Starting a new studio, help on equipment..

  • Thread starter Thread starter Chris Fallen
  • Start date Start date
Chris Fallen

Chris Fallen

New member
Okay, here's the rub:

I'm going to the Art Institute this fall to study audio production. I'm really interested in recording, and I want to start messing around with equipment and stuff for a few months before I go there just to get into it a litte more in depth and all.

Here's the problem. I don't know anything about it at all. I know a little, but nothing that's actually worth anything. I want to find a set up, either with a computer or without, that I will be able to tailor to my needs later on after I start going to school.

My main focus will be recording local bands (metal, ska, punk, hardcore) and my band.

So. Suggestions for set ups and equipment. PC or non PC. I have some money, and I can save up for other things. 300-400 dollars is high for me, but if it's really worth it I can save up that much. 150-250 my sweet spot where I can buy stuff.

Let the information flow like gravy... really runny gravy.

Christopher
 
Welcome to the board, Chris!

We need a bit more info to answer your question.

I assume you are writing from your own computer, so what type of computer do you own? Do you have any softwares you could use to record or you need to buy/pirate some (depends if you will do it all the legal way ;)). Do you have a lot of room? What's your room size? Do you already have a mic? Speakers? Soundcard?

WE NEED INFO!!! :D

Cheers,
Beathoven
 
Okay, here goes nuttin.

First off, I have a computer and I understand the internet, but I know almost nothing about my computer. My friend, who is an extremely large computer freak, helped me build it, so it's really good and quite fast. I believe I have a 1.1gig processer and 512 megs of ram. That's about all I know about it. I can get any software I want, from said friend, because he's a computer geek. I think we already have cooledit and pro tools.

I have quite a bit of room. If nothing else, I'll use my bedroom for whatever needs to be done.

I have a mic, I'm not sure how great it is, but I bought it and a stand the other day so I could start doing some stuff with a tascam four track I bought about year ago. I don't have speakers, or a soundcard (well I have one, but it's just a crummy one that I'll be needing to replace).

That's where you guys come in. :) I need to know what sound cards are good, which speakers to buy (there are a lot of options that I don't even understand when I look at them on the internet), and so on..

I was looking at the Delta 66 Omni Studio, but like I said, I have no knowledge so I'd rather ask a bunch of veterans than just buy and hope to get something good.

Christopher
 
I'm thinking of picking up a Hoontech DSP2000 C-Port. It's reeeealy pretty, but I'm not sure yet..

Christopher
 
hey man! looks like we have alot in common. im doing the same stuff here in florida under the name ShortFuse Records. i have a delta 44 soundcard. 4 ins, 4 outs. it works great. i highly reccomend staying with m-audio products. you WILL need you friend to install that soundcard. i had a bitch of a time and i was reading the book. i use an external mixer. its a behringer 2004 people here hate behringer stuff and i dont know why. it seems to work fine for me. i just plug the outs from the mixer to the ins on the soundcard. that way all of the mics for drums, vocals or whatnot just plug into the mixer and i hit record on the recording program. now i use cakewalk guitar track pro 2.0 for all of my recording. its as easy to use as a tape deck and still delivers "pro" quality. it comes with some cool effects too. ui would deffinately suggest stickibng with PC recording tho. where you will spend most of your money normally is in outbord effects and microphones. with pc recording most of the effects are right there on the computer and that leaves more money to put into better mics and more software. for speakers i use 2 $100 bookshelf speakers from best buy and 200 watt stereo reciever to power them. ive NEVER had a problem. and i charge 25 bucks an hour to record the kind of stuff you are into, punk, ska, metal and hardcore. email me - onesfallingsoul@aol.com if you have any further questions. ill be glad to help you out.

Brandon
 
Hoontech

I was thinking of picking up one of these myself.. see I don't need the 4 ins or 4 outs that the delta 44 offers, maybe if they had a stripped down version..
acctually I don't understand why you would want 4 ins and 4 outs.. can you multi trak with that - record all instruments to their own tracks at the same time? I thought this could only be donw with a "light pipe" in any case, it sounds too much like a mixer and it seems like they charge you alot of the money for the breakout box.. anyway.. I just need one in. and I'll probably never go to light pipe or multitracking because of the way I play music (industrial) a lot of it is done in a piece meal type of way.. plus I'm solo so I can't really anyway..
in any case the point of my incessant rambling is to make my position clear to anyone who can tell me if I show go for the M-audio or the Hoontech

and any advice would by lovely!! :cool:

Charon
 
The Delta 44 card has great converters. They might even have a card that has 2INS/2OUTS.

