Author Topic: Recording gear (Read 2961 times)

ailean · « **on:** October 18, 2007, 08:53:14 PM »

I got a small bonus at work today, about £250 after the tax man has had his way with it, and among a thousand other things I could spend it on I'm considering getting some recording gear.

Now I still can't claim to be able to play guitar, I'm still just getting started so I'm not bothered about being able to master CD's or promo myself. But I think it might be fun to be able to record stuff. I'll probably record to PC as there is one in the same room as the amps, it has a Creative Labs X-Fi sound card in it, which I belive is pretty decent if I need to use it.

So, for £250 or under what should I get?

Edit: I love the sound of my Tiny Terror so I'm thinking I'll use a mic on the cab rather than an in-line recorder.

kevincurtis · « **Reply #1 on:** October 19, 2007, 08:18:44 AM »

The Creative Labs X-Fi looks like it would suit your needs as a starter, it has a mic input (via mini jack, so you will need a way of converting a mic lead to mini jack).

I personally use Sonar (producer) but they also do products aimed at guitarists - http://www.cakewalk.com/Products/GuitarTracksPro/default.asp

which has everything to get you started on computer recording.

You may want to get a little mixer to put the mic into as you can then have another mic input, or record the sound 'dry' and use the on board amplitude LE in GuitarTRacks and it wll give you room for future expansion (if you wanted to record a whole band for instance), and you would still have some change left over :) however once you get strated its a bottomless pit...decent monitors, outboard, better soundcard... :)

hamfist · « **Reply #2 on:** October 19, 2007, 09:21:38 AM »

Hey Rich,
Firstly, please let me state that I am no expert on these matters, but I have some experience and have been digital multitrack recording using my PC for a few years now.
I'm not sure if your soundcard is going to be up to the job. It all depends which X-fi soundcard it is. From memory, I'm pretty sure you need a soundcard which is ASIO 2.0 compatible, to work with most of the DAW (Digital audio workstation) software out there. Certainly you need ASIO 2.0 compatability with Cubase, which is what I work with. Without the ASIO 2.0 compatability, you get all sorts of latency problems.
You need to check out which soundcard you actually have. From a quick look on the creative website, some of the X-fi's are ASIO 2.0 comp, some aren't.
the good news is that it won't cost you a fortune if your soundcard is not up to the job. An M-Audio 2496 card is excellent, and will only set you back about £50.
you will also need some sort of pre-amp as a signal from a microphone is nowhere near strong enough for the circuitry on your soundcard. All "quality" soundcards do NOT have their own pre-amps, as the voltages involved in pre-amps tend to mess about with the other circuitry on a PCI card. I use a cheap Behringer mixer, as an audio interface with my soundcard. The mixer has it's own pre-amps and headphone sockets etc, and is very, very useful in so many ways. Take a look at http://www.dv247.com/invt/31557/ . I would recommend it.
If you have £250 to spend, then it would be a real advantage to get some near field studio monitors. They improve the quality of your sound immensely, compared to even a "good" computer speaker setup. This is starting to get expensive though, as you should really be looking at active monitors with at least 5 inch woofers. You would probably need to look at secondhand. I personally use Tannoy active Reveal monitors, which can be had for about £80-£120 a pair on the used market - see http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Tannoy-Reveal-Active-Monitors-Nearfield-Speakers-Pair_W0QQitemZ300156120459QQihZ020QQcategoryZ23786QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem .

And then you may need a microphone, headphones, and then there's all the cables ..... As kevin says, it can be a bottomless pit.

Alan

hamfist · « **Reply #3 on:** October 19, 2007, 09:22:46 AM »

BTW, Is this a Hampshire, UK only thread ?

froglord · « **Reply #4 on:** October 19, 2007, 09:31:26 AM »

Quote from: hamfist

BTW, Is this a Hampshire, UK only thread ?

Looks that way, doesn't it? :D

hamfist · « **Reply #5 on:** October 19, 2007, 10:02:57 AM »

Quote from: froglord

Quote from: hamfist
BTW, Is this a Hampshire, UK only thread ?

Looks that way, doesn't it? :D

haha :D Hello Froglord, whereabouts are you ? And you Kevin ?

Alan

kevincurtis · « **Reply #6 on:** October 19, 2007, 11:18:45 AM »

I'm in Calmore, just outside Soton .. obviously its a hotbed of BKP activity :)

hamfist · « **Reply #7 on:** October 19, 2007, 01:24:39 PM »

Quote from: kevincurtis

I'm in Calmore, just outside Soton .. obviously its a hotbed of BKP activity :)

Cool, I'm in North Baddesley, only a few miles away.

