recording a live band onto pc

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tprince4

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i am very new at home recording and i am so glad i found this forum hopefully someone will help me out here. i am trying to record my bands first demo live on my pc but so far we have had to record everything one at a time(drums then bass then guitar and finally vocals) but i really want to record this new project live with all of us playing at once on seperate tracks. we have a dell computer that is a month old so we have a decent amount of ability with the machine and we are using a homestudio program that my friend got for 50 bucks but it hasnt been much help, it makes 16 tracks available but if we cant play live it is no good. i just want to no what kind or equiptment we need to this right. any help would be greatly appreciated

thanks

tom principato
 
Sounds like you need a multi track sound card or 2. I'm trying to get some advice on them here too. If you can afford it, it looks like MOTU (Mark of the Unicorn) or DigiDesign make the best stuff, but VERY expensive. Echo/Event, Aardvark, M Audio, Sek'D, and Gadget Labs have some less expensive stuff, but I'm not sure which is the best.
What program are you using?
 
thanks for replying i was looking at midi interfaces yesterday and i think i found a decent 8 port for like 70 bucks. i think the program is called becker home studio professional but i am not certain we are practicing tonight so ill let you know
 
Gadgetlabs have kicked the bucket. Check out n-Track - it's still the cheap multitracker of choice it seems.
 
When you say you want to play live, you don't mean at a show.. I presume, you just mean, all together?

Either way, what you want to do is get a multi-input sound card. My reccommendation is the Delta 10/10, but it's a decent wad of cash.. around $900 or $950 US. (Someone correct me please if it's less).

You will also need some pre-amps and some microphones.. you can rent all of that stuff.

Tight mic the drum kit. That means, place a microphone very close to the top of each drum-head, and ALSO, put two mics way up in the air behind the drum kit. Have the drummer play, and make sure your levels don't go red on any of the microphones.

Okay.. your drums are set up.

Now tight mic the guitar amp, and the bass amp. Put them on opposite sides of the room, or, if you have some kind of monitoring system, put them in seperate closets.

Play, and make sure the levels don't go red.

Great.. hit record, and you'll end up with a raw recording of your instruments being played live.

If you can get that far.. write back, and I'll help you with taking that raw sound, and turning it into something that sounds pretty good!
 
BTW.. it's a good idea to have the vocalist sing seperately. His voice isn't as loud as the other instruments, and they will bleed unacceptably into his mic, making it hard to get a good mix.

- Rich
 
let me try an answer most of the questions or to just comment on everyone who replied. first off thanks for all the info it is helpful. i do believe that some tracks require vocals recorded seperatly but to challenge that listen to any deftones record or any record produced by terry date 90 percent of his vocal recording is done live with sm58's any it sounds pretty good. i guess the enviroment has alot to do with it too but i guess ill find out after i try it. i think i might just get a mackie 12 mixing board to plug into the computer cuz it will be easier and i found one used for 375. i was wondering how we go about playing live with it. i guess i am gonna have to get a decent amp and speakers. i am trying to learn alot about this stuff pretty quickly and i know that i am going to leave out important details that is why all your information is so important to me. thanks again
 
Doing live vocals for a production album generally requires you to have a vocal booth or a vocal room. That way, you can isolate the vocal sound from everything else.

As for playing live, are you planning on playing at clubs where other bands play? They generally have their own PA and provide a sound guy for your band for the night.
 
yeah that is true but i want to have a good sound for when we practice and the abiltity to record my own music it is also fun to learn this equiptment.
 
the MOTU

You can probably pick up a used MOTU 2408 for around $500-$600.
I'm running it on a G3 Mac and it's worked pretty much flawlessly on at least a dozen bands recording live.
It'd be nice to have balanced ins on the thing, but overall it's a nice unit.

Anyone else out there using a 2408???
 
I've used the 2408 a few times. Your inputs *are* balanced.. they're just on 1/4" TRS cables.. so you need to buy TRS cables that adapt to your equipment to take advantage of it. Same with the delta cards.

TRS cables *look* like unbalanced cables, but they have an extra metal chunk on the end of the plug.. it's divided into three, instead of two. They are directly compatible with the three pins of an XLR balanced connector.

- Rich

BTW.. we flew in the tracks for Tallman's album off three tascam decks using a 2408.. that's freaking great!

I want to get a 2408 AND a 24i.

As you know, the 2408 is 24 simultaneous input which can be selected from:

3 tascam (8 channels each) connectors
3 ADAT connectors (8 channels each)
8 Analog Balanced/Unbalanced inputs
2 Analog Outputs
and if I remember correctly, the mkII has an amplified headphone output on the front.

The 24i is 24 simultaneous inputs which are taken from 24 Analog Balanced/Unbalanced inputs.

it also has 2 Analog Outputs.

Together, these cards allow you to record 32 simultaneous analog tracks, and fly in work from just about any digital studio on the planet.

Wow.
 
inputs on 2408

The inputs on my 2408 ( not the MKII) are RCA, unbalanced. I know they've made some models that are balanced, but mine, sadly, are not.

And yeah, we've flown stuff to and from ADATS and DA-88s and it's been great.

Has anyone out there used an input device ( Tascam MA-AD8 or the Alesis A-3) for tracking live with the MOTU. ( i.e., using the inputs on the motu and the TDIF or ADAT light pipe inputs all at the SAME TIME????)

thanks.
 
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