Hi Lostindundee, so am I, on the vicky! what a small world
Thanks for the feedback.
Ok, the laptop may have to be replaced with my desktop which holds the requirements, it was just the laptop is more accessable than my desktop. Im recording your usual Drums, bass, 2xguitars, 2xvox, keyboard nothing more.
Are there any other essentials I should get along with an audio interface to get that professional sound?(compressors etc, of which I know little
)
Cheers!
Noooooooo way
On the Vicky? I'm on Princes Street. Small world indeed.
I'm just starting out PC recording after 20 years of playing and several years of hardware recording. It's a learning curve but lots of reading helps.
"that professional sound"?
You'll need a good preamp. A decent preamp will do lots with regard to getting the signal of your guitars and vocals into your recordings with a richness and clarity, depending on the preamp of course. Your instruments need a preamp to boost their signals to line level. If you haven't used one before or have relied on built in preamps which are not that great then you may be aware of something being missing from previoius recordings. Incidentally, your keyboard is likely already to be line level.
If you buy a cheap and cheerful preamp then this is what you'll get with regard to sound. For a fairly half decent preamp for a hobbyist, you could pay between £300-£1500. I have a £55 Art MP V3 preamp which I'm, using whilst I save up for a Neve. The Art pre would get you going but would likely lead to you re-recording your stuff once you stepped up to a better quality preamp, which you almost probably will if you're serious. Just do a search for preamps on any music retailer website (Dolphin or DV247) and you'll get an idea of what's out there. Hang around in this and other forums and you'll be informed further. Don't leap...do your research before buying. I would go for a half decent PC too. I'm using a Pentium IV 3.06Ghz but I'm not sure how good this is due to having never pushed it much. An intel core 2 duo would be a good investment for you. Also, PCI based interfaces are considered to be better than firewire when it comes to latency issues. Latency is merely the delay between you playing something and it coming out of your PC. Something worth thinking about regarding your interface purchase. Having said this, masses of people swear by their firewire interfaces. I guess it's just audio interface snobbery...lol....What ever you do, don't go USB. If you're getting a new PC you could get one with firewire. You can actually buy interfaces with their own PCI soundcards.
Mic placement and acoustics are also crucial to getting as a professional sound as possible. You'll need to read lots on this and also mixing and mastering. The forums out there are great for this info as is Amazon for books on the subject. For instance, my KSM27 condenser mic picks up the traffic on Princes Street. Therefore, I've had to turn a wardrobe into an occasional vocal booth which also isolates my vocals from the PC's fan. Incidentally, where you listen to stuff is also important. A PC fan whirring in the background as your mixes come through your speaker monitors will affect what you hear and also your decisions to tweak stuff. Therefore, if you could get away with doing stuff in another room then great. If not then join the masses who just get on with it with the spacial limitations they face. It's not the end of the world....lol. You'll need nice speaker monitors to hear your work too.
Doing your recording and mixing in another room needn't be too complicated. You would need:
1. A long VGA/DVI extension cable for your display monitor.
2. A mouse and keybord extension cable.
3. Long cables for speaker monitors.
4. Optional - Long cable for your interface to bring that on the journey to another room with the afore-mentioned gear. This means you could bring your pre with you too. Hell why not.
As for compressors etc, I would suggest using a compressor and any EQ effects in your DAW
after recording your tracks. If you compress or EQ or add any kind of effects processing between your preamp stage and DAW whilst recording then these changes will be committed to your recording without much if any scope to alter them. A lot of old school peeps still prefer to do a little of this and that to their performances as it's being recorded but they are usually seasoned recording enthusiasts who wish to have less to do in the mixing and mastering stages. Therefore, In short, and many people will back me up here, it's much safer to do your processing in your DAW after recording.
Hope this helps and stay in touch Neighbour. You don't come across people on this forum who stay 5 minutes walk from you...lo
LiD
) as I dont know if my laptop will take it.
