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khysanth posted:Hey goons, Maybe a field recorder, something like the Edirol R-09HR (I don't have a lot of experience with that particular model, but just as an example of the basic concept); the advantage of something like that is it's relatively inexpensive + durable + portable + AA batteries + it records onto a SD card, so you can just copy the digital audio onto a computer for editing. The main disadvantage is probably just that it only has a 3.5mm mic jack, which would limit your selection if you wanted to hook up a better mic to it. There are higher-end field recording rigs, but they tend to be a fairly serious investment. A good middle ground, depending on what kind of mics you want to use, might be a netbook + audio interface with XLR mic inputs. Downsides are that it's not quite as self contained, batteries aren't as easy, and it's not as durable if you want to take it into an Okefenokee duck blind or something.
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Mar 13, 2010 00:16
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The Zoom H2 is going to be less expensive (and is probably about the lowest you'd want to go) and is still a great recorder for the price.
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Mar 13, 2010 03:36
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I've heard very good things about the Zoom H2 as well. I have a Boss Micro-BR and while it's good for sketching out song ideas while out and about, the mic's quality isn't terribly good. You *can* always plug another mic into it, though.
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Mar 13, 2010 03:39
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h_double posted:The main disadvantage is probably just that it only has a 3.5mm mic jack, which would limit your selection if you wanted to hook up a better mic to it.
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Mar 13, 2010 11:41
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FLX posted:Couldn't you just buy an XLR to 3.5mm adapter? Hmm, I would think there would be an impedance mismatch between XLR mics and the field recorder (or camcorder or etc. with a 3.5mm mic jack). I've used XLR to 1/4" adapters before and they "work" but only as a stopgap and only if you're plugging into a preamp that can add a fair amount of gain. Also I don't think that such adapter would let you use an XLR condenser mic that required phantom power. (there ARE electret condenser mics designed for 3.5mm connectors, they usually use AA batteries to provide their own phantom power)
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Mar 13, 2010 12:06
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I just bought a 16 channel Presonus Studiolive console. At the moment the only DAW I have is Pro Tools. Should I get a better DAW? The ones I know exist are Cubase, Reaper, Logic, and Soundstage. This setup will primarily be used to record individuals/small bands, and occasionally to record/broadcast gigs live on air over radio. The mixer is connected to a Mac G5 via firewire.
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Mar 14, 2010 15:20
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Protools won't work with your presonus, so yeah you should buy cubase or live if you want to hang with the cool kids.
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Mar 14, 2010 21:31
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So I got a Apogee ONE audio interface for home recording (I live in a freshman dorm, not too much room, so I only need one in anyway) but for the last two weeks the I haven't been able to get my guitar to make any noise through it. I think it might be the breakout cable, as I can get it to play through an amp with the same actual cable. Is there anyway to be sure? Should I just buy another breakout cable?
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Mar 15, 2010 06:13
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reach42 posted:So I got a Apogee ONE audio interface for home recording (I live in a freshman dorm, not too much room, so I only need one in anyway) but for the last two weeks the I haven't been able to get my guitar to make any noise through it. I think it might be the breakout cable, as I can get it to play through an amp with the same actual cable. Is there anyway to be sure? Should I just buy another breakout cable? I'd recommend calling up Apogee, supposedly they're pretty good with tech support. At the very least they can probably tell you what's wrong with it.
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Mar 15, 2010 17:25
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AriTheDog posted:I've heard very good things about the Zoom H2 as well. I have a Boss Micro-BR and while it's good for sketching out song ideas while out and about, the mic's quality isn't terribly good. You *can* always plug another mic into it, though. This looks solid and is in my price range. I'm really a noob when it comes to audio tech like this, but I know that I'm going to want a pretty high quality mic for these recordings since they'll mostly be environmental sounds that I'll tweak later (in a program to be determined). Any more recommendations for devices/mics before I bite the bullet on anything?
