help on affordable recording equipment for guitar & vox please =)

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bertievj

New member
Hi there, I'm in a post hardcore/metalcore band. And me and my guitarist look on starting to record our own stuff...

I basically just want equipment to record vocals, and to record guitar... I'm looking to spend about $300..

I am looking for a usb device, because you can directly connect it,and it's not necesary for extra stuff,Is this unwise,and is the quality good?..

I looked around the internet and came across Samson G track.. It's a condensor microphone, and it has an instrument input as well..Anyone know what the quality of this is like,if so can you please please post a song which you recorded with this, and give me a link? =D

Any advice or help would be appreciated very very very much :) as i am looking to start recording in 2 months. I need as much info as possible, help please guys =) thankyou
 
im still totally new to this,will it be possible to use this set up? or are there other things i need too? ....and that stealthpedal, will it be possible to record guitar through there too?
 
bertievj said:
Hi there, I'm in a post hardcore/metalcore band. And me and my guitarist look on starting to record our own stuff...

I basically just want equipment to record vocals, and to record guitar... I'm looking to spend about $300..

I am looking for a usb device, because you can directly connect it,and it's not necesary for extra stuff,Is this unwise,and is the quality good?..

I looked around the internet and came across Samson G track.. It's a condensor microphone, and it has an instrument input as well..Anyone know what the quality of this is like,if so can you please please post a song which you recorded with this, and give me a link? =D

Any advice or help would be appreciated very very very much :) as i am looking to start recording in 2 months. I need as much info as possible, help please guys =) thankyou
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Hey man,

I've been recording for a while but never thought of putting any effort in to equipment. I generally just record demos with my band (nothing set for release) but we've come out with some great sounding stuff!

Now I know you want a usb input but still hear me out:

I have a Behringer mini mixer which is only 5 tracks (1 full eq track with jack input and xlr input and 2 stereo inputs with just panning and gain). I use this initially for backing tracks when we play live but I've hooked this up through line 6 guitar pods (which can also be used for vocals).

Now these are all audio inputs which I connect through my line-in on my computer without any noise but a bit of lag (no serious problem though!) however, you can always buy a usb audio interface and route it though that.

I've spent a total of about £100 on this ($250 approx). If you're wanting to record drums though, I strongly advise getting a larger desk but Behringer do make great desks at really cheap prices but they aren't recording desks as such - the one I have doesn't channel each input so I can't record seperate drum tracks but as we do just demos, I sample my drum parts through Reason and they sound great! Just need to sort out the machine gunning in places but again, they're just demos so no great loss :)

Hope this is any help, good luck!
 
Hi Truth movement, Thanks so much for the info! That sounds great..I'm not really familiar with guitar pods though, how does it work? lol sorry im a total noob =DD ..and yeah im also just gonna sample the drums,drum recording equipment & the noise and everything = too much complications. I'm gonna use EZ drummer.. uhm can you maybe post me a link of your bands stuff sothat i can check out the quality? =) thanks alot dude

And thanks Pandamonk =) I considered a presonus audiobox a few weeks ago as well.. Do you have anything that you have recorded with it? I basically just wanna hear the quality of everything now,which will ultimately help me decide on what I wanna get..

Thanks so much for the help guys =)
 
bertievj said:
Hi Truth movement, Thanks so much for the info! That sounds great..I'm not really familiar with guitar pods though, how does it work? lol sorry im a total noob =DD ..and yeah im also just gonna sample the drums,drum recording equipment & the noise and everything = too much complications. I'm gonna use EZ drummer.. uhm can you maybe post me a link of your bands stuff sothat i can check out the quality? =) thanks alot dude
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Hey bro,

Don't have anything ready just yet. Check out the line6 pocket pod which is what we have. It's pretty much plug and play - select your tone or make your own. We have that for the electric guitars and our bassists' line6 bass pod-xt which is really nice too and again, simply plug and play.

Haven't got round to vocals yet but by the sounds of things already, I don't think there will be any problem with recording them and thowing some compression on like I have in the past :)
 
Awesome,i'll go check it out thanks..But have you started recording though,sothat you can judge the sound? How would you say the quality is?
 
bertievj said:
Hi Truth movement, Thanks so much for the info! That sounds great..I'm not really familiar with guitar pods though, how does it work? lol sorry im a total noob =DD ..and yeah im also just gonna sample the drums,drum recording equipment & the noise and everything = too much complications. I'm gonna use EZ drummer.. uhm can you maybe post me a link of your bands stuff sothat i can check out the quality? =) thanks alot dude

And thanks Pandamonk =) I considered a presonus audiobox a few weeks ago as well.. Do you have anything that you have recorded with it? I basically just wanna hear the quality of everything now,which will ultimately help me decide on what I wanna get..

