of quantifying your goals and expectations.


cheers,
wade
Click to expand...

bravo, sir, bravo :)
 
Creep said:
Hello everyone, hope you can help me here.

What do I want to know? How to set up possibly the shittest recording studio ever. Here's my situation:

I'm in a grunge band. We don't have much money. We're wondering if it's possible, to maybe pick up a cheap multipurpose mic (we're looking at a sm58 off ebay) however we're not sure about it. As you can probably tell, we're only looking to get an AUDIBLE sound. We know it's going to be muddy as fuck, but we just want to be able to jot down quick demo's by recording instruments separately and keeping them so we can develop them.

So what I'm wondering is: What is the cheapest, easiest, and best way to just record the standard drums, guitar, bass and vocals seperately and get a muddy but still king of audible sounding demo?

Cheers for your help if you can help me. I'm 16 and I quit my job so cut me some slack with having not much money ^_^
Click to expand...


this sounds pretty clear, better than "audible" about a thousand times better than a line in
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XbAtE6AMstg&feature=related
cheapest and easiest too $90

they do a co3u which is multipattern

sort your songs then record professionally


nord
 
here you go

Creep said:
Hello everyone, hope you can help me here.

What do I want to know? How to set up possibly the shittest recording studio ever. Here's my situation:

I'm in a grunge band. We don't have much money. We're wondering if it's possible, to maybe pick up a cheap multipurpose mic (we're looking at a sm58 off ebay) however we're not sure about it. As you can probably tell, we're only looking to get an AUDIBLE sound. We know it's going to be muddy as fuck, but we just want to be able to jot down quick demo's by recording instruments separately and keeping them so we can develop them.

So what I'm wondering is: What is the cheapest, easiest, and best way to just record the standard drums, guitar, bass and vocals seperately and get a muddy but still king of audible sounding demo?

Cheers for your help if you can help me. I'm 16 and I quit my job so cut me some slack with having not much money ^_^
Click to expand...


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NAOJQ_78Y7I

if you have a nice size jam room, you can find the best spot and set this up, then dump it in your computer latter for effecting and processing.
It's also a USB mic, so you can overlay different tracks once you dump the wav files into the computer via SD card.

just another idea:D
 
My obligatory standard reply that I keep in Wordpad:

First off, immediately get a good beginner recording book (spend $20 before spending hundred$/thousand$) that shows you what you need to get started and how to hook everything up in your studio:
Home Recording for Musicians by Jeff Strong - $15
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/07...ce&n=283155&n=507846&s=books&v=glance
(Wish I'd had that when I started; would have saved me lots of money and time and grief)

Good Newbie guides that also explains all the basics:
http://www.tweakheadz.com/guide.htm
http://www.computermusic.co.uk/page/computermusic?entry=free_beginner_pdfs

21 Ways To Assemble a Recording Rig:
http://www.tweakheadz.com/rigs.htm

Also Good Info:
http://www.theprojectstudiohandbook.com/directory.htm

Other recording books:
http://musicbooksplus.com/home-recording-c-31.html


Plenty of software around to record for FREE to start out on:

Audacity: http://audacity.sourceforge.net (multi-track with VST support)

Wavosaur: http://www.wavosaur.com/ (a stereo audio file editor with VST support)

Kristal: http://www.kreatives.org/kristal/

Other freebies and shareware: www.hitsquad.com

Another great option is REAPER at http://www.cockos.com/reaper/
(It's $40 but runs for free until you get guilty enough to pay for it...)

Music Notation and MIDI recording: Melody Assistant ($20) and Harmony Assistant ($80) have the power of $600 notation packages - http://myriad-online.com
Demo you can try on the website.

And you can go out to any Barnes&Noble or Borders and pick up "Computer Music" magazine - they have a full studio suite in every issue's DVD, including sequencers, plugins and tons of audio samples. (November 2006 they gave away a full copy of SamplitudeV8SE worth $150, November 2007-on the racks Dec in the US- they're giving away SamplitudeV9SE. It pays to watch 'em for giveaways...)
 
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