Tell me your recording gear...

[charv712]

Hey people, can you guys please give me a run down of the necessary gear used to record onto your laptop computers? Is what I need a..........1.Laptop........2.DAW program for laptop.......3.Audio Interface..........4.Miked guitar amp..........5.Guitar, and I'm ready to go?? Is that all? Also, if I have an ADA microcab, can I run a line from that to the audio interface in order to achieve my miked guitar sound? Any help would be appreciated. Thank you guys inadvance.

[rhynobyte]

Hey Charv. I started putting together a modest home studio about a 1 1/2 years ago and can share some of my experiences with you that may save you some time. I started with a dual core 500gb 2 gig ram system on windows Vista with Cakewalk MC4. I learned quickly that a decent interface is needed with good a/d converters. I found the reviews on the $200 - $400 products were very mixed and sometimes people get lemons. I settled with the presonus firebox because it was on sale. It has provided me with good clarity low and high more than enough volume and no backround noise. I have had no issues with this at all. Then I began getting some soft synths Like G force mini monsta and Imposcar, NI symohonic etc. I found them to have great sonic quality and they have never failed me either. I LOVE GFORCE synths.Then I got EZ drummer with most of the expansions. A little compression on the kick a little verb on the snare some eq and you can get great drum sounds.Then guitar rig 3. I also have Hardware synths that I use as well and some dated efx units that can come in handy. I had a couple of mics like the old reliable sm57 for micing cabinets and others. So I'm not looking to put together a million dollar studio here but I want faily great recording and here's what happened next equipmentwise. I started to write music and it was cruising along until I'd get to a point where I'd have 50 -75% of a songs tracks down and then drop outs. I was freezing midi tracks and my system was optimized to the max for what it was but nothing helped. Music creator and other beginner recording software doesn't utilze multi core processors. Not sure if the most recent cheapies do now but they didn't a year ago. Make sure you DAW recognizes multi core processors. Honestly make life easy and get a dedicated quad system right off the bat. I then upgraded to Sonar 7 HS. Fine for me I use a lot of external equipment and didn't see the reason too spend more money when I was using about %15 percent of the features on the DAW to begin with. I never had dropouts again. BTW from the beginning I never had latency issues with ASIO drivers either. I thought I was getting pretty good bass tracks with my American deluxe precision. Then I got a Fletcher era joe meek VC6 for $50 and discovered how fantastic an external compressor will make your tracks sound. For me it was everything. I've since very cheaply aquired a few differnet forms of compressors. For me the externals work better though I never did give the upper level software a good tester. Didn't need to after the externals. Old meek ,avalon ,Neve will absolutley bring your guitars to life acoustic ,electric they are key for me any way. I even use the transparent compressor on my yamaha mg to tame piano. I can remember when I got the meek and rerecorded the bass track on a tune I could now clearly hear the soft washing pad track that I was having trouble finding in the mix previously. Very key. Remember to scour the internet feverishly to find quality equip at dirt prices to attain the level of sound you desire. For monitors I use yamaha Ns 10 and edirol Ma 15 d. Yamaha of course are better but the eds give a different look. I also use beyerdynamic and audio tech headphones. I have this system coming out of home streo speakers and a 40w 2.1 computer speaker system as well. I like to hear it coming out of different sources. I'll listen to the bass on everything even clicking the loudness button on the home stereo to see if it's too much low when that occurs the sub translates differntly so I like to hear it on that as well. I've since upgraded my comp system and am only now after almost two years starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel key points are as follows.

- get as powerful of a processor as possible and 4 gigs of ram
- get a good interface saffire, presonus (go for better a/d converters
over more features.)
-your gonna spend a little coin on monitors
- get a good set of cans that represent low freq well. Research the specs online
- Get a DAW that records well enough but don't go for the bells and whistles. multicore compatible

I think you mentioned using a rackmount pre amp. compressor>tube head >interface = great track. Watch your preamp levels since there will be two stages now. find the best balance. Nothing compares with an ace tube amp miced correctly in a good room but you can get very very close if your savvy.

Also remember higher quality monitors make a big difference but whatever monitors you end up with you need to listen to recordings you really like and aspire to sound like (sonically). Listen to all your music on these. Your old stuff new stuff. That is why they are called reference monitors. Play some guitarist you really like their recorded tone and see if you can acheive it to some degree referencing.

