General tips etc.

[goldfish]

Okay, ill list the kit which i think is appropriate:

Studer 10 channel (mono) 3 channel (High Level , probably stereo?) 4 Stereo ins. 4 subgroups, 2 onboard compression modules, 2 auxes and a meter bridge and a TB Studio box with monitor selector and headphone out.

PC, AMD Athlon XP 2000+... 256MB ram yada yada... SBLive! card (yeah, i know this is a bit crap but its all i can get my hands on)

Maybe another packard bell PoS with AC'97 sound, if its absoulutley required

Denon "Precision Audio" Tape deck..

Yamha SPX-90 (keyboard effects and/or guitar effects...)

a Yamaha A100 power amp for monitoring, some okay Kenwood speakers

All the mics will be Sennheiser, depends exactly what models are available at the time but probably a couple of BF 509's, MD441 and MD421 (for kick probably)

As far as software goes, Cool Edit Pro2 (woo, i love that piece of software) Cakewalk 9, Sonic Foundry Sound Forge 6..

Now, my question IS is there anything im missing (appart from cables of course ) and should i try and find a decent reverb rack module, or compressor, or will I be fine with what cool edit / cakewalk has?

And is there also a PC based metronome anybody knows of i can give my drummer... as his current one is crap (inconsistant) ...

Sorry for boring you with such a long first post!

fishy

 

[eeldip]

hey, where did you get that studer? can i have it when you are done?

and why only sennheiser mics? very strange... very strange indeed.

lets see there seems to be something missing here... that is that you can only record two tracks at a time. you might want to pick something up that can do at least 4.

especially for drums. not that you cant do it with 2 inputs... but it makes it harder.


there are plenty of ways to convince a computer to give you a metronome. doesnt cakewalk or cool edit have one built in? if not, just sequence a drum machine kind of thing... and play with that.

or dont use one! why the metronome? you dont need one. are you recording rock music? usually sounds better without a metronomic beat... you should be speeding up for choruses and slowing down for verses for example....

 

[TexRoadkill]

or dont use one! why the metronome? you dont need one. are you recording rock music? usually sounds better without a metronomic beat... you should be speeding up for choruses and slowing down for verses for example....

It's generally considered bad form to change tempo in the middle of a song but I guess to each his own.

An easy way to setup a metronome is to record a click and repeat paste it to each beat.

 

[goldfish]

hmm, thats a good point, but you havnt heard our drummer, have you he needs serious guidance, but i have other ideas where that comes from

And the studer i inherited it from a large comapny. Its my baby now its a little boshed up from 15 years of work, but its good. some of the lables are missing, so i have to go round putting tones through stuff to try and work out what things are! oh the fun!

Oh yes and what can i record more than 2 tracks at a time with? i do have 2 inputs on my card (line in and a mic in which you can turn off the 20dB boost...) but i dunno if i can use them both simultaneously (sp??). Know a better card i could use?

And also im on a REALLY tight budget!

Thanks for the words, guys

 

[Bulls Hit]

Don't think you'll be able to record from both line & mic in simultaneously.

Next step up would be something like an MAudio Delta44 card which gives you 4 ins

 

[Son of Mixerman]

It's generally considered bad form to change tempo in the middle of a song but I guess to each his own.

An easy way to setup a metronome is to record a click and repeat paste it to each beat.

What???? Hang on I hafta get Metallica on the phone!


and another 1/2 million nu metalists while Im at it! LOL


I have an electronic metro that I record with a mic, then I stop the tape...change the metro and hit record again, works Ok, its only metal right

SoMm

 

[eeldip]

not just metal but most non-electronic rock has tempo changes.

small ones. but they are there...



anyway, have your drummer play along with scratch guitar tracks if he has problems...

 

[goldfish]

forgive my ignorance.. scratch guitar tracks?

and i can appriciate that rock generally should sound more natural, and not quite as precise and ordered as the electronic veriety, but this particular drummer has a habit of doing ludicrously complicated solos which spook the rest of the band and they go out of time. The idea of getting him to play with a metronome is to help him help the others keep the rhythm, whilst being crazee...

God, the guy things hes Mike Portnoy or somtin, but what he doesnt realise that Mike is near beat perfect, and he isnt...

 

[Neil Ogilvie]

With kit like that your definatly going to want a better soundcard - its your weakest link in the recording chain.

You can pick up a Delta 44 for about £160 in the UK. I got my 1010lt imported for a little over £210, but it was a lot of hassle. You can get them in the UK for about £270 usually. I would very very strongly recomend upgrading your soundcard.

Oh yeah, and as for the two channels, you need a stereo splitter cable to acces the left and right channels of the Line-in.

If your sticking with only Sennheisers you could checkout the evolution series - they are top class mics and whoop the SM 5x's by a mile.

A scratch track would be where you track the entire band playing (or a section of the band playing) in time, then the drummer plays his more complicated stuff over this, leaving you with a selection of drum tracks where the drumming is relativly in time but more complicated than a simple beat.

Hope I've helped.....

 

[goldfish]

ahhh, scratch tracks!! Thats what i was intending to do, i just dont call em that!

Evolution eh? i think i may have to take some for a test drive Only reason i use the SM5x is because its easy to get my hands on.. but i shall have to investigate!

As for the sound card... ive started a thread (which hopefully will get moved oops) about it. So hopefully ill be able to get that sorted.. and hopefully get some sort of a discount while im at it!

 

[goldfish]

mm, im liking the look and sound of the evolution mics... i doubt ill be able to "borrow" all the ones i would like, but ill try a couple out.. buut knowing Sennheiser they will be massivley expensive and the parts/spares will be very, very overpriced.