Starting to buy equipment

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JBP

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What's up guys,

I'm planning on purchasing the necessary equipment to have a cheap, yet fairly efficient home recording studio. I don't play any instruments and am going to solely create my own beats and record hip hop vocals. My current laptop is a piece of garbage, so I'm planning on buying a new one.

Your advice on a fitting set up for me would be greatly appreciated, because I have been reading the forums for hours and I'm still a bit confused on which direction to head towards. :D

I'm going to get a new laptop for college and also to use with making music, so at this point I'm leaning towards a Mac Book Pro. If you have any other suggests as far as a laptop I'd be glad to check them out. Aside from the cost of the laptop I'm looking to spend no more than $500 for the rest of the equipment. I understand this will not give me a very high quality but anything's better than the crappy laptop + audacity + rockband mic I'm working with at the moment. :D

Thanks,
Jake
 
Yeah that seems to look like everything I need at an affordable price. Thanks for the option, I'll keep it in mind.

Only question I have is whether a bundle like that is the way to go, because I searched the interface on a few websites and the review average was 3 and a half stars and people mentioned some problems with it. Is it a more wise choice to seek out individual products that collaborate together?
 
You should check out Reaper too, its a fully featured DAW and is shareware (it never expires) if you do eventualy decide to buy it costs $50. Bargain if you ask me, I paid for it after 2 years of using it. If you go for PC by the way, you will pay less for the computer and you can get much more free stuff like pugins and the like, just my 10 cents.
 
It probably got the low reviews because of the mic or maybe the headphones. But the interface is class for that price range and it is just a starting point anyways. You could turn around and sell the headphones and mic out of the pack and then get you a better mic. In fact, I guess you could just skip that pack and buy the interface by itself and then spend the rest of your money on a decent entry-level microphone.
 
Yeah I'm thinking about leaning toward the audio-technica AT2020 for 90 bucks, seems reasonable and great reviews. I'll also grab a pop filter, stand, and audio interface. My friend has some headphones I can use for the time being. And this is probably a ridiculous question, but seeing as I'm going to be throwing out some good money for it, what exactly does the audio interface do? The only thing I understand is that the default sound card sucks, and something needs to be done about it, but I don't really understand what it does.
 
JBP said:
Yeah I'm thinking about leaning toward the audio-technica AT2020 for 90 bucks, seems reasonable and great reviews. I'll also grab a pop filter, stand, and audio interface. My friend has some headphones I can use for the time being. And this is probably a ridiculous question, but seeing as I'm going to be throwing out some good money for it, what exactly does the audio interface do? The only thing I understand is that the default sound card sucks, and something needs to be done about it, but I don't really understand what it does.
Click to expand...
The audio interface is one of the most important pieces of your studio. It's converters take your analog signal (from your mic) and converts it to a digital signal A->D(ones and zeroes) for editing/mixing in your DAW (all digital). When you play something from your DAW, it has to go back through your interface, D->A conversion, so you can hear the analog signal.

I would personally avoid bundles. You will end up with cheap crappy sounding gear that you're just going to turn around and sell first chance you get. Research each item and buy separately. There are tons of good inexpensive pieces of gear available, especially used, which is how I buy almost everything. If you go the mac route, it opens up the world of apogee duet. World class converters, two good clear preamps and usually around $400 used. Worth saving for if you're serious about sounding good.

The pros to the mac are that it comes with garage band free, which is a very good DAW to start out on. You can make great recordings with garage band. If you upgrade later to Logic, your garage band files will open directly into Logic completely hassle free. The big con of course is the price.

If you go the PC route, I second the Reaper recommendation. Fully functional and free until you decide whether or not you like it and feel guilty about not paying the measly $50. More bang for the buck computer wise with PC, but more hassles as far as I'm concerned, which is why I use mac. There are more good free plug ins for PC than mac.

It would help if you stated a budget, then people could be more specific about what is good in a certain price range.
 
Thanks guitar zero, it's finally starting to make sense. :D

Basically the budget for my equipment (aside from the mac I'm purchasing) is roughly $350. This is basically to get me started so I can produce reasonably good sound, and start small so I'm not throwing out thousands of dollars for some products will boggle my mind. Whatever set up I can achieve alongside my mac for around $350, that's overall the most efficient is what I'm gearing towards.

I was looking around amazon and noticed the audio technica AT2020 that had good reviews and was a simple usb mic. Also I was thinking about throwing in a pop filter, stand, shock mount, and interface along with it. But as a read these forums a little more, there were many strong opinions about not choosing a usb microphone. Therefore, I'm not really sure what path to take and some guidance would be greatly appreciated. :D
 
If you are going to buy an interface, there is no reason for a USB mic, imo.


