the typical newbie post

[zeek24]

i know the "what do i need to start" question pops up with regularity here, but i am another clueless newbie in need of some solid advice.

as i am recording AND computer illiterate, i'm having trouble figuring out what's what. here's the situation:

i'm planning on buying a new computer, because this one is a dinosaur, and i want to do home recording. nothing terribly serious, mostly guitar and vocals, just to record demos to give to friends and such. so it doesn't have to be top quality, but i would like something that sounds nice. i do want the ability to record more than one track at once, and be able to hear a playback as i record.

i also have a limited budjet, say 300 - 500 for recording gear. so, based on the advice on this sight here's what i'm thinking about:

a nice mike (like a shure 57)
audiophile 2496 sound card (would that be terribly difficult to install myself?)
probably n-tracks software...
and the preamp is where i'm having decision problems. is a stand alone preamp like m-audio dmp3 or ultragain pro 2200 a better ideal than the aardvark direct mix usb3? what about these DAW controllers like the tascam blem us-428 or the boss blem br-532? what do these things do? out of my league? if i want to eventually record some drums should i just go with a mixer instead? which one?

and i guess my other main question is the computer specifications i will need to properly run this stuff. i was looking at pentium 4 1.8's with 256 ram and a 20G hard drive. if i'm willing to drop a few more bucks, should i upgrade on memory or hard drive speed? if i want to store alot of my songs do i need a zipdisk or something like that?

hope these questions make sense, i know a lot more about fretboards than i do about motherboards.

all advice is greatly appriciated,
zeek

 

[James Argo]

...1rst of all, Welcome to the board.

a nice mike (like a shure 57) audiophile 2496 sound card
probably n-tracks software...

You're heading a right direction so far...

would that be terribly difficult to install myself ?

No.. it's easy if you follow the instruction. And in case you have any difficulties, you got this forum to ask for help.

and the preamp is where i'm having decision problems. is a stand alone preamp like m-audio dmp3 or ultragain pro 2200 a better ideal than the aardvark direct mix usb3? what about these DAW controllers like the tascam blem us-428 or the boss blem br-532? what do these things do? out of my league?

...hmmm, looking at your budget, then you'll need few more hundred bucks. I dunno much about any of those preamps, but I got Blue Tube preamp works just great. You don't need DAW controllers to do your work. Latter if you grow more serious & affordable.

if i want to eventually record some drums should i just go with a mixer instead? which one?

...Yess, Mackie VLZ1604 will do just great for basic tracking. (once again, it takes more hundred bucks).

if i'm willing to drop a few more bucks, should i upgrade on memory or hard drive speed? if i want to store alot of my songs do i need a zipdisk or something like that?

Memory for at least 512MB. When you buy HD, make sure it's 7200RPM, not old fashioned 5400RPM. 40 or 60 GB will give you more room to work.

CD-Writer is the most suggestion. Period. You can do MUCH with it.

And it will be good time for you to go check many other thread in this forum asking alot about this. You'll find many interesting related to your questions just by reading their post..


Jaymz.

 

[Stealthtech]

I second James suggestions. The items you are looking at will serve you well enough for the time being but will require a bit more cash to obtain.

 

[zeek24]

thanks for the help guys i just wanted to be sure i was getting the right stuff.

i'm sure i'll come back around with more nagging questions once it is all here and i'm trying to make it actually work!

happy new year,
zeek

 

[James Argo]

Happy New Year for you too, zeek.