good newbie setup?

  • Thread starter Thread starter Josh[ua]
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Josh[ua]

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hey guys im new to this forum and ive been trying to search for some good info on recording gear.
im looking for a simple setup so that i can record:
guitar, bass, drums, piano, and vocals

drums is the most important recording issue. this is the main focus so it would be awesome if i could get a few opinions on the gear that i have and the stuff that i would like to purchase. Any tips on stuff to search and look up would be great too.

heres what i have come up with so far

My Computer:
Dell XPS
Creative SDAudigy [DF00]
1 gig ram
80gig hard drive
firewire/usb ports

Recording Equipment:
none as of right now

Setup im looking into purchasing:

Alesis MultiMix Firewire 8ch
(debated over the usb2.0 and this but i read that firewire should be used when using more than 2 channels.)

CAD PRO-7piece drum mic kit
(best bang for the buck?)

Recording Program - dont know yet

Budget:

pretty low dont want to spend more than 400 on everything. so hopefully i can get a good deal on these two items.


the multimix looks pretty good right now since i can get separate tracks. if anybody knows a mixer better than it for under 300 please tell me :)

my buddy wants to sell me his Carvin 6ch powered mixer for $150used. would that be a better route than the multimix?

:)
 
i have a firewire multimix and love it

the drum mics on the other hand i'd stay away from.
although i haven't used that set, must kits tend to not be very good.
your best bet would be to buy a few good mics used, instead of 7 crap mics.
 
If you're on a budget, the Cad Pro mics are just fine. I use em, and they're okay if everything else is right - like tuning and mic placement. You'll need to EQ them some, but no big deal.
 
Josh[ua] said:
the multimix looks pretty good right now since i can get separate tracks. if anybody knows a mixer better than it for under 300 please tell me :)

my buddy wants to sell me his Carvin 6ch powered mixer for $150used. would that be a better route than the multimix?

:)
Click to expand...

If Greg uses those mics, then they're good, his drums sounds great! Get the multimix, that's exactly what you need, a powered mixer is exactly what you dont.. A mixer will mix all your tracks down to stereo L/R, and you want to keep the tracks separate. And you certainly don't need the poweramp built into it.
 
And for a program, try Reaper...it's free to try with no limitations. I use Reaper with a Firepod and the CAD mic setup. It's workable even for me....:D
 
Don't fear the Reaper

I 2nd the Reaper recommendation. It's solid, works great, and gives you move control and functionality then you'll need...but it's nice to know that it'sthere. :D

www.reaper.fm.
 
Josh[ua] said:
hey guys im new to this forum and ive been trying to search for some good info on recording gear.
im looking for a simple setup so that i can record:
guitar, bass, drums, piano, and vocals

drums is the most important recording issue. this is the main focus so it would be awesome if i could get a few opinions on the gear that i have and the stuff that i would like to purchase. Any tips on stuff to search and look up would be great too.

heres what i have come up with so far

My Computer:
Dell XPS
Creative SDAudigy [DF00]
1 gig ram
80gig hard drive
firewire/usb ports

Recording Equipment:
none as of right now

Setup im looking into purchasing:

Alesis MultiMix Firewire 8ch
(debated over the usb2.0 and this but i read that firewire should be used when using more than 2 channels.)

CAD PRO-7piece drum mic kit
(best bang for the buck?)

Recording Program - dont know yet

Budget:

pretty low dont want to spend more than 400 on everything. so hopefully i can get a good deal on these two items.


the multimix looks pretty good right now since i can get separate tracks. if anybody knows a mixer better than it for under 300 please tell me :)

my buddy wants to sell me his Carvin 6ch powered mixer for $150used. would that be a better route than the multimix?

:)
Click to expand...

if you're interested in the cad drum pack, i have it, except it's 6 pieces (3 tom mics instead of 4). pm me if you're interested. i upgraded awhile back and i'm not using them anymore.

that aside, good luck! :)
 
My friend uses the CAD drum mics and they sound pretty good..they would be a good starter kit for you.
 
