What Computer Do You Recommend For What I Need?

S

Studio Guru

New member
The only advice I don't want is from people who try to do things cheap and convince themselves it's as good as the best stuff. I get frustrated by local musicians who try to convince myself and others that their stuff sounds professional when it's not even close to my ears. Their "that's all you need" philosophy is something I want to stay away from so my stuff sounds good. I need a computer to be able to handle my needs, so here is what I need.

I believe this USB mixer is what I need. Mackie ProFX22 Effects Mixer with USB, 22-Channel at zZounds

I play guitar (lead, rhythm, electric, acoustic, slide) in many genres of music, so I'll be doing all my own guitars, as well as my own bass. I'll either play my own drums or have one of my oldest friends playing, and that's the only time two people will be playing and recording at the same time. Had my fill of playing with other musicians! haha I'll do all my own vocals and background vocals. I'm guessing the channel usage will look something like this, and I want to leave it set like this all the time.

Drums (8 mics/channels)
bass (1 line in channel and 1 amp recorded with mic channel simultaneously recorded)
lead electric guitar (1 line in channel and 1 amp recorded with mic channel simultaneously recorded)
rhythm electric guitar (1 line in channel and 1 amp recorded with mic channel simultaneously recorded)
acoustic guitar (1 line in channel and 1 mic channel simultaneously recorded)
Lead vocal (1 channel)
background vocals (1 channel)
keyboard (1 channel)
percussion (1 channel)

With the above info in mind, what are my computer needs? I appreciate any and all expert advice I can get! I'm not new to the playing and singing, but am totally green about recording and need all the help I can get to do this right.
 
Read the thread above on mixers. The Mackie is great but will only allow you to record 2 separate channels at one time (one panned left and one panned right). If you are going to use 8 mics for recording drums you need an audio interface with 8 separate channels.
Any current new computer is going to work for you. 4G RAM, 500G+ hard drive.
 
mjbphotos said:
Read the thread above on mixers. The Mackie is great but will only allow you to record 2 separate channels at one time (one panned left and one panned right). If you are going to use 8 mics for recording drums you need an audio interface with 8 separate channels.
Any current new computer is going to work for you. 4G RAM, 500G+ hard drive.
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Again, this kind of expert advice is why I'm here, so I can learn! Thank you! I am totally ignorant concerning all of the recording stuff, and was under the assumption that the mixer somehow was compatible with the DAW, which would read each channel's input directly into the computer. I have soooo much to learn! lol
 
Maybe consider the combination of a decent desktop PC running Reaper as the DAW with a standalone recorder such as the ZOOM R24.

Advantages are cost savings of PC over Mac ( and no quality/enjoyment loss if you dedicate your pc to music and do not use it as a pornograph ), using Reaper will free up some cash for the VST's you will convince yourself are needed later on :D, using a standalone recorder allows for trouble free recording and portability.
 
CFox said:
Maybe consider the combination of a decent desktop PC running Reaper as the DAW with a standalone recorder such as the ZOOM R24.

Advantages are cost savings of PC over Mac ( and no quality/enjoyment loss if you dedicate your pc to music and do not use it as a pornograph ), using Reaper will free up some cash for the VST's you will convince yourself are needed later on :D, using a standalone recorder allows for trouble free recording and portability.
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Thanks. CFox, but I'm really looking for a mixer/DAW solution that will fit my recording needs. There has to be a way to do this without spending more than $3000 for the mixer and the software! Getting multiple recording plug-ins doesn't sound like it should be that difficult, especially considering all the one man studio guys who need to do multi track recordings. Do we really live in a world where recording real drums using 8 mics is a problem?
 
Would you be willing to build your own PC? It's not difficult. If you are, you can get something really powerful (i.e. much more so than any imac or macbook pro) for a fraction of the price, all for a day's effort. I built my own for around £800 that would have cost around £3,000 for the same power from Apple.

Windows 7 is perfectly fine for recording on. I installed Mac OSX as well, but have found Windows to be fine.

You can use Reaper if you want a cheap DAW (don't assume it's no good because it's cheap - plenty of people here swear by it and get professional sounding results). I use Cubase 6, which was £400. A Mackie Onyx mixer might suit for your needs - the 1640i is also a 16 channel audio interface for around £1,100. It is Firewire, so you'd need a Firewire card, but they're not expensive, I believe.

So, a PC, a DAW and mixer all for < £3,000.

I don't know prices in dollars, but PC parts are cheaper in the US, so I'm guessing you can do something similar with your budget.
 
jonny deep said:
Would you be willing to build your own PC? It's not difficult. If you are, you can get something really powerful (i.e. much more so than any imac or macbook pro) for a fraction of the price, all for a day's effort. I built my own for around £800 that would have cost around £3,000 for the same power from Apple.

Windows 7 is perfectly fine for recording on. I installed Mac OSX as well, but have found Windows to be fine.

You can use Reaper if you want a cheap DAW (don't assume it's no good because it's cheap - plenty of people here swear by it and get professional sounding results). I use Cubase 6, which was £400. A Mackie Onyx mixer might suit for your needs - the 1640i is also a 16 channel audio interface for around £1,100. It is Firewire, so you'd need a Firewire card, but they're not expensive, I believe.

So, a PC, a DAW and mixer all for < £3,000.

I don't know prices in dollars, but PC parts are cheaper in the US, so I'm guessing you can do something similar with your budget.
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I was originally looking at the Mackie 1640i, but everybody says firewire tech is on the way out. I am not opposed to building my own computer.
 
A question for the guys in the know:

Would putting 8 mics on the drums and running to their own separate mixer, and then running that mixer into a channel on the main mixer be a solution for recording drums from a USB mixer to my computer?
 
