Quite new and wanting to upgrade

[ScottyJoe]

Hi all,

Im 17 and i record my self (vocals guitar and keyboard midi) on my pc and have done for quite a while (couple of years).

im starting to understand a bit more about recording and stuff but unfortunatly my set up is quite bad. ive got an old Yamaha sound reinforcement mixer, which i just plug mics, leads to guitars etc. in. then that runs thru a sterio cable into my sound card which is a creative live 5.1 card

i like the midi sound that i can get out of my keyboard and sound card so im not fussed about that. its basically just the audio that i want to upgrade and i am willing to spend around $1500 australian on it.

Im thinking:
-new sound card, with more inputs so i can run more then a minimum 2 instruments at a time -- im thinking 4 - 8 at a time.
-a new mixer, im not sure if i need this with a new sound card but i think it would be good to have a small mixer that has a A/D converter which then goes to my sound card.
-1 or 2 new mics that would get me a better sound quality then what i have.
-possibly a new sound system that will produce a good quality playback - ive got 5.1 speakers so they might be fine for now.

oh my mic is a philips, basically just some random old and crappy mic.. lol

and i use adobe audition as software

please tell me if im talking crap but any help and advice on what equipment i could get would be much appreciated.

thanks guys

Scott

 

[matt rascal]

Well it looks like you're already on the right track, each thing that you listed is pretty darn imporant.

As far as suggestions, I'd say an sm57 would work well for guitar and decently for vocals (you may want to pick up a better mic specifically for vocals later, but the 57 would reap decent results).

4-8 channels at a time, eh? If you're planning on recording drums you'll want to pick up a small diaphragm condenser. As far as the soundcard, you may want to look into something external like a firepod, or like a Delta 10/10 and some preamps. I'm all for small mixers, I have three even though i could probably get along without them.

Good monitors are extremely important, but it seems to me like those probably don't need to be at the top of your list of priorities yet.

good luck!

p.s. i don't have any idea how much 1.5k australian is (sorry

 

[ScottyJoe]

thanks for your reply,

at the moment i dont think ill be recording drums but i think this will be one buy that will have to last me for quite a while so i want to be able to have some flexability later on.
the sm57 looks good ill look into it.
the firepod and delta look a little to expencive for me but ill keep them in mind

i was thinking maybe a mixer that could take all the mics and other sound inputs and then output as a firewire or usb which could go into a sound card.

$1500 AUS is about $1,100 US and about 926 Euros

dunno if that helps

thanks for your reply, others are welcome and appreciated

i may buy a guitar mic and a vocal mic so if anyone knows any decent but cheaper vocal mics id love to know about them

thanks again, ciao

Scott

 

[matt rascal]

In my set up, I have two audiophile 24/96's (100 bucks each). I started with one because I thought I would just be recording myself. Now that I record my whole band I bought another one (they automatically sync) so that I can get 4 simultaneous tracks (enough to record drums, 2 overheads, snare, and kick). I have two small mixers that I use with these and I have really enjoyed my set up and am not planning on updating any time soon. This is just an option, if you're planning on recording a whole band at once or using more drum mics than this obviously wouldn't work well.

As far as a vocal mic, the SP B1 is a very popular mic for about 100 bucks. I use a Rode NT1-A and I like it a lot (it has a unique sound though). This topic is repeatedly discussed in the microphone forum and a search will bring you many more options and reviews.

 

[matt rascal]

firewire and usb are also viable options but I know little about them so i'll :-X