Need a little guidance...

  • Thread starter Thread starter Rednefjazz
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Rednefjazz

New member
(this will probably be a pretty big post, I have lots of questions)
I posted on here a few months back but I never accomplished anything and I guess I had a naive towards the entire recording process. So now feeling slightly more educated, a lot more motivated and far more appreciative of the enormous amount of effort that goes into the recording process I think it's time I try and get into some home recording for myself.

I'll try and briefly as possible fill you in on where I'm at.

I guess the best head start I have is my free macbook pro! I'm hopefully right in assuming they're a pretty good start for the basic home recordings.

My initial goal is to record my band at a decent quality but by no means am I expecting the worlds greatest quality, especially on my budget.

I have $1000 budget roughly. It's not a lot I know. but I think it should get me started.
I figured an 8 track interface will be able to record most of my band adequately(we usually just go with live recordings). usb or firewire though? Am I right in believing firewire is better but a little more pricey.
My guitar teacher/tech send he'll happily lend out his mics and cables to me. (he runs a proper studio so has pretty decent gear)
then I will need either a good pair of headphones or monitors but I think headphones might be the cheaper alternative and more practical in my situation. I dont have a that much room.
Then software: I have GB obviously but it's not the most sophisticated program. so do programs usually come for free with interfaces or at an additional cost? and what is probably one of the more user-friendly ones for beginners like me?
My guitar teacher can help me with the actual mixing and mastering process. but I only get half an hour a week with him so I prefer to focus on guitar stuff and educate myself on this stuff in my own time.

So I am pretty much on the right track? can anyone offer any different options or advice for starting out. thanks! (sorry about the long post)
looking forward to moving out of the newbie section eventually
 
Well one thing you need to figure out is how do you want to record your band, some people always want to record all at once for that 'live' feel or like albums which are often if not all the time recorded separate and added together. If you want the live method then you will need to spend more on a larger input interface or a usb mixer. As nice as it may seem to be able to borrow mics from your guitar teacher without having to buy them you will eventually realize you need your own so just one or two for the time would be a good idea. As for software most interfaces will come with a 'light' version of popular software seen as you will be on a Mac I would wait until someone else with a Mac responds as I don't use a Mac for my recording.
 
An eight channel interface is pretty versatile, and is probably a good compromise between money and functionality. Even if you may not be able to record everything live, you could at least do it in a couple of pases, e.g. instruments live first, then add vocals later.

The choice between USB and Firewire is up to you. I'm not sure of the capabilities of Mac stuff. However, there are pretty good multi-input USB interfaces around these days.

If your guitar teacher runs a studio and is happy to lend out gear, might he be willing to let you do the mixing on his monitoring system (specially if, as you say, he is going to help. That way you can use headphones to do the basic tracking.

tomanderson notes that most interfaces come with bundled software, and these are going to be okay for what you want. However, there is an unavoidable learning curve with all of them. "User-friendliness" is often in the eye of the beholder, and software recommendations are often less useful that you might think.
 
Am i allowed to post links to youtube on here?

I think we'll take the live approach to some degree. except for vocals and keys. But you think we will need more than 8 tracks for the band? I thought 3 or 4 on drums would be enough then one for each guitar and one for bass. I'm aware the more you mic up the drum kit the easier it is to get a better mix. so would a mic on the kick, snare and two overhanging ones be enough? I do plan on getting mics, but they won't be my absolute first purchase. I guess I'll see how far my money can get me with the interface.

thanks for your help.
 
Hope this helps...

I really think you should go and check out this series of articles which should be perfect for you.
So far there's info on multitrack equipment, desks, software, interfaces, monitoring, choosing a location and some stuff on mics (more to follow on this)
Let me know of any questions you have, and I'll make sure that they're answered as well as I can, send me a message or comment on the website as you are pretty much exactly the series' target audience.
Just so you know, coming up there will be more on how to get the best out of mics you already have access to, how to run a multitrack session, mic'ing up different instruments etc. etc. and then move on to mixing tips and all that jazz
I really hope it's helpful to you, especially given your budget which is good. If it's not, then pleeeease let me know what you're missing!

Andrew
 
Rednefjazz said:
Am i allowed to post links to youtube on here?

I think we'll take the live approach to some degree. except for vocals and keys. But you think we will need more than 8 tracks for the band? I thought 3 or 4 on drums would be enough then one for each guitar and one for bass. I'm aware the more you mic up the drum kit the easier it is to get a better mix. so would a mic on the kick, snare and two overhanging ones be enough? I do plan on getting mics, but they won't be my absolute first purchase. I guess I'll see how far my money can get me with the interface.
Click to expand...
I think that an 8 input interface will more than suffice you if you are recording two guitars, a bass and drums. Four mics for the drums should net you a decent sound, once you've placed them as you like them. Rami and other drummers here go the four mic route and the drum sounds they come up with are spacious, open and impressively, you can hear every ping, pop and pow. You can actually use less mics but four is good.
The fact that you will have an 8 input interface won't limit you to just 8 tracks, thinking overdubs and stuff here. But first things first, if the interface you buy doesn't come bundled with recording software, you can always try out Reaper which nets at about $40. It's legendary in these parts.
You seem to me to be on the right track. The more you get into it, the more you'll get into it and the more you'll get out of it.


I think you can post YouTube links. Many others here do.
 
ok, well I think I will look into a few of the eight track usb's out there. any recommendations? is anyone familiar with the zoom r16? that little unit intrigues me. R16 ... I was curious as to what it means by 8 in/ 2 out in regards to the interface component? does it mean it can send 8 signals to the computer and receive 2 back or does it mean it can plug in 8 channels and send 2, to the computer? Thanks for that site Andrew. it looks really helpful and I'll definitely keep checking back.
thanks everyone for all your help.
 
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