Thanks so much for the help guys =)
Click to expand...
I don't have the firepod/fp1 (it didn't suit my setup. I got the tascam fw1804 instead) but it is the most recommended interface on here. It is very well liked and would be tough to beat for quality (with equivalent i/o) at 5x that price!

Honestly, do a search of these forums and read what people have to say about it.

Imo, budget mics, monitors, acoustics, instrument and even untrained ears will let you down a long time before the firepod. Take this into account if you hear sample recordings. Someone with a lifetime of experience will get a lot more out of a budget setup than an beginner with a top of the range studio.
 
pandamonk said:
I don't have the firepod/fp1 (it didn't suit my setup. I got the tascam fw1804 instead) but it is the most recommended interface on here. It is very well liked and would be tough to beat for quality (with equivalent i/o) at 5x that price!

Honestly, do a search of these forums and read what people have to say about it.

Imo, budget mics, monitors, acoustics, instrument and even untrained ears will let you down a long time before the firepod. Take this into account if you hear sample recordings. Someone with a lifetime of experience will get a lot more out of a budget setup than an beginner with a top of the range studio.
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Thanks for the advice, perfect =) The Ik multimedia Stealth Pedal, have you had a look at that yet or not? It seems very decent..
It records at 48khz,lol if that makes any sense? :P
 
bertievj said:
Thanks for the advice, perfect =) The Ik multimedia Stealth Pedal, have you had a look at that yet or not? It seems very decent..
It records at 48khz,lol if that makes any sense? :P
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I've had a quick look and I doubt it compares to a dedicated audio interface. The fp10 records at up to 96kHz and others record at up to 192kHz, although, imo, 48kHz is enough. But that's just the converters. Far more important is the preamps, imo. The firepod had 8 really good (for the price) preamps.
 
pandamonk said:
I've had a quick look and I doubt it compares to a dedicated audio interface. The fp10 records at up to 96kHz and others record at up to 192kHz, although, imo, 48kHz is enough. But that's just the converters. Far more important is the preamps, imo. The firepod had 8 really good (for the price) preamps.
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Oh i see, Could you maybe explain how that setup would work? .. Say now I want to record lead, i would plug the device into my pc via usb, then my guitar into my guitar pedal,and my pedal straight into the device, and it will pick it up when i select it as the recording device on my software? .. Or how will the process go recording with a firepod?
 
truth_movement said:
Check out the line6 pocket pod which is what we have. It's pretty much plug and play - select your tone or make your own. We have that for the electric guitars and our bassists' line6 bass pod-xt which is really nice too and again, simply plug and play.
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ya good suggestion. ive heard great recordings from this.

you're gona need to rethink it on that budget tho cuz ive heard that the line 6 is good for instruments but not as much for vox.

another way of doing it is micing the amps. i use an SM57 up close. it would actually sound cool with a Metalcore band. thats how underoath did Define the great Line. it lets you get YOUR sound and all the little amp sounds you love.

just a thought. u can get that mic for 100 bucks or less. then get a nice preamp to handle it. then do vox with the same nice pre

you will need a diff mic of course
 
bertievj said:
Oh i see, Could you maybe explain how that setup would work? .. Say now I want to record lead, i would plug the device into my pc via usb, then my guitar into my guitar pedal,and my pedal straight into the device, and it will pick it up when i select it as the recording device on my software? .. Or how will the process go recording with a firepod?
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Well you could plug the guitar into your pedal and then into the instrument input(s) of the firepod. A better option, if you've got a decent amp, is to mic the amp. You can easily record a drum kit with the firepod if you want/need. It would be good enough to start you own studio if you wanted to. The firepod connects via firewire and the 8 inputs should appear in the input section of your software.
 
Hi there, sorry, haven't been on for a while. I think mic'ing the amps would be the best affordable option.. What exactly is the function of the Pre-amp? And if i'll be using a usb microphone - Samson Gm1u G track. Will it be necesary for a pre-amp? Sorry,but im totally new to this =)
 
bertievj said:
Hi there, sorry, haven't been on for a while. I think mic'ing the amps would be the best affordable option.. What exactly is the function of the Pre-amp? And if i'll be using a usb microphone - Samson Gm1u G track. Will it be necesary for a pre-amp? Sorry,but im totally new to this =)
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I wouldn't use a usb mic if I were you.

The preamp boosts the tiny signal from the microphone to an acceptable level, line level, for recording. This is an extremely important stage of recording and bad preamps will really discolour the sound. The fp10 has really good preamps for the money, but I can't imagine the G track would with so much stuff (mic, instrument inputs, preamps, ad/da converters/interface, mixer and headphone amp) crammed into such a little space. Also, with the G track, you have reached its limits from the beginning. With something like the fp10 you have 8in/outs, but this can be expanded up to 16 or 24in/outs if required (other interfaces may be different). You will be far better to get a dedicated interface and individual mics such as, the shure sm57, studio projects b1, etc.
 
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