Recording equipment

[Luke Sharkey]

hi,could anyone recommend good home recording equipment on a budget of around 300-400 euros?..links would be nice...and personal experiences if you have any..thanks =)

[CRAZY-HORSE]

just hang on for an answer mate....our resident recording Guru(Jerome) will be back in the house sometime over the next 24hrs and im sure he will be able to give you all the answers you require and some advice also

[Jerome]

Luke, 300-400 euro's is not going to take you very far. I would need to know a couple of things; do you have a powerful PC at your disposal? - what do you want to record? (instruments) - do you have any experience with DAW's? - how many tracks (different voices/instruments) are in the song(s) you want to record? Need more info before I can give you an answer. For 300/400 euro's you will be able to pick up a decent audio interface but you will still need the PC platform and the software. Hope this helps.

I'm not an audio guru - in fact an old fart long past his sell-by-date, but music is my hobby and I have learnt a few things on the way. My advice is spend some money on a really good book about the subject - Paul White's 'The Producer's Manual' (the editor of UK mag Sound On Sound) is a really good starting point. He is up to date with everything that is going on and his advice is rock solid. You do not neccessarily need expensive gear to make good material - obviously you do need SOME gear but imagination and perseverance are vital - and they are free! There's an album by Jackson Browne (Running on Empty) - an american folk/rock musician - that was recorded in Holiday Inns around the country and one on a bus (the tour bus), with basic microphones and a cardboard box with a pedal as a bass drum. It's still regarded as a classic. Technology is great but it's not the be all and end all. Imagination is the key ingredient.

[Luke Sharkey]

Thanks for the reply Jerome..I would probably be recording two guitar tracks a vocals track a drum track and a bass track.I have no experience with dev's or with much of anything in the music business.I have heard good things about the computer based recording software and every member of the band owns a pc which would probably be able to run the software and they do appear cheaper than the boss 8 tracks but I suppose my love for the old school makes me lean toward owning an 8 track...The band could probably get more than 300-400,it would just take a little extra time as we busk and gig for our money..I'll look into buying a book like the one you mentioned...I forgot to ask you last time...Do you have any preferences when it comes to vocal microphones for recording??
Thanks for the helpfull advice
luke

P.s oh yeah ,as you were saying you don't need big fancie gear to record excellant songs...Keith richards recorded his guitar part (one of my favourite rhythm guitar parts of all time) on a 4 track recorder in a hotel room using an acoustic guitar being over driven..

[Jerome]

Thanks for the reply Jerome..I would probably be recording two guitar tracks a vocals track a drum track and a bass track.I have no experience with dev's or with much of anything in the music business.I have heard good things about the computer based recording software and every member of the band owns a pc which would probably be able to run the software and they do appear cheaper than the boss 8 tracks but I suppose my love for the old school makes me lean toward owning an 8 track...The band could probably get more than 300-400,it would just take a little extra time as we busk and gig for our money..I'll look into buying a book like the one you mentioned...I forgot to ask you last time...Do you have any preferences when it comes to vocal microphones for recording??
Thanks for the helpfull advice
luke

P.s oh yeah ,as you were saying you don't need big fancie gear to record excellant songs...Keith richards recorded his guitar part (one of my favourite rhythm guitar parts of all time) on a 4 track recorder in a hotel room using an acoustic guitar being over driven..

