PART 1 of HELP ME RECORD: Choosing the Right Equipment

[jonhall5446]

by the way,

to the folks that are pros and do offer great advice, like bluebear,massive, and others the above does not apply.

 

[EddieRay]

Re: Re: PART 1 of HELP ME RECORD: Choosing the Right Equipment

Am I the only one who feels that statement's a bit incongruous?

Sorta like: I am going to be doing brain surgery over the weekend, but, hehe, the funny thing is I never went to medical school.

Nothing at all like that. If the DIY recording doesn't work out, no harm done. Not so with a brain operation.

ForeverBlind, how soon do you plan on starting the project? I think you should go ahead and do exactly what you've planned out. The learning curve may take longer than you suspect. Many of the questions you asked will have to be worked out on your own - in order to determine what sounds best. Spend some time here searching and listening. Most importantly, don't rent anything until you're actually ready to begin using it.

 

[ForeverBlind]

Thanks for the last few guys that replied.

The reason I want to record like this is because I want to learn. What am I going to learn going to a studio and having everyone do EVERYTHING for me? To me, that isn't the best way to learn. Is the stuff we record going to sound good? Probably not. Will it sound good the next time we try? Probably not. But it will get better. I do not want to go into the studio everytime I want to record something. The thought of recording at home intrigues me.

And buying the equipment:

I WILL buy equipment IF I enjoy the recording process. I don't wanna buy everything then realize I absolutely hate it. I wanna rent everything and see if recording at home is for me. I know I'm gonna get frustrated and want to quit during the recording time, but I can handle that.

And we ARE pretty well planned, I'd say. We are going to record 3-4 songs that we've been working on for 6 months - 1 year. We're not the kinda people that write a song and want to record it right away. We've changed so much in the songs and edited them to make them exactly what we want.

I've been reading MANY (MANY!) recording tips and tricks, how to's etc etc. so I have a pretty good idea of what needs to be done.

Remember, just because I may not know as much as most of you, doesn't mean I can't learn.

 

[teainthesahara]

Dude,
totally go for it! You sound like you have a well defined goal, and are very comfortable and confident with your level of risk taking. We all gotta start somewhere, regardless if it is an ideal situation for acheiving the 'best' sound. You may run into some fustration but big deal...if you got the right personality for it then its a challenge and not a dead end.

Something to consider: Instead of renting a mixer/power amp etc. for use with your computer, see if they have an "all-in-one" multracker for rent. Some of them (VF16/Yammaha) have the potential to simplify your set up, will provided enough preamps/inputs, have easy "tape-like" operation, and might reduce the learning curve to the most essential things (like picking and setting your mics). You will also avoid any PC problems that have been previously mentioned. You would also have the advantage of having each drum mic on a seperate track - a very good idea if your new to mixing/recording drums. However, i got bandmates who are not very computer savy at all, who learned cubase and were multrack recording (on a non-audio dedicated computer) within 3 days!


I wouldn't get that picky about the mics at this point - go to the microphone forums "FAQ" section - there is an excellent guide on their for choosing everything you want to record, from drums to guitars to vocals. Print the appropriate sections out and take it with you to the store. Since your really new at capturing the sounds, then it would probably help if the sounds themselves are the best they can be - RENT THE REAL AMPS!!!!! That's a subjective call, but uhmm...RENT THE REAL AMPS!!!! Especially if your a metal band!!

Just focus on the basics, use the mic FAQ and you should have alot of fun. Look for articles like this one:

http://www.itrstudio.com/4-track.html

Don't feel like you MUST rent compressors/EQ/Effects etc. etc. for this to work. If you go the all-in-one multitracker route, you can always save all your tracks when your done, then use your PC to do all that stuff.

Good luck

 

[tubesrawsom]

just get a few sm57's and a mixer, or a firewire port for the mics either way works fine and i don think u wanna spend so much
good luck

 

[artCROSS]

Is it imperative you record the EP now? I say you should just buy some equipment and learn how to use it to your needs, and then record the EP with the knowledge you've gained by fiddling around with it, searching on forums, etc. Plus, you'll have the equipment to record future albums, etc. With all those rental costs, you can get some decent equipment (new and used). I have a recording of my band using only one mic on everything doing it w/ an overdub/track by track basis. I will let you hear it if you want...it's not that great, but it's using only an mxlv67 (my first mic, and first recording experience). Your recording will sound much better if you have more than one mic, more equipment, etc. Don't let people discourage you from DIY. It is a lot of fun!

 

[odc311]

Behringer MX 3224X 24CH. W/FX$100.00
Shure SM 57/58$12.00
AKG Touring Pro (W D112/2 C1000. 4 F18's_$120.00
MIC Stand & Cord $4.00

Those would be the only things I would rent.

From there, you are still going to need some kind of studio monitors or a damn good set of headphones. Then, you need to buy a large diaphram condenser mic(ie Oktava MK-319, Shure KSM-44, etc.) for vox. These mics are a little more expensive, but trust me in the end you will be glad you spent the extra money.

After all that...it a matter of getting everything set up to go into your computer. I will try and make a diagram for you on how things should be set-up. So check back here in a day or two and I will have it up.