The M-Audio DMP3 appears to be just a preamp. In addition to (or instead of) that you'll need an "audio interface" to convert the analog signal into something your DAW can work with. Search for "audio interface" in this forum to find plenty past discussions on choosing one. Also, the consensus here seems to be that you'll also want monitor speakers to mix and master your recordings. Doing so through headphones is not recommended. But you will want the headphones so you can do, what I think they call in the bizness, "looping". That's where you play back a previously recorded track while recording a new one. You'll want to play back through headphones so that you don't record the playback audio in addition to recording the new instrument (or voice) track.

:D

vttom, post: 353891 wrote: The M-Audio DMP3 appears to be just a preamp. In addition to (or instead of) that you'll need an "audio interface" to convert the analog signal into something your DAW can work with. Search for "audio interface" in this forum to find plenty past discussions on choosing one. Also, the consensus here seems to be that you'll also want monitor speakers to mix and master your recordings. Doing so through headphones is not recommended. But you will want the headphones so you can do, what I think they call in the bizness, "looping". That's where you play back a previously recorded track while recording a new one. You'll want to play back through headphones so that you don't record the playback audio in addition to recording the new instrument (or voice) track.

Hey,

Thank you for your reply. It was really helpful. I forgot to mention that I have an audio interface, its m-audio audiophile 192. Will that do the trick? The problem that i've found with this is that for some reason it does not let you sample/record any sound on the computer. So if I was to hit the record button in Cubase to sample, it is just blank with no recording. So i'm looking at a dual boot system where I can do recording vocals in one system which uses the audio interface and have the other system for producing music.

Would you recommend any headphones that might be ideal, at a low cost? Also, I have a Technics stereo which I export the sound to from the computer whilst I am producing music. I'm guessing there might be some colouration within these speakers.

I bet i'm doing a few things wrong there but I have no technical idea of sound engineering.

Thanks again,

Saif

Saif, post: 353905 wrote: Hey,

Thank you for your reply. It was really helpful. I forgot to mention that I have an audio interface, its m-audio audiophile 192. Will that do the trick? The problem that i've found with this is that for some reason it does not let you sample/record any sound on the computer. So if I was to hit the record button in Cubase to sample, it is just blank with no recording. So i'm looking at a dual boot system where I can do recording vocals in one system which uses the audio interface and have the other system for producing music.

Sounds like you have the right stuff. It's just a matter of getting it setup right in Cubase. When you create a track, you need to tell Cubase where that sound is coming from. Look for something in the track setup where you tell it which channel(s) to record from the audio interface.

Would you recommend any headphones that might be ideal, at a low cost? Also, I have a Technics stereo which I export the sound to from the computer whilst I am producing music. I'm guessing there might be some colouration within these speakers.

Whatever you already have is probably good enough to get started.

I bet i'm doing a few things wrong there but I have no technical idea of sound engineering.

The learning process is what makes this a fun hobby.

Brilliant, I'll check out the Cubase channel options and mess around with it and see if I can get it sampling. So I'm in need of a good mic, that maybe doesn't need a pre-amp or a half-decent mic with a half-decent pre-amp. I'm getting the impression from your previous post that a pre-amp isn't purely necessary if you have an audio-interface. So might go down the route of buying a mic first. Maybe the m-audio Nova. Lolz, i'm sticking to the same brand so that i'm sure that it is all compatible.

Thanks for the advice and for re-assuring me that I've got enough to get started.

The Shure SM57 or SM58 are ubiquitous mics and a good choice for your first.

Thank you, I'll be checking one of those out.

Thanks again.