Recording/producing tech for reasonable price

[NotJustASquier]

Looking for suggestions on laptops, software programs, recording devices, etc. that would be quality for recording and/or producing music within the rang of around $1,000 or less.

I play lead/rythm/bass guitar (and bad vocals) with a friend who is a drummer, most of my song writing takes place with just me and my guitar and other players are a rare occurrence at our two person jam sessions so something that would allow me to record and edit tracks, replay them and combine them with other tracks, loop tracks, maybe even be capable of recording drums through a mixing board or direct mic.

Any suggestions would be more then helpful, I have no idea where to start, even if you just want to bash a poor product it is helpful to know what doesn't work!

 

[treyhaislip]

Re: Recording/producing tech for reasonable price

I really enjoy using Garage band. Would steer you towards Apple/Mac. You can get it on an iPad that works incredibly well! I use it on my iPhone and it works great, just a bit too small of a screen for editing.

Best of luck!

 

[NotJustASquier]

Re: Recording/producing tech for reasonable price

Thanks for the advice! have had a little experience with GB but hadn't considered an ipad as an option

 

[ginormous]

Re: Recording/producing tech for reasonable price

Moving to Tips & Clips...

 

[dystrust]

Re: Recording/producing tech for reasonable price

With a $1,000 budget a lot of it is going to come down to what gear (if any) you already have, which instruments you're planning to record, and how many inputs you need to record at once. If you only need to record guitar, bass, and vocals you can get buy with 1 microphone, a DI box of some sort, and a decent but inexpensive interface like the Focusrite Scarlett 2i2. Provided that you don't need to buy a new computer, you should be able to put that together for half of your budget or less which leaves space for additional microphone(s), studio monitors, or better headphones.

Trying to record live drums would greatly increase complication and expense. You cloud use the Glyn Johns method with 4 mics & inputs (2OH, kick, & snare), but drums recorded that way may not have the tightness and impact needed for metal (I didn't see your musical style mentioned). If you want to close-mic an entire 5-piece drum kit, you'll need at least 8 inputs and that's before you consider acoustic treatment to deal with room sound and bleed. If you're recording demos on a budget, your best bet is to use something like EZ-drummer and humanize or manually key in the part (like Jolly's thread from a few days ago).

 

[Kamanda~SD]

Re: Recording/producing tech for reasonable price

Let us know what you currently have and I'll be glad to chime in!

 

[Johnny the Kid]

Re: Recording/producing tech for reasonable price

The computer you have should be fine to record with.

Reaper will run you $60.

A Zoom R16 Multitrack Interface will run your $299.99 and give you flexibility with drum tracks, in addition to allowing you to record guitar and bass off of it.

A Shure SM-48 Vocal Mic is $44.99.

A set of JBL Studio Monitors for mixing will set you back $149.00

CAD Pro 7 Drum Mics are $199.99.

At this point, you're at $753.97, not including tax.

With the extra $250~ depending on the sales tax rate in your jurisdiction (unless you live in Oregon, Montana, New Hampshire, Alaska, or Delaware, ya lucky bastard) you could buy a set of amp sims to use for recording. I'd recommend something like Amplitube 4. You get plenty of effects and amps in there. Plus if you buy now, you can get the Mesa Boogie Pack for $50 extra, which is a fantastic deal. They are some of the best paid amp sims available. There are also plenty of freeware vst amps, such as those made by LePou and Ignite.

Hope this helped. Good luck to you.

 

[NecroPolo]

Re: Recording/producing tech for reasonable price

Computer:

- ASUS M97A rev2 mainboard
- some high quality 400W+ power supply for maximum stability (like Corsair or FSP, they are not cheap but they will save your computer's life)
- the biggest multicore processor that your budget allows with low-noise cooling
- 8GB (or more) good quality RAM
- small (120GB) SD drive for system and program install
- one onboard high performance HDD for work (like WD black or Raptor series) and one external HDD for backup your sessions
- some nice ASUS video card with passive cooling (you don't want noise for an audio machine, right?) and at least 1GB RAM for possible future video editing

OS: Win (7 and above) 64-bit that is optimised for audio (that can be more important than the OS itself):

http://us.focusrite.com/answerbase/search/windows%207

DAW:

- Reaper. Cheap, flexible and stabile

Interface:

- Focusrite 2i4: great CS4272 AD /DA chip, quite decent microphone / line preamps, great quality for the price and you can pad the direct guitar signal to prevent unwanted distortion

Monitors:

- M-Audio AV40, cheap and quite accurate
- AKG K240 or Audio-Technica M40 headphone

Microphones:

- Shure SM57: cheap and foolproof
- Rode M3: cheap and multipurpose
- Rode NT1: open sounding and detailed, great bang for the buck
- Audio-Technica AT2020: cheap and versatile

That's it. If you're new to it, you don't want to record drums as a first step, partly because it is a mind**** for a beginner, partly because getting a decent microphone park with a decent multi input / output audio interface that give you great results can be expensive. Instead you go in-da-box:

- Toontrack EZD-2
- some cheap MIDI controller
- Peavey ReValver (great amp sim for the price)

Other than that, start experimenting with compressors, EQs, limiters and all the VST / VSTi stuff. It is nice to have a cool mastering plug-in in the mix bus like iZotope Ozone or T-Racks.

Have fun!