A new setup

  • Thread starter Thread starter hamed53
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hamed53

New member
Hi,

I am planning to setup a small recording studio in my house to produce some music and tracks at home. I am not very technical when it comes to chosing the right equipment for this.
I also play guitar and drums. I previously re-recorded over myself by connecting my guitar to my PC but as you might imagine the quality is not good at all.

Can you please suggest what i need to start this off! I am totaly newbie on this so i appreciate if you recommend the right set of equipment from recording equipment right down to speakers.

I would like to be able to have several tracks on my unit! Possibly have the option of seeing and modifying the tracks on my PC since i think i'll have more control on the tracks when they are display visually on the PC.

I dont want to spend a lot initially but i like to have a system to be able ot scale it up when needed and as i learn along.

Regards
Hamed
 
I'd suggest reading as many of the old posts here as you can. You'll learn a ton that way.
 
Hamed ....You asked a very open question and I sure there are lots people willing to offer some advise but Please give us a few paramters to work with like

1) How much your current budget is

2) It seems like you have already decided the PC Route, is the PC you have now capable have enough RAM and Hardisk and CPU power to or do you ned a new PC.

3) Do you have a soundcard in your existing PC.

4) Would a standalone DAW unit be an option for you?

5) You also asked about speaker, again funda available would help people of offer advise, you can buy monitors from a few hundred dollars to several thousand.
 
hamed53 said:
I would like to be able to have several tracks on my unit! Hamed
Click to expand...

Tracks on your unit are bad...mmmmmmkay? :D

& what iwanarock said :D

& welcome :D
 
Hi,

Thanks for replying (iwanarock)

) How much your current budget is

>I have allocated about £4000 to start with.

2) It seems like you have already decided the PC Route, is the PC you have now capable have enough RAM and Hardisk and CPU power to or do you ned a new PC.

>The only reason i liked the PC route was because it seemed so easy modifying the recorded tracks! Eg cutting out etc. (I used CoolEdit and such!)

3) Do you have a soundcard in your existing PC.

> Yes but an ordinary one, i assume a decent sound card for for such project should be something like "Sound Blaster Audigy..."

4) Would a standalone DAW unit be an option for you?

I never practically used one, i dont know how flexible it can be.

As you pointed out my question was a bit general, i guess it is easier if someone could point out what are the "standard"/essentials or a decent recording studio? That way i get an idea of what i need and i can browse through this forum findout what brand people have recommended for each piece.

Regards
Hamed
 
hamed53 said:
As you pointed out my question was a bit general, i guess it is easier if someone could point out what are the "standard"/essentials or a decent recording studio? That way i get an idea of what i need and i can browse through this forum findout what brand people have recommended for each piece.
Click to expand...

The bare essentials are:

1. Microphone

2. Preamp - Standalone or built into a mixer. This takes the low level mic signal and boosts it to a useable level.

3. Analog to Digital Convertor - This turns sound into digital info and vice versa for any type of digital recording. These can be stand alone or built into a sound card or DAW.

4. Soundcard/interface- What your computer or recorder uses to interface with outside gear. Can have a range of analog and digital i/o. This is built into most DAWs.

5. Recorder/DAW- This can be a stand alone unit or your computer.

5. Monitors- This is your reference microscope into the world of audio. Some are powered and self contained. Others are passive and need a seperate power amp.
 
One of your fundamental questions will be how many tracks do you want to be able to record at once? For example if you want to have a kick, snare, and two overhead mics (a pretty standard setup for recording a whole drum set) and keep all four as separate tracks for your mixing then you will need a setup that will be able to record four tracks at once. On the other hand you could use a small mixer to mix the four mics down to two signals during the tracking (which reduces your downstream editing flexibility a little). Then you can get away with only a two track system.
 
This isn't advice on any particular gear, we all have our preferances and know what works best for us. There are plenty of people here who can give you all the details and specs for almost anything you can name, ask them, most are glad to advise. What I wanted to say is, no matter what brands of gear you decide to use take the time to become very familiar with what it can do and how to get it to do it. Carefully read all the manuals and go thruogh the tutorials on the computer based ones. A good working knoledge of your equipment and how to use it will greatly increase both your enjoyment and your chances of success. Best of luck and welcome.
 
I would recommend a basic soundcard, mixer, mics, and multitrack recording software.

Recommendations:
Soundcard - M-Audio Delta 44 (4 Inputs, 4 Outputs)
Mixer - Behringer MX 1604A (pretty cheap but a decent compact mixer)
Mics - Can't go wrong with Shure SM57's, they're great for snare drums and guitar micing. For drums, I recommend 2 Oktava MK012s (or MC012s same thing different name, use as drum overheads), an SM57, and a Shure Beta 52 for kick drum and bass.
Software - CEP 2.0 and Cakewalk Sonar are very popular choices. I would go with CEP 2.0 if you're not working with MIDI, CEP is weak in that area.

There you have it.
 
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