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Mar 15, 2010 23:19
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picked up an m-audio oxygen v2 for 45 on cl a few weeks ago. over the next year of my life - apogee duet - a decent mic - m-audio axiom pro 61 - zoom h2/h4/h4n (haven't decided) i figure once i have these things, i will be loving made. don't care about poo poo else. well, maybe except for a pair of nudies man but that's it.
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Mar 16, 2010 02:55
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I'm thinking about getting myself a MIDI keyboard to (re)teach myself piano using this program http://pianobooster.sourceforge.net/ Does anyone have any suggestions? I'd like it if I could plug in via USB.
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Mar 16, 2010 18:29
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AriTheDog posted:I decided to go with the M-Audio Fast Track Pro after reading about it here and elsewhere, and I'll buy a keyboard when I have some more cash! Thanks for the input. I use a Fast Track Pro with my keyboards and Mac OSX, it's pretty seamless with both audio in/out and MIDI. I do have one complaint, though, about the sound quality. There's a distinct difference from when I plug in the headphones directly to the back of my keyboard and when I monitor through the interface. I suppose it could be the cables, although they're just standard 1/4". I was wondering if I'm getting what I paid for in the entry level, and sound quality just increases with price.
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Mar 26, 2010 11:57
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I have a Marshall Valvestate 1000 amp head that has a line-out on it. I'm thinking I can plug this into my interface (Mackie Onyx Satellite), into a line-in as opposed to a pre-amped microphone or Hi-Z input. This is safe right? I know the output from an amp head can be pretty massive but I assume it's not going to be from the line out. Anyone confirm/deny this? I don't want to make bang. Also, should I use an instrument or speaker cable to do this?
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Mar 26, 2010 13:13
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I just got a new PC and installed Reason 4 and Sonar Cakewalk Producer 8 on it for fun with my synth. However, all the instructions I could find online for getting ReWire to play nicely are for Reason 3 and Producer 6. I'm sure the mechanics may be the same but on my last PC I was able to have individual MIDI tracks on Sonar for each instrument in Reason solely by trial-and-error. The closest I could get to success was when I turned on the audio engine in Sonar, I hear a rapid clicking sound, whether the music was playing from Reason or stopped. An idiot-proof step-by-step guide would benefit me greatly.
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Mar 27, 2010 14:05
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I found this in my closet while cleaning: Click here for the full 758x410 image. Could it be worth something? I want to get it out of my closet but I would feel bad just throwing it away 
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Mar 27, 2010 16:14
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CliffyBMine! posted:I found this in my closet while cleaning: Looks like an old DJ mixer, i'm not sure if it'll be worth a great deal. It can't hurt to put it on ebay and see what you can get for it
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Mar 28, 2010 13:19
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chippy posted:I have a Marshall Valvestate 1000 amp head that has a line-out on it. I'm thinking I can plug this into my interface (Mackie Onyx Satellite), into a line-in as opposed to a pre-amped microphone or Hi-Z input. This is safe right? I know the output from an amp head can be pretty massive but I assume it's not going to be from the line out. Anyone confirm/deny this? I don't want to make bang. Also, should I use an instrument or speaker cable to do this?
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Mar 28, 2010 15:40
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My friend is currently in the market for an audio interface for use with Logic and Live 8. It'll be used both for DJing and music production, needs to be portable, and needs to have (at least) two stereo ins and two stereo outs. There's no preference between firewire and USB. He'll be using it on two Macs - a Mac Pro and a Macbook (one of the white ones), so good OS X 10.6 support is absolutely essential. I've warned him off M-Audio kit because of their atrocious driver support, but I'm not really clued up on other interfaces at that end of the market, so have been unable to make any recommendations. Personally, I use a Motu interface, and recommended he look what they have to offer, but he says their stuff is out of his price range. He's currently pretty interested in the Eridol FA-66, but would like a second opinion. Has anyone used this interface on a Mac before? If so, would you recommend it? Alternatively, does anyone have any recommendations for alternative interfaces? I think his price limit is about £300.
