from practice hall to computer screen

  • Thread starter Thread starter seanb26_6060=47
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seanb26_6060=47

New member
Looking for advice-
Want to do simple recording- single track- at rehersal and bring home. Also want to be able to do simple 4 track recording at home. Looking to purchase computer, mp3 recorder etc... to do this. What eqt do you suggest and how is this done? Budget around 1,800. Looking only to document ideas to bring back to the group and listen to in the car.

Thanks for helpin' a new brother out.
Sean
 
There are a zillion options - all depends on what's most important to you. Here are a couple:

1) I'd buy a good tape deck and a cheap mixer (if you want) and leave it at your rehearsal space. Leave this setup for recording rehearsals. If this is just "scratchpad" stuff for getting ideas/parts down, there's no reason to spend a bundle

2) You could buy a little cassette porta-studio at Mars for home recording (about 200-300 bones)
--or--

You could spend $700 on a computer, $400 on software, and another $400 on a good sound card. This would give you the most flexibility and the best quality, but a steep learning curve
--or--

You could buy a "workstation" recorder without the computer (like a Roland VS-880). Prices vary, but it'd be cheaper than a computer and a bit easier to learn.

Do a bit of research and see what you think would work best for you. If you plan on expanding your setup in the near future, I'd go the PC route. A couple of addages to purchase by...

"Buy cheap, buy twice"
"You get what you pay for"

...and don't forget..

"Look both ways before you cross the street"
"Don't take any wooden nickels"
"Waiter, there's a fly in my soup"
"Hey, who turned off all the lights?"
"It was that last drink that did me in"

Good luck!

Sean
 
Get a cheap minidisk recorder under $100 (ebay has god deals on refurbs with 30 day warranties) for rehearsal recordings. For a sound card, you can do multitrack recording one or two tracks at a time into n-track ($40) using an inexpensive soundcard like the Soundblaster Live or Ensoniq/Creative Labs AudioPCI (both are real cheap - $30 for the AudioPCI). If you want to record four tracks at a time, get a Turtle Beach Santa Cruz card ($80). Take the hundreds of $ you didn't spend and buy good mics or decent monitors for playback. For somebody just starting out, the above mentioned lowball items will give you great sound while allowing upgrades later if you want to start obessesing on gear rather than music.
 
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