Home recording studio help: please respond

[Life Sucks]

What software and peripherals do I need to get for my computer so that I can use it to record music. It would be cool if the software had good editing/sequencing ability too, in part because I would be using a drum machine, as I cannot play drums. Exactly what software do you recommend, and about how much would necessary peripherals and software cost me?

 

[Heavymetal_Hellmaster]

For software I know that Cubase is good. I'm not sure how much it'd cost you because I used it at my friend's house and he had it burnt on a cd. I hope that was helpful.

 

[Life Sucks]

Cool. I can do a Google search to find out more about it, and that might somehow lead my to discover what peripherals I need in addition to the software.

 

[Erik]

You want to record guitars and bass and vocals and stuff? To get going for cheap, you can go with whatever soundcard you have now (which is likely to be, well, crap compared to more expensive ones, but it will do fine until you know you need a better one *cough*M-Audio Audiophile 2496*cough*) and buy a decent microphone (something around $50 or so) and a Behringer V-Amp2 amp simulator/effects thingie to record bass and guitar through, if you don't want to record your amp through the mike. Now I recommend the V-Amp, but lots of people will whine about how the Line6 POD is much better, and blah blah. Maybe it's better, but it ain't $200 better. Right.

If you want to, you can get a MIDI keyboard. You don't have to buy any synthesizer modules; you can use the onboard wavetable sounds on your sound card, but those are likely to really suck, so as long as you use a program capable of being a VST host you can use free VST instruments for synthesizer sounds and various things of that sort...

...which brings us to the actual software software: Cubase, Logic or Cakewalk probably work equally well as multitrack recorders/sequencers. I think they come with drum machine instruments (I know Cubase does,) unfortunately Cubase's included drum machine fucking sucks to no end. Oh well. What I do, which is very strange to most, is load samples from the free Natural Studio Kit (http://www.natural-studio.co.uk/) into ModPlug Tracker (http://www.modplug.com/) and create drums that way. I reckon I can make them sound really good that way, but the whole tracker paradigm might take some getting used to; the program is NOT a dedicated drum machine, but works well as one once you get to learn the whole interface. I'd much rather work with that than any software that simulates an actual drum machine. Well... Others use stuff like FruityLoops or the drum machine in Reason to do drums.

You might want to get a dedicated wave-editing program also. I believe WaveLab comes with Cubase, but WaveLab is, well, shit. My new favourite is Sound Forge, which, however, does not do multitrack recording. Cool Edit does. Cool Edit Pro 2.0 will really eliminate the need for Cubase or another sequencer IF you don't want to do MIDI.

Now if you don't want to pay for all of that software (or, uh, if you want to try-before-you-buy) there are plenty of ways to get them without paying.

 

[Life Sucks]

Thanks. Looks like it will be an expensive investment though. The amp will be expensive, but a good sound card shouldn't be too bad, though it will definitley be a bitch to install.

 

[Creeping Death]

you can download half those things, and if you do download them, and like them and make money using it, buy it.

 

[7 Dying Trees]

Well, depends really.

To start of with If you are serious, then get a good sound card with decent in and outs, i got an echo one, 2in 8out with a breakout box, just makes plugging everything else in easier. If you still want tolisten to cd's get a card that'll support the digital out from the CD drive, there are ways around this, but your machine may not like you much for it

Secondly equip yourself wit a pod, behrinhger v-amp or whatever, it'll do the job of getting a guitar sound, and unless you want to buy yourself a VHT or Mesa preamp designed for recording it'll be fine (but if you had that money, you'd be asking a salesman). If you want to do vocals, get a decent mike, I'm sure someone will be able to tell you about a good all round mike just in case at some point you want to mike up cabs as well as do voacals through it.

Once you've got this then get a stable operating system, basically don't even bother with anything less than WinXP or Win2k, preferably win2k as it is a bussiness operating system and tends to not crash anywhere near as much as the others. Plus it's been around for a while, so drivers are pretty good. XP will do, but I won't stray from NT based operating systems, maybe because of superstition

Next, and last step is to choose your recording program. Personally, I really like logic and find it ridiculously easy to use, it has all your built in sequencers etc just like most do. others to look for are Cubase, Sonar, Nuendo etc, but Logic is nice and simple, so I'd recomend that, 5.5 is the version to look for (the last one for PC)

And another thing:
Do a CLEAN Install on the PC you'll be using, it'll make life easier in the long run

With a simple setup like this you can get surprisingly good results, but don't use a shit soundcard, it'll make your life hell as ASIO drivers and the like don't agree with them and you'll find life frustrating...

Good luck!

