new to recording- need advice/help please

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mommama

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HI Everyone.

I have a somewhat unusual situation. I have Pro Tools LE/Digi 001 on my PC (256 MB RAM- 20 Gigs for recording on a seperate hard drive) and I want to record electric guitars only - using various sounds and multitracking techniques (recording one guitar at a time).

I use a VG-88 (amp simulations) which is supposed to be good (like a pod) for recording direct, but I will also be buying some Shure 57 mics to record the amp.

To get going on the project, I need to buy the following and would like some advice as to what brands-

A small, 4 channel mixer (good- but it doesn't have to be THE BEST)

some decent studio monitors (like above)

I'm going to buy an AudioBuddy for a preamp I think...........

I just need to get good, unmixed guitar tracks, then later it will be mixed at a professional studio. I want to do the recording and editing myself to save $$$.

Any help would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks

Kevin





want to record electric guitars only.
 
If your on at tight budget (the guys here are going to kill me for saying this but.....) some Rca Bookshelf monitors. They should be flat but check to make sure.

Everybody here loves the audio buddy, but don't your digi 001 have build it pres? If they don't, then an audio buddy would work.

behringer makes a good 4ch. mixer but like you said, It's NOT the best. Alot of people don't like behringer but me and another guy i know have been having good luck with them.

good luck.

Zeke
 
If you could tell us your total budget, it would help a lot with the recommendations.

You mentioned that you're only going to be recording one guitar at a time, so unless you need the 4 chan mixer for something else that you didn't mention, I would skip that and put more money into a quality preamp.

travis
 
I have the digi 001

I have the digi 001 and it's got two built in pres... they are pretty decent but I dont use them.. I use a 2 ch. joemeek pre amp and presonus...
a small 4 ch mixer which is GREAT is the mackie 1202 VLZ pro
 
HI again and thanks for the responses. Yes, I forgot to talk about budget. I'm willing to shell out $1,500 -$2000 for what I would need to record electric guitar in my home and get professional results (pre mix). Like I said, I have the Digi 001 bundle and a VG-88 amp simulator, and I'm getting some standard mics for recording my amp(s)

The problem is, I live in an apartment in Manhattan and I can't be playing with tubes on 10 all day long. I was hoping to be able to record more or less direct. I've tried it direct recording with the Digi 001 and the VG-88 but it just doesn't seem to work very well.
The sound is always puny no matter what the level meter reads and no matter how much I compress/limit the takes.

That's why I was thinking of getting good preamp/mixer and monitors. Is there any particular pre-amp people use with electric guitar to get a better direct sound? Is there any direct sound resources I should know about?

Thanks again

Kevin
 
In my arsenal, I like the POD of course, also the Johnson J Station is very cool. I still like my Tom Sholtz Rockman.:D For clean sounds I have a Hughes & Kettner BATT which is designed for bass but it kkicks ass with a electric 12 string.
 
I am quite happy with my Tannoy monitors, Crate GT80x Tube/SS combo, an SM58 (with the ball cap removed), an ART Tube Pre and a Digitech RP-100, which is a low budget amp simulator. My best results are tweaking the RP-100 to the amp sound I want, recording DI through the preamp, and combining that with a second track, only with the Crate miked, using the RP-100 as an effect pedal sent through the line in of the amp. The amp would be on its cleanest tube setting.

If I was living in an apartment I would look for a small tube amp that sounds good on low volume (you don't need to crank an amp to get good guitar sounds) and do exactly as I described above, only replacing the Crate with the smaller amp.

You stress that you exclusively want to record guitars with this setup. That's cool, but if you are planning on adding other instruments to them at a later time then you have it backwards: the guitars have to sit well with the mix of other instruments, regardless how they sound on their own. So in that case you will want to consider having backing tracks first.

Cy
 
If you're mic'ing cabs, you probably need 2 dynamics and a condenser. A good 2 channel preamp will be more use to you than a mixer. You'll mix in the computer. I find POD Pro useful, but I don't like the floor unit as much, I find them noisy. An apartment tip- take a line out the POD or whatever simulator you're using, and jack it into a powered monitor. Then mic the monitor into a clean preamp. The monitor will capture the amp and cab model accurately, and the speakers will *move air*, like a real cab.
You can do this effectively at volume levels no higher than a stereo, and your neighbors will not be harassing you (much).-Richie
 
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