I have roughly $800 to spend on recording equipment... suggestions

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RFrecordings

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I really didn't know where to post this, so if a mod could move this to the correct board, that would be great.

Ok, anyway, I have roughly $800 give or take a hundred to spend on recording equipment. I'm looking at buying a new mixer, compressor, pre-amp(s) for guitars and mics, set of drum mics, 4-6 space rack (for future possibly), and uh... I don't know what else.

I'm not sure if that's about everything I'll need. I allready have monitors, a PA system, and a computer that does just fine when it comes to my recordings now.

So basically... let's say you have a $1000 (to make it easy), monitors, a PA system and a computer. What other equipment do you buy (including mics), with $1000 and why is it neccesary. It doesn't matter what kind of interface you use to make it digital, but it has to be digital.

I want to get a basic, but good, mess around/home recording studio for my bands demos, other bands demos, stuff like that. It doesn't have to be super professional, but the sound needs to be pretty good.

Also, I have pretty good knowledge allready about sound, and recording techniques, so don't let that harness you from picking out something...


All help is greatly appreciated :D
 
I take it you're multi-tracking?

How many tracks?

You could go analog to digital using either a firewire or adat unit. You'd then do all the mixing within your Digital Audio Workstation assuming you have something like Cubase or Sonar installed.

$1000 ain't going to get you much though... not if you want to multi-track... not in my opinion anyways. Cables alone are going to take up at least a tenth of that even if you make them yourself.

Unless you intend to mix out of the box and just send two tracks to your DAW from your mixer. I've tried that and I was absolutely crap at it... much easier multi-tracking and then sitting at your PC to mix after the recording event.


good luck

andy
 
I really try to answer them, really I do, just because I've been there....BUT, it does get a bit old. The whole world is a mouse click away and people would still rather be spoonfed info.

That being said, its just my good hearted nature to try to help.

6
 
sixways said:
I really try to answer them, really I do, just because I've been there....BUT, it does get a bit old. The whole world is a mouse click away and people would still rather be spoonfed info.

That being said, its just my good hearted nature to try to help.

6
Click to expand...

Yeah, I felt that way 1500 posts ago too.
 
RFrecordings said:
I have roughly $800 give or take a hundred to spend on recording equipment.
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There's a saying

"If a trip around the world costs a nickel, I wouldn't get out of sight".

An $800 budget doesn't allow much room for purchasing power and will not get you very far if you plan on delving into digital recording. In and of itself a half way decent digital recorder will far exceed your budget of $800. In addition to purchasing a recorder you say that you also seek to purchase a mixer, compressor, preamps, and drum mics.

If $800 is your budget and you need a starting position I suggest you get a copy of the American Musical Supply catalog, or any other retail outlet, and study up on your options. You could begin with a basic 4 track tape or digital recorder, and (forgive me :rolleyes: ) a small Behringer mixer. An ART Tube Pac ($100) may meet your needs for a preamp/compressor.

Grab hold of a catalog (or two) and do some online searching to determine what you should purchase as a starting point.

Have fun with it! ;)
 
You won't get what you want, but...

For $800 you can have a kick-ass home studio, especially since you already have a computer and monitors. The other people who've posted so far make me think that they've either never really had a small budget or have forgotten what it's like. But they are right about one thing - you can't afford what you're asking for on your budget. So change your expectations.

DONT EVEN THINK about purchasing a mixer, recorder, compressor, etc. on your budget. You can do all of that on your computer. Get Sonar or ProTools. ProTools is the industry standard but it requires additional hardware that needs to be purchased. I can't say that I know anything about this myself, but I've heard it's possible to download a bootleg copy of Sonar. I don't encourage such illegal behavior, but I've heard people on a budget have done such things. I use Sonar and I've been very satisfied with it. I'm assuming you already own one of them since you mentioned computer recording. So my point is that if it aint broke don't fix it. I'll take Sonar or ProTools over a digital workstation any day of the week, as does virtually the entire recording industry.