I have a Dell XPS laptop with an 80 gig HDD but upgraded the Ram to 2 gigs... Sounds like the same setup you have... (Latitude)?

The 4 pin firewire was/is a bit intermittant in regards to what equipment I could get it to work with... Some DV camcorders were fine, others were never recognized. For recording, the only Firewire interface I have attempted to use with it was a Presonus V-Fire to interface with my Roland 2480... Again, everything was hit & miss... Lotta drop-outs etc.

I also used an Audigy way back when I first got it and it did 'OK' as far as a sound card... Much better than the onboard SigmaTel which has WDM drivers only...

Before upgrading to my Dual Xeon DAW, I found that USB interfaces worked best for me with the XPS (M-Audio Quattro, Tascam US 122 and 428) but, since I have pretty much always tracked with a stand-alone multitrack, I've only mainly used it for mixing and never for any heavy-duty recording (drums).

Before going with any Firewire interface, I would definitely check around to see what kind of luck others have had using the XPS Firewire port... You might have to track down a TI chipset PCMCIA Firewire card...

And yes... Reaper would be a perfect software package and the CAD's are sufficient for the price. My guitar player uses them in his studio and gets some pretty great drum mixes.

Good luck and welcome to HR!

:)
 
I have to agree with everyone with Reaper being the best program for you. But as far as interface the Phonic Helix Firewire 12 is cheaper and just as good.
 
thanks for so much info! i havent been on in awhile haha so sorry for the late response. i looked into reaper and i think that will be the software that im going to go with.

Alesis MultiMix 8 FireWire $300
CAD PRO7 $170
4x Live Wire Microphone Cable $80
2x Mic Stands w/ Boom $30
my setup came out to be $578.93 :eek:

i have my doubts about the alesis firewire mixer now haha. is it really necessary to have the multimix feature when recording drums? can i just get a $150 behringer mixer and a new soundcard with rca inputs instead?

this is a really noob question but.. is rca inputs the way to go for recording?

thanks for all the help guys! this forum is awesome
 
Multi track interface v/s Powered Mixer

it is any day better to use a multi track audio interface over a powered mixer because it will give u separate channels of audio for each microphone whereas the mixer will mix the signal of all the microphones down to a stereo mix.

With separate tracks for every microphone u will have the ability to edit each drum sound..like add EQ,reverb,compression,etc individually.

With a stereo signal u will not have much flexibility and will not be able to do such things.

both ways are correct and will get the work done, but the multi track way will get it done in a better way.

so good luck with the recording..
enjoy..
and make sure u post ur music once its done..

Good Luck :D
 
It's over a year since the OP last said anything on this thread. Sometimes, I don't look at the dates and get really into a thread with the aim of contributing, only to discover it's years out of date !
 
tddrummer said:
My friend uses the CAD drum mics and they sound pretty good..they would be a good starter kit for you.
Click to expand...

You have to be really careful with CAD mics. Their quality is horribly uneven. For years I had a CAD kick mic and it was a great mic. It was damaged in a collapse in the studio and I bought another just like it to replace the one that was damaged and it was a total piece of junk (weak signal, highly colored, and not in a good way). I have a friend that purchased the CAD drum pack and had good success with it so I bought one too (it wasn't very expensive) and it was a complete waste of money. Beware.
 
Josh[ua] said:
the multimix looks pretty good right now since i can get separate tracks. if anybody knows a mixer better than it for under 300 please tell me :)

my buddy wants to sell me his Carvin 6ch powered mixer for $150used. would that be a better route than the multimix?

:)
Click to expand...

Tascam Us-1641.
i just got it and i love it.
usb 2.0
 
1 GB RAM is the bare minimum, the more the merrier.

That's on the low side, I'd want at least another 512 MB or 1 GB chip in there especially if you're doing as many tracks as you are.
 
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