advice on recording our own demos!!

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waynus

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Hello all,
I am currently drumming in a band and would like to find out the best option for recording our own half-decent demo's. I have a few questions, please excuse my ignorance as i'm sure you've been asked some of these before..

Firstly, I have had some experience of recording/mixing with fostex analogue 4trk (using behringer 8trk mixer) and whilst sound quality is ok for handing out to bars / clubs etc, I need something with about 8-10 track simultaneous recording. Now there's lots of digital recorders on the market which would cater for this, is it a myth that digitally recorded sound is inferior to analogue?

Also, I am looking for a system that I could possibly build upon as I am thinking of getting into recording as a sort of paying hobby once i've got to grips with it I hope to add to the equipment.

Thanks Wayne
 
wayne.
if you are considering recording on a pc ...you can get anything from 30 to over 100 tracks recorded in a song or lots more.
depending on the power of the pc.
if you want to do pc multitracking ive posted lots of solutions in the past year if you search under my name.
if your not happy using a pc there are lots of standalone solutions.
do you have any preferences already ?
 
Cheers for the help, I don't particularly have any preference at the minute, but I think the pc route could be the most cost effective and is something I could build upon. Something portable like a laptop may be a better option but i'd heard that purchasing the necessary gear for the laptop (soundcard etc) is very expensive.
I've also heard that you lose the warmth of the sound when recording digitally, is this true, or does it depend on the gear?

Thanks again for the help!
 
wayne...

I am in the process of testing lots of laptops for friends/myself as i typically get asked to do this as ive been a computer engr for a long time.
in my opinion the fast processor laptops are very good these days capable of lots of tracks. but you have to add for example a outboard sound solution.
so it CAN be expensive. laptops i like are amd 64 or sempron based or intel centrino based from my testing.
as to digital vs analogue warmth. this is a debate thats gone on for ages.
in the end only you can decide via your own testing with tape machines vs the digital approach.
 
I currently use an EMU 1212M to record 10 tracks to my PC. I record 3 vocals, 2 guitars, bass, hand percussion, and 3 tracks for the drum kit. I use the 2 TRS in's and 8 in's through the ADAT connection (Using an Alesis ADAT recorder). I don't record with the Alesis, I just use it for the analoge to digital conversion.

To use the 1212m though, you need a desktop PC with 2 open PCI slots. I am pleased with the results, though the 1212M is not an easy card to use. It goes for about $190US.
 
I would recomend a small mackie mixer and a used ADAT and a few mics and get your feet wet. You can make very good recordings with this set up and it will not really cost that much.

After you have some more recording experience you will have a better understanding of what tools might serve you best.

If you start getting into a computer based set up, you are not really getting into something you can build upon because computer stuff gets out of date quite quick and looses about 90% of its resale value in a few years. When you are thinking about building up good equipment spend your money on good mics and pre amps. You will still be using those in 20 years and your computer sound card will have hit the garbage dump 18 years earlier.
 
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