Hi, I am studying Music Technology at AS level and will be going onto A2, I am planning on taking an Honors Degree after this of which I need a portfolio.
I am currently building a practise room for my drums and a small section for a mini studio. I do not have a huge budget but I am willing to save up over time for equipment.
To the point a few questions to get started with:
1. Do I really need monitors or would a good set of speakers be ok?
2. Would I need a mic preamp-amp?
Now for the information I know abit about.
I am planning on having 2 computers as I need to replace this one. My idea was to get a good computer for mastering the sound and sequencing etc using CuBase SX3 (as this is what I have been taught). Then getting a second pc not soo good soley for recording.
The recording PC I was thinking of a low end dual core Intel Core Duo, the new conroe processors out middle of this year with 1gb of ram. For the mastering PC I was thinking of 2gb of ram, 750gb storage in raid (not sre on configuration yet) and a slightly more mid-upper range Intel Core Duo with dual 17" screens. Would this be sufficient for recording and mastering?
Onto the equipment to record with which Im not so knowledgable. At college we have recorded using Condenser mics and a coincidence pair of stero mics. Both of which produced a good recording at £100 per mic. I was thinking of getting an M-Audio FIREWIRE 1814 as there is a significant jump between ins and outs on firewire cards on a budget level ranging from 4-6 then to 18. This is £329.99 or $620 with the exchange rate. Would this be an ok mixer giving a reasonable quality sound when used with 2 AKG C3000B for overhead mics at £139 or $261, a AKG D112 PUNCH PACK for the bass drum also £139 or $261 and a AKG C430 for the snare at £83.99 or $158.
In total that is £830/$1560 for the sound card and 4 mics to start with. The computers are not included in this as I need to replaceone anyway and the budget for that will be about £1200/$2250.
Sorry for the essay but I am hoping to start saving and need to know roughyl how much to save. Also if there is better equipment for this than what I have mentioned or cheaper that will do the same job please mention it.
Thanks Nick
Comments
It does sound overkill but this pc is up here and I use this for
It does sound overkill but this pc is up here and I use this for browsing the net, playing games, msn etc. No its for recording my band mainly so I need a few inputs, 2 guitars 1 bass and vocals. Problem is on alot of there so called 6 input recorders only 2 are acutlaly 1/4 in jacks and 1/2 XLR's rest are midi or some other form of input from what I read.
First of all, one computer will do fine. If you get tracks that
First of all, one computer will do fine. If you get tracks that you wanna make a CD out of and you decided they need mastering, send them away for professional mastering.
The presonus firepod has 8 XLR pre-amps, there's also the MOTU 896HD, one that I seem to recommend a lot is the Alesis Multimix 16 Firewire, this might just be the trick for you. It's in your price range and has 8 pre-amps plus 8 line in's, eq's on every channel, plus you can use it as a stand alone mixer. I had one for a while but found it was overkill, I never need that many channels at once.
Thanks for the advice on the mixer, looking into it now. As for
Thanks for the advice on the mixer, looking into it now. As for the computer, one is up here in my bedroom, the other would be down in the mini studio outside in my garden. This is why I mentioned 2 computers however I have thought of maybe getting a laptop instead for its portability between the 2 and saving money.
NickGarland, I expect college kids to be a little more savvy and
NickGarland, I expect college kids to be a little more savvy and swift than this but what I recommend is:
A decent laptop computer with as many bells and whistles as you can afford that also includes a FireWire port.
A Mackie Onyx 1640
Outboard large external hard drive with USB 2.0 or FireWire connectivity
Multitudeinous rock-and-roll hits. Eh voila'!
Now you have a general-purpose computer that can surf the Internet, make fine recordings, take into school, watch movies during layover's, impressing your girlfriends.
Ms. Remy Ann David
It sounds a little over kill to have two computers. What exactly
It sounds a little over kill to have two computers. What exactly are you going to be recording? Just drum tracks? Is this just a project studio for yourself? How many tracks do you think you might need to be recorded at once?