Recording Equipment

[Faustus]

Me and a mate have written a few tunes and are looking at uploading them onto a Myspace page in the near future. Anyway, I was round at his today but his recording equipment was absolutely shite; the quality was poor and kept making crackling noises and since there was only one shite mic, we could only record the rhythm guitar part on one song and had to forget about the vocals and lead as we couldn't put them over it.

Anyway, we agreed to go halves on some decent recording equipment and software for a computer so just wondering, is there any chance anyone could recommend some decent stuff to us for an ok price?

[Nick Leeson]

Don't you have anything recorded somewhere else that you have on CD. It'd be less hassle to use that and convert it to mp3 than it would to produce your own tracks in what's on its way to becoming your own production studio. You're going to have to buy equipment. Buy Software. Calibrate equipment. Learn how to use software. Bit of a learning curve there unless you're already into this.

[Fugitive]

It will end up costing you a fair bit mate and the Software does not come cheap at all. It took me an age to get my head around Ableton, Pro Tools & Logic Audio and I actually went on a Sound Engineering course.

You would be best buying some Studio time and getting it done properly.

Have a look at this site though. They will have everything you need and the prices are pretty decent.

Recording @ Dolphin Music

Computer Music @ Dolphin Music

[Uncle_Meat]

Computer hardware and software at amazing prices, available online from Scan Computers UK

That should be OK, and not too expensive for getting sound into your PC in the first place.

As for the software, takes your pick. Cubase is not too hard to get into for basic recording/mixing tasks, and the more complicated stuff can come later once you get your head around it all.

[Faustus]

Cheers lads. I'll show my mate some of those and see what he thinks.

We're looking at going into Crash Studios on Monday for a bit of rehearsal time as well. Anybody know if they do any recording in there or is it strictly for rehearsing?

[Fugitive]

I ain't been in Crash for years and I'm not sure whether they do recording or not.

I use Elevator Studios quite a bit and some of their equipment is amazing. It is a bit pricey but the quality is unbeatable and worth every penny.

[bossy]

Buy Computer Music magazine, its about a fiver. it has free recording mulitrack software with effects (reverb, compressors etc) and some ok instruments (drum modules, synths etc).

Will take you a week or so probably to get into using it in an ok way.

Buy a goodish mic if you can.

Take drugs and drink too.

[Walk On]

I've never used one, but those hard disc multitrack recorders are apparently pretty good and quite a cheap alternative.

Studio and Recording Equipment - U.K. International Cyberstore

Good value website that too.

A good mic is a must, and they're not cheap.

[Best Believe It]

Depending on what sort of music you do, you can either go down two routes:

The Computer/Software based road which is more expensive, more time consuming but gives you far more options (and generally a better quality of recording).

The Multi-Track road - buying an 8/12/16-track unit like the ones made by Boss, which essentially are a recorder with a mixer attached. I've got a Boss BR900CD which is an 8-track with a CD-Burner attached. You can plug guitars and basses directly in - it's got built-in fx (which are Boss, so therefore decent quality). Alternatively you can mic up your amp/guitar and go via the mic input. The quality is very good - only downside I would say is the quality of the on-board drum machine. It's pretty basic.

What put me off computers was the time-consuming aspect of learning Cubase or ProTools or Logic; and getting good enough to be able to get the best out of them.

[Walk On]

I'm using Garageband on the Mac at thew moment and it's incredibly easy. I'd used Logic before that though with my band so I guess that gives you a head start. Are those Boss things easy to use then? What I'm saying really is that while you have to learn to use pro tools/logic etc... don't you spend just about as much time learning how to use an 8 track?

[Best Believe It]

Originally Posted by Walk On

I'm using Garageband on the Mac at thew moment and it's incredibly easy. I'd used Logic before that though with my band so I guess that gives you a head start. Are those Boss things easy to use then? What I'm saying really is that while you have to learn to use pro tools/logic etc... don't you spend just about as much time learning how to use an 8 track?

I guess it kind of depends on the individual to be honest. An 8-track is mostly buttons and stuff - there isn't so much sound manipulation, as there is on a computer. You don't have to buy audio interfaces (except a decent mic). I found it more straightforward and easier to get going because I can kind of see what I'm doing easier - there are faders and buttons and physical volume controls rather than it all being done on a mouse.

That may be because I'm a pleb, mind.