Getting Started

[CraddyPooster]

Okay I'm totally new to the recording process so any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Here's what I have to work with...

ALESIS 3630 COMPRESSOR RMS/PEAK DUAL CHANNEL COMPRESSOR LIMITER W/ GATE
ENSONIQ DP/4+ PARALLEL EFFECTS PROCESSOR
PIONEER VSX-D903S AUDIO/VIDEO STEREO RECIEVER
SHURE SM57 MICROPHONE
SHURE SM58 MICROPHONE
NUMARK DM950USB 2 CHANNEL MIXER
TECHNICS SL-1200 MK5 TURNTABLE
HAMMOND SOUNDER ORGAN
DEAN PLAYMATE EVO ELECTRIC GUITAR
PC:
CPU – AMD ATHLON 64 3200+ / 512KB CACHE / 1000 MHz (2000 MT/s) FSB / SOCKET 939
MOBO – ASUS A8S-X SiS SOCKET 939 ATX MOBO / AUDIO / PCI EXPRESS / GIGABIT LAN / S/PDIF / USB 2.0 / SERIAL ATA / RAID
HD – SEAGATE / 80 GB / 7200 / 8 MB / SATA-300 / OEM
RAM – 512 MB KIT (256 MB x2), 184-PIN DIMM
VGA – DIABLOTEK ATI RAGE XL / 8 MB SDRAM / PCI VGA
SOUNDCARD – AOPEN – AW840 – 4 CHANNEL PCI SOUNDCARD
DVD/CD – MEMOREX 3202392 16x DOUBLE LAYER DVD(+ –)RW IDE DRIVE
SOFTWARE – SONIC FOUNDRY ACID VERSION 1.0


Here's the idea...
I want to have the guitar, organ, turntable, and microphone all run through the effects processor and be able to record all the instruments on the computer (simultaneously or separately - doesnt matter) without having to swap cables around (unplug one thing to plug something else in). The organ, guitar, and effects processor take only 1/4 inch mic jacks. The turntable, mixer, and amp take only RCA jacks. Am I using the wrong kind of amp? Do I need to get an amp that takes both RCA and 1/4 inch mic jacks? Or would it be better for me to get a mixer that has like 5 channels and accepts both kind of jacks?

 

[rayc]

Is the amp to power your monitoring speakers or what?
What are you using to convert analogue to dofital?
Does the parallel processor colour the sound - are you sure you want everything to go through it?
Have you looked at RCA to 1/4" plug adaptors?
Does the mixer have an RIAA preamp in it?
You could buy a reasonable USB or firewire interface that'll take a variety of sources & do you conversions for you instead of always using the processor & still having to convert that signal.
You should search the forum for specifics.

 

[CraddyPooster]

Yeah Im not sure what alot of that means really.
The amp is for the monitors yes.
Coloring sounds and converting signals... not a clue, any suggestions?
Im not finding 'RIAA preamp' listed as one of the features of the mixer so my guess would be that it does not have one.
The interface thing sounds like the ticket but Im having trouble finding such a thing (that is one that has multiple RCA and 1/4 inch jack inputs and a usb output). Any idea where I might find one?