I think it is called the DUO.
 
I have quite a bit of room. If nothing else, I'll use my bedroom for whatever needs to be done.

You are defenitly going to make it in the musicbusiness my friend. You allready got rule number one.

I'll use my bedroom for whatever needs to be done.
Uhm uhm uhm, yes, yes its necessary to do that vocal part beneath the sheets...uhm uhm well because of acoustics uhm uhm or something..yes..uhm uhm that's a tubemic...I know it looks like something different but uhm uhm....sing closely to it dear...uhm uhm
 
uhm uhm...I have here a condo...I mean a popp filter....uhm uhm that goes over the mic yes...uhm uhm...that to prevent popps coming out of the mic into your mouth...uhm uhm I mean into the mic out of your mouth..uhm uhm
 
Welcome To HR.com Chris :0)

Renton Wa......Heh Heh I graduated from Lindberg way back in 83...I grew up in the Renton Area, cruised the loop and the whole thing. I lived over by the big blue water tower at the top of Puget drive if your familiar with that side of the valley. I live in Fed Way now that Im all growed up. Boeing Slaves Rule!

If your attending Seattle Art Institute you might want to check out their equipment list to see what you might be dealing with. As most formal institutes go, the equipment is really high end and may not remotely resemble anything PC based for recording. The sound card is pretty important from a hardware stand point, but the software on the other hand can vary so much as far as layout and functionality and price. Get a book on home recording, it usually covers various levels of equipment, make sure it covers PC systems and hardisk recording. Some times I go down to Guitar Center to ask for a demo on something, its like buying a car, test it out..think about it, then save the money. If I save first, Im more apt to buy something without alot of thought. I gave my Home recording book to my brother in law last week, he is in his last year of high school getting ready for college. His dad want him to do engineering, structural, mechanical type, but I think he would be happier in the audio engineering and production field. His name is Chris too, but he lives in Issaquah though. I hope you have fun, this is a great place, I wish it would have existed 13 years ago...

Peace,
Dennis
 
Well,...

Chris,

You have a state of the art computer. You may find recording software for multitrack, and multi input/output soundcards, etc, and no doubt, there are a lot of products out there, it's dizzying.

M-Audio makes some very attractive input/output soundcard devices, but if there's one soundcard mfr like M-Audio, there's a hundred.

Not only are the technology choices many, but technology moves very fast, and the latest whizbang gizmo of today will surely be the dog of tomorrow. F/I, the 20 bit ADAT is the abandoned child, now that 24/96 is new kid on the block,.... and 16-bit? Forget it.

I'm not a 'puter recorder fan, but many, many, many people are, practically the whole recording industry has gone to DAW or hard disc recording. I just think that people of today are gizmo crazy, and to be "digital" is just the latest "in-thing".

Also, even though you have a state of the art computer,... oh yeah, 1.1gig processors were last month's state of the art, 1.7's the thing now. Anyway, you know what I mean.

Anyway, what I was saying, is that even though you have a 'virtually new' almost-state of the art computer, and computer recording is definitely the "thing" of today, I'd caution you about getting in over your head on digital-recording-computer technology, especially if you're aware enough to know you know virtually nothing about recording itself.

MHO is, that as a Newbie, [no offense], if you get all tech-heavy on recording gear before you know anything about basic recording, you're putting "the cart before the horse".

When people who are new to basic recording go to a too tech-heavy recording solution, they often get bogged down into technical problems and issues, and learn very little about recording itself. It can be frustrating, and sometimes stifling.

F/I, I'm by tradition a big Portastudio and open-reel recorder person. Recording is easy and natural on a Portastudio or reel setup. I've been using Portastudios and reels for years.

One day, I got the big idea that recording on my 'puter with DAW software was the thing I'd do. I got a new 'puter, got the Tascam US428, and when I put it together and tried to use it, I'd swear, I spent about a week laboring over the most ridiculous stuff, and never got a single decent recording to disc. I returned the US428 for a refund, and realized computer recording is not for me. That's just using myself as an example.

As I see it, DAW and digital based recorders are fraught with hidden technical pitfalls, too numerous to mention, yet, ask anyone, and you'll hear that DAW/computer recording is the greatest thing,... so go figure. No doubt, I'm way out of step with the mainstream, and that's ok.

Not only that, but as your post's a little vague about how much money you want to kick down to recording gear, I'd say that at ~$150-$250 you're already priced out of digital, including most multi-soundcards, such as the M-Audio Omni 66.

For avg ~$150-$250, with max about ~$400, IMHO, you're in Portastudio-land.

