Another Newbie

[Jonathan_]

Hi,
I am new to the whole home recording thing. I was wondering if you could give me some advice, name brand wise. i'm going to be recording acoustic guitar and singing and/or me and a friend playing guitar and singing together. i am not on a high budget, kind of a low budget.i have been looking at all types of brands. i am thinking about getting the Shure BETA 58A for a mic. Any help would be greatly apreciated.

Thanks,
Jonathan

 

[Rokket]

That's a pretty broad question with about 6000 possible answers, so to help me help you, I have a couple for you:

1) Digital or analog?

2) what is your budget

3) think hard: are you going to want to record more than 2 tracks at once (e.g. live acoustic drums)?

Answer that, and I can give you some suggestions.

Welcome to the board!

 

[Jonathan_]

That's a pretty broad question with about 6000 possible answers, so to help me help you, I have a couple for you:

1) Digital or analog?

2) what is your budget

3) think hard: are you going to want to record more than 2 tracks at once (e.g. live acoustic drums)?

Answer that, and I can give you some suggestions.

Welcome to the board!

Thanks for replying Rokket.

1) possibly Digital

2) $300-$2000 around there...

3) yes, i would like to record more than two tracks at once

 

[Rokket]

Thanks for replying Rokket.

1) possibly Digital

2) $300-$2000 around there...

3) yes, i would like to record more than two tracks at once

OK, let's see... We will start with analog, and work our way up. Tascam makes a good multitracker with multiple inputs. Here is a link to their page, so you can read up on it:

http://www.tascam.com/PersonalCreativity.html

On there also are their digital machines.

Fostex also makes pretty good machines, but the multiple inputs are pricey, and they only make one analog machine right now. They do have some nice digital machines.

Here is a link to look at:

http://www.fostex.com/index.php?file=products/digital/digital_multitrackers


I don't do the direct pc recording thing, and to be honest, I don't know much about it. I hear good things about M-Audio soundcard interfaces, and I can give you that link too:

http://www.m-audio.com/

This will give you something to think about. Personally, I like to recommend that people start out with a nice analog 4 track (Tascam 414 or 424) to learn on, but there are so many people jumping straight into pc recording.

One word on that: (this is only my opinion, take it with a grain of salt), it's a bit more of a learning curve to start out on pc. You have to buy and install the interface and all it's drivers, deal with latency issues (this is becoming less and less a factor), learn how to use the software... It goes on and on. But if you are pretty computer savvy, this won't be an issue. But your pc has to be pretty fast (and at least 512 RAM), and have at least 2 large harddrives with one dedicated soley to your audio tracks. It's a way to go, and many people are doing it, but I see more and more of them on here begging for help, and very few people on here with questions about their multitracker... Just my 2 cents...

Good luck, and I hope I gave you enough to think about.

 

[Jonathan_]

Thanks for the advice, Rokket. You did a good job

 

[Rokket]

Thanks for the advice, Rokket. You did a good job

Sure thing! That's what we are here for. If you need anything else, just ask. There are lots of people who are really good at this on this board. I know that if I can't answer your question, one of them can.

Let us know what you decide to do.

 

[Jonathan_]

Thanks, and thank you for welcoming me to the homerecording forum

 

[Rokket]

Thanks, and thank you for welcoming me to the homerecording forum

I like to do that. I was welcomed when I first joined, and I think it gives people a better impression overall, and makes you feel better about being here, and knowing that you are going to get help.
Good luck with your endeavors. Just remember that we do this because it's fun, and if you are not having fun, you are probably not trying hard enough!

 

[Dogman]

I second the fun part. If it wasn't fun, I could find a much better use of my time, like drink beer. Wait, that's what I am doing now. Anyway, keep it fun, and your results will be much better. If it's work, you better be getting paid.