What is the cheapest way to record in your opinion

  • Thread starter Thread starter Neadadvice
  • Start date Start date
Neadadvice said:
The first one I found was the M-Audio fast track http://chicago.craigslist.org/chc/msg/1297015392.html.
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You may want to do a thread search here, to see what kind of success/issues people have had with this. (Try "latency usb" to find out more about what I was talking about.) If you get in the forums where people are talking about the M-Audio, you may find positive or negative things that will help you decide, and you will have the added bonus of being introduced to other folks who are using what you will be using, if you go that route!
Neadadvice said:
The only recorder I could find that was cheap was this one http://chicago.craigslist.org/chc/msg/1293111957.html. Its only fifty bucks, but it is a tape recorder not a digital recorder, so I am also hesitant. If you guys don't think either of these are any good I found a zoom h2 for 100 buy it now on ebay and a korg pandora that the bidding is still low on.
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Again, you may want to cruise around the analog forum, and try some searches for the product you are looking for. That's the best way to get a feel for the product you might spend money on. You'll find the questions/problems users of that product have had, and the people who were able to provide solutions.
 
Is it about the music, or about recording (as a hobby)?

If its about the music, just go to a studio. Think of a master carpenter with a saw and hammer, and a newb with a full shop-o-tools.. its about the know how more than tools. I bet if you handed a four track to some of the seasoned veterans in here, they could make a better sounding song than a newb with ProTools.

If you're looking to make a hobby out of the recording, then start with something like the Korg Pandora.. it'll do just what you need, and do it fine.
 
VSpaceBoy said:
Is it about the music, or about recording (as a hobby)?
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Hi, VSpaceBoy, Earlier on in the thread, probably on page 1, he explained his financial situation, and that he was needing to make a demo with his band. The cheapest studio he found in his area was $40 an hour - too steep for them.

By the way, how do you get your eye to blink like that? That was sort of freaky, when I first noticed it, and then I was quite impressed, and almost wrote to you to ask you! Weird and cool at the same time!
 
lifelyrics said:
Hi, VSpaceBoy, Earlier on in the thread, probably on page 1, he explained his financial situation, and that he was needing to make a demo with his band. The cheapest studio he found in his area was $40 an hour - too steep for them.

By the way, how do you get your eye to blink like that? That was sort of freaky, when I first noticed it, and then I was quite impressed, and almost wrote to you to ask you! Weird and cool at the same time!
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Most any little studio will take a flat rate to produce a demo. I gaurantee that if he stopped into a few local studios, offered them a flat $100, and agreed to come in at the studio's conviencence, that he could find someone. If they have their songs down, a skilled engie could setup in an hour an a half, record for one hour, and mix a nice demo in thirty.


As for my Avatar.. thanks. :) I just two two pictures of my eye, one open and one closed. Then just made a little animated gif out of it.
 
lifelyrics said:
Earlier on in the thread, probably on page 1, he explained his financial situation, and that he was needing to make a demo with his band. The cheapest studio he found in his area was $40 an hour - too steep for them.
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Assuming the band is actually *ready* to record and not jumping the gun (and that the same holds true for the studio), there's no reason why they couldn't crank out a decent demo disc of three songs in two hours; one hour to track and one hour to mix should be enough for those that have actually done their homework before hitting that Big Red Button. that would be a total of $80. Or like VSpace says, it's not hard to find a studio that'll bargain out a cheap flat rate to fill an empty spot in their calendar not already booked.

OTOH, $80-100 will buy one next to nothing in the way of gear and environment worth making a serious demo with. Add to that the time constraint he has described and that one simply cannot expect to go from zero to servicable tracking/mixing engineer in a single semester break, and the DIY option just seems silly for anyone who is not just goofing around.

BTW, the animated GIF is indeed cool, it's the subliminal message he has embedded in the vertical blinking interval that has me worried ;) :D

G.
 
I bought a Sony cassette radio at a drugstore for $20 new. It's amazingly good and I would have no problems recording a band for a demo with it using it's built in mic.
 
VSpaceBoy and Glen,
You guys are so smart! I didn't know that "most" studios would be able to do that! That's cool.

As far as the things you pointed out, Glen, I would have to agree with you whole heartedly, since my own experience, totally as a hobbyist, has been that we have spent about $450 since December on recording gear (we're done spending money on this stuff for a while!), and I have spent hours upon hours researching, learning the equipment, experimenting with techniques, and learning how much more I need to practice and hone my skills as a musician and singer before I get "decent" recordings! No matter what product someone gets, it's totally not about just breaking open the box, and wham! instant great recordings! It takes a lot of time and experience to get to the place where you're hearing what you want to hear - and just when you get there, you hear something else that will challenge you and make you have to dig deeper!
 
lifelyrics said:
VSpaceBoy and Glen,
You guys are so smart! I didn't know that "most" studios would be able to do that! That's cool.
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Well, don't get the impression that they''l necessarily just roll over and give it to you. It's a business transaction, and some will be easier than others.

You probably wouldn't get very far at Abbey Road, or some place that's booked solid for the next three months. But it *is* a recession right now, after all, and most places would rather make $100 than nothing at all in that time slot they had booked but just got canceled because the other band decided to DIY it at the last minute because that's what someone else on this forum recommended ;) :D.

And even then, they gotta like you; if you treat them with respect instead of like someone who owes you something, you might be surprised what deal you can strike with them

And you're right, one of the biggest problems with this racket is that - no thanks to the people who make their living selling gear - newbs are led to believe that this stuff is EASY, that all you need is a couple hundred bucks of compact gear and a couple of plugins with the right presets and you'll be churning out a commercial-quality CD in shorter time than it takes me to type this post. That's almost always as much a fantasy as a Shreck movie.

Of course, for the hobbyist or the guy just having some fun or the band just making something for their friends and family posterity, one doesn't necessarily want or need the quality, and would rather experiment themselves with their own stuff, even if they can only afford the minimum. And that's perfectly cool, nothing wrong with that at all. But if you're making a DEMO in the classic sense, meaning something you actually want to use to get work or at least playlist rotation, then it only makes sense not to play around, but rather get your best bang for the buck and put your best foot forward. Your demo is half resume, half head-shot photograph; very few of us would be very sloppy about either of those, It make no sense to be sloppy about putting together the band's demo disc either.

G.
 
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