Whats your home recording setup?

[rb83]

im wanting to sort out a small simple setup idealy on a laptop, just wondering what other people use.

 

so whats your.....

computer spec?

hard drive?

sound card?

mics?

midi?

speakers/monitoring?

software? recording, mixing, mastering etc.

anything else...

 

also what do you get upto with it?

 

cheers

[MTheo]

Not 100% sure on my setup...but...

 

computer spec? Dual Core AMD Processor, 2gig of ram

hard drive? over a Terrabyte

sound card? Delta 66

mics? Shurre SM58

midi? never used it

speakers/monitoring? Luckily I was a home cinema geek before music geek, so I have some Monitor Audio Studio 12 speakers which cost a bomb and sound amazing. Also some very nice gold plated studio headphones (forget the brand/model number) that cost about £150

software? recording, mixing, mastering etc. Cool Edit & Pro Tools (not got to use Pro Tools just yet)

anything else...I've got something called Omni Studio that takes all the inputs I need for my equipment....again its not fully functional yet as i'm getting myself confused with all the options!

 

Don't forget a mic stand and pop shield for the vocals.

 

also what do you get upto with it?

http://www.myspace.com/fusion25music <--- this is what i'm getting upto

[rb83]

do you use an external hard drive. im hearing firewire interfaces are better than usb ones for music. have you head anything/have an opinion

[MTheo]

I have a couple of 500gig external hard drives that I use for films/games etc but use my internal 300gig for my music at mo, will prob shift to external as files get larger and larger....but I've not had any experience in storing them on an external and the possible draw backs.

 

I don't see a potential problem except for maybe loading time into your editing software?

 

I'm having to get a mate around to try and help me with my setup as i'm struggling to get it all working together since I upgraded to M-Audio soundcard and Pro Tools...then I have the fun of teaching myself pro tools.

[rb83]

i posted this same thread on the harmony central forum and got a good reply that may be interesting for other people wanting to get in to home recording........

 

""""First off, immediately get a good beginner recording book (spend $20 before spending hundred$/thousand$) that shows you what you need to get started and how to hook everything up in your studio:

Home Recording for Musicians by Jeff Strong - $15

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/076... ooks&v=glance

(Wish I'd had that when I started; would have saved me lots of money and time and grief)

You can also pick up this book in most any Borders or Barnes&Noble in the Music Books section!

 

Another good one is: Recording Guitar and Bass by Huw Price

http://www.amazon.com/Recording-Guit...5734124&sr=1-1

(I got my copy at a place called Half-Price Books for $6!!)

 

Barnes&Noble or Borders are great places to start --- they have recording books and you can go get a snack or coffee and read them for FREE! Don't pass by a good recording book --- this is a VERY technical hobby and you REALLY want to start a reference library!!!

 

Good Newbie guides that also explains all the basics and have good tips:

http://www.tweakheadz.com/guide.htm

http://www.computermusic.co.uk/page/..._beginner_pdfs

http://www.harmony-central.com/articles/

 

21 Ways To Assemble a Recording Rig: http://www.tweakheadz.com/rigs.htm

 

Also Good Info: http://www.theprojectstudiohandbook.com/directory.htm

 

Other recording books: http://musicbooksplus.com/home-recording-c-31.html

 

Still using a built-in soundcard?? Unfortunately, those are made with less than $1 worth of chips for beeps, boops and light gaming (not to mention cheapness for the manufacturer) not quality music production.

#1 Rule of Recording: You MUST replace the built-in soundcard.

Here's a good guide and suggestions: http://www.tweakheadz.com/soundcards...ome_studio.htm

 

 

Plenty of software around to record for FREE to start out on:

 

Audacity: http://audacity.sourceforge.net (multi-track with VST support)

Wavosaur: http://www.wavosaur.com/ (a stereo audio file editor with VST support)\

Kristal: http://www.kreatives.org/kristal/

Other freebies and shareware: http://www.hitsquad.com/smm

 

Another great option is REAPER at http://www.cockos.com/reaper/ (It's $50 but runs for free until you get guilty enough to pay for it...)

I use Reaper and highly reccomend it...

 

Music Notation and MIDI recording: Melody Assistant ($25) and Harmony Assistant ($80) have the power of $600 notation packages - http://myriad-online.com

Demo you can try on the website.

 

And you can go out to any Barnes&Noble or Borders and pick up "Computer Music" magazine - they have a full FREE studio suite in every issue's DVD, including sequencers, plugins and tons of audio samples. (November 2006 they gave away a full copy of SamplitudeV8SE worth $150, November 2007-on the racks Dec in the US- they gave away SamplitudeV9SE. It pays to watch 'em for giveaways...)"""

[ceevee]

I'm the opposite of a computer geek...so I know nothing!

 

computer spec? A cheapo Fujitsu laptop

hard drive? ?

sound card? standard that came with it...

mics? Cheapo Shure PG 58

midi? nTrack Studio

speakers/monitoring? Creative Audigy jobbies

software? recording, mixing, mastering etc.

 

nTrack studio cheap as chips at about $35 or something but does everything I need

[phooey]

It really depends on what you want to do. You can achieve an awful lot with very little these days. I personally find Mac to be a much better platform for it, and they come equipped for entry level music production out of the box.

 

I don't really make computer based music, as such; I just use my computers as a means for demoing ideas, making cover songs for fun, and working on my playing and writing skills. I use a 2.15 GHz dual core Apple iMac with 2GB RAM and 250GB HD, and a 2 GHz MacBook with 1GB RAM and 80GB HB. Until recently, I ran my guitar straight into the back of whichever computer happened to be handy, and used Apple's GarageBand software with an Amplitube guitar amp emulator. I've just recently upgraded to Apple's Logic Express 8, with EZ Drummer for the drum parts. I still run my guitar straight into the computer, and alternate between Amplitube and Logic's Guitar Amp Pro. Monitor through good quality Senheisser headphones and, occasionally, my regular stereo (Marantz amp and Kef speakers).

 

This lot covers everything I need, and really isn't expensive. Incidentally, there's no perceptible latency when live monitoring my guitar signal through GarageBand or Logic, even when running Amplitube and/or a number of other effects, i.e. there's no need for an additional sound card (unless you want to record multiple instruments simultaneously or need XLR inputs).

[sadboy]

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Edited February 25, 2009 by sadboy
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[rb83]

i love it, well lo.fi ! who needs i macs...

 

Luckily, I can afford two portable tape recorders. I record one track (say drums) on the first, and then play that recording whilst playing along with what will be the next track, (let's say guitar), and record both simultaneously on the second tape recorder. This is called multi-tracking and you can repeat this for as many tracks as you need. Careful with those volume controls! You don't want to drown out one track by over doing it with another. Of course this is where practise and expertise comes into it. It certainly isn't what I'd call professional quality, but it's good for any 'demo', and although it sounds complicated, it really is quite simple if you understand the technology.

Glad to be of help, sadboy.

[Satyr]

I have a 2.4Ghz Core 2 Duo MacBook with 2Gb DDR2 Ram. I plug my bass/guitar into an M-Audio Solo which records onto Garageband