New Member, Hi Everybody, listing my cheap gear... suggestions please!

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peterpain

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Hi, I guess I didn't put together my gear thinking about great quality recording, just for recording, and always under a minimum budget, I mean, my monitors are 10" kustom stage monitors, I guess I could list my gear, not a very long list....

mmmm ok let's start with...??? ok, mics...

I have 2 mics only and no not shure 57 and 58....


Digital Reference DR-LVX2 discontinued...
Behringer XM8500 cheaper but I find it good.

Mixer a small behringer Xenyx 802

Behringer Firewire FCA-202 Interface

Pyramid ZPA100 Amp

Kustom 10" stage monitors

Yamaha DTXpressII drumkit.

Yamaha White Electric Guitar RGX-A2

Ibanez Black Electric Guitar ART100

Ibanez Black Mikro Short Scale Bass

Seagull Acoustic S12 12-String guitar.

Palmer Classical Guitar

Digital Effects Digitech RP50 for guitar and BP50 for bass, a CM-2 Metal II by Danelectro and other cheaper pedals.. I have no bass or guitar amps, I plug the digitechs directly to the mixer.

oh and some Sony cheap hedphones.

Use my laptop through the FW port with Adobe Audition. Thinking of trying out audacity and see how it works.

If you had a very low budget, lets say 300USD, what would you add to this to make it a better recording setup?
 
aye..better monitoring, no reason why the rest wont do as a starting point at all

maybe look for a set of used Rokit RP6's or RP8's for that price
 
Well, the suggestions of better monitors may be on-song, but I did notice that his OP fairly screams "BUDGET!" You can do fine with a decent pair of old-school hi-fi speakers, until you can afford something better. How cheap, but how good, you ask? Well, last summer, we used a pair of Klipsch 2-way w/ passive radiators home hi-fi speakers to mix down the rock-n-roll summer camp bands we recorded- used those to save wear and tear on the better monitors he had. At the end of the three weeks, David (my son and recording engineer) wouldn't let me have 'em back, and they became his second-reference monitors for good. Oh, I paid $10 for 'em at a garage sale.
 
You're using stage monitors for recording, and you spent $350 on software? :confused:
 
I use my trusty old Cerwin Vega RE-30 Imperial Star Destroyer speakers as studio monitors, and I get tons more compliments on my mixes now than I ever got when I was using "real" monitors.

You might have spent $60 bucks for Reaper instead of $300 and some on Audition. Then you would have a couple three hundred in your pocket for something like Superior Drummer or Izotope Ozone, perhaps.....maybe some nice studio headphones?

Just saw the drum kit...... are you a drummer? What is your primary instrument?
 
I use my trusty old Cerwin Vega RE-30 Imperial Star Destroyer speakers as studio monitors, and I get tons more compliments on my mixes now than I ever got when I was using "real" monitors.

At least your CV's are hi-fi's! Cheap stage monitors suck horrible ass at reproducing music in pretty much any way. I'd mix on a boom-box over Kustom 10" stage monitors.
 
You're using stage monitors for recording, and you spent $350 on software? :confused:

A friend gave it to me, he had bought it along with some version of pro tools and never used either... so he gave me the cheapest he had.
 
At least your CV's are hi-fi's! Cheap stage monitors suck horrible ass at reproducing music in pretty much any way. I'd mix on a boom-box over Kustom 10" stage monitors.

I guess at first I thought more about jamming in my "music room" than recording still, I paid 100USD for the pair of kustoms stage monitors and 70USD on the pyramid amp...
 
Just saw the drum kit...... are you a drummer? What is your primary instrument?

I started out playing guitar, and I have to say that's my primary instrument, but when I decided that I was not extraordinary as just a guitar player I thought to myself I'd be a lot more satisfied writing a whole song and play guitar, bass and drums, I'm still learning, and of all my abilities the one I have to work on the most is recording and mixing then drumming LOL
 
Well, the suggestions of better monitors may be on-song, but I did notice that his OP fairly screams "BUDGET!" You can do fine with a decent pair of old-school hi-fi speakers, until you can afford something better. How cheap, but how good, you ask? Well, last summer, we used a pair of Klipsch 2-way w/ passive radiators home hi-fi speakers to mix down the rock-n-roll summer camp bands we recorded- used those to save wear and tear on the better monitors he had. At the end of the three weeks, David (my son and recording engineer) wouldn't let me have 'em back, and they became his second-reference monitors for good. Oh, I paid $10 for 'em at a garage sale.

Indeed BUDGET!!, thanks, you give me something to look for to start right now, and I may get a better set of monitors eventually.
 
A friend gave it to me, he had bought it along with some version of pro tools and never used either... so he gave me the cheapest he had.

Sounds like a cool friend! Does he have any monitors? :p Try and save up for an actual set of monitors if you can, man, and definitely go used to save some cash. Even some KRK RP5's would work great.
 
Look for a pair of Behringer's inexpensive 2031A powered monitors.
 
I saw these for 200USD the pair at musiciansfriend M-Audio Studiophile BX5A Deluxe Limited Edition, they come in red which is something I don't give a damn about, and I read that they go for $100 cheaper than the same model in black... Has anybody tried these?
 
I'd hold out for better. Go used if you have to / save more if you can -- This is easily the most important part of your entire rig...
 
Ya know, I bought nice monitors and good mics and stuff like that before I ever had a computer. But people listening didn't really comment on any great improvements in the sound *quality* -- or more precisely, on the quality of the music --- until after I started using a real bass instead of a keyboard synth bass, and started using EZ Drummer and Superior Drummer instead of finger pecking out midi drum machine tracks. It dawned on me that low-fi music thru stage monitors (I used to have a pair of JBL's I mixed with!) that sounds realistic is way more enjoyable to the listeners than hi-fi music thru Event monitors that sounds like electronic robots trying to imitate realistic music.

Give priority to whatever makes the music sound more real, the quality mixes can come later. Use a real bass, use EZ Drummer, use a real piano, recruit a real sax player, etc.etc.etc...... even the most tone deaf non-musician can hear the difference between a synth and a sax, between a drum machine and a recording of a human drummer (whether it's a recording of a human drummer or software that plays recordings of human drummers like EZ Drummer does!).
 
OT, personally I prefer synth Bass to real bass. And my primary instrument is bass. Then again I also prefer drum machines to a busy drummer - I don't need a metronome with an attitude. GrooveMonkey & a DM5 gets me by. Each to their own.
 
Monitors for sure.

On a budget......consider used. Craigslist can be your friend. Considered "entry level" but, I just picked up a set of used M-Audio AV40 monitors for $65. Entry level gear but, that's where I'm at......entry level.
 
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