Home Studio??

[SUMMiT@Home]

Hey there.

Couple questions...Im looking for the quickest, easiest, cheapest way to record multiple tracks on my computer. You know those little four track digital recorders like this one : http://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/PXR4/. I want to do what that will do except on my computer. I have a 500MHZ, 192mb ram, 16mb Aureal Audio Card (bare minmums - line in, line out, mic in, 10 pin serial) I have no idea if this will even be fast enough to run any program. I also have a Large Diaphragm Oktava mic, its the MK-319. Since it needs phantom power I bought a little four channel behringer mixer. My friend gave me SONAR to use for a while. Is this program to much for what Im trying to do? How should I hook up the mic to the computer and will I need a new audio card or computer? lol Maybe I should just get that little korg recorder. Let me know, thanks.

 

[baniak]

My question is: Do you need to record more than 1 track at a time into your computer?

If the answer is yes, then you need to get a multiple input soundcard such as this: http://www.m-audio.com/products/m-audio/delta44.php

Or this: http://www.aardvarkaudio.com/aasd-v1/products/2496-main.html

Or this: http://www.echoaudio.com/Products/Layla24/index.php

And a bunch of cables and software.

If the answer is no, then all you need to do is get two cables: to hook from your Behringer to your soundcard:

1 cable has to have a stereo 1/8" headphone jack (also called mini plug) on one end - this will plug into the line in of your computer, the other end will have two 1/4" plugs coming out of it in a "Y" split (usually one plug is red and the other gray or white) this will go into the Main Out of your mixer (the gray/white plug for Left and the plug for Right.) This will allow you to record.

Here is a picture of the cable: http://img.musiciansfriend.com/dbase/pics/products/33/333053.jpg

Optionally you might want to get a cable with a 1/8" headphone mini plug thingy on one end which will go into the line out on your sound card, and the other end will have a pair of RCA plugs which will go into the tape-in slots in your mixer... this will let you listen to the mix (alternately, you could just plug a pair of head phones into the line-out jack in your soundcard.)

This plug looks like this: http://img.musiciansfriend.com/dbase/pics/products/33/333055.jpg

Hope this helps.

Oh yeah: what are you trying to record? SONAR might be fine, but if you just need four tracks of audio maybe you could look at n-Track (which is cheap and doesn't need as much memory/ processor speed) or you could also get Cool Edit Pro.

 

[SUMMiT@Home]

I dont need to if Im gonna haveta spend 200-300$ on a soundcard. :-D Im recording my own bluegrass stuff. A lot like the group Nickel Creek if you have heard of them. I was thinking I could just get that Y-splitter to mini but I was wondering if I would lose any sound quality going to a mini jack. Also how do I get sonar to recognize the Mic-in on my audio card? So far I havent even gotten it to record from my cheap little radio shack mic. Maybe I should ask this one in the Cakewalk forum....
Also have you played with Cakewalks Home Studio? Would that be better for basic recording with few EFX or would sonar be better if Im gonna add EFX.

 

[baniak]

My guess is that SONAR or Cakewalk would be overkill for recording bluegrass, I'm pretty sure you wouldn't be adding a bunch of effects, besides reverb or EQ...

If you're using the Behringer, you shouldn't connect it to the Mic In of your soundcard for recording, only the line in.

However, if you have a windows machine (I just assumed, sorry if you have a Mac...) here's how you get it to recognize a specific jack for recording:

Go to "Settings" in the start menu, then click "Control Panel" then "Sounds and Multimedia" then click the volume button underneath "Sound Recording" heading... put a check underneath the Mic In box... or whatever jack you're recording under. You'll have to switch it back to Line In at some point.