Recording with a computer....

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Mip

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I was going to buy an 8-track, but some people suggested that I record using a computer. I have some questions.
1. How many mhz is good? How much RAM? Hard-drive size? Are OS's other than Windows good to use?
2. Am I right to assume that you use your computer, with a good soundcard, software that allows multi-tracking, then hook a mixer to the soundcard?
3. Do you need monitors? If so, active or passive?
4. Do you still need to use DI boxes?
5. When recording electric drums, is it better to go directly from the drum module, directly from it's amp/pa, or mic it's amp/pa?
6. Are there any other advantages/disadvantages, or info that I need to know?

Thanks in advance!
 
This is a huge area, be prepared to learn a lot or pay too much and be dissatisfied. There is just way too much to cover at once and some of those questions (like OS's) can start a religious war. What do you already own? What are your short term and mid-term goals for recording? How much recording experience do you have? What's your budget? How will you be recording: with a full band, a one-man-band one instrument at a time? If you've never multi-tracked before, a cheap 4-track can be great to learn the ropes but I don't know if that will suit your needs or experience level.

Dig with a search engine. Continue to browse the message boards here and be sure to include specific information about your setup and where you want to be when you have questions. Get familiar with the search near the top left of the page... it's great! Don't trust the salesman... unless you are very lucky, you'll be robbed by an idiot. At least double check with someone here who's used the gear and doesn't stand to make a commission before you buy. Folks are pretty helpful around here.
 
Ok Ok enough already pglewis... the last thing mip needs is more questions. He needs strait answers.
You said you were going to buy an 8-track, and then people... yada yada... It sounds like you're telling my story. I was looking into a Roland 8-track, and it was around $3,000, maybe a little more. Then I started looking at the price to get a computer with all the gear to get me going, and it was actualy less expensive. AND, you're not limited to a wussy 8 tracks, you have UNLIMITED TRACKS. Just think about that for a second. One song I recorded a while ago had 38 tracks, yeah, maybe a couple of them were just being taken up by one 5-second sound, but I was able to do it.
What you have to do is go to www.fullcompass.com. They build computers for recording. They're great, I went there (I live in the same town as them fortunately) and I told them what I wanted, they knew what it was I wanted, and they put it together for me. Hand over the check and take it home. Of course it took a couple weeks for them to put it together... Your MHZ question, and the RAM, and Hard Drive, and OS... don't worry about it if you get it from Full Compass. Who cares what OS you have?? Does anyone still care about monopolies?? No, we care about recording music, and we're not buying a computer to get into some stupid battle about Bill Gate's earnings. Just so you know though, you will probably need a 600 MHZ or higher, 128 megs of ram, and 25+ gigs on your hard drive. I have two hard drives, a 10 (for windows and system stuff) and a 15 for all my sound files. And I'm looking to upgrade soon.
Your second question... Yes, you use your computer with a good sound card and software to multitrack. If you already have a mixer then great, if not, you'd have to get one anyway right? What I have for my soundcard is the Layla by Echo. It has 8 inputs (1/4", not low impedence) and 10 outputs. It has an external box that is rack mountable and you just use the cable that comes with it to plug into the soundcard that comes with it. You use input 1 and 2 for the left and right of your mixer, problem solved. And what software will you need? I use Cakewalk for my multitracking and Sound Forge 4.5 for my mastering. Not that Cakewalk is the best or anything, but it's what I use. There are better programs, but you're going to pay for it, but you get what you pay for.
Your third question about monitors... Get powered monitors. You just use two of the outputs of the Layla for the monitors. Problem solved.
As for direct boxes... you can use them if you want, it's not much different than anything else you've known.
As for electric drums, you want to go directly into an input of the sound card from the output of the electric drums box. You want to get the true sound recorded, not a miced sound.
Any other advanages? Yeah, unlimited tracks, easy editing with click and drag, undo/redo, it's SOOO easy to clean up tracks of unwanted sound, the sound is clean... I could go on and on as to why computer recording is the way to go, but I won't.
As for disadvantages... You don't get to have fun splicing 2" peices of tape together when you're putting takes together, that's always fun to do... ewww.
E-mail me if you have anymore questions.

[This message has been edited by Brian Grey (edited 07-08-2000).]
 
Correction Brian, the last thing he wants is more questions ;). Straight answers are tough to give without more information. I know the enthusiasm to just get started. No one wants to muck about, we want to make music. But sending a multi-tracking novice straight to the store to set-up a PC system with a handful of guidelines can turn out frustrating. Especially if the equipment they spent their dough on ends up severely limiting them 4 months down the road. Where you are now, where you plan to go, your experience, and the budget all influence the answers I'd give.
 
That may be a good point and all, but if you're going to spend X amount of money on an 8-track hard disk recorder, and you can spend the same amount of money on a computer system with unlimited tracks, and he has to learn an entirely new system no matter what, I say go for the computer system. That's what I did back in the day, I just said, this is what I want, I'm going to go for it, and I did. Yeah, I had a 4-track before that, so I knew some theory and what-not, but I think you just have to go for it. But hey, maybe what works for me doesn't work for everyone. And I correct you, he doesn't want, or need more questions (ok, maybe just not some of the ones you mentioned).You think Larry over there cares what kind of OS he has? You think Bob out of Arkansas cares how many gigs his hard drive is? No, just as long as they can record music, and do it good. The capabilities of a computer are far greater than any console tape or disk recorder.

[This message has been edited by Brian Grey (edited 07-08-2000).]
 
<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>That may be a good point and all, but if you're going to spend X amount of money on an 8-track hard disk recorder, and you can spend the same amount of money on a computer system with unlimited tracks...<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

You'll never get an argument from me there. Computer is the only way to go for those who are remotely serious with an eye toward the future. All the poo-pooers can naysay all they want: I retired my digital 8-track for daily use and won't go back except for special uses (and even then only because I already blew my money on it and it's here).

But just because something works well for me doesn't mean it will work well for Mip. I bought a 16 channel mixer that gets a heavy workout. If someone is overdubbing a couple of acoustic tracks and some vocals, that might be overkill. If they have a full band recording live, it can be great. You can get soundcards with 2 to 24 inputs. Fewer inputs = fewer converters = generally better quality, less expensive, or both. Underestimate and you can be stuck without enough inputs later, though.

My goal is to help people get setup so they can incrementally improve their rig with every single purchase and avoid potential "dead-ends". Everything I've purchased in the past year has either improved the sound quality or allowed me to work faster. In order to help someone in this manner, I need to know what they want to do now, and what they may want to do within the next couple of years. Every question I asked is important for that reason.
 
Gotcha.
The 16 channel mixer thing you said was very true. If some guy just plans on recording some folk tunes, then you're very right there.
 
Get a computer AND an 8-track. Computers are not portable, and 8-tracks only have 8 tracks.

The MD8 is a steal used @ $800.
 
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