need some advice

P

Pygmy Coho

New member
I would like to be able to write/edit/record tracks on my computer at home (basically drums, bass, keys etc... ), then take dry tracks to a studio and upload them to their system. Then I'd like to record my guitar and vocals there and mix those tracks with the stuff that I recorded/wrote/edited at home. So I guess my question is, how do I do this being the ignorant moron that I am?

What software/ soundcard package would be good for me or is this not the way to go about this? Please keep in mind that I don't have a lot of money to spend so a good bang to buck ratio is important to me.

Here is what I currently have: intel celeron 566, 64 mb ram, 15 gig hard drive.

Thanks very much in advance for any help that you can give me!

Brian
 
....Here's some info.

First, If your going to be brining it in to a pro studio later I assume you want hight quality. Your computer is fine, deffinitely capable of running any programs out today, although you might consider upgrading to 256MB it helps alot apparently, the speed etc of your computer determins how far you can yake those programs, but for what your doing you should be able to accomplish what you want.

There are many software programs out today that will do what you want fairly cheap, but the only concern I would have would be that most studio's use standard equipment/software so I think it would be best to have something that is more widespread, and have more chance of being compatible... I'm not to sure about this though..

I'm gonna stop here becasue I don't feel to confortable giving advice that I'm sure someone could do much better...
 
Pygmy,

First off a boost in ram like priz said, and maybe a dedicated hard drive for the audio depending on how many tracks you will be dealing with......

Soundcard and software will depend greatly on your input/output needs and sonic expectations (demo quality,commercial quality?)...and because you will be bringing the tracks to a pro studio, you will have to make sure you record in a format that they can accept.....

My question is why are you wanting to do vocals and guitar in the studio?....these can usually be done at home with very good results and little $$$....I could be wrong but every situation is different, but my advice would be to cut the drum tracks in the studio and do everything else at home.....to cut live drums, you will need some good mics and a small mixer and have a very good room to record them in....if you cut the drums in the studio, then all you need is one vocal mic, a sm57 mic, and one preamp to go along with the soundcard/computer setup...

Do you have any mics,preamps,mixers,etc already that could be used and if so, list them...also find out what kind of setup the local studios use and what type of files you would have to work with (.wav, protools??)....
 
Thanks for the replies guys. To answer your questions, gidge, my equipment at home pretty much comes down to a couple of mikes, my voice and a couple of guitars. I don't want to record any live instrumentation other than my guitar and my voice, only because that's all I have. I'd like to do everything else on the computer with midi/ synthesizers I guess. Like I said previously, my ignorance here is profound. I'll have to check with the studio about compatability. Basically I just need a general idea of what pieces of software and hardware I'll need to produce the drums, keys, bass etc... Also if there are specific programs or hardware out there that work particularly well for people in a similar application, if you can let me know what they are and give me an estimated price it would be much appreciated. I would like to get the highest quality stuff possible within a reasonable price range. Commercial quality preferrably, if I can afford it. It doesn't have to sound like the greatest stuff ever, but I don't want people to ask me what model keyboard I bought at kmart and when am I taking it back for a refund.

Thanks very much again guys! Keep the help coming, if you have time.
 
....programs

I've heard reason has one of the best drum simulations there is, infact the highlight of the whole program because it's so good...but those arn't in my words, since I havn't used it. Reason will do everything you want, except I would rewire it with another program to do vocals, compression and mastering. Reason is listed at 500, but I'm sure you could find it for 400 or less...?
Do you have any programs now...
If I was you I would just skip a studio all together and do it ALL yourself. How do you record vocals now, if you do...?
It also depends on how much your willing to spend, because a hundred dollar difference can go along way in the low price range of equipment, and as equipment/software gets more proffesional it starts leaping further between price ranges.
It also depends on if you plan to later use a set of real drums or have that capability... I don't know much about recording instruments so I can't help there... It's not all expensive though, you can get cheap software/hardware that is really good.
I personally don't think the difference between the prices is as far a gap in quality as the price is, and as people make it out to be... but if you want that extra step your gonna have to put forth quite a lot of extra cash. You might even be able to do what you want just downloading free software...
 
If you arent doing live drums Id do it all at home.....If I were you Id start with a Delta Audiophile soundcard($159) and Art Tube MP preamp ($99) and a Marshall mxl67v($169)....N-Track software($60)...Fruity Loops for drums($35)....for bass, Id suggest actually getting a real bass..I have an $120 Fender Squier Affinity and believe me, it will do more for your music than you would believe.....as far as keyboard sounds, Ill have to look into that.....

I hate to try and talk someone out of something they wanna do, but outside of drums, you can do everything else pretty darn good at a lot cheaper price and youll be learning as you go and the "studio" will be available to you "off the clock" so you can experiment as you wish with sounds......

What kind of budget are you looking at and what kind of mics are those that you have?.....
 
Thanks again for the help.

I have an sm57 and an sm58 as far as the mics go. My budget will probably be determined after the fact. If the stuff I need to do the job right costs 800 bucks-- then that is my budget. If it costs 1500, then that's my budget. I'll have to find a way to pay for stuff after I figure out what I need.

I have to agree with you about the bass thing. I used to play bass and I would like to record the bass live, but it isn't possible due to some wrist injuries. I'll have to do what I can with the computer stuff unfortunately.

I think that I will do some recording exclusively at home, but the studio I use offers some things that I can't duplicate at home. I was really happy with what he did on my last recordings.

I have a Boss DR 5 that I could use as a sound module I guess. How do I get that to interface with my computer?

What was the piece of Marshall equipment you mentioned?

Thanks again for the help!
 
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I would reccommend PT Free

I would reccommend Protools Free, from Digidesign, for recording software. I used it with a SB Live for a while and got decent results. you should be able to burn the session to disk, and take it to a professional studio, as (I'm told) Many studios use Protools. furthermore, PT free sessions can be imported into the full version of PT, but may not always be able to go bact to PTFree, bc of 8-track limitation
 
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