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potthoff
New member
im new to this site and i have never tried any recording before. i don't know the first thing about how to record. i need to know what equipment i need and how it works. thanks for your help.
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bdwwashburn
New member
The equipment you need depends on your situation. Are you looking to record live shows, or one track at a time to a PC in a home studio?
Most likely, it will be the later to start. For that, you will need a fairly decent PC with a 2GHz or better processor and 1GB or more of RAM. And plenty of hard drive space for the wav files that most programs use. You will also need a pretty decent soundcard with a line in (which most have a 1/8 inch jack for this) or one of the USB/Firewire devices. You will also need a couple of dynamic microphones for recording instruments, one or two condensers, a preamp/and or mixer, stands, and cables. You will also need a monitoring system of some sort. You may be able to get away with using your PC speakers
Now, a lot of people are very opinionated about what brand of equipment to use. Don't let this sway you from buying something that works for you, and most importantly, what you can afford. You don't need to go out and buy a $400 condenser mic to start. Nady makes some very affordable mics that work pretty well. The same holds true for mixers and other gear. To start, it will take a pretty fair amount of cash to buy everything you need at once. Use some of your live gear (cables, mics, stands, a mixer) if you can to help with this. And don't be afraid to try some lower end stuff at first, just do your homework to make sure you are not getting a lemon.
I started with 2 tape decks, a couple of Radio Shack mics, and a 6 channel DJ mixer, a couple of 20 watt PAs and a pair of indoor/outdoor speakers. The whole set up cost me a few hundred dollars at the time. Over time I upgraded here and there, but today, you should be able to start off a little more advanced for about the same investment.
Most likely, it will be the later to start. For that, you will need a fairly decent PC with a 2GHz or better processor and 1GB or more of RAM. And plenty of hard drive space for the wav files that most programs use. You will also need a pretty decent soundcard with a line in (which most have a 1/8 inch jack for this) or one of the USB/Firewire devices. You will also need a couple of dynamic microphones for recording instruments, one or two condensers, a preamp/and or mixer, stands, and cables. You will also need a monitoring system of some sort. You may be able to get away with using your PC speakers
Now, a lot of people are very opinionated about what brand of equipment to use. Don't let this sway you from buying something that works for you, and most importantly, what you can afford. You don't need to go out and buy a $400 condenser mic to start. Nady makes some very affordable mics that work pretty well. The same holds true for mixers and other gear. To start, it will take a pretty fair amount of cash to buy everything you need at once. Use some of your live gear (cables, mics, stands, a mixer) if you can to help with this. And don't be afraid to try some lower end stuff at first, just do your homework to make sure you are not getting a lemon.
I started with 2 tape decks, a couple of Radio Shack mics, and a 6 channel DJ mixer, a couple of 20 watt PAs and a pair of indoor/outdoor speakers. The whole set up cost me a few hundred dollars at the time. Over time I upgraded here and there, but today, you should be able to start off a little more advanced for about the same investment.
therage!
Wicked Machine
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potthoff
New member
do i have to use a pc or are there any other ways to do it.
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bdwwashburn
New member
Well, you don't have to. You could always get a little 4 track unit. That would serve as your recording device and mixer. You would still need all of the other stuff though, mics, cables, etc. And you would still need a PC or CD burner to make CDs. Again, it depends on what you want to do, and your budget.
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billisa
New member
There are complete units that will do it all from recording to mastering to burning a CD... Excellent results. Fostex VF160. Korg D1600. Others...
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potthoff
New member
thanks every one you've been a lot of help
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billisa
New member
As your opinions start to crystallize into a buying mode, come back, because lots of people can give you a good steer no matter what path you decide to go with.
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isfahani
Disciple of Wong Jing
+ 1 on the korg d1600, they can be had used for the price of a new 4-track DAW )Digital Audio Workstation) and they are relatively easy to learn how to use.
Almy
Guitar Guy
One thing that would really help. What gear do you currently have? And what are you going to want to do?
Then we can start seeing a path.
Then we can start seeing a path.
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TimOBrien
New member
My obligatory standard reply that I keep in Wordpad:
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 - $15
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/07...ce&n=283155&n=507846&s=books&v=glance
(Wish I'd had that when I started; would have saved me lots of money and time and grief)
Good Newbie guides that also explains all the basics:
http://www.tweakheadz.com/guide.htm
http://www.computermusic.co.uk/page/computermusic?entry=free_beginner_pdfs
21 Ways To Assemble a Recording Rig:
http://www.tweakheadz.com/rigs.htm
Also Good Info:
http://www.theprojectstudiohandbook.com/directory.htm
Other recording books:
http://musicbooksplus.com/home-recording-c-31.html
Plenty of software around to record for FREE to start out on:
Audacity: http://audacity.sourceforge.net (multi-track with VST support)
Wavosaur: http://www.wavosaur.com/ (a stereo audio file editor with VST support)
Kristal: http://www.kreatives.org/kristal/
Other freebies and shareware: www.hitsquad.com
Another great option is REAPER at http://www.cockos.com/reaper/
(It's $40 but runs for free until you get guilty enough to pay for it...)
Music Notation and MIDI recording: Melody Assistant ($20) and Harmony Assistant ($80) have the power of $600 notation packages - http://myriad-online.com
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 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're giving away SamplitudeV9SE. It pays to watch 'em for giveaways...)
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 - $15
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/07...ce&n=283155&n=507846&s=books&v=glance
(Wish I'd had that when I started; would have saved me lots of money and time and grief)
Good Newbie guides that also explains all the basics:
http://www.tweakheadz.com/guide.htm
http://www.computermusic.co.uk/page/computermusic?entry=free_beginner_pdfs
21 Ways To Assemble a Recording Rig:
http://www.tweakheadz.com/rigs.htm
Also Good Info:
http://www.theprojectstudiohandbook.com/directory.htm
Other recording books:
http://musicbooksplus.com/home-recording-c-31.html
Plenty of software around to record for FREE to start out on:
Audacity: http://audacity.sourceforge.net (multi-track with VST support)
Wavosaur: http://www.wavosaur.com/ (a stereo audio file editor with VST support)
Kristal: http://www.kreatives.org/kristal/
Other freebies and shareware: www.hitsquad.com
Another great option is REAPER at http://www.cockos.com/reaper/
(It's $40 but runs for free until you get guilty enough to pay for it...)
Music Notation and MIDI recording: Melody Assistant ($20) and Harmony Assistant ($80) have the power of $600 notation packages - http://myriad-online.com
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 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're giving away SamplitudeV9SE. It pays to watch 'em for giveaways...)
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potthoff
New member
To Almy,
i have two basses a G&L and an ibanez and two acustic guitars
i have a 300 watt beringer bass amp. my brother will be getting a electic guitar soon.
i have a band 2 guitars, me on bass ,and one drummer.
we have a roland pa system. it has 5 inputs on the mixer and two 500 watt speakers.
i have two basses a G&L and an ibanez and two acustic guitars
i have a 300 watt beringer bass amp. my brother will be getting a electic guitar soon.
i have a band 2 guitars, me on bass ,and one drummer.
we have a roland pa system. it has 5 inputs on the mixer and two 500 watt speakers.