Studio Guru said:
A question for the guys in the know:

Would putting 8 mics on the drums and running to their own separate mixer, and then running that mixer into a channel on the main mixer be a solution for recording drums from a USB mixer to my computer?
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It's a solution, but then you lose flexibility. That mix is then your permanent drum unless you adjust and retrack. You'd be better with an interface with 8 inputs so you can mix the drums in the box, or with a recording device with enough tracks to record each mic separately.

Re the Firewire issue, once you've got a computer and mixer working using Firewire, does it matter? Maybe someone can suggest a similar USB mixer?
 
Studio Guru said:
That's a little too pricey! lol
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I know. The problem is that there are so many factors to consider, so many requirements to balance, that most people economize where they can and PCs are often one of the first places to chop. Your admonition...

The only advice I don't want is from people who try to do things cheap and convince themselves it's as good as the best stuff. I get frustrated by local musicians who try to convince myself and others that their stuff sounds professional when it's not even close to my ears. Their "that's all you need" philosophy is something I want to stay away from so my stuff sounds good.
Click to expand...

... makes sense only if you have cash up the wazoo.

There are a lot of reasons a recording may go South (other then talent): crappy recording space, cheap monitors, poor mastering. And then there are reasons that are unlikely to be part of the problem: cheap preamps, inexpensive converters, bargain basement PCs.

Digital components in particular... even the cheaper ones... are often orders of magnitude better then much of the analog gear that many famous songs were recorded on.

tl:dr Using a inexpensive PC is unlikely to contribute to sucky music.
 
jonny deep said:
It's a solution, but then you lose flexibility. That mix is then your permanent drum unless you adjust and retrack. You'd be better with an interface with 8 inputs so you can mix the drums in the box, or with a recording device with enough tracks to record each mic separately.

Re the Firewire issue, once you've got a computer and mixer working using Firewire, does it matter? Maybe someone can suggest a similar USB mixer?
Click to expand...

That makes it sound like I don't need a mixer at all, or if I do and I ran a mixer into an interface, I wouldn't need a mixer with more than 8 channels or so, and even less if I didn't mind changing stuff every time I went from bass to guitar to acoustic guitar to vocals, etc...
 
wheelema said:
Digital components in particular... even the cheaper ones... are often orders of magnitude better then much of the analog gear that many famous songs were recorded on.

tl:dr Using a inexpensive PC is unlikely to contribute to sucky music.
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I agree that today's digital tech has to be more advanced in quality than what the Beatles recorded with. Even the home recording stuff. I just have been told so many times by local musicians to get cheap stuff like they use instead of spending a little bit, whether for live or recording, so I'm weary of that just because the quality isn't what they think it is, but that could just be because they don't know how to use it.
 
Studio Guru said:
I agree that today's digital tech has to be more advanced in quality than what the Beatles recorded with. Even the home recording stuff. I just have been told so many times by local musicians to get cheap stuff like they use instead of spending a little bit, whether for live or recording, so I'm weary of that just because the quality isn't what they think it is, but that could just be because they don't know how to use it.
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So much depends on your budget and your recording space. You're just not going to be happy with the end result when your budget is $500 and your recording space is a walk-in closet.
 
Studio Guru said:
I just have been told so many times by local musicians to get cheap stuff like they use instead of spending a little bit, whether for live or recording, so I'm weary of that just because the quality isn't what they think it is, but that could just be because they don't know how to use it.
Click to expand...

I know what you are talking about. So many bad recordings it boggles the mind. I've always been baffled how people fool themselves into thinking shitty recordings are awesome. All you have to do is play your stuff in a playlist with some of your favorite artists - takes about five minutes to figure out. You are off to a good start - at least *you* can hear it.
 
First, forget the mixer. The main purpose of a mixer is to mix multiple signals down to fewer outputs. The best mixers also allow you to send the signal from each channel out separately.

What you need is an audio interface with at least 8 channels with mic pre-amps. Consider the Tascam US-1800
 
chuckduffy said:
I know what you are talking about. So many bad recordings it boggles the mind. I've always been baffled how people fool themselves into thinking shitty recordings are awesome. All you have to do is play your stuff in a playlist with some of your favorite artists - takes about five minutes to figure out. You are off to a good start - at least *you* can hear it.
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Okay, thanks for the great info! Thanks to everyone! I'm currently looking at these interfaces.

PreSonus AudioBox 1818VSL | Sweetwater.com


M-Audio Fast Track Ultra 8R | Sweetwater.com

Are there interfaces with more than 8 channels?
 
mjbphotos said:
Read the thread above on mixers. The Mackie is great but will only allow you to record 2 separate channels at one time (one panned left and one panned right). If you are going to use 8 mics for recording drums you need an audio interface with 8 separate channels.
Any current new computer is going to work for you. 4G RAM, 500G+ hard drive.
Click to expand...

Hey, Mike, do you mean that this computer would fit my needs?

Gateway - Desktop - 6GB Memory - 1TB Hard Drive - DX4860-UB32P
 
I would be wary of cheap, mass-producing computer companies. They tend to use crappy components and make them less upgradeable (I'm having memories here of glued in motherboards and short IDE cables). I include Dell in this statement.

I would say that machine is fairly low spec. You could record on it fine for now, but it might not handle more intense projects and isn't very future-proofed. Build your own if you can, spec it up to what you can afford and it will last you much, much longer for cheaper than you can buy elsewhere. Then, you have control of the quality of the components. If you need advice on parts, I can help some, as I researched to build my own relatively recently. The machine I built is very powerful and dead-silent. I can help you choose parts compatible with OS X as well, if you want to go the Hackintosh route and have a Mac (my machine runs Windows, Mac and Linux, all in the same box).
 
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