General Question

  • Thread starter Thread starter scottl
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scottl

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Hello all-
A friend and I want to start recording on his home PC. We're doing it for shits and giggles, but would like to make it a weekly thing. right now we have two acoustic guitars and thats it =).

I was told to get a cheap sound card and a mic that can plug into it, then to get some sort of recording program that will do all the pans and reverbs and whatever else we want to do.

Does anyone have any suggestions on the type of equiptment we should get? We dont want to go over board on price, and would be happy working with a budget of around $400 (being the most).

Thanks!
Scott
 
Reply from myself

I found some interesting pieces of hardware. Are any of these things worth buying?

SamAsh.com

1. M-Audio
Fast Track USB Audio Interface
(MFASTTRAC)

2. Samson
C01U Cardioid USB Condenser Microphone
(SC01USBXX)
 
It depends how you want to record really, live or overdubs or a bit of both? And it depends on the quality you're after, I wouldn't recommend going direct with the guitars if you want a halfway decent acoustic guitar sound.

M Audio do some OK stuff but I don't have experience with that unit. The microphone you mentioned (I'll come to that) is a condensor so would need phantom power which the M Audio fast track doesn't have.

The presonus inpsire (about $200) might fit the bill if you have firewire (which is preferrable to USB for recording anyway). PCI firewire cards are pretty cheap if you have a spare PCI slot anyway.

http://www.presonus.com/inspire1394.html

Two mic ins with +48v phantom power (direct ins also but like I said I wouldn't use those for acoustic guitar) and it comes with some pretty decent software (notably Cubase LE).

If you were happy sitting around one mic and just recording live then you might be able to get something similar but with fewer ins (and so cheaper).

I bought one of those samson mics a few years ago and I never used it, it's a pretty crappy sounding mic, very brittle.

I'd recommend a multi pattern mic so you can set it to figure 8, sit opposite each other and record on the fly. Or you could set it to cardioid (unidirectional) to record overdubs. The studio projects B3 would set you back around $200 so you'd have to save up a bit more for a stand and cables.

Just a few ideas.
 
scottl said:
I found some interesting pieces of hardware. Are any of these things worth buying?

SamAsh.com

1. M-Audio
Fast Track USB Audio Interface
(MFASTTRAC)

2. Samson
C01U Cardioid USB Condenser Microphone
(SC01USBXX)
Click to expand...

Don't touch USB for audio. Especially don't touch USB mics....

Buy yourself a decent FireWire card (with a TI chipset), a FireWire audio interface, and a decent mic.

1. FireWire card

TI FireWire Cards

2. FireWire audio interface:

I don't have any experience with the Inspire that somebody else suggested, but it is probably reasonable as an entry level FW audio interface. FIREBOX also frequently comes up, and M-Audio has a bunch of low price FireWire interfaces, too.

3. Mic

Studio Projects B1 comes highly recommended for voice. For acoustic guitar, a matched pair of MSH-1Os, though the MSH-4 might be an interesting choice as well.
 
Yeah, ditto on the Studio Projects B3. And firewire. You might check out a trusty ol' M-Audio Firewire 410. They run $400 new, but you can probably get away with one on eBay for a little under $200.

As far as mics go, i've also heard good things about the Rode NT1-A. I believe they go for $200 new, but I do believe i saw one go on ebay for $101 the other day.
 
Good info above, listen to it.

Don't go TOOOOO cheap at first, or you will spend all your time wondering why everything sounds so damn bad all the time, you will hate everyhtignand waste all your money. Don;t expect your recordings to sound great at first, your room will probabaly stink it up and then you will discover a ton of other gear and skills you need, then it gets fun (and expensive).


Daav
 
Whoever told you to get a "cheap soundcard and a mic that can plug into it" gave you some really bad advice. Cheap soundcards are for playing games, not for recording music. Cheap mics are what you give the kids to play with, so they will leave your good ones alone. A mic plugged directly into a soundcard (soundblaster or something similar) will not be likely to give you anything more than you could get from a cassette recorder.
For learning the basics of digi recording you can download trial and free versions of several software programs. Audacity is a free downloadable multi track recorder/mixer which is fairly reliable and easy to learn to use, it should be enough for "shits and giggles" recordings.
Recording can be as simple or as complex as you want or need it to be. Better gear does not assure better recordings, but it will make it a lot easier to get decent recordings. Get the best you can afford and take the time to learn to use it. I've heard some decent recordings which were done with a pretty limited set up. Knowing how to use whatever gear you have is a big part of how good or bad your recordings will sound.
 
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