Newbie needs advice please

  • Thread starter Thread starter Long John
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Long John

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Hi, I'm getting interested in recording again after a gap of many years (and previous experience was limited to a 4-track cassette - yes, it's that long ago!). I find the massive range of possibilities now available really exciting but also very confusing.
What I want to do is to record both real instruments (guitars, sax, electric cello) and synthesised sounds. I am getting a MIDI controller keyboard (probably Kork MicroKey) for my birthday next week.
Software I already have: Cubase LE (came with a guitar FX unit) and Garritan Aria (came with my Akai EWI - electronic wind instrument).
Any advice on which way I should be heading would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks, Long John
 
That really depends on how far you want to go with recording. You will want to purchase a good interface (sound card) first. Tweak's Guide to the Home and Project Studio is a good start to heading you in the right direction. Reaper will be your cheapest 'real' DAW to get into tho if you are comfortable with your Cubase, the full versions of that are very stable as well, though costly.

Welcome to the addiction and enjoy the ride man! :D
 
Welcome to the site!

Since the question seems to be general, I'd like to give you some general advice from my experiences.
Looking back on when I started, I wish I would've taken the time to plan things out more (and think through my equipment choices as well... "this bass is nice...but a UA LA-610 MKII would be more useful" :p)

But yeah, just try to sit and plot things out.
Whether the order you want to track/write songs in, or what equipment you want to get, or which questions you need to ask
which brings me to my next piece of advice: anytime you run into something you dont understand remember that google is your friend. search the questions that you have, and if you cant find the answers there ask here :)

I also kind of wish I wouldve documented things. Took pictures or made some videos or whatever of my old recording setups, or a guitar before i ruined it by scalloping the fretboard, etc.

:drunk:
 
I'm curious kid, where do you reside? Do you just never sleep like me? lol
 
jimmys69 said:
I'm curious kid, where do you reside? Do you just never sleep like me? lol
Click to expand...

I'm in Mississippi :p
It's 5:06 AM... I probably should be sleeping but...
No matter how hard I try to go to sleep before daylight something always interferes. Either a lockup marathon on msnbc, or a tornado knocks out my power for 22 hours, OR i end up looking at the studio builds thread here on the site, etc.
:cool:
 
My problem is my espresso machine! It just keeps calling out to me.
 
kidkage said:
I'm in Mississippi :p
It's 5:06 AM... I probably should be sleeping but...
No matter how hard I try to go to sleep before daylight something always interferes. Either a lockup marathon on msnbc, or a tornado knocks out my power for 22 hours, OR i end up looking at the studio builds thread here on the site, etc.
:cool:
Click to expand...

Stay dry man. :)
 
Long John said:
Hi, I'm getting interested in recording again after a gap of many years (and previous experience was limited to a 4-track cassette - yes, it's that long ago!). I find the massive range of possibilities now available really exciting but also very confusing.
What I want to do is to record both real instruments (guitars, sax, electric cello) and synthesised sounds. I am getting a MIDI controller keyboard (probably Kork MicroKey) for my birthday next week.
Software I already have: Cubase LE (came with a guitar FX unit) and Garritan Aria (came with my Akai EWI - electronic wind instrument).
Any advice on which way I should be heading would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks, Long John
Click to expand...

If you're gonna play soft synths/samples you want the lowest latency possible for your computer interface. PCI is fastest, firewire next fastest, then USB. I recommend 4 in and 4 out for audio, and seperate MIDI I/O. ASIO drivers are fastest too, and MIDI-OX is a handy MIDI utility. Depending how far you want to get into it, a second hard drive for storing your audio and optimizing playback is a good move too. You'll also want as much RAM as your computer can run.

There are so many options available for interfaces it's kinda mind-numbing. If you're gonna use condensor mics you want phantom power and mic pres. These can be either built in to the interface or outboard.
 
Please note: I'm re-posting this as a new thread in the hope of more people seeing it and replying. Hope that's OK.

Thanks to everyone for their helpful replies to my vague newbie question. Thinking and planning carefully before buying anything is sound advice (pun intended, sorry!) and is what I'm now doing - so here are two more specific 'dumbo' questions:
1. Is an 'interface' the same as an 'external sound card'? I ask because I have just blown the dust off an M-Audio 'Mobile Pre' interface which I bought some time ago and only used a couple of times (to record electric guitar using Audacity). Would the Mobile Pre' function as a sound card or is that something different?
2. I also have, but have never used, a Boss BR600 recorder. I looked at it briefly when I first bought it and decided that its display was too tiny to use comfortably and that next time I wanted to record I'd probably use a computer, which I am now (at last!) planning to do. I was thinking of selling the BR600 but I read somewhere about using one in conjunction with a PC-based set-up. Any advice on that please?
Thanks again guys,
John
 
Last edited:
Long John said:
Please note: I'm re-posting this as a new thread in the hope of more people seeing it and replying. Hope that's OK.

Thanks to everyone for their helpful replies to my vague newbie question. Thinking and planning carefully before buying anything is sound advice (pun intended, sorry!) and is what I'm now doing - so here are two more specific 'dumbo' questions:
1. Is an 'interface' the same as an 'external sound card'? I ask because I have just blown the dust off an M-Audio 'Mobile Pre' interface which I bought some time ago and only used a couple of times (to record electric guitar using Audacity). Would the Mobile Pre' function as a sound card or is that something different?
2. I also have, but have never used, a Boss BR600 recorder. I looked at it briefly when I first bought it and decided that its display was too tiny to use comfortably and that next time I wanted to record I'd probably use a computer, which I am now (at last!) planning to do. I was thinking of selling the BR600 but I read somewhere about using one in conjunction with a PC-based set-up. Any advice on that please?
Thanks again guys,
John
Click to expand...

1. I believe so
2. You could track into the BR600 then edit/mix/whatever those tracks on your computer by importing them in there
 
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