looking to start

[napalm229]

Hello everyone....

I am fed up with trying to depend on others to help me...(well, except hopefully for you guys) and have decided to try to do my home recording myself. The problem is I haven't tried to do this since the days of the 4 track...and I was a young teen then, so you can just say that I have no experience.

I want to get started w/ some great equipment, and I have an idea as to what I am going to buy. I would like advice on what extras I will need, so I will try to give a detailed idea of what I want.

I am looking hard at the Mackie HD24/96..and one of the analog 8 bus mixers...what are the pros/ cons of digital/ analog in choosing mixers?

I own a Line 6 AX212 digital modeling amp, I love it, and have used it for a time....when I record my guitar tone, is there any way I can directly line in, or would I be better off just micing the amplifier?

I have to ask this if anyone knows...I will have to use a drum machine, because I simply don't know anyone who is able to perform the things that I want to play....I am looking for the best drum amchine that I can buy...hopefully for under $1500...and programmability/ versatility is a must. I don't want to be stuck w/ repetitive tracks w/ no fills..etc. I know that it is unrealistic to expect it to sound as good as a real durmmer...but I want as close as I can get.

What monitors should I get? I am looking at Mackies (hopefully under $500, but I will be felxible if it is worth it.)

I know this is a lot, and since I don't know much about this, it seems as if I may be getting in too fast...but I have waited for over 10 year to try to do this....I have around $5000 to spend right now, and I am able to get good deals on good merchandise..I jsut want to have the best I can to get started with.

I would really appreciate any help/ advice that anyone has to give me.....thanks for your help.

napalm229

 

[Massive Master]

I'm actually a fan of the Mackie HD unit... If you ever move to a DAW based setup, the HD kicks out standard WAV files via FTP to your DAW. I'm not "nuts" about the Mackie consoles, but they don't rot or anything... It's "mostly" the ear, not the gear.

Line 6 - Line, mic, BOTH, whatever sounds good for the tune. I'm a hardcore "record the dry signal also" type so I can run it through using different settings later. Wonderful for doubling, also.

Not a fan of Mackie's monitors, although I seem to be in a minority, at least on this forum. That being said, $500 is probably going to leave you around $900 short on a pair. Don't get the 6's...

Drum machines... Anyone?

John Scrip - www.massivemastering.com

 

[dwillis45]

Have you looked at the Alesis HD24 or the Fostex 2424LV. It's probably worth the research if you are considering the hard disk recorder route. I've read some good things about the A/D converters in the Alesis models and the Fostex is certainly a less expensive alternative. I think I've seen it priced as low as $1,200.

On drum machines: The Alesis SR16 is the old standby. It works well and for about $150 it's certainly inexpensive. Some of the drum samples are too heavily reverbed for my tastes, but there are some dry patches. The SR16 is also 16 versus 24 bit if that makes a difference. You might also take a look at the Boss Dr770. It usually gets mentioned in drum machine discussions.

Mixers: I'm no expert but I read that analog mixers offer a different character to mixes than their digital counterparts. The differences have a lot to do with how tracks are summed. According to my reading, analog mixers sum tracks using voltage while digital mixers rely on software algorithims. Different people feel differently about the character of the sound, but most people note some type of difference.

Monitors: The Mackie 824's get a lot of good press here and elsewhere. But, as mentioned above, they are fairly expensive (about $700 each). If you monitor budget is less than $500, you're probably looking at M-Audio, Yorkville, Alesis, Behringer, or Event. As your looking, keep in mind that room acoustics are vital to the way a monitor sounds. It probably doesn't make alot of sense to drop 1K on monitors unless you are going to treat you room.

 

[napalm229]

Thank you master, and dwillis for your help. I will DEFINITELY take all of these things in consideration. I am still in need of all the help I can get, so any more help would be greatly appreciated.

I plan on treating my basement for recording....but if I can get away w/ more direct recording routes, I will; to cut down on both noise and for sheer efficiency. When using my monitors for mixing purposes, does it matter about the size of the room? I hope that isn't too silly of a question.

