recording???

[brooke]

hi ,
i am new to all of this and i am wondering what are the very basic materials necessary to record music ??

is there one specific name of machine i can buy to record?

i am not looking for anything too professionel , just something that does the trick...!

thanks
brooke

 

[Waffleness]

Are you interested in buying something that will work on a PC or a stand alone peice of hardware?

What are you trying to record?

Also, whats your budget?

 

[Norris Shepherd]

Heyy Brooke... that's a pretty vague, ambiguous question, and many books have been written attempting to answer it.

I'm not try to be mean, arrogant, condecending or anything, but seriously, you just need to start reading OTHER posts.. like read LOTS of them. And buying a book would be the best initial investment you could make. Home Recording for Dummies by Jeff Strong is an awesome intro.. but even after reading all of that.. you will still have tons of questions.

Seriously.. there's tons of information out there. I'd read/research a bit more, and maybe ask a bit more specific question. Actually research a bit more, then any questions you have.. .search for the answers, then if you can't find them, ask them.

 

[TimOBrien]

My obligatory standard reply-for-newbies that I keep in Wordpad:

First off, immediately get a good beginner recording book (spend $20 before spending hundred$/thousand$) that shows you what you need to get started and how to hook everything up in your studio:
Home Recording for Musicians by Jeff Strong - $15
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/07...ce&n=283155&n=507846&s=books&v=glance
(Wish I'd had that when I started; would have saved me lots of money and time and grief)
You can also pick up this book in most any Borders or Barnes&Noble in the Music Books section!

Another good one is: Recording Guitar and Bass by Huw Price
http://www.amazon.com/Recording-Gui...=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1215734124&sr=1-1
(I got my copy at a place called Half-Price Books for $6!!)

And you can get a FREE subscription to TapeOp magazine at www.tapeop.com

Barnes&Noble or Borders are great places to start --- they have recording books and you can go get a snack or coffee and read them for FREE! Don't pass by a good recording book --- this is a VERY technical hobby and you REALLY want to start a reference library!!!

Good Newbie guides that also explains all the basics and have good tips:
http://www.tweakheadz.com/guide.htm
http://www.computermusic.co.uk/page/computermusic?entry=free_beginner_pdfs
http://www.harmony-central.com/articles/

21 Ways To Assemble a Recording Rig: http://www.tweakheadz.com/rigs.htm

Also Good Info: http://www.theprojectstudiohandbook.com/directory.htm

Other recording books: http://musicbooksplus.com/home-recording-c-31.html

Still using a built-in soundcard?? Unfortunately, those are made with less than $1 worth of chips for beeps, boops and light gaming (not to mention cheapness for the manufacturer) and NOT quality music production.
#1 Rule of Recording: You MUST replace the built-in soundcard.
Here's a good guide and tested suggestions: http://www.tweakheadz.com/soundcards_for_the_home_studio.htm


Plenty of software around to record for FREE to start out on:

Audacity: http://audacity.sourceforge.net (multi-track with VST support)
Wavosaur: http://www.wavosaur.com/ (a stereo audio file editor with VST support)\
Kristal: http://www.kreatives.org/kristal/
Other freebies and shareware: www.hitsquad.com/smm

Another great option is REAPER at http://www.cockos.com/reaper/ (It's $50 but runs for free until you get guilty enough to pay for it...)
I use Reaper and highly reccomend it...

Music Notation and MIDI recording: Melody Assistant ($25) and Harmony Assistant ($80) have the power of $600 notation packages - http://myriad-online.com
Demo you can try on the website.

And you can go out to any Barnes&Noble or Borders and pick up "Computer Music" magazine - they have a full FREE studio suite in every issue's DVD, including sequencers, plugins and tons of audio samples. (November 2006 they gave away a full copy of SamplitudeV8SE worth $150, November 2007-on the racks Dec in the US- they gave away SamplitudeV9SE. It pays to watch 'em for giveaways...)

 

[Dogbreath]

Hey Brooke..
Welcome to the world of poverty and frustration.

These guys are right though. Do alot of research before ya buy anything. Check posts, do searches here and other sites, buy the book Norris was talkin about. When ya get a grasp of what it is you're lookin for, ask some more questions and do some more searches.

I've blown quite a few nickles and dimes on crap gear that I outgrew in 3 or 4 months and now collects dust. I just got impatient and bought stuff cuz I thought it would fix my crappy recordings.

Much better to dig through threads and googling than to blow yer cash on crap.

Do some homework and let us know if we can help.

Peace...........Kel