Also, if you buy a PC instead of a Mac, you'd have more dough to spend on a good mic or some monitors.
 
Well I'm going to be buying a mac because I can use it for college and I can use for it for more media purposes than just music, and also I think a mac would suit me well. But I don't need an interface for the usb mic? Well, then do you believe that's a good start toward getting into recording with solely a good usb mic, stand, and pop filter?

If not, recommendations of some specific equipment I could gather for around $350 along with the mac I plan to purchase would be appreciated. Thanks
 
If you're gonna spend that kind of money, you might as well get the reliability of an interface and decent mic. I've never experienced one myself, but what I've heard, USB mics arent....well, they just aren't that great for anything past podcasting.
 
Find yourself a used Groovebox, Electribe, or something similar. That's about the only "instrument" you need for making hip hop beats.
 
@diggy_dude
My friend has reason 4.0 and i could buy a midi keyboard eventually. would this be a cheaper alternative to the products you suggested? because I'm not focusing on making beats at the moment, basically just get some decent sounding recording over some instrumentals or beats i get hooked up with.

@itaughttremonti
Yeah that sounds very reasonable to take that route. I've been basically reading info online for the past 3 days and i feel that an audio interface under 100 bucks and condenser (non-usb) is the way to go for where i'm at now (correct me if i'm wrong).

Like I said, I've been reading for the past 3 days to gather some info and the equipment I've come up with are as follows: :D

Microphone
Buy MXL MXL V67G Condenser Microphone | Condenser Microphones | Musician's Friend
Audio Interface
Amazon.com: M-Audio Fast Track USB 2 Computer Audio Interface: Musical Instruments
Pop filter
Amazon.com: Nady MPF-6 6-Inch Clamp On Microphone Pop Filter: Musical Instruments
Mic Stand
Amazon.com: Musician's Gear Die-Cast Mic Stand, Black: Musical Instruments

If you feel I'm not making wise decisions feel free to let me know, it won't hurt my feelings. Not sure what kinds of cables I need, and also if you believe I need anything else please let me know. *Keep in mind I'm trying to stay under $350*

Thanks guys, really appreciate it.
 
JBP said:
@diggy_dude
My friend has reason 4.0 and i could buy a midi keyboard eventually. would this be a cheaper alternative to the products you suggested? because I'm not focusing on making beats at the moment, basically just get some decent sounding recording over some instrumentals or beats i get hooked up with.
Click to expand...

Depends on your immediate needs. I suggested a hardware step sequencer for making beats because you'd get a lot more enjoyment out of them than from mousing around in a DAW. You could use FL Studio for the same purpose, I think. A full-blown DAW wouldn't be particularly suitable for beat making, as they're intended to be full-blown recording studios.
 
Honestly, $350 is nothing in the audio recording world. If I were you, I'd just get a USB mic for $100 and start saving for decent gear one piece at a time. That's what we did, we recorded a whole album with a blue snoball and garageband. Will it sound like it came from a professional studio? No. Will it sound decent? Yep. While you are recording with this set-up you can be researching your next purchase. When you have saved enough get a good interface. With the mac, I'd get a used apogee duet. Impossible to beat the sound of this for $400. Great conversion and two crystal clear preamps for next to nothing. Then a good mic. Then monitors... Do it right the first time and you will have few regrets. To get a great sound you need at the very least a good mic, good conversion, good preamp, good room treatment, and good monitors. Take it one step at a time.
 
Yeah that seems like a good idea. It's funny how I seem to change my mindset everyday. :D
I think I'll take up your advice and start out small with an "easy-to-use" usb mic and eventually, when I'm ready, throw in some decent cash to get great equipment. Also would relieve the stress of me feeling like I'm starting out spending too much money as a "noob."
Thanks bro!
 
Here's a few tracks from our first CD. Used nothing but Blue Snoball USB mic and garageband. Sold all 1000 of these CDs at gigs, etc. Hope this gives you some idea of what you can do with a simple set up.

Baby Steps: 04 Baby Steps.m4a - File Shared from Box.net
The Grand Intervention: 06 The Grand Intervention.m4a - File Shared from Box.net
Forevermore: 03 Forevermore.m4a - File Shared from Box.net
Darlin' Fortaleza: 09 Darlin' Fortaleza.m4a - File Shared from Box.net
Brothers Keepers: http://www.box.net/shared/1vrzjp50tk
 
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