Basic set up

[Blackdog67]

Hi, please bear with me on this as I am completely new to home recording. I am looking to set up a cheap basic home recording studio for my daughter who sings and plays guitar (electro acoustic).

I have a very good spec PC running XP Media Centre, would I be correct in thinking all I need to get started is a Firewire interface such as the Firebox or Saffire and some software such as Cubase LE which comes bundled with some of these interfaces?

she just want to record a few demos to upload to her Myspace page and we are very limited both on budget and space.

Any advice greatly received.

 

[wheelema]

Hi, please bear with me on this as I am completely new to home recording. I am looking to set up a cheap basic home recording studio for my daughter who sings and plays guitar (electro acoustic).

I have a very good spec PC running XP Media Centre, would I be correct in thinking all I need to get started is a Firewire interface such as the Firebox or Saffire and some software such as Cubase LE which comes bundled with some of these interfaces?

she just want to record a few demos to upload to her Myspace page and we are very limited both on budget and space.

Any advice greatly received.

Pretty much, yes. Appreciate that there is a bit of a learning curve to Cubase LE... I started with it and chucked it for Sony SoundForge (which only records two tracks) but YMMV.

You will need a decent mic and I don't think anyone will scream at you too much if you go with a Shure SM57/SM58. If you can swing a Shure SM7B so much the better.

I didn't see on either the Saffire or the Firebox a phantom power switch which I personally find a little troubling. If the boxes do not provide phantom power (which I would find hard to believe) then you are stuck with dynamic mics (such as the Shure mics noted above) or... conversely... if they DO provide phantom power (and thus support condensor mics such as the Studio Projects C1) which you cannot turn off, you would not be able to use ribbon microphones.

I'd clear up that point with a salesperson.

For WAAYY more information than you may want I highly recommend TweakHeadz.

Luck.