I've gone on long enough here. As stated recording is fairly new to me and I am a complete novice but I think I have jumped some hurdles. I am very patient and when I've decided there is something I want but it is way way too expensive I wait and scour and somehow have got stuff for nearly nothing. Hope this helps.

Scour Man. Theres good stuff cheap out there.

Mark

[rhynobyte]

Hey Charv. I started putting together a modest home studio about a 1 1/2 years ago and can share some of my experiences with you that may save you some time. I started with a dual core 500gb 2 gig ram system on windows Vista with Cakewalk MC4. I learned quickly that a decent interface is needed with good a/d converters. I found the reviews on the $200 - $400 products were very mixed and sometimes people get lemons. I settled with the presonus firebox because it was on sale. It has provided me with good clarity low and high more than enough volume and no backround noise. I have had no issues with this at all. Then I began getting some soft synths Like G force mini monsta and Imposcar, NI symohonic etc. I found them to have great sonic quality and they have never failed me either. I LOVE GFORCE synths.Then I got EZ drummer with most of the expansions. A little compression on the kick a little verb on the snare some eq and you can get great drum sounds.Then guitar rig 3. I also have Hardware synths that I use as well and some dated efx units that can come in handy. I had a couple of mics like the old reliable sm57 for micing cabinets and others. So I'm not looking to put together a million dollar studio here but I want faily great recording and here's what happened next equipmentwise. I started to write music and it was cruising along until I'd get to a point where I'd have 50 -75% of a songs tracks down and then drop outs. I was freezing midi tracks and my system was optimized to the max for what it was but nothing helped. Music creator and other beginner recording software doesn't utilze multi core processors. Not sure if the most recent cheapies do now but they didn't a year ago. Make sure you DAW recognizes multi core processors. Honestly make life easy and get a dedicated quad system right off the bat. I then upgraded to Sonar 7 HS. Fine for me I use a lot of external equipment and didn't see the reason too spend more money when I was using about %15 percent of the features on the DAW to begin with. I never had dropouts again. BTW from the beginning I never had latency issues with ASIO drivers either. I thought I was getting pretty good bass tracks with my American deluxe precision. Then I got a Fletcher era joe meek VC6 for $50 and discovered how fantastic an external compressor will make your tracks sound. For me it was everything. I've since very cheaply aquired a few differnet forms of compressors. For me the externals work better though I never did give the upper level software a good tester. Didn't need to after the externals. Old meek ,avalon ,Neve will absolutley bring your guitars to life acoustic ,electric they are key for me any way. I even use the transparent compressor on my yamaha mg to tame piano. I can remember when I got the meek and rerecorded the bass track on a tune I could now clearly hear the soft washing pad track that I was having trouble finding in the mix previously. Very key. Remember to scour the internet feverishly to find quality equip at dirt prices to attain the level of sound you desire. For monitors I use yamaha Ns 10 and edirol Ma 15 d. Yamaha of course are better but the eds give a different look. I also use beyerdynamic and audio tech headphones. I have this system coming out of home streo speakers and a 40w 2.1 computer speaker system as well. I like to hear it coming out of different sources. I'll listen to the bass on everything even clicking the loudness button on the home stereo to see if it's too much low when that occurs the sub translates differntly so I like to hear it on that as well. I've since upgraded my comp system and am only now after almost two years starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel key points are as follows.

- get as powerful of a processor as possible and 4 gigs of ram
- get a good interface saffire, presonus (go for better a/d converters
over more features.)
-your gonna spend a little coin on monitors
- get a good set of cans that represent low freq well. Research the specs online
- Get a DAW that records well enough but don't go for the bells and whistles. multicore compatible

I think you mentioned using a rackmount pre amp. compressor>tube head >interface = great track. Watch your preamp levels since there will be two stages now. find the best balance. Nothing compares with an ace tube amp miced correctly in a good room but you can get very very close if your savvy.

Also remember higher quality monitors make a big difference but whatever monitors you end up with you need to listen to recordings you really like and aspire to sound like (sonically). Listen to all your music on these. Your old stuff new stuff. That is why they are called reference monitors. Play some guitarist you really like their recorded tone and see if you can acheive it to some degree referencing.