Luke, some tips that might help. I STRONGLY recommend you buy Paul White's book. The possibilities out there are endless and very confusing for someone who has not gone down the PC home studio route. Good all purpose mic is a Shure Sm57 (you will find more about this in the book as well). I like AKG Perception myself. Just remember that the room you are recording the vocal/guitar in has a huge impact on the final product. You can have really expensive gear and it can still sound crap unless the environment it is recorded in is correct. Another tip - avoid adding loads of reverb to instruments in the recording stage. What normally tends to happen when you first start recording is that large dose of reverb gets added at the start and 'printed' onto the track (i.e. it cannot be removed afterwards). Then the guitar gets done or some other instrument and another dose of reverb is added and printed. Then you find when you get to the final mix there is too much reverb and the sound is muddy and you can't get rid of it. Some software manufacturers sell plug-ins that de-verb to a certain extent but you should really record instruments 'dry' and only use reverb in the foldback signal (what you will be listening to while you record) but not actually on the recorded track itself. It can be added later and it will make the mix process musch easier. As for DAW's (Digital Audiio Workstations) a powerful PC will help to reduce latency (the small time delay between the played audio and the instrument you are recording - try and get that down to 2 or 3 ms). Software is a matter of personal taste - there are many to choose from and there are even some that are free or you could try a full-functioning demo. I use Samplitude 11 but it is a little pricey. The key component is the audio interface that connects to your PC - the link between your instrument and the PC. EMU make a number of very good ones - mine has lasted a good 8 or 9 years now. Focusrite is also good. If you are going to record live drums, you have a choice of using just 2 or 3 mics (so your audio interface needs to have at least that amount of inputs - or 10 or 11 mics (depending on kit size) - again your audio interface is the limit there, so you might need a breakout box of some kind. Analog mixers that can take up to 16 tracks are quite cheap these days. Digital one are a bit pricier. I could go on for hours here but your wisest investment would be Mr White's book. All the questions you have asked so far are addressed in that publication. It really is excellent value for your money and will help to prevent wasting money on stuff you do not need. By the way make sure your PC has PLENTY of RAM. Vital for recording. Hope this helps.

[Jerome]

With regard to software. ProTools is pretty much the industry standard but there are many others to choose from. As I said, I use Samplitude (mainly because of it's ability to handle large projects very well and very quickly - some of my own projects have a track count exceeding 50 so fast loading times are essential), but Sonar X1 is quite good (I use this for MIDI input and export to SAM once done) and Studio One - a relative newcomer to the market (by Focusrite - I think) looks quite good as well. Then there's Cubase, Reason and many, many others. The choice is yours. But try to get the sound right BEFORE you record. It will save you years of time. The old saying of 'we can fix it in the mix' is not the way to go. If you can visualize the final product in your head and then strive to get those sounds down before the mix will save you plenty heartaches later. Beileve me I have burnt my fingers many times. Also avoid quantisation (the process of lining up performance so that the timing matches perfectly - it will make your material sound 'clinical' as opposed to having an organic feel to it. Get the performance right and it will flow. Some of the best and most successful recordings have timing and tuning issues - Tubular Bells is a good example and yet it is a major success. There was once a blues guitarist (can't remember who) who said - 'perfection will kill you' - he's right. A spontaneous performance is better than a contrived one.

[Jerome]

With regard to software. ProTools is pretty much the industry standard but there are many others to choose from. As I said, I use Samplitude (mainly because of it's ability to handle large projects very well and very quickly - some of my own projects have a track count exceeding 50 so fast loading times are essential), but Sonar X1 is quite good (I use this for MIDI input and export to SAM once done) and Studio One - a relative newcomer to the market (by Focusrite - I think) looks quite good as well. Then there's Cubase, Reason and many, many others. The choice is yours. But try to get the sound right BEFORE you record. It will save you years of time. The old saying of 'we can fix it in the mix' is not the way to go. If you can visualize the final product in your head and then strive to get those sounds down before the mix will save you plenty heartaches later. Beileve me I have burnt my fingers many times. Also avoid quantisation (the process of lining up performance so that the timing matches perfectly - it will make your material sound 'clinical' as opposed to having an organic feel to it. Get the performance right and it will flow. Some of the best and most successful recordings have timing and tuning issues - Tubular Bells is a good example and yet it is a major success. There was once a blues guitarist (can't remember who) who said - 'perfection will kill you' - he's right. A spontaneous performance is better than a contrived one.

Correction - Studio One is by Presonus not Focusrite - apologies. The brain is starting to malfunction.......Houston we have a problem.