Home Recording Setup

[phriq]

Hey Everyone,

I am starting to look into some new equiptment to expand my ability and get better sound with my home recording setup. Currently I use just a Sure Beta57a Mic into my Berringer mixer which then from the "tape out" goes right into the line-in of my PC. I use Adobe Audition for editing.

I am looking to wanting to get clearer, and as 'CD' like quality of sound as I can with only spending at most around 500. I have been looking at a few interfaces, the M-audio 410 Firewire and the M-Audio USB mini mbox. I also want to get some sort of midi controller that i can use to make drums.

what are some essentials that i should have? what am i missing? all advice would be extremely appreciated.

for samples of what my sound is like in my current setup, just visit my myspace page. www.myspace.com/christopherflitton

 

[TimOBrien]

My obligatory standard reply that I keep in Wordpad:

First off, immediately get a good beginner recording book (spend $20 before spending hundred$/thousand$) that shows you what you need to get started and how to hook everything up in your studio:
Home Recording for Musicians by Jeff Strong - $15
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/07...ce&n=283155&n=507846&s=books&v=glance
(Wish I'd had that when I started; would have saved me lots of money and time and grief)

Good Newbie guides that also explains all the basics:
http://www.tweakheadz.com/guide.htm
http://www.computermusic.co.uk/page/computermusic?entry=free_beginner_pdfs

21 Ways To Assemble a Recording Rig:
http://www.tweakheadz.com/rigs.htm

Also Good Info:
http://www.theprojectstudiohandbook.com/directory.htm

Other recording books:
http://musicbooksplus.com/home-recording-c-31.html


Plenty of software around to record for FREE to start out on:

Audacity: http://audacity.sourceforge.net (multi-track with VST support)

Wavosaur: http://www.wavosaur.com/ (a stereo audio file editor with VST support)

Kristal: http://www.kreatives.org/kristal/

Other freebies and shareware: www.hitsquad.com

Another great option is REAPER at http://www.cockos.com/reaper/
(It's $40 but runs for free until you get guilty enough to pay for it...)

Music Notation and MIDI recording: Melody Assistant ($20) and Harmony Assistant ($80) have the power of $600 notation packages - http://myriad-online.com
Demo you can try on the website.

And you can go out to any Barnes&Noble or Borders and pick up "Computer Music" magazine - they have a full studio suite in every issue's DVD, including sequencers, plugins and tons of audio samples. (November 2006 they gave away a full copy of SamplitudeV8SE worth $150, November 2007-on the racks Dec in the US- they're giving away SamplitudeV9SE. It pays to watch 'em for giveaways...)

 

[D_Vincent]

From reading these forums and other sites like tweakheadz for the past week or so I would say a decent preamp and a nice condensor mic is an essential ingredient to the beginning of a decent setup...of course this is after you buy an interface and recording software...also setting up a room to record seems important as well however I have not gotten into all of that yet.

this is the stage Im at...

What I have...

Computer
Recording software
Interface
musical instruments (guitar,ketboard ect}
Amp
Effects/effect pedals

What I need next...

Preamp
Condensor mic
--------------------<to be continued>--------------

 

[NYMorningstar]

I am looking to wanting to get clearer, and as 'CD' like quality of sound as I can with only spending at most around 500... what am i missing?... www.myspace.com/christopherflitton

I don't think it can be stressed enough that what you're missing is an audio education. In the end it's going to 90% dependant on your smarts that gets you to cd quality. You're looking at 4-6 years of study and that's closer to 6 if you're going at it alone. Good luck to you and welome to 'the' BBS!