from the beginer of all beginers in music recording

[pashdog]

i want to start recording a music cd at home for my rap group and other types of music. i don't know anything about recording. i talked to one of my friends and he told me that the pro use something called pro tools for like editing, and on the homereoding web page they talk about cakewalk. i have a 266 pentium acer laptop right now and want to know how to set up a mic a keyboard and reocrd using my computer i found a yamaha ystation2 i guess sound card it that what it is. help me to understand about beginning home recording

 

[sonusman]

Well pashdog, welcome to recording. You have a long road ahead if you are gonna try to get a nice sounding demo.

I do not BS to anybody on here. With that in mind.....

Ditch the laptop and get something up to date as far as a computer goes.

You are going to need as a minimum:

400mHz Celeron Processor
64MB of RAM (preferably PC-100 RAM)
A big hard drive, like 6GB or more.
At least a 4MB video card that you can disable 3D on. 8MB card would be better.
A quality soundcard. At least a Sound Blaster Live card. But that is the lowest end you would want to do a demo with.
Good software, like Cakewalk, Sound Forge, Samplitude, Cubase. If you are using a PC, you cannot use Pro Tools because it is a Mac based program. Digidesign does make some PC software, but it is not considered very good in comparison with some of the above mentioned.
A whole lot of patience.
And of course mics, preamps, cables, etc....to get the sound to the soundcard.

Good luck my friend.

Ed Rei
Echo Star Studio www.echostarstudio.com

 

[pashdog]

ok thats what i thought, i was told that there are alot of good music software for mac, would you suggest getting one or staying with a pc. what place would i go to buy this equipment software wise and preamps, mics, sound cards and what is a quality type of i guess it would be a disc at once CD-R. for home recording do i need to like build a sound proof room or can it be done it just like a quit place. thank you very much.

 

[monty]

Like sonusman says "you have a long road ahead". If you just want a demo maybe you should consider a local studio or an analog tape deck. If you are serious about doing some digital recording and have some time it may be best to get some books. Amazon.com, or Barnes and Noble, or Electronic Musician, or maybe your library. There is stuff on the web also. If you are starting from scratch with no prior recording experience, it's going to take some time and research. You came to the right place to begin.

 

[pashdog]

i don't know really what the advantages of doing digital recording and analog, which has better sound, capabilities and price. also i heard that digidesign was coming out with digi001 for pc in march so would that be better than cakewalk or cubase or which can i do more with, and which out of those would work best for producing like rap music with a few mic a drum machine and a keyboards, and alternative music with a base and eletric guitar.