New Beginner Home Recording Studio

[Dhavalp]

Hi,

Just starting out, read various articles online and I have decided to use the following things to get me going.

Shopping Trip 1:

1. Laptop Computer (Toshiba A100 Running 64bit Vista, 4GB RAM, 2.00GHz Core 2 Duo)

2. DAW: Fl Studio 8

3. Audio Interface: M-Audio Fast Track Pro 4x4 Mobile USB Audio/MIDI Interface with Preamps

4. Vocals Mic: Shure SM58LC

5. 15 Foot XLR Cable


Shopping Trip 2 (not for a while):

6. Guitar Mic: don't think I have enough bucks to buy one yet, but possibly later on I plan to buy a Shure SM57

7. Headphones: I have many crappy ones right now, but I plan to get some decent over the head ones

8. Speakers: Going to have to stick to Laptop speakers for right now.. but


Any other additions, or suggestions on what I should change? I am planning to do the first shopping trip in mid December. Any input/advice/suggestions/comments are appreciated.

Thanks

 

[Jim Lad]

Naw!
Start recording now.
Plenty of time to jump into the money pit.
You'll love that Fast Track Pro.

 

[Dhavalp]

I have a Behringer guitar amp lying around somewhere, would it be possible to use that as a speaker?

 

[Bisson820]

eeeh.. i wouldnt if i were you. i'd invest on a decent pair of headphones... nothing fancy but a decent pair.

 

[Dhavalp]

Comparing the M-Audio Fast Track Pro to any of the Alesis interfaces... would Alesis mixers for a similar price be better?


I looked at some pictures and the Alesis interfaces look much nicer than the M-Audio Fast Track Pro.

Any advice?

 

[Bisson820]

i dont know a tremendous amount on either... all i know is im not a huge fan of m-audio.

however, looks can be decieving... whats important lies within.. i'd dive in and research them some more.

one thing that i always like.... stiff knobs... the feel of an interface is a big turn on or turn off for me.

 

[TeyshaBlue]

Comparing the M-Audio Fast Track Pro to any of the Alesis interfaces... would Alesis mixers for a similar price be better?


I looked at some pictures and the Alesis interfaces look much nicer than the M-Audio Fast Track Pro.

Any advice?

I think the M-Audio is probably more stable in Vista. I think Alesis is really having some driver issues with that OS.

FWIW, I'd download Reaper for free for my DAW software and spend the money saved on some decent monitors. You can pick up a pair of good, active nearfields for around $300. You're not going to be very happy with your set up if none of the mixes sound good when you're playing them somewhere else.
Nice laptop! I'm jealous.

 

[Dhavalp]

I think the M-Audio is probably more stable in Vista. I think Alesis is really having some driver issues with that OS.

FWIW, I'd download Reaper for free for my DAW software and spend the money saved on some decent monitors. You can pick up a pair of good, active nearfields for around $300. You're not going to be very happy with your set up if none of the mixes sound good when you're playing them somewhere else.
Nice laptop! I'm jealous.

I would love to add that to my list, but I am on a pretty tight budget and I don't think I will be able to add $300 active monitors to the list for a while.

Thanks I love my computer too.

 

[TeyshaBlue]

I would love to add that to my list, but I am on a pretty tight budget and I don't think I will be able to add $300 active monitors to the list for a while.

Thanks I love my computer too.

What are you paying for FL studio 8?

 

[Dhavalp]

What are you paying for FL studio 8?

I already have it, got it from a friend. It is an amazing program in my opinion.

Don't you guys think that my 100W behringer guitar amp will be pretty good replacement for the active monitors?

 

[vijsolo]

I already have it, got it from a friend. It is an amazing program in my opinion.

Don't you guys think that my 100W behringer guitar amp will be pretty good replacement for the active monitors?

This is a veeery bad idea!!!

Do you have any distortion stompbox?

Try to play with it connected to your computer speakers.

Do you like the sound? I guess not. Now plug the stombox to guitar amp. Do you hear the difference?

The thing is that the speaker of guitar amp is specially designed to cut all the "unwanted " frequencies. But this frequencies are unwanred only for goutar. Synths, vocals, hihats and cymbals have a lot of contribution from those frequencies. And with gutar speaker you will not be able to hear that.

