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I am looking to get back into recording. Back in highschool i use to do a lot 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 won't use? etc etc

by the way, the recording that i would be doing is hip hop /rap and possibly some experimental work. and also i know a lot 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 Patchbay
-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/Limiter 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

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Comments

anonymous Sat, 10/21/2006 - 17:44

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?

anonymous Sat, 10/21/2006 - 18:03

onehundredk wrote: [quote=Nirvalica]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?

anonymous Sat, 10/21/2006 - 18:09

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.

anonymous Sat, 10/21/2006 - 18:22

onehundredk wrote: [quote=Nirvalica]

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.

anonymous Sat, 10/21/2006 - 18:33

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?

anonymous Sat, 10/21/2006 - 19:05

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...

anonymous Sat, 10/21/2006 - 22:06

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?

anonymous Sat, 10/21/2006 - 23:17

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.

anonymous Sun, 10/22/2006 - 16:02

if i were to buy new, i need help on choosing once again.

-dynamic mic
-MCP2000 drum machine

actually on second thought. maybe i should just get help in the right direction... what would be the most vital equiptment for me to get? i hate to ask this, because after surfing the forums, seeing that every hiphop artist trying to get in the right direction gets flamed.

anonymous Sun, 10/22/2006 - 16:33

Well, I think most people do everything pretty much in the computer now. And if you want to do that, you could definatly get some nice gear for under $3000. I'm not going to recommend gear, because I don't really know what is good and isn't, but I will say if you want to do everything in the computer, you'd need a nice mic, mic preamp and a soundcard or interface with preamp, a MIDI keyboard controller, and some studio monitors (probably a 2.1 system with a sub).

anonymous Mon, 10/23/2006 - 10:39

I dont know if you have purchased anything yet or not but hopefully I can shed some light on this subject. One of the most important things to consider when building a project studo is how you are going to get your signal to your recording software. With the explosion of digital recording one of the primary advancements is the ability to work almost entirely "inside the box." A program like pro tools can give you all the editing ability that you will need, and a plugin budle will allow you to manipulate that sound.

For the application you are describing I would recommend the M-box 2. It features two XLR inputs (microphon ins) with a must have phantom power switch. This simply supplies the extra voltage needed to power condenser mics. If price is an issue you could check out the Audio Technica 2020. Its a medium diaphragm condenser mic which you will find is better suited to vocal applications than a dynamic mic. I have used this mic before and was quite pleased with the performance/price relationship.

Also,the mbox features a MIDI in/out port, which will allow you to utilize a midi controller. This will allow you a lot of flexibility whether it is choosing or creating your own sounds with software plugins.

The 1/4" line level input will allow you connect devices such as your MPC or other such beat boxes. And the DI allows for the direct input of a guitar or bass if you even mess with this sort of thing.

All things considered this device provides a lot of bang for the buck. Many of those just starting out choose to follow this route. It is good for personal use when you create your sessions 1 track at a time. It is extremely limiting if you have a need to record more than one thing at a time. However it should be sufficient for recording rap/hip-hop.

Based on the things you have said here, I dont think you would have a need for much else (other than monitors of course). Hope this helps you out. Let me know if you have any more questions.

EZ

anonymous Sat, 10/28/2006 - 21:41

If you do go for the more software based hiphop production studio, you might lke to check out the Akai MPD24 MIDI pad controller - which basically brings the MPC style 16 pads (and a bunch of knobs/sliders) to control your software sampler.

You can use a MIDI pad controller to do the hands-on drum programming that the MPC is famous for.