home recording sound proffessional?

[guitardmb]

My problem with the Nt1 is that it is too expensive. Anything just as good but around 100?

[bngholio14]

Heres what I would recommend:

http://www.zzounds.com/item--STUB1
Alot of people at the recording forums I go to praise this mic for its quality as its only $100. And most of these people are professional sound men.

http://www.zzounds.com/item--MACDFX6
If you want to go to the mixer route Id recommend this.

OR
http://www.zzounds.com/item--STUVTB1
If you just want a preamp.

http://www.zzounds.com/item--MDOAP2496
For a decent soundcard.

[bngholio14]

Btw compression is overused alot. So unless you really need it, dont use it.

[buffjam9011]

check tweakheadz.com great resource for home recording.

[guitardmb]

What are the advantages of using a usb interface compared to a mixer hooked into the line in?

[Trippin Hillbilly]

What are the advantages of using a usb interface compared to a mixer hooked into the line in?

Unless you have a professional recording soundcard, the mixer option is always going to add alot of noise to your signal path. Which will not give you studio results. Good soundcards are expensive, i'm not talking about gaming sound cards like soundblaster and all that. They're junk for recording.

A usb/firewire bypasses all that and gives you a quiet signal for alot cheaper.

[bngholio14]

Check out the MAudio 2496. Its a great soundcard for recording. There are pros and cons for usb interfaces. Some pros are the portability, the no need for any extra equipment and decent quality. But the cons are latency issues, poor sound quality compared to a decent soundcards,and usually they have budget mic pres. Just think about what ypu want to do. If you want to just record some guitars and vocals, a usb interface isnt that bad of a choice. But if you want more inputs, record much more at the same time(i.e. drums,bass,guitar,vox, keys) a decent soudncard and mixer is a better choice.

[Trippin Hillbilly]

Check out the MAudio 2496. Its a great soundcard for recording. There are pros and cons for usb interfaces. Some pros are the portability, the no need for any extra equipment and decent quality. But the cons are latency issues, poor sound quality compared to a decent soundcards,and usually they have budget mic pres. Just think about what ypu want to do. If you want to just record some guitars and vocals, a usb interface isnt that bad of a choice. But if you want more inputs, record much more at the same time(i.e. drums,bass,guitar,vox, keys) a decent soudncard and mixer is a better choice.

Even if you have even a half decent computer you can set latency to 4.0ms which isn't even noticeable. You can also get firewire interfaces with more that two inputs. My firepod has 8 and the mic pres are very good.

Cheap mixers add tons of noise which as much as you try will never give you studio quality recordings. So if he went the mixer route, he would need an expensive soundcard and an expensive mixer, not the behringer crap that is out there.

Now since he's doesnt want to spend $200 on a mic then there's no chance he's going to want to spend around $1000 + on a soundcard and mixer.

[guitardmb]

My budget would probably be around 100 on every piece of equipment unless i can get MUCH better results for a little extra. So 100 for condenser mic, 100 for USB interface, 100 for processor(s).

Right now I have Cakewalk Guitar Tracks pro, and a BBE 386 Acoustic Preamp. What other moderatly priced, GREAT sounding pieces of equipment would you recommend, or what replacements of what i already have would you recommend?