Cheerz!!!

 

[Dhavalp]

This is a veeery bad idea!!!

Do you have any distortion stompbox?

Try to play with it connected to your computer speakers.

Do you like the sound? I guess not. Now plug the stombox to guitar amp. Do you hear the difference?

The thing is that the speaker of guitar amp is specially designed to cut all the "unwanted " frequencies. But this frequencies are unwanred only for goutar. Synths, vocals, hihats and cymbals have a lot of contribution from those frequencies. And with gutar speaker you will not be able to hear that.

Cheerz!!!

O alright, thanks for the advice.

My guitar amp has 2 inputs though. One is a CD Input which is for iPod/Computer and the other one is the Instrument Input.

I have tried watching movies on my laptop with that guitar speaker for the audio and it sounded pretty good.

The CD Input shouldn't cut out any frequencies right? since it is designed for computer inputs?

 

[Dhavalp]

http://cachepe.zzounds.com/media/qu...ront_top-7b621bded586f00df77be48a6cc712dc.jpg

My amp is similar to the one in the link

 

[TeyshaBlue]

I already have it, got it from a friend. It is an amazing program in my opinion.

Don't you guys think that my 100W behringer guitar amp will be pretty good replacement for the active monitors?

Oh, ok...I thought you were having to buy the program too! My bad. No money to be saved there.

Absolutely not. A guitar amp is not designed to recreate the full spectrum evenly and uncolored....in fact, most guitar amps are designed with the specific mission to color the sound....'s why Marshalls sound different than Vox or Fender..etc...etc.

You would be better served using some home speakers that you've listened to for awhile than a guitar amp!

 

[The Cancers]

Just to reiterate, DO NOT TRY TO MIX ON A GUITAR AMP!
Speakers you are familiar with are your best bet for right now.
If you have some old desktop computer speakers, plug those into the laptop - they're better (though only slightly) than the tiny laptop speakers. You won't be able to hear any of the bass frequencies trying to mix on laptop speakers (believe me, I've tried it).
Decent headphones are a good idea, but they aren't a replacement for monitors. They are a microscope - you use them to zoom in on the whole picture that the monitors give you.
If you can't afford them, you can't afford them, but whenever you can, monitors are one of your most important purchases. No matter how good something sounds on your headphones or your computer speakers, as soon as you burn it to a cd and take it to the car, you're going to hear things you didn't hear before, and it's most likely going to sound like crap. It's just the nature of the game.
You're on the right track. Start recording as soon as you can, and mix on anything that'll make sound. The only way to learn is to do. Just know that there's probably not anyone anywhere that can make a great sounding mix on a guitar amp.

 

[Dhavalp]

Thank you guys for the help so far, I really appreciate it.

I am reconsidering my audio interface..

I tried looking online but found very few articles on the Yamaha Audiogram 6. It looks really nice and is in a similar price range to the M-audio Fast Track Pro.

What would be better?

 

[The Cancers]

Better is a dirty word. You'll never get a definite right answer (because, especially in the lower price ranges, there isn't one), just votes for this interface or that. They're all about equally functional (at least, I assume they are). Thing is, few people have used all of them, so few people can give you a fair comparison of them (there's just no point in buying twenty or so 2-4 input usb interfaces except for the purposes of A/B comparison).
Here's a website.
http://www.silentway.com/tips/equip/io.php
I can't attest to the reliability of the information, but it appears to have pretty simply and fairly laid out almost all the interfaces you can get, organized by price and listing the specs and features.

 

[Dhavalp]

Do I need a mixer to work with my Audio Interface?

 

[Bisson820]

you should have a digital one within the software you have.

 

[vijsolo]

Do I need a mixer to work with my Audio Interface?

It depends if you want to mix outside software. Some people find it more convinient that mixing in DAW software (i like mixing with software). The other reason to have a hardware mixer is if you like the sound of the particular console (this is an issue only with expencieve mixers that really have THEIR OWN sound).

As I see from you previous posts you are on a tight budget. Believe me and the others who said this allready - BUY MONITORS!!! They are more important than the mixer.