tkpb938

Okay, so I'm thinkin of spawnin some sort of musical creative outlet, and I'm looking to get equipment to record piano, vocals, bass, guitar, and drums onto my computer. I'll then mix the recorded tracks into a song using Audacity.

The only problem is I have no clue where to start. I have no experience whatsoever in recording equipment so.... suggestions anyone? Oh and I dont want to spend a fortune. Thanks.

ddp

What is your budget?
Do you have any mics?

Recording drums can get expensive if you want to do it right. Typically you need 6-8 microphones to record drums right. If you are thinking of recording all those instruments at once you will need even more mics and this could get very expensive.

Most important thing you need is a good sound card.
I use an Mackie ONYX 400f sound card and I love it. It has 10 inputs (only 4 with a pre-amp) and it sounds great. It also has 2 headphone outs on the front of the unit each with its own knob which is very handy. I cost about $800 but I also use tons of other gear.

Some cheap must own gear is:
ART tube mp less than $100 and it sounds great on bass
Sure SM57 Great on guitar amps and, high hats and not bad on vocals.
look into APEX mics they are very good and very cheap.

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Deep Down Productions
Blog: Mikeblog
Rainbow Songs Foundation

tkpb938

Lol I don't even what those are, but I'll google them.

My budget is gonna be around $150. And no I don't have any mics.

I don't really get why you need a good sound card though. Aren't sound cards just for the output? I mean I'd love to have one to hear the stuff in close detail, but $800 is way out of the question for me. I'm talkin a really simple set up here. But thanks much for the input. I'm gonna go research the equipment you suggested

ddp

The sound card is very important. It is what gets the sound into the computer.
It uses something called analogue to digital converters and the quality of these determines how good the audio will sound once recorded.

I know that ART makes a Tube MP that has converters built in.

You might want to look into those they are cheap and good.
I think you band should go together to get the sound card as you will all need it.
You can get cheaper than the ONYX it is pretty state of the art.

__________________
Deep Down Productions
Blog: Mikeblog
Rainbow Songs Foundation

tkpb938

Thanks for that input... I'm not in a band though. This is mostly just a solo project with maybe a few collaborations with my friends thrown in so money wise I dont have the resources for something real expensive.

Trauma

Fast Track USB or whichever has two inputs (one instrument one microphone) runs about $100 I think, and it includes phantom power.
Then you could spend another $50 and buy an SM 57.

Or dish out a little more for a Fast Track Mobile and get more inputs, whatever.

If you don't have Windows your best bet is to look at Digidesign or MBox, they seem to have more inputs too (for cheaper).

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tkpb938

Awesome! Thats pretty much exactly what I'm lookin for. Do I need any extra software to use that or what?

ddp

I'm sure it comes with drivers etc to make it work.

For recording software at this point I'm sure there must be shareware stuff that will do what you need.
A light version of cubase or logic or band in a box would also be fine.

Music recording software is so good now the free versions of the software are better than the ones that cost you thousands 10 years ago.

__________________
Deep Down Productions
Blog: Mikeblog
Rainbow Songs Foundation