I've got the equipment but not the know-how

[talkoncorners]

Hi all
I've built a new pc( 300mb RAM, 42 gig HD AND AMD 800 with a platinum soundcard) but have not idea how to make a good quality recording...I have a keyboard (yamaha psr640) and I want to use it to play bass and drum so I can then play the guitar and sing over the whole mix....I am using cubase and I connect everything though the live drive that came with my soundcard....I have tried pluging the keyboard but without any joy...I can hear a the keyboard but it is very low..Also when I play the certain instruments they sound different when played through cubase...Is there anyway I can get these sounds digitally realistic....
One other problem is that I don't know what to record voice...What type of mic and lead etc..I have a standard mic which I use in pubs but again the sound is extremly low and it doesn't pick up well.....

 

[talkoncorners]

I never got to finish that last one...Any way does anyone know what I need to do to amply these things and get better quality sound...I'm so eager to record


Thanks

Kevin

 

[unreal]

Hi,

First of all, if the keyboard sounds different through Cubase, it's because you've connected the MIDI out from the keyboard to the MIDI in on the Live! That means that it's the Live that's actually producing the sounds. If you want the sounds of the keyboard, connect the line out (or headphone out, if there's nothing else) to the line in on the Live. You might need a special lead to do this (style, stereo jack to phono...).
To record singing (as well as the keyboard, really) you need to get a mixer, if you haven't got one already, as the preamp integrated into the Live is of poor quality.
The choice of the mic depends really on how much you wish to invest, although I recommend something like a SM58, which is not too expensive.
If the record volume is very low, you should check the Windoz volume control panel: click on the little speaker next to the clock, select "Options", "Properties" and "Recording". Select the input sources you use ("Line input"...) in the little box, and when the mixer pops up, adjust the volume. Also adjust the playback volumes: I recommend putting all of them on full blast, to improuve the S/N ratio.

I like your PC with its 300MB memory, 800MHz processor and 42GB HD!!! You should be able to have quite a lot of fun with it...

As soon as you get anything recorded, don't hesitate to post it up here.

unreal