what do i need (to make a home cd)?

[highlandladdy]

hi everybody im a paramedic from nova scotia canada and also do some singing and playing as extra income i was wondering what i need to make a cd of myself i have sm 58 mike a yamaha 12 channel emx 5000 board a
takamine g series guitar speakers both 12 and 15 horns 2 pair i have a tube mp pre-amp that i dont even know how to use , i have a couple of mini disc decks and a dj mixer rm 80 from stanton But i honestly dont have a clue when it comes to recording other thyan setting up the old cassette tape on the shelf!!! any help would be appreciated thanks!

 

[garf]

At the very simplest level, assuming you only need a couple of channels, you would want to pick up a CD recorder such as the Tascam CD-RW 2000 ( a couple of hundred on ebay), then some software such as sound forge in order to normalize you recording levels, etc. When you create the CD's, its rather frowned on to use your typical cd burner, instead you would create a master cd and then send it out to a business that creates cd's using a 'printing' technique, example http://www.builtbyicon.com/

But then again, if you can simply knock the songs off one after another, it probably cheaper to have someone that has the equipment and know-how do it for you. (not unusual to find someone with a good home studio and years of experience that would do this for ~$40/hr). It will sound better as well. Just the art of microphone placement can make a huge difference in sound, let alone the quality of the rest of the equipment. Read the top 2 threads in the microphone section as a starter.

on amazon, look for books on mastering audio

 

[LemonTree]

Use the search feature and get posting your questions in the Newbie forum, you'll get a lot more help in there than in the topic pacific threads. Welcome to the board

 

[scrubs]

Here's an intro to computer based recording:

http://www.extremetech.com/article2/0,1558,1818497,00.asp