James

 

[Nuclear Vampire]

I have quite a simple set up, and it works great. I'm actually very surpirsed/proud of the sounds I've been getting. Here's the shit:

For guitar sounds/Amp models:

POD 2.3 (I considered the V-Amp but chose the POD. $350.00)

For mixing/Mic Pre Amp:

Behringer Eurorack UB802 (damn fine unit for home/project studio. Only $110.00 too! www.behringer.com )

Mic:

Haven't got one yet. Haven't recorded any vocals yet. In the next few weeks I'll be doin' some shoppin'.

Soundcard:

Soundblaster Live 5.1 (it's all I could afford at the time $100.00. Installs easy unless you have the Via chipset on your PC's motherboard. I got the 4 in 1 patches and it works great)

Recording Software:

Cakewalk Guitar Tracks 2 (not bad 8 track stuff. If I want more I can just bounce tracks. Only cost me $90.00. I also have Guitar Studio 2 which is a bit more complicated so I rarely use it. Got Cubase too. GT2 is simple and user firendy. I took Pro-Tools, Avid and some other SAW stuff in school and fir my home use i just need simple plug in and go software.)

My PC is one I built myself. Nothing fancy. Pentium III 800 with 288 megs of RAM. I'm gonna buy more, but I haven't had any issues with latency or audio droputs. 60 gig 7200rpm HDD partitioned into a few smaller areas. Running Windows 98. Never had any problems with 98 and Cakewalk GT2 isn't compatable with anything higher so I ain't changing. Don't fix what ain't broke. Got some okay Yamaha monitors, but I use headphones mostly anyway. I record at night while the wife and kid sleep!

As long as Your PC is a PIII or higher and you load up on RAM it will work fine for recording. Just remember to kill your screen saver, firewall, anti-virus, internet when recording. Partition large drives down to smaller areas so your software doesn't have to go searching around while you're recording. Avoid older AMD processors as they can't handle the floating point math required by live audio recording.

Total cost so far: $650.00 + the PC (around $1500?) and the mic which I've yet to buy. It can be done on a shoestring budget! Don't let anyone tell you different. Just do your research, try out different gear, read the reviews on products. Good luck!

 

[Erik]

For mixing/Mic Pre Amp:

IMO, while this is nice to have, it's not absolutely necessary and you can definitely put off the purchase until later; if you feel you need a mixer later you can always just get one and pop it in. Mixing can be done in software, and the V-Amp2 (and POD, I believe?) has a tube preamp simulation built-in.

As for computer hardware, as NV said, you need nothing fancy. Get a good-sized disk and a reasonable amount of RAM. Processor speed is less important unless you plan to do shitloads of real-time effects and/or software synths. I use a Duron 800 with 896 Mbytes of RAM (this is overkill) and about 120 Gbytes of disk (disk space is very cheap nowadays)

 

[Erik]

Thanks. Looks like it will be an expensive investment though. The amp will be expensive, but a good sound card shouldn't be too bad, though it will definitley be a bitch to install.

The V-Amp2 is pretty cheap -- here's one for $125: http://www.music123.com/Item/?itemno=124175

If I were you, I'd put off buying a new soundcard until you get to the point where you know you need a better one.

 

[97reb]

I don't know where all musiciansfriend.com ships, but my Behringer UB802 was $50 US plus shipping that was like $9 in the US. They have some good deals on a variety of products. I have been satisfied with the gear I've aquired from there. There is a lot to be said about playing instruments at your local shoppe to get a better feel, but there is something positive to be said about buying some equipment "blind". Software is different, it is a find what you want and then get the best deal. Musiciansfriend has a user rating system from people like you and me that is pretty good. On a scale of one to ten what would you buy? Average of 9 plus, 8 plus, 7.5 plus? Sometimes, it can be a wait and see about any equipment. Sometimes you gotta jump. Read a lot. Take a lot of input from various sources. Go to the pawn shop and see what you can find. Be careful about used equipment. If you have the money, be decisive as soon as you can (do the research), don't let a good opportunity slip by. Good Luck.

 

[Akronaes]

Me and my friends record using ProTools LE 6.3 (at least i think its 6.3.. i know its 6.something), and a DigiDesign MBox fed into his PowerBook, plus an external 80 gig hard drive for storing all that shit.

Of course, I would not reccomend ProTools to someone who just wants to do home recording. Only reason we use ProTools is because we each pitched in about 100 bucks to pay for the thing. I think overall it cost about 525 bucks (USD) or so.

 

[Life Sucks]

I don't need yet another v-amp for the mic, do I?

 

[Feanor IV]

I personally record using Cool Edit Pro 2.1 and I'm 101% satisfied. Great multitrack, effects on the fly and everything, works really cool.

I would recommend: get a good soundcard (not anything REALLY expensive, something around $350 maybe), a good microphone (Shure Beta 58 is the typical example) and equip your PC with LOTS of RAM. Try 512, but I want to buy a PC with 1024. That's really important, cause you really don't want the program freezing or crushing, or producing gaps while you're recording.

