newbie here

[Sebastian23]

OK. here's my thing. I am in a 4 piece band. Drummer (me) Singer/rythem guitarist, base, and lead guitar. Now were looking to do some recording. What would we need need to do some digital recording. I have a nice laptop that's a p4 1.7 prcessor with 512 memory and a 40 gig hdd. We have a bunch of mic's and a mixing board and were going to try some analog recording but we would like to dabble in the digital relm. If using my laptop (besides software) what do you need to get the mic's running into the laptop? We wouldn't have a ton of cash to spend but could pitch in for some equipment. As for software I know there are a ton out there. Wich ones are more geared to the beginner that are powerful but wont take 5 years to learn.

Thanks!

 

[fivestar]

with a 4 piece band, you could get a 4 track interface for your laptop to record live, each person onto their own track. or you could get an 8 track to either track drums seperately (get more control over the sound in mixdown) or just give the drums more tracks when you record live (again, better control but not as much as tracking them individually).

all of this depends on the number of mics and the mixer you have. some more info on your current equipment would help out alot...

 

[Sebastian23]

Well here's what were going to try right now. We have a Tascam 38 8 track reel to reel (which were trying to figure out), like 16 or so channel mixer board, We have a bunch of different types of mics all nice. He has the 8 track run to the mixer and an amp that goes out through the monitors for playback. We got the playback to work but havn't gotten the recording part to work on the tascam. We were planning on tracking the drums first, I have a piece set. I have one mic for each kick, one for my rack toms, one for snare, one on the floor tom, 2 above me to pic up the cymbols. We want in the future to go digital so I was just wondering what we would need. I know there are a ton of different things and way's to go depending on how much scratch ya have.

Thanks for any input/advice/comments/ ya may have!

 

[minofifa]

yup the best way to go is to layer one instrument at a time (n my opinion anyways). What you will need is:

A sound card that can record at 24 bits and 96 khz. Depending on how you want to record the drums you have two options. One is you can get a sound card with 8 or so imputs AND get an 8 imput preamp. With this setup you can record each drum (kick, snare etc) to its own track.. teh advantages of this is that you get superiour control over the recording and you can edit each individually. The disadvantage is that buying a sound card and a preamp of such quality is Expensive. Also with this setup you would have to go firewire (PCI would be the best but not available on laptops). USB won't cut if when you record a lot of tracks at once. Your other option is to get a sound card with 2 imputs or so and mic your drums, run them though your mixer and then run your mixer signal to the sound card. This method is cheaper but you only get one drum track which makes it hard to edit.

Personnaly i would choose the 2nd options as i am on a budget like you. It will work good foryou if you get your mix right before you record. I would strongly suggest the m-audio audiophilie soundcard for this. chem em out at www.midiman.com . Another option would be the tascam us122. i have one fo these and it has not let me down. it is a bit cheaper but still good quality. it also has headphone outs, monitor outs, and direct monitoring and midi... very good for newcomers to homerecording.

OK... finally you will need software. I would suggest sonar 3 just because it is my favorite. Kindof hard to use though. To start out i would go with adobe audition (formerly known as cool edit pro). It is a great program which is easy to use and quite powerful. There really are many choices in software but those are my two favorites.

hope this gets you started at least.

 

[minofifa]

oh yeah... i mentioned that a sound card recording at 24/95 was essential. Well this is not true. CD quality is 16 bit and 44.1 khz so you make the call. some think that 24/96 is unnecessary.

 

[Sebastian23]

Thanks for all the info! So I take it the laptop may not work then. Not the end of the world seeing I have other pc's that I could set up for recording.

thanks again!

 

[minofifa]

oh no, sorry for misleading you, the lap top will definately work fine.... that is what i have been using for like 3 years. The only thing you may need to upgrade is the hard drive. Maybe you could get a dedicated 80 gig 7200 rpm external hard drive for your music only. it's a good idea to always keep your music projects on their own hard disk.

does your comp have firewire or usb 2.0? if so you are set to go. firewire is better but usb will still work unless you are planning on recording like 8 tracks at once. What OS do you have . actually by the specs of your computer is sounds the same as mine, i have a toshiba satelite, and it has always worked fine for me.

oh yeah, one more piece of gear i found surprisingly useful is a good set of headphones for tracking. I spent 100 on a pair of audio technica and they made a WORLD of difference. no bleed of sound which kept the tracks pure an they have phenomenal bass.

 

[minofifa]

oh no, sorry for misleading you, the lap top will definately work fine.... that is what i have been using for like 3 years. The only thing you may need to upgrade is the hard drive. Maybe you could get a dedicated 80 gig 7200 rpm external hard drive for your music only. it's a good idea to always keep your music projects on their own hard disk.

does your comp have firewire or usb 2.0? if so you are set to go. firewire is better but usb will still work unless you are planning on recording like 8 tracks at once. What OS do you have . actually by the specs of your computer is sounds the same as mine, i have a toshiba satelite, and it has always worked fine for me.

oh yeah, one more piece of gear i found surprisingly useful is a good set of headphones for tracking. I spent 100 on a pair of audio technica and they made a WORLD of difference. no bleed of sound which kept the tracks pure an they have phenomenal bass.