Sorry Rich for hijacking your thread.

OK guys lets focus, any more ideas on recording gear ?

Mr Ed · « **Reply #8 on:** October 19, 2007, 01:35:33 PM »

When I record ideas at home, I just plug straight into a Line6 Toneport UX2 and record through an "acquired" copy of Adobe Audition.

froglord · « **Reply #9 on:** October 19, 2007, 08:35:58 PM »

Quote from: hamfist

haha :D Hello Froglord, whereabouts are you ? And you Kevin ?

Alan

I'm in Denmead (anyone heard of it?), a few miles north of Portsmouth.

Afraid I can't help on the PC recording front. If you want to go outboard, I can recommend the Boss BR-600, which fits nicely within your budget and does a heck of a lot for not much dosh.

MDV · « **Reply #10 on:** October 20, 2007, 02:51:51 AM »

http://www.dolphinmusic.co.uk/page/shop/flypage/product_id/15385

http://www.dolphinmusic.co.uk/page/shop/flypage/product_id/3010

With change!

ailean · « **Reply #11 on:** October 20, 2007, 05:47:30 AM »

Thanks Mark, that E-MU looks interesting. Have you actually used it?

hamfist · « **Reply #12 on:** October 20, 2007, 08:35:12 AM »

One big advantage of something like the E-MU 0404 USB 2.0 Audio/MIDI Interface, suggested above, is the software that usually comes bundled with it. It all depends exactly what they bundle, but often there will be some sort of multi-track recording software (cakewalk in this case ?), a mastering (wave-editing) program and CD-burning software.
If you have no musical software so far, it might to be wise to look at a few USB audio interfaces and see what software comes bundled with each.
For example, I'm sure you'll want the ability to add "Virtual" drums, bass and maybe keys to many guitar recordings you make. Something like Cubase (Cubase SE - about £82) comes with virtual bass, drums and all sorts of other instruments (these are all called VST instruments).

My problem is that I am so out of touch with what's "out there" at the moment. It's such a fast moving market. Personally, I've focussed on quality PCI soundcard-based recording, so I'm really pretty unaware of all the various types of outboard interface boxes out there.
However, what is common to all systems is the need for quality speakers (near field monitors). I would recommend saving a reasonable part of your budget for them. Headphones (even good ones) are just not the same. I could not believe what I'd been missing when I got my monitors. I had been using h'phones and good computer speakers, but it made mixing sooooooo much easier when I got the monitors.

The blokes at Digital Village (St.Mary's street, Soton) are generally VERY good people to talk to about what's on the market at the moment. They can access a huge range of stock and are as cheap as anyone. They also have a lot of PC's up and running with a lot of the software loaded up on them.
If you picked up some monitors secondhand and then got some professional advice from them about what was best for your needs, you wouldn't go far wrong.

BTW Rich, what are you doing up at 4.47am ???

Alan

ailean · « **Reply #13 on:** October 20, 2007, 03:15:27 PM »

Heh, got woken up by my cat and could go back to sleep :)

I'm not too worried about getting speakers for the PC as it's wired to an Arcam Amp with B&W CM2 speakers (Bi-wired - Bi-amped), so they should do the job.

I'm also not worried about messing with my recordings at this stage, I want the best recording quality hardware, and later I'll get the software if I want it. I just want to be able to record short clips to show tone or maybe a new riff I've learned or whatever. I've been playing less than 6 months, and don't get to practice as much as I'd liek so I'm not gonna be recording anything great. But it wouls be nice to be able to post clips when I think I've found a nice tone. Then you guys can rip me appart :)

Edit: I'm also being tempted by some Spurzel locking tuners, as the ones on my LP are a bit rubbish, but I can't afford both PDT_021

kevincurtis · « **Reply #14 on:** October 22, 2007, 08:28:30 AM »

Hey fella, if you want the best quality sound then as ever its as good as your weakest link, from mic, to mixer to outboard (if used) then the soundcard. If you have a mic, I would be tempted to maybe get a channel strip like a trakmaster (I dont really use mine now, so as you are local I could prob lend it to you and agree a reasonable price if you liked it? :) ) and a new soundcard so that you have a decent mic amp in the channel strip and then a decent A/D converter in the soundcard, and as stated they will come with some sort of audio software bundled (I'm still pushing cakewalk of course :) )