Need help finding gear in the $300 range

Posted: Thu Apr 03, 2008 3:16 am

Molarmite wrote:

Is a preamp necessary?

The 2-channel USB interfaces I mentioned above have microphone pre-amps built in.

Posted: Thu Apr 03, 2008 6:38 am

Molarmite wrote:

If I'm doing single track recording, then I would only need one mic, correct? If I had more than one of the drums, wouldn't that be multi-track or am I completely lost?

Here is how a typical one-person-at-a time might go with the type of set up we've been talking about (which would give you the ability to record tow tracks at a time).
1. Record a vocalist with a keyboard or guitar player. You would have a separate track for each. You'd use a mic input for the vocals and either a direct input for either an electric keyboard or an amp simulator for electric guitar or you could mic an acoustic instrument or a guitar amp.
2. Record the bass (track 3)
3. Another layer of rhythm guitar (track 4)
4. Drums (tracks 5 and 6) one mic overhead, one mic on kick
5. Lead guitar (track 7)
This is an entirely new skill for most musicians. Most tend not to keep very good time when playing alone and depend on live interaction with other musicians to maintain a good groove. Anyone who wants to do this should be practicing with a metronome now.

Yes, you could figure a way to do it with just one mic. But it will be hard enough with two, and as I said, with two mics and two inputs you can record the whole band at once playing as an ensemble. The most important thing in recording is getting a good performance to record, and most musicians will play best in an ensemble.

Posted: Thu Apr 03, 2008 9:25 am

In Bob's example, you would be using two channels at a time in steps 1 and 4. Channels=tracks in this case.

With more sophisticated interfaces, you could have say 8 or more inputs (=channels) which get mixed in the interface and then sent out to be recorded on two tracks. This would be one way to record a full band all at once (with the ability to control the relative level of each instrument before it is recorded) to a stereo mix.

Another step up from there in your interface and you could take those multiple channels of inputs and record each channel to its own track all at the same time. This gives you much more flexibility, because you don't need to worry so much about the relative levels until after you have recorded. This is the mixdown stage, where since each instrument is recorded to a separate track, you can then play around with levels and panning (left/right positioning) as well as EQ and other effects after the fact.

But that will come later (not within your current budget).

For now, you have two choices:
1) Bob's advice as above (though you might try doing the drums first if you have a good drummer who knows the song well and can play in time to a metronome or click track in his ear)
or
2) Set up the whole band, get everybody's volume balanced in the room, and just stick a pair of SM57's in the middle of the room (search for stereo recording techniques such as X-Y, ORTF, etc), press record, then start playing. You will greatly benefit from experimenting a lot with the exact positioning of the mics, to get the best overall sound. If you take time to do that well, then you have the advantage of capturing the band's performance as an ensemble. You will tradeoff the ability to remix individual instruments later, though.

Good luck!

ps - I recommend you find a beginner's tutorial on home recording and really study it. Then you can come here for specific questions on things you don't understand. It doesn't do any of us much good to try to create the full tutorial here in a discussion forum. Plenty of info is already out there.

Posted: Thu Apr 03, 2008 11:32 am

I'm going to need a kick drum microphone too, correct?

So in total I will need 2 microphones, 1 kick drum microphone, 1 preamp, 1 pair of headphones, and a sound card?

Posted: Thu Apr 03, 2008 11:43 am

You could use two microphones total. The recommendation has been a pair of SM57's.

I don't think at this point you need to buy a third microphone just for kick drum. When you record the drums, use one SM57 for the kick and the other mounted overhead somewhere. (this is not my area of expertise, YMMV) You probably won't get a "killer drum sound" this way, but it should get you started.

The USB interface you proposed earlier has two preamps (one for each channel/input), so you don't need to buy a preamp separately now. It is also your "sound card", so there ya go. Buy the interface and one SM57 right away, get things hooked up, read the manual, etc, and things should be a lot clearer to you how to proceed. (in fact, you probably can read the manual online before buying)

Posted: Fri Apr 04, 2008 9:03 pm

What do you guys think of these monitors?

http://cgi.ebay.com/NEW-M-Audio-Studio-Pro3-Powered-Studio-Monitor-Pair_W0QQitemZ200213435185QQihZ010QQcategoryZ47093QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

or this one:

http://cgi.ebay.com/M-Audio-Studiophile-AV20-Studio-Monitor-Speaker-Pair_W0QQitemZ350044125041QQihZ022QQcategoryZ47093QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

Posted: Mon Aug 18, 2008 5:01 pm

John Darnielle(The Mountain Goats) use to record all his shit onto a sony cassette deck!!! And look at what the man has accomplished.Im not saying the sound quality is great,but what really matters most is the SONGS!!! If its good you'll find ways to get your music across.

Posted: Tue Aug 19, 2008 8:57 pm

My last band we basically tried to get gigs where ever we could and just put all that money aside to use for equipment to do our demo. Then we use the demo to line up better paying gigs so we could get more money to buy more equipment...

Posted: Tue Aug 19, 2008 10:37 pm

Quick question:

If he were to use a stereo pair to record the band, what sort of mics would he use? Would a pair of cardioids do? Or would omnis be necessary?

Edit: I suppose I really want to know if a pair of SM57s would do for something along those lines. Or for an unpaid, for fun choral recording. That's all I have aside from a Shure KSM27.

I plan on increasing my mic arsenal, but not quite yet.

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