setting up DAW based home recording studio, need advice!!!

[Tory]

Hello,

I am trying to set up a home studio and have some questions. Like many novices, I went into Guitar Center with a little bit of knowledge and made purchases based on their suggestions and my budget. Now, I am trying to figure out if I really have the equipment I need for my purposes and if I need to buy a new computer, etc.

Previously, I have been recording in other studios, but due to time and cost, I would like to start recording my own material to pitch to venue managers and quality enough for local radio stations. I would like to set up a computer based system to record acoustic guitar, vocals, and some percussion (djembe, shakers, etc) for multi-track recroding.

I will admit I am not gear savvy, but I am very serious about recording and would like an expert opinion and whether I have the right equipment and the best way to set it all up. The following is the list of the equipment I have with as much detail is possible.

CPU: Dell lap-top: Dell T7500 @ 2.2GHz, 2G of RAM, Windows XP. It has one 1394 connection. This is my day-to-day computer in which I have a bunch of programs like Word and Photoshop as well. I have read that having other programs on a computer used for recording audio can cause problems, .crashing etc

Interface: M-Audio FireWire Solo with 2 inputs for guitar and vocals and 2 sets of balanced and unbalanced line inputs.

External drive: To record audio I have read you must have at least 2 hard drives. I have an external hard drive I was thinking of using for audio. It’s a Buffalo Drive Station Combo 4 USB 2.0/FireWire External harddrive with 1.0 TB, rotational speed 7200 RPM, seek time 11 ms, 8 MB buffer speed.

Software: Pro-tools M-Powered for PC

Mike: Sterling Audio ST55 FET Condenser Microphone, shock mount, mike stand, metal pop filter, XLR cable

Thanks you in advance for your help!

-Tory

 

[TimOBrien]

You'll do fine.

The big thing now is to read, read, read everything you can and apply what you learn...

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My obligatory standard reply-for-newbies that I keep in Wordpad so this is just a paste (I don't want to re-type this all the time):

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/04...mp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=0470385421
(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/
http://www.gearslutz.com/board/tips-techniques/168409-tips-techniques.html

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 that WORK: http://www.tweakheadz.com/soundcards_for_the_home_studio.htm
(you'll want to bookmark and read through all of Tweak's Guide while you're there...)


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 and July 2009 issue they put out Samplitude10SE. FREE. It pays to watch 'em for giveaways...)