As for the guitar amp sim stuff, can't say anything, I usually record classical guitar and vocals or plug in my electric's amp to the soundcard to record it. But I only record electric or raw "demo" versions, so I really don't care too much about the sound, so I've never tried to fix the sound problems when it comes to electric guitar. Never recorded bass or (of course) drums. Hope it helps

Wishes

 

[Erik]

I don't need yet another v-amp for the mic, do I?

Nope, you just record one track at a time into some multi-tracking program. As I said, there is a tube preamp sim on the V-Amp2; that way (with the mic through the V-Amp) you can use stuff like reverb, compression and EQ in real-time. Or, you could just plug in the mic into your sound card's mic input and do effects post-recording if you need them.

 

[Wandrail]

Hmm...my setup is this rather powerful computer I have here, which just has a soundblaster audigy 2 zs, but I run a little but surprisingly powerful behringer eurorack mixer into it that has alot of inputs, phantom power, lots of crap. I currently use cubase sx and am happy with it for the most part. All you need other than that for a basic home/project studio is an assortment of mics - behringer again has become the godsend of the price conscious home based musician as you can get an astoundingly good quality condenser mic in their B-1 and B-2 products for $100 - $130 for your vocals and acoustics - grab up a shure 57 or shure beta 57a for your any amp micing. There are also a number of drum mic packages out there of varying qualities and prices and I suggest zzounds.com for browsing through different products that also display user ratings and open ended comments, as well as prompt delivery and low prices.

...and I do recommend amp micing over running direct, even with a v amp because you just will not get a warm or nuanced sound out of it, and you may experience problems with interference like electronic humming from your guitars pickups.

 

[Erik]

...and I do recommend amp micing over running direct, even with a v amp because you just will not get a warm or nuanced sound out of it, and you may experience problems with interference like electronic humming from your guitars pickups.

Unless you have a great amp and microphone, the benefits in "warmth" etc are likely to not be felt at ALL. Besides, using a V-Amp is just much less of a hassle with the easy plug-in and saving of presets; you know when you mic an amp you're always going to knock over the microphone or have someone fiddle with the knobs on the amp and then it will be a bitch to do recording in separate parts. I say go with the V-Amp (or one of them new flashy POD's if you're feeling ambitious) for home recording and if you need fancier stuff go to a proper studio.

 

[97reb]

I had to go where my credit was this past weekend. I really want to record soon and had credit at Circuit City. I got a new computer, Compaq (not the best), Audigy SoundBlaster 2ZS Platinum (which actually comes with Cubasis VST, Fruity Loops, some other software. It has a sound card and a front panel I/O drive. I am still working on how to input outside sources (guitars and bass). I can go line in, but I am trying to use my small Behringer mixer's (external unit) "RCA-output to recorder" plugged into the "RCA input" on the front panel I installed in the computer. The installation of the Soundcard and front panel 5.25" drive was actually pretty easy.

 

[Nuclear Vampire]

I had to go where my credit was this past weekend. I really want to record soon and had credit at Circuit City. I got a new computer, Compaq (not the best), Audigy SoundBlaster 2ZS Platinum (which actually comes with Cubasis VST, Fruity Loops, some other software. It has a sound card and a front panel I/O drive. I am still working on how to input outside sources (guitars and bass). I can go line in, but I am trying to use my small Behringer mixer's (external unit) "RCA-output to recorder" plugged into the "RCA input" on the front panel I installed in the computer. The installation of the Soundcard and front panel 5.25" drive was actually pretty easy.

Sounds like a decent machine! I have Fruity Loops and it's great for coming up with weird shit and basic drum lines. Fun stuff.

Use the Line In. Run your guitar into your mixer and run from your mixers Main Outs into the Line In on the Soundcard.

 

[Iron Harvest Productions]

Get an M-Box, seriously man.
You get two Mic-pre's (made by focusrite,so their pretty good), so no patching up preamps. It runs off USB, which makes it pretty much plug and play. Plus you get pro-tools LE, which is pretty much the best audio editing platform, partially because you can record tracks at home, save the project as a pro-tools session and take it into nearly any decent studio anywhere in the world and mix/master. the newer ones ship with a whole lot of plug-ins too.
I'm running Nuendo at the moment (I'm the only engineer I know who does though) because I'm working on some film stuff and its surround mixing and synch to 8mm/16mm frame rate make that much easier than tools, but I trained on Pro-tools, so maybe I'm biased. but I think that if you want to make your work progress beyond demo-grade, the transferrability of pro-tools session files for mixing/mastering is great.
Also, get a good pair of headphones, unless you have several grand to spend on monitors.