I have $400 to start recording

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Tim_P

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I have around $400 to play with to start recording. My computer is plenty capable to do it but i'm not sure I want to use it. I would rather have a mixer/soundboard with 4 inputs, and add an external cd burner to it. I am only recording me singing and my guitar tracks. Can this be done for under 400.
Thanks
Newbie Tim
 
Yep....there are quite a few self-contained recorders that will do that. Go to Musicians' Friend website and look at recording gear. You can get 4-tracks for what you have and even less. Also, if you can go just a bit more....Fostex has some 8-tracks you can get for 5 or 600.
 
unfortunately probably not.... lets see what u need....

1) A tracker... that can go from 100 - 10000.... and since u say u plan to use an external cd burner that means ur tracker is going to be digital and will cost at LEAST $600 (not to mention the cost of the burner itself)

2) Monitors/Headphones.... u can get a decent pair of powered monitors for about 300 (M-Audio ones) if u don't wanna spend that u can go for the less expensive headphones (mine are sony dj remixing ones and kind of suck ass)

3) If ur recording urself playing guitar and sinigng at the same time u might want two mics... good mics to get are to shure 57, 58 which are instrument and vocal mics respectively...

4)Lastly if u want a burner those external suckers cost a lot... ur best best is to probably use ur pc.... I wanted to do the same thing u did when i started but that was because i had no idea of how to rig my pc to start recording.... now i couldnt live w/o it... with 400 bucks look into geting some pc based equipment...

~dn
 
I don't really agree with darknailblue....it is true that your quality will be limited but really it'll be as good as stuff 10 years ago that was twice as expensive. If you want to make record quality stuff....then there's no way. But if you just want to get started and have some fun and make some passibly decent recordings then you can.

I'm sitting here looking at a catalog and you can get multitrackers as low as $100. Fostex and Tascam both have cassette based rigs with 4-tracks for as low as $100 to about $350. boss had a digital system for $400 and I'm sure there are others. I recently saw a little Fostex that records to smartcards for $300 and it is 8-tracks total although you can only record on two at a time.

Now burners....that's a different story. The cheapest I've seen cd-burners (stand-alone audio models ) is around $300.

As for monitors.....hey, in a pinch you can use whatever headphones you have lying around. Or, for that matter, your stereo. You do have some kind of stereo don't you? Well you can use that.

Now please, lets not get bogged down with a bunch of postings about how this stuff is low-line stuff and you'd never use it. It's still a way to get started and I have some recordings I did with a bottom of the line Fostex cassette unit that you'd be surprised how good they sound. Certainly not as good as what I have these days but I've spent thousands. You have to start somewhere and this stuff will get you started.
 
I agree with the lieutenant. You CAN get started out on your limited budget, just understand that you won't be putting out studio-quality material. You can start off small and build up your equipment over time as your finances allow and your expertise grows.

But stay away from the $100 four-trackers, they are too limited in what they can do. For one thing, they can only record one track at a time.

If you have to be able to record four tracks at a time, the Tascam Portastudio 414 is probably your best bet at $250. To go digital, on your budget the Fostex MR-8 is proabably the best choice at $300. The Zoom MRS-4 is not bad either at $230. You will be limited to two track simultaneous recording. The Zoom only records at 32 KHz, versus CD quality 44.1 KHz for the Fostex. Also, you will need minimum 128 MB Smartmedia card for Zoom, as the 32 MB card included with the unit is not enough.

You can track using headphones or you can hook up to a home stereo system. That's not ideal, of course, but it will work.

Most importantly, have fun.
 
Well you didnt mention what you had already in terms of gear...
but you could get a used mackie mixer for aroumd 250, maybe less if you dont get the VLZ PRO version, although thats the one with the better mic pres. and then get an Audiophile 2496 sound card for 150.....Theres 400! heh course if you need mics and such that creates a problem.
 
$400 will be a stretch when you add in a mic/stand/cables/etc.,
but can be done if you spend your dollars wisely. Don't expect great results.
 
Well my father is a pastor of a church, so I get all the old stuff they throw away. The 2 mics I have are shule 58's. My guitars ( Taylor 710LTD, 814ce, 312ce, and 914ce) All have preamps on them, and sound great through one of my 4 amps. My computer has 2 Athlon MP 2100 cpu's, 1 gig DDR, Soundblaster Live Audiology, 32X LG CDRW. Is there a way to send my signal from a mixer into the computer, and use software to then "tweak" it and then record it on a CD?

Is there a way to just get a small cassette recorder, and put the signal from the mixer into the recorder and hit "record"?

Thanks.
Tim P
 
Since you already have some mics and a decent computer and OK sound card, what I'd do is go with software recording (n-track or something like that) and either a stand alone mic pre/D.I. or small mixer, depending on you needs. You could be tracking in that case for under $200 with a pretty powerful rig.
 
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