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I'm thinking about starting up a simple home studio but with pretty good quality. I was thinking about getting

Alesis MultiMix 12USB Mixer
(Dead Link Removed)

since its a pretty simple plug and play, I was wondering if I decided to buy a sound card could I plug the main outs of the mixer to the sound card? I'm pretty sure you can but just checking. I was thinking about using Adobe Audition or Cubase (I need help with that dicision) because I heard both were good programs and they are very user friendly to noobs like me. All thats left is looking for a all around condensor microphone preferably 2 pack around 300-500 dollars (I'm trying to record acoustic guitar and cymbals), and then a vocal microphone preferably around 300 dollars. Is there anything else I should buy to make the sound a better quality with the equipment I am purchasing?

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anonymous Mon, 08/21/2006 - 12:38

One of my students uses the alesis, so I took a look at his system. Cubase comes with the mixer, I believe. The mixer also connects to your cpu via USB already, so you don't need to connect it to your sound card. As for the mics, there are a few deals on mic packages on AKG mics: I always see the C 2000 B and C 1000S for sale together on musiciansfriend, and on BSWUSA.com, they have the AKG perception 100 two pack for sale. You may want to look into getting the Rode NT1- A. Instead of a third condenser maybe you should look into getting a dynamic mic, maybe the Shure SM57 or Shure Beta 57. And I always get resistance to this next suggestion at first, but most people give in, and always like the end results. Since you are recording digitally, I HIGHLY recommend getting a tube mic preamp, as this will make your digital recording have a warm, almost analog feel to it. It is a great upgrade for a small price. You can buy one for as little as $40 USD. Good luck.

anonymous Mon, 08/21/2006 - 19:47

No, I don't work for prosumer audio. The tube preamp just adds a warmth to the sound that is lacking in digital recordings. Tube preamps can be bought at low prices, and unless you damage it, you can always return it. If you connect via usb to the cpu, you can either connect the mic to the preamp, then preamp to mixer, or you can connect it in the aux in. Like I said, you don't have to do this, its just a suggestion to improve the quality of your recordings.

dementedchord Mon, 08/21/2006 - 22:28

$ .02

well it seems as 1000heads has you started pretty well... but if i may share an opion reallizing prevolence of opions and sphincters and the attendent odor of both... as an alternative to the akg's (nothing wrong with akg i own 6 different ones c1000 -c414 and lust for c12) but you might want to consider audio technica they have for instance what i consider to bea great little starter pac the #'s at2020/2021 if i remember correctly...
nice small diaphragm condensers... and yes the shure sm57 is one of the workhorse's of our industry on the dynamic side... now one thing i personally disagree with is the use of "cheap" tube pres... while they admittedly colour the sound i'm not so sure it's all that great... i dont want to cofuse you here but basically these things operate in what is refered to as starvation mode.... not enough juice... in my opinion if you do have at least 200 volts on that tube ya might aa well stay at home.... as an alternative i would think about putting that dough into a better vocal mic...