New guy, in need of some guidance and things to research upon.

[meticadpa]

Hello, I'm a first time poster, but it's not the first time I've visited here; I've often stopped by in search for reviews or opinions on specific things, and I've always enjoyed what I've seen.

I'm looking to get into home recording - nothing extravagant or studio-quality, but something good enough to pass off as being decent, as well as being cheap. I'll be recording my guitar and vocals primarily, and I may record some bass too. Any recordings (except vocals) will be taken from a mic'd amp preferably.

My budget, I think, is around £200 for a full setup - microphone, mixer, audio interface, whatever I need. I already have great headphones for mixing though - Shure SRH440; they're some of the most balanced headphones you can find, so they're naturally great for studio work.

Any input or guidance would be welcome.


Thanks.

 

[guitarplayr82]

At minimum you will need an audio interface, a mic, and a DAW. Go check out the "Mics Under $100" thread in the microphones section to get an idea of what would be a good mic for you. Most people here will recommend Reaper for a DAW because it's free for 30 days, is cross-platform, and there are a lot of people on this site that can help you with it. Some names to look up for an audio interface are M-Audio, PreSonus, Emu, Focusrite, and Edirol/Roland. There are plenty other interface brands out there, so you'll probably want to shop around to find the interface that's just right for you. Once you have found a setup that works for you, feel free to post it here and we can tell you if it looks good or if we would change some things. Good luck!

 

[Richard Monroe]

Yo meticadpa. Read this *massive* post. It's my best answer:

https://homerecording.com/bbs/showthread.php?p=3499541#post3499541

Good luck-Richie

 

[TimOBrien]

My obligatory standard reply-for-newbies that I keep in Wordpad so this is just a paste (I don't want to re-type this all the time):

First off, immediately get a good beginner recording book (spend $20 before spending hundred$/thousand$) that shows you what you need to get started and how to hook everything up in your studio:
Home Recording for Musicians by Jeff Strong - $15
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/04...mp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=0470385421
(Wish I'd had that when I started; would have saved me lots of money and time and grief)
You can also pick up this book in most any Borders or Barnes&Noble in the Music Books section!

Another good one is: Recording Guitar and Bass by Huw Price
http://www.amazon.com/Recording-Gui...=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1215734124&sr=1-1
(I got my copy at a place called Half-Price Books for $6!!)

And you can get a FREE subscription to TapeOp magazine at www.tapeop.com

Barnes&Noble or Borders are great places to start --- they have recording books and you can go get a snack or coffee and read them for FREE! Don't pass by a good recording book --- this is a VERY technical hobby and you REALLY want to start a reference library!!!

Good Newbie guides that also explains all the basics and have good tips:
http://www.tweakheadz.com/guide.htm
http://www.computermusic.co.uk/page/computermusic?entry=free_beginner_pdfs
http://www.harmony-central.com/articles/
http://www.gearslutz.com/board/tips-techniques/168409-tips-techniques.html

21 Ways To Assemble a Recording Rig: http://www.tweakheadz.com/rigs.htm

Also Good Info: http://www.theprojectstudiohandbook.com/directory.htm

Other recording books: http://musicbooksplus.com/home-recording-c-31.html

Still using a built-in soundcard?? Unfortunately, those are made with less than $1 worth of chips for beeps, boops and light gaming (not to mention cheapness for the manufacturer) and NOT quality music production.
#1 Rule of Recording: You MUST replace the built-in soundcard.
Here's a good guide and user-tested suggestions that work: http://www.tweakheadz.com/soundcards_for_the_home_studio.htm
(you'll want to bookmark and read through all of Tweak's Guide while you're there...)
Another good article: Choosing an audio interface - http://www.soundonsound.com/sos/sep08/articles/audiointerfaces.htm


Plenty of software around to record for FREE to start out on:

Sony ACID Express (free 10-track sequencer): http://www.acidplanet.com/downloads/xpress/
Audacity: http://audacity.sourceforge.net (multi-track with VST support)
Wavosaur: http://www.wavosaur.com/ (a stereo audio file editor with VST support)\
Kristal: http://www.kreatives.org/kristal/
Other freebies and shareware: www.hitsquad.com/smm

Another great option is REAPER at http://www.cockos.com/reaper/ (It's $50 but runs for free until you get guilty enough to pay for it...)
I use Reaper and highly reccomend it...

Music Notation and MIDI recording: Melody Assistant ($25) and Harmony Assistant ($80) have the power of $600 notation packages - http://myriad-online.com
Demo you can try on the website.

And you can go out to any Barnes&Noble or Borders and pick up "Computer Music" magazine - they have a full FREE studio suite in every issue's DVD, including sequencers, plugins and tons of audio samples. (November 2006 they gave away a full copy of SamplitudeV8SE worth $150, November 2007-on the racks Dec in the US- they gave away SamplitudeV9SE and July 2009 issue they put out Samplitude10SE. FREE. It pays to watch 'em for giveaways...)

'Give a man a fish and he'll eat for a day, teach a man to fish and he'll eat forever...'

 

[meticadpa]

Thank you guys so much!

I've got a lot of reading to do, so I better get to it before I feel I'm ready to make an informed decision on what to buy.

I already have a decent-enough DAC - a Musiland Monitor 02 - but I'm guessing that there's no way to use this in the process at all.

My computer, too, is more than sufficiently powerful (with its i7 at 4.5GHz) to handle anything, so there's something less to worry about.