New to this help is APPRECIATED

  • Thread starter Thread starter Surfbum4l
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Surfbum4l

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Im not to familiar with any of this home studio stuff, though I am an intelligent electronic savvy person and am looking for some help.

My wife is an amazing singer and musician but does not record any of her music. I want to get a decent set up for her to start recording her songs. I don't have the slightest idea where to start. All I have is a mac book pro and an empty room. What equipment (microphones...Ect) would I need to get started (low to medium budget) just simply recording vocals and an acoustic guitar.

Any help is greatly appreciated
 
 
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 - $16
Amazon.com: Home Recording For Musicians For Dummies (9780470385425): Jeff Strong: Books

PC Recording Studios for Dummies - $16
Amazon.com: PC Recording Studios For Dummies (9780764577079): Jeff Strong: Books
(Wish I'd had those 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!

Recording Guitar and Bass by Huw Price
Amazon.com: Recording Guitar and Bass: Getting a Great Sound Every Time You Record (9780879307301): Huw Price: Books
(I got my copy at a place called Half-Price Books for $6!!)

Home Recording for Beginners by Geoffrey Francis
Amazon.com: Home Recording for Beginners (9781598638813): Geoffrey Francis: Books

When you get a bit into it, I highly recomend The Art of Mixing by David Gibson
Amazon.com: The Art of Mixing: A Visual Guide to Recording, Engineering, and Production (9781931140454): David Gibson: Books

A MUST READ: Kim Lajoie's "Lifesigns from studio" - FREE - http://www.errepici.it/web/download/KLBD.asp

And you can get a FREE subscription to TapeOp magazine at Tape Op Magazine

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:
Tweak's Guide to the Home and Project Studio
Free beginner PDFs | Computer Music Magazine | MusicRadar.com
The #1 online community for musicians | Harmony Central
Tips & Techniques - Gearslutz.com

Guitar Amp Recording: Guitar Amp Recording

21 Ways To Assemble a Recording Rig: How to Configure a Recording Studio Rig

Other recording books: Music Books Plus - Home Recording

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: The Best Audio Interfaces for your Home Studio by TweakHeadz Lab
(you'll want to bookmark and read through all of Tweak's Guide while you're there...)

A great software option is REAPER at REAPER | Audio Production Without Limits
(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...
Myriad: Music Notation Software and much more... / Myriad : logiciels de musique, et bien plus...
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, December 2010 they gave away Samplitude11LE. FREE. It pays to watch 'em for giveaways...)

'Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime.'
 
Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day, give a fish a man and he can eat for like 2 months...
 
What kind of music is it that you want to record i.e. what instruments will she be playing and using?
 
I'd suggest that a few selections from Tim O'Brien's reading list would be the best place to start--far better to have some understanding of what you're trying to achieve before you spend money on a shopping list generated by some strangers on the net!

Bob
 
I've never used a mac but I thought they had some recording stuff built in?
 
kidkage said:
I've never used a mac but I thought they had some recording stuff built in?
Click to expand...

The macs come with garage band which is a DAW - AFAIK that's the only "built-in" thing.

I would get a small interface with 2-6 inputs ($100 - $300) and a couple of mics - one good vocal mic and a mic or two for the acoustic.
If your not doing professional recording you can get a good vocal mic for under $200 - and a Shure sm57 (<$100) for the guitar will work fine.

Spend an hour at the local Guitar Center or whatever big music store is close and check out their equipment - but before you buy it, check the web cause you can usually get a better price (or get them to price match)
 
The real question is if the WIFE is also electronics savvy and/or tech savvy. You might be better served with something like a Zoom H4n all in one deal. It's part of the reason I've gone the field recorder route. Push a button, it turns on. Push two more buttons and it starts recording. In a crunch pass it off to any old 5yo (or ditzy girlfriend) and they can get it going while not running the batteries down for no good reason. Getting them to actually point the mic(s) AT the group on the other hand...
 
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