Wait no more: I'm finally here!

[cowbellallen]

Ah, in all seriousness, I'm glad to be on this forum finally. I rember visiting here about 4 years ago when I first starting picking up bass and had no recording equipment. Now I'm 18 and finally have some decent tools.

For my first post, I'd like to know what you think of my setup. Are there any upgrades I should make to meet a certain "home engineer" standard? I'd love to know! I will basically only be recording class rock, so I assume I wouldn't need much more than a few good mics and some good software...

Anyways, here's what I'm using!

2.0 GHz iMac G5 with 512 MB RAM
Logic Express 7.1
Tascam US-122 USB Interface at 48 kHz
Kurweil SP76
Various MXL microphones, and 5 Superlux mics (very cheap, yet good)

Well, there it is. Any thought on this setup would be appreciated! It's kinda late, perhaps I'll return tomorrow when I have more to say...

-allen

 

[jkokura]

The one thing I think you're missing is decent pres...

jacob

 

[Creamyapples1]

Pres are a great start, I'd maybe upgrade the RAM on the Mac too.

Other than that, I'd look at some decent monitors.

 

[cowbellallen]

Hm, pres? What might that be?

Monitor wise I have a JBL invader sound system, and a decent set of headphones.

-allen

 

[bennychico11]

Hm, pres? What might that be?

microphone preamps. They're what you plug your microphone into in order to get a stronger signal. Dedicated preamps (ie. not ones that come with an all in one mixer or soundcard) usually tend to sound better because the manufacturer built them for that specific purpose and didn't cut as many corners as a typical mixer or soundcard manufacturer did to keep costs down.

 

[dgatwood]

I'd say RAM. For audio work, 512MB is about the bare minimum usable RAM for a Mac OS X system, IMHO. AFAIK, that machine takes a single stick of PC3200 or faster RAM. Both your slots are probably full with the factory RAM. If so, I'd recommend two 1GB sticks. If all your 512MB is in a single slot, I'd recommend one 1GB stick.

I'd recommend RAM made by (or, more accurately, branded by) Kingston or Crucial. I've had good luck buying RAM from http://www.18004memory.com in the past.