Newbie with $150, what to get?

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jester69

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Hi all,

Yesterday was my birthday & my girlfriend, bless her, got tired of me asking her how my guitar sounded & bought me a four track.

It is a tascam porta2 mkII.

Now, neither one of us know the first thing about recording, so i wanted to ask you guys if this was the best use of $150 for a beginning recording person. Basically i'm more interested in my guitars and vocals than recording, however i'm a somewhat reformed audiophile, and still have some gear that may or may not help me out here, heres what i've got to dedicate to recording, where should i spend my $$. (basically i'm looking for demo quality recordings, nothing too fancy but multitrack of some sort or fashion is a must, but it can be a rube goldberg fashion if that gets the job done.)

I shoudl mention my girlfriend is a 60's music record collecting anti-digital person so i cant really get something digital with her gift... I could but it'd go against her "beliefs" hehe.

Current equipment:
-Radio Shack microphone (a Shure model rebadged as RS, balanced output, metal case, i'll edit this later and add the model number)
-Sony 3 head tape deck
- Audio Research sp6a (stereo tube preamp, home fi high end)
- Audio research D52b (stereo 26 wpc power amp)
- A dual celeron 466 PC with no sound card (currently not in use, plan to use with band in a box for practicing/recording???)
-my guitar gear. (2 amps, 2 electrics & an acoustic.)
-a couple of really old reel to reel tape decks i inherited from my grandpa that i have never used but are there if i want to take them. (is it possible these have multitrack capabilities?)

Now, i'm thinking several ways:

One: Keep the 4 track & buy a nice mic & pre with my own $$
Two: get a mixing board, record straight to the sony stereo 3 head & or reel deck , and play that into the PC for mixing/multitracking.
Three: Use the gift money to get a good mic & pre (either a small mixing board with built in preamps or a discrete unit.) and either record to my sony 3 head stereo deck or direct to pc or ??

Basically, i'm so new at this that i didnt even know what to search the archives for...

thanks,

Jester (Steve)
 
pff.. so many options:)

I'd use the money on a decent mic, and if there's something left.. save it and maybe you can buy a good multitracker later.. or invest it in your pc..there are so many possibilities...
 
Probably a solid mic. The downside is that every new item you will discover you need will cost 150... then 300..... then a grand. And almost always, no matter what you pickup, you need 10 more things to really optimize it.
 
BrettB said:
pff.. so many options:)

I'd use the money on a decent mic, and if there's something left.. save it and maybe you can buy a good multitracker later.. or invest it in your pc..there are so many possibilities...
Click to expand...

That's exactly whats got me stumped, there are so many possibilities.

I went to the Music store today, and asked the guy there about the Tascam we got.

He basically said he'd keep it as its a good basic beginner recording setup, and maybe spend my own money on a good vocals mike like a Shure 58. I dont think he was too full of bs, as he was trying harder to avoid working than he was to sell me anything.

I was afraid i'd outgrow the 4 track pretty soon, but if it'll be something I can get some use out of for a number of months(years?), I think it'd make my girlfriend very happy to have picked something I'll keep and use (i/e im a picky bastard & hard to buy for.)

Any suggestions you all would have i'd love to hear, I'm all ears (er eyes, text doesnt normally make a sound)

take care,

Steve
 
Me, I'd take the $150, fly up to Montreal and get a nice slow lap dance from 2 lesbians. $150 goes a long way up there.
 
buy yourself some good reading material on home recording

i have some of the paul white and bill gibson books ive found them to be very helpfull knowledge will take you miles further then gear :)
 
4 Track

I think you will find that you will get more use out of the Tascam than you think. Ive had one of those for almost 4 years now, and even though I have a Multitrack setup using adats or should i say, an adat haha. I still find myself using the 4 track to throw down ideas and practice and stuff. Its great for those on the moment type things where you just want something down so you won't forget. Im a single guitarist in a band and I often use the 4 track to work out my lead parts and stuff. Simple stuff like that, also don't forget about the cool reverse sounds you can make by flipping a 4 track cassette haha.
Im not saying you will get a high quality recording out of the thing but if you get a descent mic, im sure you will find some use for the Tascam.
 
If you were recording drums and/or whole bands, you might find the four-track constricting. But it sounds like a great starter piece to do solo work and for teaching yourself recording basics. You may need one better mic like an SM57 or 58, but that's less than $100.
 
i didn't even know you could make a computer with two celerons! thats all i have to say.
 
When I was first starting out, yamaha had a four track tape recorder for around 280 i think. It had like 2.0% THD! Usually with power amps you shoot for 0.5% and studio recording gear 0.05% THD (total harmonic distortion; for those who don't know). My guess is the tascam in going to be in the above 1% range, due to the fact that its on tape. I would buy a descent mic, like an SM 58 or 57, and then save for a roland or yamaha digital track recorder. They're considerably more expensive, but will give you the room to expand, and the sound quality you will come to appreciate as you move forward in your recording experiences.
 
Ditch the 4 track. Buy yourself a pair of Shure SM57 microphones. ($140+tax)
Get that PC in order with a decent sound card, hone your multi-tracking/recording skills on it, then you'll have a better idea of which direction you want to go in the future.
 
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