F/I, Get a brand new Tascam 424mkIII Portastudio, 4-track cassette w/full function mixer combination, for $399, new. Get a used Tascam 424mkII Portastudio for about $225, on Ebay. Get a real classic Tascam 246 Portastudio for about $350 [used/ebay], and believe it or not, get a beautiful used analog Tascam 388, 1/4"-reel-8-track-Portastudio-like device for about $450, depending on the day.

Those are some good non-computer suggestions.

You'll probably learn a lot more about "recording" using a Portastudio, and learn more about "technology" using a DAW recording setup on your 'puter.

One thing is for sure, the normal Portastudio-format recorder is a heck of a lot easier to use than the average DAW software recorder.

No doubt, I may be the exception, but as an experienced home recordist, and knowing what I know, I'd definitely recommend new users begin learning basic recording on the best Tascam 4-track cassette Portastudio that they could afford, starting primarily with the new 424mkIII, but not limited to that.

The Tascam 388 is an 8-track-reel version of the basic Portastudio design, so check Ebay for the 388.

[Used] Reel-Reel recorders with external mixers are still a good sounding, affordable alternative, but will be more expensive, & complex to setup and operate, than the Portastudio-[all-in-one]-type of recorder.

No doubt, digital/DAW/puter/hard disc recording is the "in" thing, and I'm not at all with the mainstream.

I use and recommend analog Portastudios [for novice users], and reel-reels with analog mixers [for advanced users].
 
Chris Fallen said:
.... I have some money, and I can save up for other things. 300-400 dollars is high for me, but if it's really worth it I can save up that much. 150-250 my sweet spot where I can buy stuff.
Christopher
You should do some more research first. :D

Take your time before you start buying equipment.

You are going to need good monitors. You are going to need a good soundcard. You will need good programs (Protools for PC is not good :( ).

You might need to save a little more money.

:D
 
Hey, thanks for all of the replies. Okay, this main reply is to A Reel Person, cause I want to find out some more about analog and the porta studios. Anyone can answer them, if you know the answers. :)

Okay, first off, I'm attatching a picture of what I have right now. Let me know if I can use that, and what are the pros/cons of it.


Okay, now to the down and dirty.

1. If I buy a portastudio, how easy is it to transfer stuff I record onto a computer for mp3 creation and cd burning, etc.?

2. If there's only four track, how do I go about recording stuff like drums? Will I be recording drums, then recording that then putting that one tape in a line in as one track and record the rest? This really confuses me, because I don't know how I could get all of the tracks together. Any help?


Thanks.

Christopher
 

Attachments

  • porta414mkll.webp
    porta414mkll.webp
    24.6 KB · Views: 56
Chris Fallen said:
Okay, here's the rub:

I'm going to the Art Institute this fall to study audio production............>>>>>>>>

........ 150-250 my sweet spot where I can buy stuff.

Let the information flow like gravy... really runny gravy.

Christopher

skip your schooling(at least for now), stay away from fancy, expensive French resturants [with fancy flowing gravies], get a job, add a zero [or two] to your "sweet spot" budget, but at least learn the difference between cooledit and Protools, if you're gonna talk about [pirated?] software, and learn ANOTHER instrument BESIDES guitar!! Oh....hang around that computer geek friend of yours and suck his brain for more knowledge, so you'll have a better handle on what you're talking about.

welcome, and good luck!! ;)
 
Re: Re: Starting a new studio, help on equipment..

mixmkr said:


skip your schooling(at least for now), stay away from fancy, expensive French resturants [with fancy flowing gravies], get a job, add a zero [or two] to your "sweet spot" budget, but at least learn the difference between cooledit and Protools, if you're gonna talk about [pirated?] software, and learn ANOTHER instrument BESIDES guitar!! Oh....hang around that computer geek friend of yours and suck his brain for more knowledge, so you'll have a better handle on what you're talking about.


Schooling is where you learn. I'd like to learn. I don't eat at french resturants, fancy or otherwise. My 'sweet spot' means that I can pick up two or three items of said price per month. I'm not going to learn cooledit and protools unless I have to. Computer software always has around 400+ features that aren't even needed, and I need to know what is and isn't without wasting months of my life figuring it all out with trial and error. I know how to play the guitar, bass, drums and the saxaphone. I don't see what learning about computers has to do with recording, but I know enough to run programs, just not enough to build my own.
 
Computer software always has around 400+ features that aren't even needed, and I need to know what is and isn't without wasting months of my life figuring it all out with trial and error.

There's an old 80-20 saying about users and software.

"80% of the users use only 20% of a given piece of software."

This is very true.
 
Back
Top