Need help on chosing equiptment for at home recording

Posted: Sat Oct 21, 2006 6:30 pm

I am looking to get back into recording. Back in highschool i use to do alot of messing around, but VERY basic; fruityloops, cheap microphone, acid pro (just to put the instrumental and then the vocals together) and thats about it. It didnt sound that bad, but it wasnt the quality that i would of like to make. Anyways, i am a beginner at some of this stuff. which is why i decieded to join this forum for advice and research before i buy. I had listed some equiptment that is listed in an online ad and i am wondering if this would be a good set up or not? what devices i would use and wont use? etc etc

by the way, the recording that i would be doing is hiphop/rap and possibly some experimental work. and also i know alot of this stuff is old devices, but was assured that it works excellent.

-A Korg N364 61-Key Music Workstation
-A BOSS DR-5 Dr, Rhythm Drum Machine
-A Peavey Unity Series 2002, 16-RQ 16 channel mixerboard
-1 pair of Alesis Point Seven sheilded reference studio monitors
-An OMS Opcode Studio 64XTC Digital Sync Processor and Midi Interace Patch Bay
-An Alesis DM5 Drum Module
-A Spectrum Bass II bass module by Peavey
-A Yamaha TG55 Tone Generator
-A Digidesign 888 I/O Audio Interface
-A Peavey PV 2.6C Professional Stereo Poweramp 130 watts x 2
-An Alesis 3630 Compressor, with RMS Peak Dual Channel Compresor/Limitor with Gain

Theres another ad as well for:

-MBox Hardware w/Pro Tools 6
-Edirol PCR-50 Keyboard
-MXL 990 Condensor Microphone
-Propellerheads Reason 3.0
-Software:
SoundForge 8.0
WAVES Platinum Bundle
Fruity Loops
Acid Pro
Propellerheads Recycle
Cubase SX
Native Instruments Pro-53
Native Instruements Absynth

Any advice would help and be greatly appreciated. thank you

Posted: Sat Oct 21, 2006 6:41 pm

Thats alot of Software. Save some money (assuming you'd buy it) and get a better mic.

Posted: Sat Oct 21, 2006 6:44 pm

Nirvalica wrote:

Thats alot of Software. Save some money (assuming you'd buy it) and get a better mic.

Is that not a good microphone? I was really only going to buy stuff from the second ad, because he told me if i bought the Mbox and the Mic, he would give me the software for free...any advice or info on the first bundle of equiptment?

Posted: Sat Oct 21, 2006 7:03 pm

onehundredk wrote:

Nirvalica wrote:

Thats alot of Software. Save some money (assuming you'd buy it) and get a better mic.

Is that not a good microphone? I was really only going to buy stuff from the second ad, because he told me if i bought the Mbox and the Mic, he would give me the software for free...any advice or info on the first bundle of equiptment?

Well, it's a $60 mic, so it's not all that great (although, I've never used it). But that software list seems redundant. Alot of the software does pretty much the same stuff (acid, fruity loops, reason...)

I don't know what all of the stuff in the first list is, but I would guess it'd be more quality stuff. But alot of it seems to be more hardware, well, pretty much all hardware, so it'd be alot less of working on the computer with it and more "hands on" I guess (if that makes any sense...). Anyways, How much are you getting each bundle for?

Posted: Sat Oct 21, 2006 7:09 pm

Nirvalica wrote:

I don't know what all of the stuff in the first list is, but I would guess it'd be more quality stuff. But alot of it seems to be more hardware, well, pretty much all hardware, so it'd be alot less of working on the computer with it and more "hands on" I guess (if that makes any sense...). Anyways, How much are you getting each bundle for?

Havent dicussed price yet...most of the software i already have, except for reason. i need more of the hardware; keyboard, mic, drum sampler, mixer..pretty much everything. Now that i hear its not a good microphone i probably wont be going with that seller. i hate to ask this question, but what will be my most vital equiptment to buy for producing hiphop music.

