Quality question.

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ShadowedSoul

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Hey all, new here. I'm hoping someone can help me out here and point me in the right direction..

I'm not all that sure as to what all I need to start recording onto my computer, but I do have what I believe to be almost all of it. I currently have a computer (obviously) studio quality mics, Mackie SR32-4 32 VLZ PRO 32 channel mixer, and an amp if necessary. I'm looking to record onto my computer. As you can tell, I'm a bit of a noob when it comes to recording, so if I could just get pointed in the right direction, it'd be appreciated. Thanks!
 
That is a big start! Have listened to some monitors for playback? what software do you plan on useing to work with your puter. and also you need a digtal inter face to connect from your board to your puter. You will also need a bunch of cables to hook it all up. Om top of that you will need a lava lamp to make it a real studio. Then of course you will need treat your room with maybr some bass traps, a couple of di-fussor to settle any frequncy problems, also a good set of headphones, some more lava lams, you can't have to many of those, and of course you will need all of your manuals out to hook all of it up.
 
hahaha
Lava lamps, check.
I also have all of the cables to hook this all up; I'm pretty sure I've got at least 4 of every cable and adapter known to man.

Let's say I just want to send a signal into my computer to record with some software. I want it VERY good quality, no static in the background. I also want to be able to be on a clean or a distorted channel with my guitar and still be able to record. How can I do this with what I have?
 
There's a ton of different possibilities, but it really depends on what you want to get out of your recordings. Do you plan to record just yourself? A full band? Somewhere in between? Drums? Guitar amps? Keybrds? Acoustic guitars? Vocals? Do you want to just put thoughts down on "tape" for songwriting or put out radio-ready cd's and downloadables? Do you want to do it all yourself or send out for mixing and/or mastering?

Check out the Newbies section. This question is often asked in one form or another and you might find what you are looking for.

Have fun,
 
ShadowedSoul said:
Let's say I just want to send a signal into my computer to record with some software. I want it VERY good quality, no static in the background. I also want to be able to be on a clean or a distorted channel with my guitar and still be able to record. How can I do this with what I have?
Click to expand...

Well, unless your amp has output jacks that will output your different channels, then you'll likely need to record by putting a mic. in front of the amp. The amp is the most likely place to get static. Recording programs don't inject static. Most of the time, the computer doesn't inject static. You have a pretty good board, with pretty good preamps, so the board probably won't inject static. You say you have good microphones. They probably won't inject static. So, the amp and cables will be the most likely source of static.

The one needed part you didn't mention is a A/D converter. You plug the mic into the board.. the board has preamps.. certainly the board can supply an analog signal out, but the computer needs a digital signal. So, you need something to convert the analog signal coming out of the board into a digital signal to go into the computer. You could use any available jacks on your computer sound card, but you said you want quality... right? So, you need a good quality A/D converter. That usually means a real audio interface. So, look into that.

Computer programs. They all produce a good quality, digital recording. In general, the quality is the same, no matter which program. However, some programs have more features. More ways to modify the recording. You get what you pay for, here.
 
My Marshall is a Marshall 8240 Stereo Chorus. It does have a jack that says 'out', but that is when I get my static. If I get an A/D converter, will that remove the static that I'm recieving through my setup?

Also, I want to record as good of a quality as possible, but for now it's just myself with my guitar. Maybe vocals, but mainly just the guitar.
 
Sounds like that's a Line Level Out. What are you pluggin it into? Need to go into a line level in on your board or a/d interface. I bet you would get better sound if you mic'd the cabinet. There's loads of good advice on how to do that in the Guitar and Bass, Microphones or Recording sections.

For just vocals and guitars, sounds like you can keep it simple with a 2 channel interface that runs off your USB port. Your mackie can feed the audio to the interface. You plug your mics and guitars into the mackie.

Here's a page from Sweetwater that has a lot of USB interfaces. Look for a 2 channel. Some come with lite versions of popular DAW software; Cubase, Sonar, etc... It's enough to get you started and put out clean sounding tracks.

http://www.sweetwater.com/c695--USB_Audio_Interfaces

Have fun.
 
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