computer recording

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shizzle

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i am new to this and just getting it down, i apologize if i sound dumb. i want to record on my computer that i know is more than qualified as for space and RAM. however if i do purchase something like Cakewalk, do i have to buy a different periphal to actually connect my intstruments to the computer? i have a 4 piece band we want to record. i've been researching these software and midi machine things and none of them seem to say the max. amount of possible tracks to record simultaneously. does it go like the better computer you have the more tracks you can record simultaneously? im not really sure what to buy, any suggestions for prodcuts for recording a 4 piece band would be appreciated. later guys.
 
Think about how many mics/line ins you want to record at one time. With a 4 piece band how many vocal mics, how many instruments, and how much do you want to mic the drums?

Then you'll need to get a soundcard to connect to the computer. Any soundcard with 8 ins/out is typically going to be a very high quality soundcard. For example, the Delta 1010 has 8 analog inputs so you can go live into 8 tracks at a time to your computer (Aardvark Q10 and Echo and MOTU and others also make similar cards). Once you've got your tracks on the computer you can add as many as you want in addition to the existing tracks. If you decide you need more than 8 tracks recorded at once, you'll need to buy 2 or more cards and chain them together.

Another possibility is to get a mixing board (I got a Mackie 1642VLZ Pro) and mic / line in your instruments and vox and then send a stereo mix to the soundcard onto 2 tracks. If you do this you can get a less expensive soundcard to connect to your computer.

If you've got a good fast computer w/ lots of RAM then you can add many many tracks for any given song, but you still will be limited to what your soundcard can input at one time.

One common way to record a band is to get everyone together to play, but only send the drums and bass and a scratch track through the soundcard to the computer. Then you can add your other tracks such as vox and guitar etc. one at a time and build from the ground up.

There are books in your bookstore that can help you learn, for example there's a new "Home Recording for Musicians for Dummies" that I found useful. Also keep reading this board and other online resources and you'll learn a lot about how people record and the many many options about gear to buy.
 
i have a 8 input stageworks mixer. is it possible for me to just use that and some software?
 
Yes, but you will still need a decent soundcard. The Delta 1010 is a pretty good suggestion. I have the Delta 44 which has 4 inputs and 4 outputs, I'm very happy with it, but I need more inputs for the kind of rhythm section tracking I want to do now. 8-10 channels can disappear quickly with a drummer, percussionist, and bass player tracking at the same time.

Nathan
 
For a typical 4-piece band 10 tracks is a good starting point to capture the mix to individual tracks that can be mixed down later.

The Delta 1010 is a nice price/qualty tradeoff.

With the rock band I record it works out like this:

1: guitar from a miced cabinet
2: bass from a miced cabinet
3: lead vocals
4: backing vocals
5: kick drum
6: snare drum
7 and 8: a stereo pair of mics for drum overheads
9: an extra guitarist (the guitarist's brother)
10: One left over for whatever.

Oh yeah- two of those ten are via a preamp that outputs a S/PDIF signal.

With the Delta 1010 you will need a mixer that has some direct out capability or one where you will able to use the effect insert sends for the same purpose.

I use the Allen & Heath Mix Wizard 16:2. Works great.

Hint- I use the MAIN outs to send a "push" mix to an external CDR recorder while the tracking is happening. Analog out of the pre into two more channels on the Mix Wizard.
 
the soundcards your mentioning have in's and outs, so could i get a good 4 input soundcard and combine it with my 8 input mixer to get a total of 12 recording tracks?
 
You put the mixer between the sources and the soundcard. In that case you mix the 8 tracks going in to the mixer down to 4 tracks which go into the soundcard.
That equals to: no, you won't get 12 recording tracks.
 
ok. if i bought something like the tascam us428, would that give me 8 ins? or if i got something like the yamaha us256 would that give me 6? it says that they are MIDI ins, and im not really sure of the difference between MIDI ins and regular
 
Giving a full explanation about what midi is would go a bit too far and there will be many others who can do that much better than I can. I hardly use it myself.
In the meantime, start searching at www.google.com, there must be a zillion sites about midi. (sorry, I don't have any bookmarked). But to answer your question: Midi is definately not suitable for recording audio signals.

The Tascam us428 can record no more than 2 tracks at once. The faders on the device are used to control the software.
The Yamaha doesn't ring a bell. Never heard of it.
 
midi will not record audio, it only records the notes that you play not the sound that comes from the notes.


for instance, if you set your keyboard to a particular sound (channel/bank/patch) midi enables you to record the notes and timing when you play. then once you get the performance the way you really want it in midi, you can record the audio output from your keyboard into your soundcard.
 
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