Please help with recording suggestions

[SixGunLover]

Hello again everyone,

First off, I'd just like to thank everyone who offered suggestions regarding my choice of amplifier.

I'm a singer-songwriter composing music which I guess could be defined as "retro rock" - not afraid to show the influence of classic rock bands like Cream, Aerosmith or Led Zeppelin, but also branching into other genres including soul, blues, funk and pop. Anyway, I've got a bunch of songs I've written that I'd like to demo, so that I can apply for a government grant to have them professionally recorded. My arsenal currently consists of:

1x Line 6 Variax 600 Modelling Guitar
1x Vox Tonelab LE Amp Modeller/Multi-FX Pedal
1x Shure SM58 Vocal Microphone
1x Shure SM57 Instrument/Vocal Microphone
Various guitar and microphone cables
Two microphone stands
Plus a fairly modern Windows Vista PC operating system, with Adobe Audition 3.0 recording software (which I am fairly familiar with) and Cakewalk Sonar 8 Producer Edition (which I am less familiar with).

I understand that the two things I should invest in next are a monitor setup (I'm on a very strict budget so I'll probably look at something like the Sony MDR-7506 Headphones), and a recording interface.

This is where I'm completely lost. I have no knowledge or experience with computer recording interfaces. In my old band we had a useable (though highly amateur) recording setup which involved a small non-powered mixer running direct into my friend's computer, running Cool Edit Pro (which is now Adobe Audition). I've no idea about Firewire. At the moment my computer is running onboard sound - will I need a dedicated sound card, too? Can you please offer your suggestions of an appropriate recording interface for my setup?

I'll be recording multi-track style using the recording software, so I'll be doing one track at a time. The goal is to lay down the guitar parts (typically one rhythm, one lead per song, but occasionally more, recorded via the Tonelab) and vocals (lead and backing vocals, recorded via SM58). As for drums, I'm not sure what to do here yet - should I get a drum machine? Or is there some other (cheap) way of getting basic drum patterns for my demos? I compose most of the songs using Guitar Pro 5 software, often including drums and bass.

Other than an appropriate recording interface and monitor options, please feel free to suggest any other hardware or software you feel my budget home recording setup would benefit from. All tips, tricks, advice or suggestions of further reading are much appreciated - I'm keen to learn all I can. Thanks in advance to any who respond.

[ailean]

Ok, I'm way out of my league here, but I do have an E-Mu 0404 external USB interface, which for the money seems very uasable. Look at the external version not the internal, they are different beasts.

The 0404 comes with a bunch of software apps that seem to do the job (again, so far out of my depth the fish have lights on their noses), it has a good set of interfaces, and can take 2 channels of input at once.

I guess you'd call it low end semi-pro but it costs about £120-130, and produces respectable results. Credit for this purchase goes to MDV of this board who recomended it to me by the light of the fish noses.

[_tom_]

Basically the interface will act as an external soundcard, so you just disable your onboard audio and use the interface instead.

I'd go for an Edirol UA-25EX, it's what I have and is an awesome interface. Seems to have good Vista support as well, I've had no problems with it.

As for drums, I use EZDrummer and its probably the most straightforward thing for doing drums (as the name suggests). You can still program your drums etc in guitar pro. Then you just need to export the drum track from that as a midi, then import it into your DAW program.

[MDV]

:lol: yeah, the 0404 is a good bit of kit! (thanks ailean...not sure what the lights on the fish noses things about, but still!)

That seems to be the best thing out there sub £200

Dont mix on headphones! Reference on them and check panning by all means, but unless you intend to have your music only listened to on headphones, its not the same thing as speakers - they're binaural, not stereo, and you have to pay MEGA bucks to get really good low end representation on phones.

Get some monitors. Spend as much on them as you possibly can. Event make some really good ones for a couple of hundred quid (or did last  checked).

[MDV]

Oh, and interface can operate as your main soundcard, but compatiblity between partcular soundcards assde you can get as many as you like on there. I've run my Fireface 800, EMU 1616M and stock soundcard simultaneously wth no issues.

Set your DAW up to use the ASIO of the interface and set windows default sound to the onboard sound. I also make Foobar2000, on which I listen to music, to use my Fireface and Adams while windows, films and games are gong through a convoluted 5.1 system and on board sound.

[ailean]

(thanks ailean...not sure what the lights on the fish noses things about, but still!)

Heh :) It was an extention on my previous statement:

so far out of my depth the fish have lights on their noses

[_tom_]

When I was researching my interface, I considered the EMU 0404 but read that it has cr@p Vista drivers/support. Just something to consider, I'd go for something thats made with Vista in mind :)

[SixGunLover]

Thanks for all your comments.

Tom:
I was just doing a little research and found the exact same thing. A lot of the Firewire options in my price range have mixed reviews at best, too. The Edirol you recommended on the other hand (from the reviews I've found) seems to be good bang for buck and (equally important) reliable and compatible with Vista. My local music store can get one in so I'm sure I could return it if for any reason I was dissatisfied. Thanks also for recommending EZDrummer - it looks perfect for my needs.

So, now that I've got my interface sorted, any recommendations for budget monitors? Thanks for the Event suggestion, MDV. Anything else I should look into getting?

[Gary]

I'm currently looking for monitors for my recording setup. The ones I've looked at so far are KRK and Yamaha (budget around £400). I'm hoping to try some Adams as well. You really need to take some reference material and A/B them in the shop as you'll find the difference between makes surprising.