recording equipment?

Duffman · Unread post by **Duffman** » Fri Dec 15, 2006 9:53 pm

what do you guys recommend for recording stuff to a computer. I want to get my brother something for xmas. are there sound cards that have guitar inputs? should i get a mixer?

RunsWithBuffalo · Unread post by **RunsWithBuffalo** » Fri Dec 15, 2006 11:05 pm

Give us a budget first...we will get you the best for your money.

Duffman · Unread post by **Duffman** » Sat Dec 16, 2006 12:27 pm

not really sure, what equipment do i actually need? a sound card and a mixer? or do they make sound cards that have mixers built in?

sunglassesatnight · Unread post by **sunglassesatnight** » Sat Dec 16, 2006 12:52 pm

Duffman wrote:not really sure, what equipment do i actually need? a sound card and a mixer? or do they make sound cards that have mixers built in?

Your question has a lot of answers. Analog mixers do not equal sound cards. Analog sound cards do not equal mixers. You can buy just a mixer, which will have 1/4" inputs, and run into the computer's factory sound card. The problem with that is that the factory sound card is not made for recording, thus it does a very poor job of analog to digital conversion and just plain sounds bad, among all the other things. But it will work, and you could certainly do worse.

As far as the mixer goes, it seems, to me, that your best option is an all-in-one USB or Firewire interface. This allows you to plug everything in, including guitars, and just go right in through the USB or Firewire port. These boxes do a lot better job at analog to digital conversion than a stock sound card and are very convenient to use, not to mention that the preamps in these are usually much better than budget mixers. If you're going this route, I'd recommend the M-Audio FastTrack Pro or the Presonus Firebox if you're feeling really flush.

Now concerning your budget. Depending, you might be best off buying your brother either a mixer or a good sound card (Like the M-Audio Audiophile 2496, ~$100). If you go the mixer route, I'd advise you to stray from Behringer and Nady. Nady is fully junk, and Behringer is mostly junk.

Let us know what other information you might need.

Duffman · Unread post by **Duffman** » Sat Dec 16, 2006 1:33 pm

awesome, thanks for the info.

the usb interfaces look kinda what i had in mind. i'm guessing you don't need a good sound card to use these?

i guess the next thing to ask is about a decent microphone for vocals.

sunglassesatnight · Unread post by **sunglassesatnight** » Sat Dec 16, 2006 1:40 pm

Duffman wrote:awesome, thanks for the info.

the usb interfaces look kinda what i had in mind. i'm guessing you don't need a good sound card to use these?

i guess the next thing to ask is about a decent microphone for vocals.

Nope, all you need is the USB port and an outlet.

I think we're definitely going to need a budget for a vocal mic.

philtheman · Unread post by **philtheman** » Wed Dec 27, 2006 3:28 am

Yea a budget would help alot. But for a pretty decent vocal mike, I would suggest the MXL 990 it actually sounds really good and it costs around 70 bucks but you can grind at guitar center

RunsWithBuffalo · Unread post by **RunsWithBuffalo** » Wed Dec 27, 2006 1:09 pm

Also consider your recording environment, i record with an sm58 because it rejects a lot of outside noise. Its not as clear as a condenser, but it gets the job done.

DMwannaB · Unread post by **DMwannaB** » Thu Dec 28, 2006 12:19 am

Anyone have any sudgestions for a recording program that is fairly easy to use?

eliot1171 · Unread post by **eliot1171** » Thu Dec 28, 2006 12:23 am

Mac or PC?

PC -> Free and easy. Nothing special though.

http://audacity.sourceforge.net/

Kahn · Unread post by **Kahn** » Thu Dec 28, 2006 12:58 am

Adobe Audition is a great recording program

afurth · Unread post by **afurth** » Thu Jan 04, 2007 2:33 pm

If you have a mac, just use garageband.

Its as easy as it gets.

Then if you get bored, invest in Logic - wow you can do a lot with that program haha.

sunglassesatnight · Unread post by **sunglassesatnight** » Thu Jan 04, 2007 3:40 pm

In my experience, GarageBand is horribly bad. I don't think it would be useful for anyone who wanted to do any serious editing/mixing/recording at all.

For the Mac:
Logic: better
ProTools: Best. Steep learning curve, however.

mangold · Unread post by **mangold** » Thu Jan 04, 2007 10:46 pm

i use garageband for everything I do, works great for me. thats my 2 cents. i was an audacity used before i bought my baby, it was as basic as it gets, none of the "effects" are worth shit. (except "normalize" thats my baby)

nevertheless i used it for 2.5 years without issue... but also without reverb

sunglassesatnight · Unread post by **sunglassesatnight** » Thu Jan 04, 2007 11:12 pm

It definitely boils down to personal preference. Me and GarageBand never clicked when I was using it.

Also, be careful with adding gain through effects like Normalization (Compression especially). Anyone who does any recording should read this:
http://www.mindspring.com/~mrichter/dyn ... namics.htm

DMBTabs.com

recording equipment?

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