What do I need to get started?

[foomangoo]

Hey!
Forgive me cuz I am totally new to digi recording. I have Cool Edit Pro 2.0, N-Track Studio and I think I even have Cakewalk somewhere too.
I am not set up to use this to its potential tho. I currently have an old tascam 4-track that I dump onto a cass deck then send to my pc and use Cool Edit to do some light work with (normalizing, fx's, etc).
I want to try and get a soundcard or whatever and be able to do more than 4 tracks or bounce down on tape.
Any ideas, good articles, information on what I need...?
I am poor so price is a big concern. Can I pick up the stuff I need on eBay?
Please help an old rocker with this new technology!
Thanks!

 

[Dr Biscuits]

Hey - you definitely can find stuff on ebay... as far as interfaces for the computer, I always reccomend checking out m-audio to start with for fairly low-budget but still decent stuff, www.m-audio.com
The basic thing to remember is that you'll need an interface with as many inputs as you need to record at once, but if you're multitracking with overdubs, most software is virtually unlimited in how many tracks you can add.
Also make sure you have enough mic pre's as some interface's have them built in and some don't. You'll need one for each microphone you want to record with simultaniously.
Here's a good site with lots of info http://www.tweakheadz.com/
As a final note - tempting as it may be because of price, stay away from Soundblaster type gamer audio cards - they aren't designed for music production and you'll most likely be unhappy with one...
Good luck!

 

[foomangoo]

Thanks Biscuits,
I now see the "Newbies" section of the forum ....I shoulda looked before I leaped ......I will go search there and your link too.

Thanks!

 

[TimOBrien]

My obligatory standard reply that I keep in Wordpad:

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 guide that also explains all the basics:
http://www.tweakheadz.com/guide.htm

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

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

Other freebies and shareware: www.hitsquad.com

 

[maximum octopus]

If I had it to do all over again I would have started with the following items:

A half-decent pc. I started with compaq PIII 450mhz. This becomes an issue really only on the software end most of the time. I was using Cakewalk 9 at the time. Alot of tweaking you can do to windows to optimize as well. I was able to record a fully mic'ed drumkit at 24/96 when I upgraded to Cakewalk Sonar 1.

An M-audio Delta 44. These are cheap, reliable and you can record 4 tracks at once. Software really makes the amount of tracks you can record one at a time limitless however. I do not use midi. If you want to use midi the Delta line has more cards that are very inexpensive that add midi capability as well.
Never could get my head around it.

A Mackie 1202 VLZ. Has decent mic pre-amps, phantom power and the inserts can output directly into your sound card. It also has phantom power if you need it.They are pretty cheap now. I have seen ones that are all beat up go for 60 bucks on ebay. A used one in good shape may go for 120-140. I paid 400 bucks for mine when it first came out. Fricking OW! A decent mixer for a fair price though.

A couple of decent mics. I got buy for a long time on 1 sm57 and and an MXL2001. Very inexpensive and of average quality. Never had a complaint about either of them, and in the end the Mxl2001 has actually become a preferred mic for some vocalists I record. I don't know why, but they seem to be able to make that mic sound very good.

Cables for everything of course.

This is an excellent starting point. You can do alot with inexpensive equipment if you take the time to get to know it. If you want to shoot me an e-mail I would be more than happy to help you find some or all of what you would need to get going.