I've gone on long enough here. As stated recording is fairly new to me and I am a complete novice but I think I have jumped some hurdles. I am very patient and when I've decided there is something I want but it is way way too expensive I wait and scour and somehow have got stuff for nearly nothing. Hope this helps.

Scour Man. Theres good stuff cheap out there.

Mark

[SonicProvocateur]

Old school!

Edit: 1969 Sony TC-630 Reel to Reel. Nickname "Angry Robot Face"

[560licious]

I don't record on a computer, I use the following: Fostex VF80ex 8-track recorder,
ZOOM Rhythmtrak-RT-223(drum machine), Behringer C-3 condenser mic,
Behringer Xenyx 1202fx mixer

[LGMT]

Waste your money in acoustics. Worth a lot. Hardware and software are nothing without decent treated room and good monitors.

[Fantomas]

Using a quadcore with 4 gig of ram and 2 terabytes of storage on windows 7
Sonar 8 to record
Recording through a podxt as interface
Drums: ezdrummer, addictive drums (for the quick jams) or fl studio/superior drummer for the more intricate parts
Guitar rig (software) and a bunch of hardware effects that i managed to pick up through the years for guitar effects,
iZotope Ozone 4 for mastering

No fancy monitors since I have neighbours, so just a Sennheiser hd212Pro headphone instead

What I have learned though: you can record great tracks with a crappy computer and free software.
The main factors are
1: compose something worthwile
2: mastering
3: mastering
4: mastering

You can always record, even on the most basic computer with freeware applications. It will take some time if you dont have the hardware since youll be forced to process all your effects and drums before actually recording, but its doable.
But mastering is where your song will shine or fail.

[rty13ibz98]

Originally Posted by LGMT

Waste your money in acoustics. Worth a lot. Hardware and software are nothing without decent treated room and good monitors.

+10000


rich

[SonicProvocateur]

Originally Posted by rty13ibz98

+10000


rich

Agreed, acoustic padding and top notch monitors are a MUST.

Don't skimp on a quality condenser mic either. Having 1 or 2 to chose from helps as well.

I also like using the Shure Beta mics, its a good compromise when mic'ing guitar and bass cabs or other instruments. (If you aren't DI'ing the amps)

[purplemarek]

i use a wax cylinder

[Aris_T]

Guitar->Pod Xt Live->Marshall VS102R->Shure SM57->Presonus Firebox->Macbook 2,4 4gb ram->Logic 9.
If I want to lay down some tracks fast, I just go directly from the Pod to the Firebox.
I use superior drummer 2.0 for drums and usually record bass tracks directly through the Firebox, using the Ampeg pluggin. No monitors yet (saving for genelecs), so I use AKG K141 MkII headphones.

[rubislaw]

Guitar-Amp- mic to M Audio interface- M Audio to Cubase Essential 5

[rty13ibz98]

Originally Posted by SonicProvocateur

Agreed, acoustic padding and top notch monitors are a MUST.

Don't skimp on a quality condenser mic either. Having 1 or 2 to chose from helps as well.

I also like using the Shure Beta mics, its a good compromise when mic'ing guitar and bass cabs or other instruments. (If you aren't DI'ing the amps)

not too big on padding as much as i am on bass trapping. i assume you mean foam over fiberglass insulation.
acoustic foam is used moreso in the control and attenuation of mids and highs and do nothing to control low end bass modes. your best bet is broadband absorbers. these types of absorbers take care of the majority of the frequency spectrum without sounding too dead. the thicker you can get them and the farther away from the walls/ceilings, the better they work. my traps are 4" deep, 4" off the wall and range in size from 3'x5', to 4'x6'. i have a soft ceiling in my control room with about 18" of fiberglass insulation and moving blankets to broadband absorb. further control with bass trap hung from the ceiling about 12" down as an acoustic cloud.

btw, i am not a fan of the shure beta series mics at all, the only exception is the beta 52 kick mic. i am a huge fan of sennheiser mics like the e602, e609, and e604.

if you want incredible bang for the buck as far as mics go, the audix i5 and SM57 are 2 workhorse mics for dynamics and the mxl v67i and apex 460 are killer LDC condensers for very little money that sound fantastic. spend the bulk of your money on room acoustic treatment and a really nice preamp(the GAP pre-73 and true P-solo come to mind), having one great channel will make mixing whatever project you do much easier and more fun.

rich

[jemaholic]

My man-cave...