Also, does anyone know about the Akai drum machine units? I have heard a lot of good about them.

Thanks for the suggestion about the monitors. I will save a little to get better quality...I know that it will take a lot of trial and error, I don't want to handicap myself by getting poor monitors.

BTW, I was curious....if you actually were able to record in Dolby 5.1 using that new software....am I right in assuming that you would need as many monitors....(5?)

Once again, thaks for the help, this has been great for those of us who are afraid to ask so many questions at the music store.

 

[Track Rat]

BTW, I was curious....if you actually were able to record in Dolby 5.1 using that new software....am I right in assuming that you would need as many monitors....(5?)

Yes

 

[grinder]

You'd be best off buying a cheaper drum machine, something in the $400 range and putting the rest of the money towards good monitors and sound treatment.

 

[dwillis45]

Two quick notes on the drum machine question. First, do a Google search for programing techniques or common mistakes made in programming. There are a bunch of tips for making the evil little box sound more human or realistic. Here is one article to get you started:

http://www.colomar.com/Shavano/drum_programming.html

Second, you might want to consider a software approach to solving your drum needs. If you can incorporate a computer into your setup, you have all kinds of opportunities to work with looping software and drum loops CD's. These basically take short recordings by real drummers and allow you to piece togther songs. It's easy and relatively cheap. Take a look at ACID software and maybe something like Discreet Drums or Drums on Demand.

 

[guido #2]

Blow off the HD recorder and drum machine and use that money to buy a computer, recording sftwre and looping sftwre (for drums).
All those HD recorders are, are computers that you cant do anything else with.
With a PC, you can record, burn CDs, send email, surf for porn, print CD labels, maintain your website.......
I just built a rack-mount AMD powered PC with DVD BURNER and 5.1 soundcard for $650 including the case.
Do yourself a favor and at least look into it

 

[TexRoadkill]

All those HD recorders are, are computers that you cant do anything else with.

But they are also computers that rarely (often never) crash, don't take 2 minutes to boot up, never have pops and clicks and are actually designed specifically for audio bandwidth. Home computers are great for editing and cheap for mixing but HDR's kick their ass for everything else. With an HDR you get 24 channels of analog I/O and with a computer that is very expensive.

There is an added expense for doing an HDR/board mix which is going to be in outboard processing and you will need a mastering deck. The Alesis Masterlink works great for that or get a good 2 channel sound card and master to the computer.

If you are going to mix on the board you will probably need at least 4-8 channels of compression and a couple fx boxes. RNC's are good comps and the TC Electronics M300 is a cool, cheap dual processor box so it functions as two seperate fx boxes.

I would recomend going to a real studio for the mixdown anyway if you are planning on doing any kind of commercial release. That way you can also invest more of you money on the front end and just getting a great sound to tape.

 

[guido #2]

Its just my 2 cents.
My computers rarely crash either and I've never heard pops or clicks in my recorded audio.
I have used the TASCAM HD recorder and have experienced sync and boot up trouble with it, not to mention it is difficult to navigate.
Just my 2 cents.

 

[napalm229]

Wow....ok, thakns a lot... I wll definitely look into this stuff.

The drum machines concern me because I will be doing a lot of very heavy istumental oriented stuff....along the lines of such groups as Dream Theater and fast death metal/grindcore stuff like Napalm Death. A lot of my more commercial stuff will not be as much of a challenge to arrange. But the odd metered stuff will be, as well as placing fills, etc. which is why I was concerned about versatility with the interface, sound...etc.

I will take all tis into consideration, and will start researching the sites and stuff you all have mentioned to me. Like I said before, I really appreciate all the advice given here.

Any more help is still appreciated..

Thanks
Napalm229

 

[Dyson Steel]

4 tracks ???

The ones with the hole in the cartridge? Mounted under the dash of your 62 Falcon?





Am I loosing it or what?

D

 

[napalm229]

 

[napalm229]

BTW:

Anyone have any knowledge about the LinPlug RMIV drum sequencer program? Looking into that one....looks pretty good to me...but how difficult is it to transfer the drum tracks I piece together from the PC to a HD unit? )