Newbie here needing a hand

[MetalMoura87]

Hey guys, the name is Chris, I am new to home recording and really need some questions answered so I don't spend money on worthless things that wont help me. Basically I haven't gotten set up yet, I was looking into getting a Mac with Logic Express 9 to start out, but I am confused...I'm not in a band and that's why I'm looking for help with home recording, rather do it myself...

I play Metal, guitar, bass, vocals, some drums. I want to be able to use the tone from my amps and not some pre-recording tone that comes with most of the programs on the market, I just don't know what kind of interface I should buy or a program for that matter. Like I said I am new to this, only reason I mentioned Logic Express 9 is because a lot of people talk about it. I want to work with something easy and be able to record everything myself and produce something that doesn't sound like a tone def producer mixed it.

Any suggestions would be nice, I plan on purchasing an up to date computer so I can record with ease, just need to know what kind of interface and program would be good for someone wanting to produce quality while learning the programs and such, thanks guys.

-Chris

 

[Re-tox_stl]

Hey Chris, welcome to HR! Now before I start telling you what to buy I suggest you start researching the living hell out of home recording. Youtube, HR, tweakheadz.com, and google are your best friends. Also I would look into the book "Home recording for musicians for dummies" ($20 at borders). It is a spectacular book and will start you off on the right foot.

As for stuff you need to purchase.. I have a few questions. 1)What is your budget? 2) What are the current specs on your computer?

Much love, Drew

 

[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 - $16
http://www.amazon.com/Home-Recordin...=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1273169612&sr=1-1
PC Recording Studios for Dummies - $16
http://www.amazon.com/Recording-Stu...=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1273169612&sr=1-2
(Wish I'd had those 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!!)

Home Recording for Beginners by Geoffrey Francis
http://www.amazon.com/Home-Recording-Beginners-Geoffrey-Francis/dp/1598638815

When you get a bit into it, I highly recomend The Art of Mixing by David Gibson
http://www.amazon.com/Art-Mixing-Recording-Engineering-Production/dp/1931140456

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

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...)

A great sequencer option is REAPER at http://www.cockos.com/reaper/ (It's $60 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...)

 

[benherron.rrr]

Hey Chris,
Welcome to home recording, and welcome to the world of music production and enginering.

As you said you play guitar, bass, vocals and (some) drums. I have used logic and I found it fairly easy to get to grips with. However logic leans its specialities in someway towards MIDI sequencing. which from what I have gathered your well into the actual recording of the performance so for your needs Logic may not be the best way for you. You should have a look into pro tools, which I personally dont like very much, but it is more suited as a DAW (digital audio workstation) to your needs. As far as a DAW goes though my opinion is that you should work with the one you feel most comfortable. As the program you use does not diectly effect the audio which you have recorded. Some guys here will recomend you reaper, which is very cheap and very effective. Computer wise just make sure you get something with a decent amount of RAM, a half decent CPU and quite a large hard drive. Unless you are set on using a Mac and logic, then its well worth looking into a PC.

The fundamental things you will need are:

An interface, there are so many on the market nowadays, and I dont really know the differences. If you want to record drums I would suggest looking at an Interface that has 8 mic/line inputs. so you can hold all mics for a drum kit.

The mics, Do a little research on here to find what people generally think the best mic is for the job you want to do.

Monitors, As you may know there is a difference between normal listening speakers and studio monitors, not to clear on exact details, but studio monitors tend to have a flat responce, showing the recording for what it is, not colourful like most normal speakers would be. Remember that without some half decent monitors, recording is just like driving while not being able to see.

I would say the best thing is to start off fairly cheap, Just because you have a £3000 mic and a £3000 pre amp doesn't mean you can record like a pro, Like I say an amature who knows his stuff, with the cheapest equipment in the world can record somthing just as well if not better than an amature with the most expensive stuff who knows nothing.

Also try reading some books, I have being reading the mixing engineers handdbook, and the recording engineers hand book and to say the least, I have found them very useful.

I hope I have been somewhat useful.

 

[grimtraveller]

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 - $16
http://www.amazon.com/Home-Recordin...=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1273169612&sr=1-1
PC Recording Studios for Dummies - $16
http://www.amazon.com/Recording-Stu...=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1273169612&sr=1-2
(Wish I'd had those 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!!)

Home Recording for Beginners by Geoffrey Francis
http://www.amazon.com/Home-Recording-Beginners-Geoffrey-Francis/dp/1598638815

When you get a bit into it, I highly recomend The Art of Mixing by David Gibson
http://www.amazon.com/Art-Mixing-Recording-Engineering-Production/dp/1931140456

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

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...)

A great sequencer option is REAPER at http://www.cockos.com/reaper/ (It's $60 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...)

I've seen this post so many times now, that it begs the question, why isn't it just permanently pasted at the start of the newbie forum ? It's a good start point that does no harm for newcomer to have a read through.
It gets my vote. (There again, that could lose you the election, Tim ! ).

 

[dirimini]

I'm not the OP, but what a fantastic, information-packed response from TimOBrien - thanks for that!

I've already purchased both Home Recording for Musicians and PC Recording Studios (both for Dummies - if the shoe fits...)

Glad I found this forum (via one of the Dummies books, in fact!)

 

[larryp7639]

Hi !
I've just visited this forum. Happy to get acquainted with you. Thanks.