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jagged

Well-known member
Joined
Jan 26, 2007
Messages
413
Location
Mississauga, Ontario
Im interested in putting together a small studio at home to noodle around with my guitar playing... whats a good way of doing it without spending heaps and heaps of money?
 

beej

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Aug 16, 2004
Messages
12,333
Location
Toronto, Canada
There are a zillion different ways to go ... really depends on budget and what application you're going for.

For cheap, you can get a Pod, Toneport, USB/FW box etc. and plug in. Reaper is great low cost (free if you don't register) software that will handle a lot of your recording needs. Keep it inexpensive and then upgrade as you need to. (You can spend zillions on mics, preamps, DAWs, etc.)
 

paranoid70

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Joined
Feb 9, 2007
Messages
2,647
Location
Long Beach, CA
I guess it depends upon what you consider big $. My buddy has an awesome 16 track Boss digital home studio. It is about $1,300 US. I have a decent ZOOM-MRS802 8 track digital studio which is has dropped to about $400 US.

Both studios have built in effects and you can plug your guitar, bass and vocal mics striaght into it. You can also use your amp if you wish and plug into it that way. I have always used the built in effects with pretty decent results. Both studios also have built in drum machines as well.

The nice thing about these digital studios is that they are portable, so you can just take them to your buddy's house, etc.

However, note that the cheaper model only allows you to record two instruments at once. Thus if you wanted to record your band "live", go with the more expensive model.
 

jagged

Well-known member
Joined
Jan 26, 2007
Messages
413
Location
Mississauga, Ontario
What I was leaning towards was something like having a condenser going into a mixer (which i have). Or maybe an interface that I can use from a mic to my computer?

I don't have any idea on how to do any of this...
 

fsmith

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Joined
Oct 30, 2003
Messages
2,297
Location
Halethorpe, MD
Ping Bruce, aka candid_x, he wrote the following last week. He also recorded a couple of impressive sounding sound clips this way...

Rob, I also have zero recording gear. I run an SM57 through an adapter, which goes directly to my computer via 1/8" (I think) plug. There's a minimal recorder and editor, which is part of the soundcard software, but no EQ. Imo, for this kind of sampling, it's better without too much edit tweaking. If your computer is newer than 4 years old, check your soundcard CD; there may be a recorder there to install. I use dBpower AMP to convert wave files to MP3, but your soundcard software may also have a converter.

fred
 

Junior

Well-known member
Joined
Nov 14, 2005
Messages
697
These are just a few things to consider...

1) How big your budget is.
2) What kind of tracks and how many tracks at a time will you be recording.
3) What kind of space you're in.

Anyways, if you're aiming at recording guitar with a microphone, then this is the standard:

Mic > preamp > interface > computer, monitors, headphones

If your interface has a (good) preamp, or you have a mixer with preamps, you don't have to buy a stand alone preamp.

I have a Shure SM57 going into a 2-channel Behringer mixer, then to my soundcard. Not a millionare's setup, but serves the purpose.
 
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