Tape 4-Track to Digital Questions

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kurt_tietjen

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I've been using my Tascam Portastudio for about 3 or 4 years and really need to take a step up in the world. Here's the background:

- I'm a guitar and bass player.
- I play rock (progressive and metal) and jazz (fusion)
- I currently use my PC as a midi host to push drum sounds out of 1 of my 2 drum machines (Alesis SR16 and Boss DR5)
- passable keyboard player, but only as backup (i guess you'd call it) noise.
- for computers I'm strictly a Windows guy. I have several PCs with plans for potentially using 1 of them exclusively for music.
- my drum playing is strictly via drum machine with or without my PC
- goal -- record to press to CD and to publish to the web.

4 tracks just doesn't cut it. I want to move to the digital realm of things. I'm thinking either a digital mini-disk or a harddisk recorder or a PC setup. I'm getting ready to finish my basement with plans for making as much as 1/2 of the basement a recording studio.

My plan is to come up with an idea of what i want to do and buy things as i have the money, but i'd like to get something started. I've been thinking that since it (the studio) will never leave the house that a PC-based system is the way to go.

I'd love to hear suggestions as well as directions to go to to look at "floor plans" for doing this. The space that this room will take up is about 14 feet by 16 feet (maybe a little larger). My budget for this is not small as the equipment will probably be accumulated over time.

Kurt
 
Hi Kurt,
Obviously, there are a lot of ways to go, so
here is one of them:

PC based systems are not perfect yet, but it is the
most likely choice for now, and the future. They
take some time to learn, so a stand-alone recorder
is easier, but the PC based is the more expandable
and upgradable choice.

To do this, you will need ( among other stuff),

A PC that is dedicated (or semi-dedicated) to music,
which means it wont have Tomb Raider and quake
and Photoshop and all the other goodies.
It should be fast with lots of Ram and a dedicated
hard drive for audio.

You will need a good soundcard, Soundblaster
aint gonna cut it for serious recording.

A program Like Cakewalk, Cubase, or Logic.
They all have good and bad points. Cakewalk is
going to show a new product this week at the NAMM
convention, so I have heard.

If you are going to record audio, you will need
some kind of isolation booth, or at least a
"Doghouse" for the computer, so it is not picked
up by a mic. Computers make a good deal of noise.

When you add all this up, it is a lot of money.
Some Stand-alones can double as mixers, mic pres,
effects units, etc.

The computer is my choice, but the stand-alones
have their good points too, and they dont crash
like PCs. Good luck, David
 
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