Ultimate Noob needs help!

[dannynat]

Hey all. I am new to the site (obviously) and was looking for some help. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

I am planning on making a demo for a band I play in and am not sure if I am heading in the right direction. I have no experience in recording and am on a fairly tight budget. So far I have bought a package of mxl 990/991 with audio buddy preamp. I am planning on getting an alesis usb 8 multimix. I am using a HP pavillion dv5000 laptop with 512mb ram and 1.46 GHz. I am considering using either n-track studio or audicity. I once used n-track with my computer mic and would experience latency after doing about 4 tracks, should i assume thats due to lack of ram?

Any suggestions on alternate routes to take or any advice at all would be much appreciated

 

[Jederino]

What other instruments are you recording?

Do you need more mic's?

Are you planning on recording all the instruments at the same time, or atleast just the rhythm section (git, bass, drums)?

Look at a firewire interface (Presonus Firepod or FP10) instead of the multimix. I think with the multimix, you can't send the individual tracks to your computer.

RAM can be an issue, I would upgrade it to atleast a GIG. Also, defrag your computer and run a Start>run> type "msconfig"> click on "startup" and deselect anything you don't want running when your PC starts up.

 

[dannynat]

For the time being I don't plan on getting more mics. Possibly a set of drum mics in the future.

I am planning on recording drums, bass guitar, lead/rhythm guitars, vocals individually

 

[Wbtmetal]

Confused

Im kinda stuck in the same situation but i have another question we have 3 people doing vocals a rythem guitar a lead guitar a bass and drums
And were like dirt poor at the moment but we want to get the recording done so how whould we go about recording?

 

[Jederino]

And were like dirt poor at the moment but we want to get the recording done so how whould we go about recording?

Recording isn't cheap, yet it isn't nearly as expensive as it was 2 decades, or even 8 years ago. You need to do your research, and save money.

If you, your friends, or your parents have a computer that can handle it, the cheapest route to take is getting some basic mics that you can use for everything (utility mics), and an interface that would preferbly have preamps on it. Alesis and Presonus are a few companies that have these, and most interfaces that you buy come with a multitrack program (like Cubase LE).

 

[TimOBrien]

My obligatory standard reply that I keep in Wordpad:

First off, immediately get a good beginner recording book (spend $20 before spending hundred$/thousand$) that shows you what you need to get started and how to hook everything up in your studio:
Home Recording for Musicians by Jeff Strong - $15
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/07...ce&n=283155&n=507846&s=books&v=glance
(Wish I'd had that when I started; would have saved me lots of money and time and grief)

Good Newbie guides that also explains all the basics:
http://www.tweakheadz.com/guide.htm
http://www.computermusic.co.uk/page/computermusic?entry=free_beginner_pdfs

21 Ways To Assemble a Recording Rig:
http://www.tweakheadz.com/rigs.htm

Also Good Info:
http://www.theprojectstudiohandbook.com/directory.htm

Other recording books:
http://musicbooksplus.com/home-recording-c-31.html


Plenty of software around to record for FREE to start out on:

Audacity: http://audacity.sourceforge.net (multi-track with VST support)

Wavosaur: http://www.wavosaur.com/ (a stereo audio file editor with VST support)

Kristal: http://www.kreatives.org/kristal/

Other freebies and shareware: www.hitsquad.com

Another great option is REAPER at http://www.cockos.com/reaper/
(It's $40 but runs for free until you get guilty enough to pay for it...)

Music Notation and MIDI recording: Melody Assistant ($20) and Harmony Assistant ($80) have the power of $600 notation packages - http://myriad-online.com
Demo you can try on the website.

And you can go out to any Barnes&Noble or Borders and pick up "Computer Music" magazine - they have a full studio suite in every issue's DVD, including sequencers, plugins and tons of audio samples. (November 2006 they gave away a full copy of SamplitudeV8SE worth $150, November 2007-on the racks Dec in the US- they're giving away SamplitudeV9SE. It pays to watch 'em for giveaways...)

 

[Jederino]

My obligatory standard reply that I keep in Wordpad:

First off, immediately get a good beginner recording book (spend $20 before spending hundred$/thousand$) that shows you what you need to get started and how to hook everything up in your studio:
Home Recording for Musicians by Jeff Strong - $15
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/07...ce&n=283155&n=507846&s=books&v=glance
(Wish I'd had that when I started; would have saved me lots of money and time and grief)

Good Newbie guides that also explains all the basics:
http://www.tweakheadz.com/guide.htm
http://www.computermusic.co.uk/page/computermusic?entry=free_beginner_pdfs

21 Ways To Assemble a Recording Rig:
http://www.tweakheadz.com/rigs.htm

Also Good Info:
http://www.theprojectstudiohandbook.com/directory.htm

Other recording books:
http://musicbooksplus.com/home-recording-c-31.html


Plenty of software around to record for FREE to start out on:

Audacity: http://audacity.sourceforge.net (multi-track with VST support)

Wavosaur: http://www.wavosaur.com/ (a stereo audio file editor with VST support)

Kristal: http://www.kreatives.org/kristal/

Other freebies and shareware: www.hitsquad.com

Another great option is REAPER at http://www.cockos.com/reaper/
(It's $40 but runs for free until you get guilty enough to pay for it...)

Music Notation and MIDI recording: Melody Assistant ($20) and Harmony Assistant ($80) have the power of $600 notation packages - http://myriad-online.com
Demo you can try on the website.

And you can go out to any Barnes&Noble or Borders and pick up "Computer Music" magazine - they have a full studio suite in every issue's DVD, including sequencers, plugins and tons of audio samples. (November 2006 they gave away a full copy of SamplitudeV8SE worth $150, November 2007-on the racks Dec in the US- they're giving away SamplitudeV9SE. It pays to watch 'em for giveaways...)

Thats good info man! I should copy it and give you cred. when I help people out in other places. I got started out by getting a subscription to Computer Music, and then I moved to Recording. Those are great mags!