Help purchasing setup.

[Gloominati]

I am a musician/audio enthusiast/poor student interested in creating a small studio in my living room. I want to eventually be able to simultaneously record a band that consists of 2 vocalists, 2 guitarists, 2 bassists, 1 keyboardist, a drummer with a 5-peice kit, and perhaps a horn or violin player. I would also like to be able to record samplers/synthesizers/drum machines along with that, but I don't need to record that simultaneously. I would like to own all the instruments myself, currently I have the guitars and the bass guitars required, along with some 100 watt amplifiers for both instruments, in case I wanted to mic them. Other than that, I don't have any other instruments, and wanted to know what some good, very cheap choices on instruments I could make, that would still be useful to me much further down the road.

As for recording, the only peice of equipment I have is a Tascam MF-P01 4-track recorder, and I feel the need to upgrade my equipment, so that I can make higher quality recordings, with many more inputs. I wouldn't mind upgrading to another analog device, or even going digital.

I am currently only able to spend about 200 dollars a month on instruments and equipment, and would like to add more instruments and inputs as quickly as possible. I would appreciate any advice I can get, and would be glad to give any more requirements/specifications/information if needed.

Thank you,

Steven Alexander

 

[Stealthtech]

A digital 8 track would be nice...or perhaps go the PC route.

Cant help ya on instruments, although the cheaper they are usually means a cheaply built product.

 

[TexRoadkill]

For something like that a Mackie 8 buss and an Alesis HD24 would do the job decently.

 

[Gloominati]

For something like that a Mackie 8 buss and an Alesis HD24 would do the job decently.

That's some very nice (Although rather expensive) gear. I definitely plan on owning one of those Alesis HD24's in the future. Thanks.

 

[pennylink]

If I'm doing the math right, the entire band at once adds up to about 12-13 inputs... I'm not sure what people around here would recommend that has enough inputs to handle that, perhaps someone else can advise you on that.

In any case, since you can get interest-free credit for up to a year with many on-line vendors and music stores, it looks like you could have $2,400 available to spend tomorrow if you base that on your $200 per month budget x 12 months.

Recording:
I personally would go digital using multi-track software such as Cubase, Sonar, Pro Tools LE, etc. combined with a high-quality sound card (simply because it's more versatile as far as adding to or upgrading your set-up at a later time). This is especially the case if you already have a failrly recent PC, or at least a PIII/800... the faster the better. If you don't have one, you could be spending close to half your budget on a computer, in which case that may not be the best way for you to go. But assuming you do have a computer, you could then look at a variety of mixers that have enough inputs for your purpose.

Regardless of which way you go, you'll need a selection of microphones and a pair of monitors (the best you can afford). Headphones or hi-fi speakers are not suitable for accurate mixing.

Instruments:
Since you already have the guitars and bass, I would get a MIDI controller that would work with soft synths and/or soft samplers as plug-ins in the recording software. You could also use this method for programming drums. For horn and violin you're on your own.

I think it might be tough getting the whole ball of wax on your budget, but with some smart buying, getting some of the equipment used, and postponing purchasing equipment that's not crucial, you could definitely come up with a pretty cool studio and be up and running in a fairly short period of time.

Good luck!

 

[PoetSleep00]

I read this book called TapeOp in which home recording enthusiasts recorded their entire project using SM57's. I honestly don't knock this approah at all. Since you are working on a budget, you're going to have to consider whether or not you'd like to record all inputs at once, versus a piece at a time. If you are only recording one instrument at a time, then consider a MOTU 828 or a Delta 1010. Both offer a large number of inputs for a reasonable price and work well with most software on PC or MAC. They also allow your music to be converted into digital. At that point, you could sync Sonic Foundry's Acid or Soundforge to your pre recorded ensemble and add samples. Buy a sound library (bigfishaudio.com) too.

MY solution: Buy a couple Shure SM57's
MOTU 828 or Delta 1010
on a Mac or PC equipped with Soundforge.
also get a sound library cd,
and maybe a patchbay to make things easier.


If not. Buy a nice 2 Track reel to reel and record every instrument one at a time. It sounds simple but many have used it.