New and need help!

[doctabass]

Hey everyone, im a bassist in a casual rock oriented band, and we are wanting to start recording our own music. i have no idea what to do or where to start. im online looking at a device that i could buy, the Behringer XENYX X2442USB, but i need help. what do i do?

thanks all

 

[benherron.rrr]

Hey, belive it or not this is actually a massive question!
Ill start off by asking how you would like to record your band? In a live setting, where your all playing together and recording the overall proformance. or by multitracking, recording each part individually to get the best quality and then mixing the end product of all the parts? also are you wanting to record onto a computer or do it all through a mixer to tape?
and how does your budget stand?

in my mind if you have a computer there are 4 main things you will need to make a start. the first is a DAW (digital audio workstation) essentially the softwear which you plan to record to these can cost as little and as much as you like. The second, an audio interface. somthing to plug your mics in. you are far better off buying an interface rather than a mixer as you will most likely get better quality sound and play back, however this depend what you are trying to do. if you just want to record a band practice maybe the mixer is the best way to go as you can get more inputs for the money. the third is the microphones you will need to record the audio, and the fourth is the speakers.

If you could answer these questions it will make it alot easier for people to help you more specifically.

sorry if im coming off rather patronising

 

[bouldersoundguy]

That mixer/interface only does stereo into the computer. You won't be able to record more than two tracks at a time. Recording the band or even just the drums to separate tracks will be impossible. It may be a decent way to record stereo mixes of your rehearsals or shows.

Behringer doesn't have the best reputation for quality. My experience with their gear is that the less analog circuitry it has the better the sound and reliability.

 

[Washburn100]

Hey everyone, im a bassist in a casual rock oriented band, and we are wanting to start recording our own music. i have no idea what to do or where to start. im online looking at a device that i could buy, the Behringer XENYX X2442USB, but i need help. what do i do?

thanks all

My advice is to make a big pot of coffee, lock yourself away for about 2 hours and read:
http://www.tweakheadz.com/guide.htm

 

[moresound]

A simple solution was just posted in an other thread not so long ago, the suggestion was to take a look at the Zoom16 as a stand alone recording device.

 

[jdier]

My advice is to make a big pot of coffee, lock yourself away for about 2 hours and read:
http://www.tweakheadz.com/guide.htm

That is really good advise.

 

[jdier]

Another thing to look at would be something like this:

http://pro-audio.musiciansfriend.co...23144&src=3WFRWXX&ZYXSEM=0&CAWELAID=426911450

I have used one at a buddies and he did a whole album on his. I found it very usable and capable of making good tracks for demos or selling at shows.

Add to that a software program like Reaper (www.reaper.fm) and all you need after that are 8 mics, 8 cables, and 8 mic stands and you are on your way.

 

[jdier]

If you go that way, hit the Reaper forums. There are guys there that use that interface and the people are super helpful too!

 

[TimOBrien]

My obligatory standard reply-for-newbies that I keep in Wordpad so this is just a paste (I don't want to re-type this all the time):

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/04...mp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=0470385421
(Wish I'd had that when I started; would have saved me lots of money and time and grief)
You can also pick up this book in most any Borders or Barnes&Noble in the Music Books section!

Another good one is: Recording Guitar and Bass by Huw Price
http://www.amazon.com/Recording-Gui...=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1215734124&sr=1-1
(I got my copy at a place called Half-Price Books for $6!!)

And you can get a FREE subscription to TapeOp magazine at www.tapeop.com

Barnes&Noble or Borders are great places to start --- they have recording books and you can go get a snack or coffee and read them for FREE! Don't pass by a good recording book --- this is a VERY technical hobby and you REALLY want to start a reference library!!!

Good Newbie guides that also explains all the basics and have good tips:
http://www.tweakheadz.com/guide.htm
http://www.computermusic.co.uk/page/computermusic?entry=free_beginner_pdfs
http://www.harmony-central.com/articles/
http://www.gearslutz.com/board/tips-techniques/168409-tips-techniques.html

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

Still using a built-in soundcard?? Unfortunately, those are made with less than $1 worth of chips for beeps, boops and light gaming (not to mention cheapness for the manufacturer) and NOT quality music production.
#1 Rule of Recording: You MUST replace the built-in soundcard.
Here's a good guide and tested suggestions that WORK: http://www.tweakheadz.com/soundcards_for_the_home_studio.htm
(you'll want to bookmark and read through all of Tweak's Guide while you're there...)
Another good article: Choosing an audio interface - http://www.soundonsound.com/sos/sep08/articles/audiointerfaces.htm


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

Sony ACID Express (free 10-track sequencer): http://www.acidplanet.com/downloads/xpress/
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/smm

Another great option is REAPER at http://www.cockos.com/reaper/ (It's $50 but runs for free until you get guilty enough to pay for it...)
I use Reaper and highly reccomend it...

Music Notation and MIDI recording: Melody Assistant ($25) 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 FREE 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 gave away SamplitudeV9SE and July 2009 issue they put out Samplitude10SE. FREE. It pays to watch 'em for giveaways...)

 

[dastrick]

My obligatory standard reply-for-newbies that I keep in Wordpad so this is just a paste (I don't want to re-type this all the time):

......)

You know Tim...I bet of your 3,000+ posts, probably 2,000 of them are this "standard reply".


It's a really good reply, btw. I'll send you some rep.

 

[JIMBOdrummer]

dont buy that

the biggest question is are you going to record drums or program them. cuz then u can spend money differently. if you need to track drums it'll be expensive due to the fact that you'll usually need multiple tracks at your disposal and multiple mics.

if you're programing the drums, you can get a real nice mic preamp, a good vocal mic, an an SM57 should be your amp-workhorse.

 

[EternusMorbus]

Hey man.
There are a few ways to start recording your own.
The question is probably how much money do you want to spend? It usually cost a lot to get the good quality you want.

What I use; I bought a Zoom HD16 Harddisk recorder a couple of years ago. I don't need anything else than that, to record my music. Except microphones- guitar- bass- drums and whatever I want to record.
It is quiet advanced to use, if you haven't been into it before. But the basic is simple and quality is great. You simply just plug in you instruments to the hd16, and press the record button. You will be able to add 16 different tracks into one song (which is a lot).

In this way, you don't use computer.

--
Mads