Forget multitracking. I think there's a cheap version of ProTools with four tracks, but if memory serves me correctly that will eat up half your budget. So just learn to record one track at a time. It's not rocket science.

Look into T-Racks. It's a mastering suite with excellent compression and limiting for those of us on a budget. It's digital but sounds analog.

Forget recording drums. No way in hell you can do that on your budget, and if you figure out a way to do that then please tell because I'd really like to add that capability to my studio.

Get a good sound-card for your computer if you don't already have one. Creative Audigy sound-cards are kick-ass (and you won't need a pre-amp).

And of course get a good mic. I think you already knew that.

Good luck.
 
If you had $1500 you could get what you need at Musicians Friend. The Fostex VF160 can record 8 tracks at once. That's enough to mic a drum kit. I've even used 4 mics on drums and the other 4 on guitars, bass and vocals.
Fostex VF160ex package-$1100 (vf160ex, monitors, headphones, a couple of mics and stands and a few cables)
Nady DMK7 drum mic package-$180
On Stage mic stand package-$100
cables-$50
You won't get pro studio results, but you won't get that if you buy a bunch of computer shit any way. For $1500 you could get it started. Just download the vf160 manual pdf from the Fostex website and read it about a dozen times while you're waiting for your gear to arrive.
 
mharr552000 said:
You won't get pro studio results, but you won't get that if you buy a bunch of computer shit any way. QUOTE]

Nonsense. You won't get studio results on that budget no matter what equipment you're using. But anyone that tries to woo you away from computers is either blowing smoke up your ass or behind the times.

ProTools is aptly named. Pros use it. All of them. Every single school teaches it. Who the fuck is using workstations? Nobody that's making money.

Sonar isn't as good as ProTools, but you can learn to use it and cross over very easily to ProTools.

Why would you want to learn a technology that you'll eventually grow out of (workstations)? You'll never grow out of ProTools. Never.

I've done the workstation thing. It sucks. On your budget, PC recording is ABSOLUTELY the best way to go. And you can get very good results. I know many people who've done just that, on a limited budget just like yours.

Good luck.
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someotherdude said:
mharr552000 said:
You won't get pro studio results, but you won't get that if you buy a bunch of computer shit any way. QUOTE]

Nonsense. You won't get studio results on that budget no matter what equipment you're using. But anyone that tries to woo you away from computers is either blowing smoke up your ass or behind the times.

ProTools is aptly named. Pros use it. All of them. Every single school teaches it. Who the fuck is using workstations? Nobody that's making money.

Sonar isn't as good as ProTools, but you can learn to use it and cross over very easily to ProTools.

Why would you want to learn a technology that you'll eventually grow out of (workstations)? You'll never grow out of ProTools. Never.

I've done the workstation thing. It sucks. On your budget, PC recording is ABSOLUTELY the best way to go. And you can get very good results. I know many people who've done just that, on a limited budget just like yours.

Good luck.
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I like this guy.

6
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someotherdude said:
mharr552000 said:
You won't get pro studio results, but you won't get that if you buy a bunch of computer shit any way. QUOTE]

Nonsense. You won't get studio results on that budget no matter what equipment you're using. But anyone that tries to woo you away from computers is either blowing smoke up your ass or behind the times.

ProTools is aptly named. Pros use it. All of them. Every single school teaches it. Who the fuck is using workstations? Nobody that's making money.

Sonar isn't as good as ProTools, but you can learn to use it and cross over very easily to ProTools.

Why would you want to learn a technology that you'll eventually grow out of (workstations)? You'll never grow out of ProTools. Never.

I've done the workstation thing. It sucks. On your budget, PC recording is ABSOLUTELY the best way to go. And you can get very good results. I know many people who've done just that, on a limited budget just like yours.

Good luck.
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computer is the only way to go --- you can upgrade you comp cheap---buy a reasonable breakout box with good pre-amps --just figure on more money and getting better equipment as time goes on........
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The people upset about this question, please realize most of these posts are more about saying "hello, I am just starting out" than building a studio.
 
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