starting up, help

  • Thread starter Thread starter eraos
  • Start date Start date
eraos

eraos

Local Spiderman
I need some help setting up a basic studio based on my pc (in my room) and cakewalk.

I want to use both my pc and an external mixer. (is that even possible..?)

I want to play through the mixer, into my computer which would record.

I've used cakewalk, and have recorded through my current, simple sound card. So I have "some" experience with recording. But I want the external mixer so that I can have more control over the sound, not to mention I'm sure it'd be easier.

So, what are the flaws in my plan? and what kind of sound card would I need?

Thanks?
 
eraos said:
I need some help setting up a basic studio based on my pc (in my room) and cakewalk.

I want to use both my pc and an external mixer. (is that even possible..?)

I want to play through the mixer, into my computer which would record.

I've used cakewalk, and have recorded through my current, simple sound card. So I have "some" experience with recording. But I want the external mixer so that I can have more control over the sound, not to mention I'm sure it'd be easier.

So, what are the flaws in my plan? and what kind of sound card would I need?

Thanks?
Click to expand...

Definitely possible and practical to use a mixer, depending on your sound card, it might even be a virtual necessity.

Using a mixer to get some control over your sound might not necessarily be the best approach. When you're working with digital audio, generally, you'll want to try to get the sound into the computer as directly as possible and manipulate it after the fact, but that's certainly not written in stone. The disadvantage to altering or shaping the sound before you record it is that once you do it, you're stuck with it in large measure. It's a lot easier to add things than it is to remove them.

The main application for a mixer would be if you have more instruments you wish to record simultaneously than you have inputs on your soundcard or if you have a lot of different instruments (such as keyboards for instance) you'd like to leave connected it all the time. I also use mine so that I can just jam when I want to without recording anything.

Can you give us a better idea of what you are trying to do? Do you work alone? What instruments are you recording? How many instruments will you be recording at the same time? Which Cakewalk software are you using? What's your budget?

Ted
 
I'd be using it to record guitar and vocals--simultaneously, in some cases.

I guess what I want is someway to adjust levels and do equalization with something external... not through the software's stuff. And I guess, yes, I would be doing the adjusting after the recording.

(I think explaining myself would be much easier if I had a better idea of what I was saying.)

I have Cakewalk Express and my budget is under $500, well, around 500 anyway.
 
What you need is an audio interface with 8 or more outputs and a small mixer. I think this is a good way to go (if you can do it in your budget. I mix using a real mixer about 95% of the time.
 
So what does that mean? What's an audio interface?

Thanks
 
eraos said:
So what does that mean? What's an audio interface?

Thanks
Click to expand...

He means the soundcard. When you're talking REAL stuff we have more expensive sounding jargon. ;)

What you're going to want to look at is how many mics/instruments you're going to want to record at once and then whether or not you're going to need to transfer tracks out of the computer for any reason.

IOW, if you want to record your guitar in stereo and sing at the same time, you'll need a minimum of three inputs on your soundcard. Since they generally come in pairs, you'll be looking at 4 input (or more) soundcards. Depending on how much you want to spend and your future plans, you might want to look at cards with more inputs. Since you are going to be working with acoustic sources primarily, you'll also need preamps for the microphones. This is one place where a mixer can be of value as most of them now come with at least 2 mic preamps, some of them of fairly decent quality. If you go this route, try to get a 4 bus mixer (if you can afford it) this will allow you to send 4 different signals (or 2 stereo pairs) to your soundcard at the same time.

As I seem to point out in many of these threads, this is a great time for home recordists. Lots of extremely inexpensive, decent quality products out there right now. In the "most bang-for-buck" department look at Behringer and the Yamaha MG series mixers. There are a couple of new companies out there like Phonic, but I don't know anything about their products (they look a lot like the Behringers to me). For a soundcard, lots of people are using M-Audio with good success. The new cards from E-mu are also a viable option.

You need to describe your computer and whatever else you have already.

You'll need some kind of monitoring capability, microphones, headphones, probably an upgrade to your Cakewalk Express (that can wait for a bit) and sundry other items to hook it all together.

Ted
 
Anyone familiar with my posts will be bored of hearing me ask this, but why are you trying to get into computer recording? I mean this as no insult, but your questions suggest there will be a really steep learning curve for you to get into computer recording, since you are not yet familiar with audio basics or computer based audio hardware. If you looked at a simple system like a four track cassette or a stand alone digital 8 track recorder(such as an ADAT) and a small mixer, you may find your self getting up to speed and making more music, sooner than if you jumped into the computer side of things.
 
He says he has done some recording through his existing card so he seems to understand the basics of getting sounds into his computer.

I don't know. I can understand the argument Chris makes. His suggestion will result in a simpler process. OTOH, you're spending money on an ADAT which though a lot cheaper than they once were are still expensive enough. His other option of getting a 4 track cassette seems like you'd be going backwards to me, but at least it's an inexpensive alternative.

I don't know anything about the Edirol box you referenced. It looks like it would work ok for your application. It only has two mic pres which means you would have to either record your guitar in mono or record your vocal separate from your guitar (not a bad idea anyway).

Does your computer meet the minimum requirements? Make sure it doesn't use any of the incompatible chipsets!

In addition to looking at whether this will work for what you want to do now, you should also think about your future needs. This unit doesn't look like something that you will want to keep for a long time. It appears to be on the lower end of the pro-sumer line. Still, it's not a lot more than a 4-track cassette unit, so you're not risking a lot.

Let us know!

Ted
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top