Posted: Sat Oct 21, 2006 7:22 pm

onehundredk wrote:

Nirvalica wrote:

I don't know what all of the stuff in the first list is, but I would guess it'd be more quality stuff. But alot of it seems to be more hardware, well, pretty much all hardware, so it'd be alot less of working on the computer with it and more "hands on" I guess (if that makes any sense...). Anyways, How much are you getting each bundle for?

Havent dicussed price yet...most of the software i already have, except for reason. i need more of the hardware; keyboard, mic, drum sampler, mixer..pretty much everything. Now that i hear its not a good microphone i probably wont be going with that seller. i hate to ask this question, but what will be my most vital equiptment to buy for producing hiphop music.

Well, depends what route you want to go. Do you want to do most of the stuff with hardware or on the computer? You can use drum sampler pads and make beats with that, or you can use something like Fruity Loops and use a MIDI keyboard controller to make beats. I'm actually looking into getting a MIDI keyboard for just that. But for recording vocals, you'll need some sort of interface (like the m-box) and a mic. Or you can get an internal soundcard and buy a seperate mic preamp (like I'm doing) to record vocals. I think both bundles have stuff that you'd need (monitors, drum machine, keyboard in first bundle and Mbox in the second). Maybe you can try to get just the things you'd need from each person. But I'm not an expert, so you might want some other oppinions.

Posted: Sat Oct 21, 2006 7:33 pm

in the first bundle there are 2 interfaces

Digidesign 888 I/O Audio Interface

and

Midi Interace Patch Bay (i think this one is only for MIDI)

sorry if im asking "stupid questions" i just want to make sure i get what i need and not go, "oh shoot i still need this" you know? will any interface work for a mic, or will i need one that is designed for mics like the mbox?

Posted: Sat Oct 21, 2006 7:35 pm

oh and as for the route i want to go...i want to keep drum and bass on the pads...and for the melody i would most likely think using reason or a program like that with a keyboard...or is there a "better" way to go?

Posted: Sat Oct 21, 2006 8:05 pm

well, I don't know anything really about the Digidesign 888. I don't know how old it is or if it has mic preamps or not and stuff like that. If it's old, it might be usb 1.1, which might be to slow.... and if it doesn't have mic preamps, then you'd need to buy those seperate. But it sounds like your leaning towards the first bundle...

Posted: Sat Oct 21, 2006 8:07 pm

Ill ask the seller if the interface is for microphones...if not...i would probably go with the frist bundle then, and then buy a nice mic and interface for it, right?

Posted: Sat Oct 21, 2006 10:10 pm

onehundredk wrote:

Ill ask the seller if the interface is for microphones...if not...i would probably go with the frist bundle then, and then buy a nice mic and interface for it, right?

or if the interface he is selling is for line inputs, then you'd just need to hook a mic preamp up to it.

Posted: Sat Oct 21, 2006 11:06 pm

ok thank you for your help....also one last question...im not really a fan of buying used...because of the problems it comes with it, but with college, and all that good stuff, im on a budget...would you recommend me not to get the equiptment and save up and get new? or newer models? most of the equipment is mid 1990's...would this effect sound quality?

Posted: Sun Oct 22, 2006 12:17 am

onehundredk wrote:

ok thank you for your help....also one last question...im not really a fan of buying used...because of the problems it comes with it, but with college, and all that good stuff, im on a budget...would you recommend me not to get the equiptment and save up and get new? or newer models? most of the equipment is mid 1990's...would this effect sound quality?

well, whats your budget? You may be able to buy new stuff, but I don't know how much money you want to spend.

Posted: Sun Oct 22, 2006 12:20 am

hmm i dont think i would be able to. Im saying anything less than 2500-3000. and thats including a mic...so i think it might be hard, but you know more than me, so i appreciate any help you offer.

Posted: Sun Oct 22, 2006 12:11 pm

anyone else have any advice?

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