Best Bang for Buck Mic & Recording Laptop budget $1600

  • Thread starter Thread starter mikeote
  • Start date Start date
M

mikeote

New member
Hi

Best Bang for Buck Mic/s & Recording Laptop budget $1600

Situation:

Recording a drum kit in my garage, mixing, sending to my guitarist to add to the band mix.

Drum Kit: 10" 12" 13" 14" 16" toms, snare, bass drum, hihat, 2 crashes, 3 splashes, 2 chinas, ride.

Any one have any ideas ? I have found some info but it's all old, with such an ever changing topic as laptop recording hardware / software those looking for recording laptop advice need an ever updated topic, does any one volunteer ?

A few example questions in order of which I think should be answered first:

Which ?:
laptop / macbook ? why ?
Which fire wire breakout box 6-8 inputs ?
Which Mic pre amp ? Or use inbuilt? If mic pre amp should I get one with compressor ? Or limiter ? Or both ? Or neither ?
Which sound card ? or use inbuilt?
Which software would you recommend ?
How much processing power ? How much Ram ?

How to get the Firewire expansion slot if PCMCIA slot is taken by sound card ?

Any help is much appreciated ! As you can see it's alot of info and alot of money to decide.

This looks like a good recording laptop:
http://www.shop-sonica.com/pd_livetracker1.cfm

But considering I also need mics, possibly mic pre-amp, firewire breakout box, good cables it's out of my budget.

Cheers !
Mike
 
Last edited:
For a lot less you could pay someone with experience to record you, since a decent computer is gonna take up your whole $1600 budget
 
jaybriggs84 said:
For a lot less you could pay someone with experience to record you, since a decent computer is gonna take up your whole $1600 budget
Click to expand...

idk about that, but you will need to extend ur budget...mics will probably be 600-800 alone, interface around 400 bucks, computer god knows how much, and software 200-400 bucks..or reaper, which is free.
 
Thanks for the replies, I intend to be recoding a new thing a few times a week to send over to my guitarist so paying some one with experiance / gear every time is not an option.

After reading a guide about setting up your home studio my new thoughts:

Core Duo 2+GHz laptop, win XP / vista, inbuilt fire wire, 2GB DDR2 ram $800.
pcmcia sound card not decided which yet
Phonic Helix 24 channel mixing board (16 mic pre amps) with fire wire outs $400.
cables / mic stands: $100.
mics I have left over $300 but have decided to buy 3 and gradually buy more, I have an SM57 aready.

I emailed Phonic about which pcmcia sound card goes well with their Phonic Helix 24 channel mixing board and to ask if there may be any compatibility issues with that rig, or any suggestions on more suitable cpu.

Software I'm getting from my guitarist.

Any thoughts ?
 
Last edited:
mikeote said:
Thanks for the replies, I intend to be recoding new thing a few times a week to send over to my guitarist so paying some one with experiance / gear every time is not an option.

After reading a guide about setting up your home studio my new thoughts:

Core Duo 2+GHz laptop, win XP / vista, inbuilt fire wire, 2GB DDR2 ram $800.
pcmcia sound card not decided which yet
Phonic Helix 24 channel mixing board (16 mic pre amps) with fire wire outs $400.
cables / mic stands: $100.
mics I have left over $300 but have decided to buy 3 and gradually buy more, I have an SM57 aready.

I emailed Phonic about which pcmcia sound card goes well with their Phonic Helix 24 channel mixing board and to ask if there may be any compatibility issues with that rig, or any suggestions on more suitable cpu.

Software I'm getting from my guitarist.

Any thoughts ?
Click to expand...

One thing I found out the hard way is that for dual core laptops you should have a "TI" chipset for the firewire. If you don't you can run into compatability issuses. The information is varied but it seems like you should make sure the laptop and interface will work together for sure before you plunk down your money.

Now as another idea; have you thought of a rack mount computer? You're gonna be haulin stuff anyhow so get yourself a cozy 10 space ATA rack, pop a computer in there + your interface + your preamps and maybe a little rack drawer to store the mics and you've got yourself a nice little mobile rig for probably the same price. (desktops are much better for audio work too... and WAY cheaper$$$)
 
Decent HP - $600
Firepod - $400
Reaper - Free

That leaves you with $600 for drum mics, which should get you pretty far.
 
57 that you already have, could be used for drums...for kic, id go beta 52, audix d6, or akg d112 since those are talking about all the time..which runs in the 200 range. You can choose to mic toms/snare bottom..or spend about 200-400 bucks on some decent/mildly-nice overheads. Id do that, and get decent tom mics(e604s, or otherwise) down the road.
 
Get a standalone recorder. One of those 16 channel workstations.
That should leave you a lot of money for mikes.
And get the Rode NT5 for overheads, SM57s for snare and toms (maybe one mike every two toms), and the AKG 112 for the kick.
 
Vagodeoz said:
Get a standalone recorder. One of those 16 channel workstations.
That should leave you a lot of money for mikes.
And get the Rode NT5 for overheads, SM57s for snare and toms (maybe one mike every two toms), and the AKG 112 for the kick.
Click to expand...

That is about the best advice, I'd say (short of hiring someone top record you, which is the best option if it's just a one-off thing). All the mics Vag recommends are just fine, and with the exception of the 112*, are reasonable budget.

* Sorry, in Japan, the 112 is ridiculously expensive.
 
I would go with the MSH drum pack, and a macbook then pick up a used Firepod or something of the sort, either using REAPER or Garage Band to record with, it would be a lot less fuss when you think about using Core Audio, over using ASIO drivers, and cheaper HP or some such hardware....
 
WTF? MSH drum pack?
Am I missing something, or you just confused the naiant mikes with the Karma Micro?
If you are talking about the karma micro, it's also a good suggestion. You get 7 really cheap all porpuse mikes, that you could use for example for toms, and snare, and get a better mike for kick and overheads/room.
 
Ok seems I was wrong about the MSH (though I could swear there was a drum pack on the site for a while)

Karma it is then!

Maybe find a D112 for kick and a 57 for the snare...

Macbooks are around $1000 used, and perform like champs, a decent interface and a storage drive would take you a long ways with your recording.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top