Total Noob

  • Thread starter Thread starter Beerninja
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Beerninja

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I am very new to the recording side of the house. I have been playing music pretty much all my life and have recorded before but wasn't really involved in the technical aspect of it all, I pretty much came in laid my track and that was it. Right now I want to start my own home "studio" and am thinking of getting the Mbox, a set of monitors, and a decent mixer. I am active duty Navy so my budget is on the smaller side of things, I was wondering if this is a good route? or should I be looking somewhere else :-)
To be honest I really don't know where to start so I am looking for as much help as possiable. Thanking you all in advance for any info on where to begin.

My Comp Specs
2.8 P4
40GB hardrive
Useing the onboard sound from
P4B533-E motherboard
512mb Ram
 
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First and foremost, I'd like to extend my personal gratitude to you for your sevice to our country. You're (all) making us proud, and deserve our eternal thanks.

Alrighty then - If you're only looking to record two tracks at a time, you're right on. The M-Box (you won't even need a separate mixer) is a pretty decent tool.

If you're looking for more tracking power, you might want to check out www.m-audio.com - there are several options available for more inputs & outputs. Not sure if (M-Audio) comes with any of its own software, but there's a nice selection available out there, some ridiculously inexpensive.

Monitors are extremely important and you should get the best that you can afford. You don't need the ultimate, but you do need to cover "full range" - Inexpensive self-powered monitors are also available from M-Audio, Behringer and others.

I hope that gives you something to ponder at least...

John Scrip - www.massivemastering.com
 
Thank you VERY MUCH for you kind words it really means alot. now with that being said :-)

as far as monitors go this is what I am looking at
Behringer B2031 Truth Active Studio Monitor Speakers Pair.

As for the M-box to start with I think having 2 inputs will be good for at elast the first few months while I get the hang of it, which is why I was thinking about the mixer so that once I get the hang of things I can take more tracks and mix em down. But as it is right now I don't have anyone to jam with so I will be doing pretty much all the tracks myself which means I wouldn't be using more then 1input at a time. I was looking at the site you suggested, but one of the main reasons for getting the Mbox was for Pro-tools as I am told that is about the best program you can get or at least it is very widly used pretty much the industry standard kind of thing.

Oh and what is the deal with "phantom power" I keep reading about it but have no clue what it means.

Thanks again for your kind words, and things to ponder :-)
 
Phantom power is required by condensor mics. This is usually supplied by the pre amp or mixer. Dynamic mics don't need phantom power. Generally speaking dynamics are more rugged but less sensitive than condensors
 
Take a look at ....

Alesis M1 Actives

Mackie HR 624's

Mackie HR 824's

All three (3) sets of monitors are exceptionally good AND they are self-powered. ;)

spin
 
THank you very much for the tips, unfortunatly the Mackies are just a little out of my price range right now. And that web site I went to check it out and pretty much everything there waws dated like 2 yrs ago, I did find some interesting reading though, so once again thank you very much for the tips.
 
oh I was also thinking about upgrading my sound card stuff, any suggestions on what to look for or good products that would be compatiable with the Mbox and Pro-tools?

Oh Mass Master I found some stuff on the M-Audio site and was wondering is that stuff combatiable with pro-tools? if I got the M-audio should I get Pro-tools or just work with what ever it is that they include?


THanks everyone
 
The selection of your DAW is pretty personal... It's like getting married... There's a long courship, the excitement, a learning curve, and then before you know it, everything is mundane.

I myself, don't use ProTools anymore. There are several reasons that I'd rather not get in to here - Let's just say that other programs may be a bit more flexible for some purposes. Cubase & Nuendo, with VST and DX support, have plugin selections (some FREE) that aren't available to PT users. Hardware choice is a big issue also.

DISCLAIMER: If you like ProTools, that's fine. Use it. Whatever floats your boat (no pun intended).

Just my thoughts...

John
 
Well to be honest I have no idea if I like it or not, I have never used any of em, the closest I have come so far would be a $20 version of Music Creator 2002 from cakewalk. I am just trying to get started with some equipment that I won't outgrow in 4 months. And something that will actualy get me some decent recordings once I get this all into perspective. :-)

Thanks
 
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