I have 2000 $ and i need HELP!!

[duncansistinas]

Hi everyone!!
I want to start recording and i don´t know in which direction i must go.
I mean...i want to buy the right recording equipment but i don´t know which platform choose.
I´m going to record mainly rock, punk and metal bands.
What is best?Portastudios like VS-880,etc..?
an ADAT?a computer with a lot of software?
What more options i have?
I´ll need mics and monitors and probably a mixer.Any suggestions?
Waste my money as you want.
Thank you

 

[Bear's Gone Fission]

What is going to be done with the recordings (one-off tapes/cds; demos; indie release)?

Acceptable monitors alone will cost you at least $300 if you scrounge, and headphones won't cut it for accurately assembling your sound stage. Yorkville YSM-1's go for around $175 a pair, are pretty damn useful for the price, add power and go.

How many simultaneous inputs do you expect to record at once? Band in one pass? Rhythm section at once? (I would generally advise to record drums and bass at once, though there are exceptions.) This is a big consideration on some of the digtal porta-studio style units, as it differs from unit to unit. Also keep in mind whether you'll need preamps external to the usual measley two on some of those boxes. Haven't priced these monsters, so you're on your own for this part.

Mics: if you're on a budget, skip large diaphragm condensors. You're best bets are a couple small diaphragm condensors, a large diaphragm dynamic or two, and a couple more small diaphragm dynamics. You can use the large dynamics to great effect on rock vocals, but they can also take the punishment from kick or a cranked bass amp and come up smiling. An MD-421 will run $250 used, an M-88 can be found for around $200. If you can get the MXL-603s, it's hard to go wrong for around $100 a piece. Though not always my favorite, the SM-57 is a standard for a reason, about $100.

Damn, that's $1200-ish I've spent for you on mics and the monitor set up. I'm having my initial suspicions confirmed that it can't be done for $2000, unless you can find an $800 box that can do everything else. Double the budget and you'll still only come up with something you'll find yourself considering bare-bones in a year or two. It's a disease. Seek medical help before it's too late.

Bear

 

[Jon Best]

Hm. Well, you won't be able to charge anyone anything for a few years, so that leaves you pretty free to buy what makes sense- noone will have any expectations. With that budget, I would really advise you to not get caught up in the track count and frills departments. Mics and monitors being more important than track count, format, or gizmos, I would probably recommend something like this:

-Tascam 424 cassette 4 track
-2 Shure SM57's
-2 Crown CM700 condensers
-Rapco direct box
-2 channel phantom power box
-pair NHT Super Ones (speakers, look in mid to high end audio shops)
-Decent 10ish+ W/side amp (used)
-$100 headphones
-cheap headphones

Stands, cables, tapes, and tax will probably get you in just under two grand.

Now, I know this isn't a very sexy rig, and that's OK- if you actually spend the time to get really good sound out of this setup, you'll be miles ahead of the guys who spent 70% of the budget on the latest 16 track digital thingie, and didn't have enough money for good monitors (so they can't hear what they're doing anyway) and decent mics (so it's crap to begin with). Anyway, those guys are lost in some sub-menu of the compressor presets, thinking (mistakenly) that there's something in that latest box that's going to salvage the badly recorded tracks.

It also means that of the two grand, you're only going to replace the $400 mixer/recorder in a few years, and keep the rest of the gear forever. I cannot emphasize how much this makes a difference, and how much money so many people have wasted learning it.

Originally posted by duncansistinas:
Hi everyone!!
I want to start recording and i don´t know in which direction i must go.
I mean...i want to buy the right recording equipment but i don´t know which platform choose.
I´m going to record mainly rock, punk and metal bands.
What is best?Portastudios like VS-880,etc..?
an ADAT?a computer with a lot of software?
What more options i have?
I´ll need mics and monitors and probably a mixer.Any suggestions?
Waste my money as you want.
Thank you

 

[GZsound]

Actually, you can get a fairly decent recording setup for the money you are thinking about spending. You can buy an Alesis ADAT StudioPack for $1,600.00 which includes an 8 track digital tape machine, a studio 24 inline recording console, a nano reverb and an nano compressor, and all cables to set it up. All you would need to add would be mics and a monitor system and you're good to go. I think you could get some SM57's or 58's and a set of powered monitors and maybe be a couple hundred over budget.

 

[atlasproaudio]

Mark G.'s suggestion is the best thing to do. Make sure the only thing you charge any band for is the ADAT tapes and beer or lunch though because charging anything (even a shitty $10/hr) at this point in the game will come back and bite you. Before you even consider charging anything you want to have a significant amount of experience and equipment, because as far as your local area knows this is the start of your "professional" public career, and if the product you produce/engineer is not professional you will be judged on that for many, many years to come.