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Mar 28, 2010 17:32
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moron, look for my thread on audio interfaces. It's focused on stuff below $500, so everything in it should be in your friend's range. You should be able to find the thread on the first page or two of Musician's Lounge.CliffyBMine! posted:I found this in my closet while cleaning: These guys are selling it new (I think) for $165. http://www.freeradio.org/frb/newcat.pdf
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Mar 31, 2010 06:24
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Is this the thread to post a recording of mine and get an honest critique of what I am doing wrong and (hopefully) right? Or is there somewhere better suited to that? Edit: Both musically and recording-ly.
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Mar 31, 2010 11:48
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RagingBoner posted:Is this the thread to post a recording of mine and get an honest critique of what I am doing wrong and (hopefully) right? Or is there somewhere better suited to that?
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Mar 31, 2010 17:01
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Mine is in the mail. Who else is getting one?
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Apr 1, 2010 22:38
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i would seriously buy one of those
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Apr 2, 2010 07:11
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Nevermind.
Senator Woofington fucked around with this message at 21:10 on Apr 5, 2010 |
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Apr 5, 2010 18:16
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How does using an external hard drive help for recording? I've had a few people recommend it to me. I didnt initially believe it was necessary but now Im getting "hard drive too slow or disk error"s in Logic.
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Apr 8, 2010 14:28
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I don't have experience with that in particular, but it's quite possible that Apple doesn't put very fast hard drives in their computers, especially if they're laptops. Get yourself a nice hard drive like a WD Caviar Black and put it in a FireWire enclosure and I imagine that'll help.
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Apr 8, 2010 16:57
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Make sure its spins at 7200rpm or faster. Years ago when I was building my laptop, almost all prebuilt machines came with 5400rpm and I was told that could be too slow. Yeah whoops, added zeros. No. 9 fucked around with this message at 20:12 on Apr 8, 2010 |
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Apr 8, 2010 17:00
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Hehehehe, it's 7200 or 5400rpm. And yeah 5400rpm is some stone age slow hard drive action these days, you can't even find 5400 rpm drives anymore except for cheap laptop drives. Or totally bottom of the barrel NOS external hard drives (and in the world of computers NOS is not a good thing, not at all.) Also, it probably goes without saying, but just in case anybody doesn't realize: the benefit in recording onto a separate hard drive comes about because you're spreading the load. Saving audio onto one drive while a different drive is being accessed to run the DAW, OS, etc. So there's nothing better about an external drive specifically. You can just get a second internal hard drive for less money. And you sure as hell don't have to be technically inclined to install another internal hard drive into a desktop computer. If you can change a turn signal light bulb in your car or hell if you can change the batteries in a remote you can install an internal hard drive. You just screw it in and plug in two cables. Of course I'm talking about desktop computers. If you have a laptop, you'll want to go with an external. Laptops are always more money and more pain for less functionality, and are always better avoided unless the portability is truly necessary.
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Apr 8, 2010 20:11
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I have a pair of M-Audio BX5a monitor's, and after about a month of owning them, I noticed there is a small buzzing when I turn them both on. The buzzing persists, and although it's pretty faint, it's definitely there. It only gets louder depending on the volume of each individual monitor as well. Right now I have them set about 1/4 of the way to max, and the buzzing isn't apparent. Is this normal?
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Apr 10, 2010 01:50
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E1M5 posted:I have a pair of M-Audio BX5a monitor's, and after about a month of owning them, I noticed there is a small buzzing when I turn them both on. The buzzing persists, and although it's pretty faint, it's definitely there. It only gets louder depending on the volume of each individual monitor as well. Right now I have them set about 1/4 of the way to max, and the buzzing isn't apparent. Any other possible source of electromagnetic interference nearby (CRTs, amplifiers, etc.)? Does the buzzing persist even when nothing is plugged into the monitors' audio input? Can you try plugging the monitors in someplace else (i.e. on a different power circuit) to rule out poorly conditioned or poorly grounded power?
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Apr 10, 2010 02:32
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h_double posted:Any other possible source of electromagnetic interference nearby (CRTs, amplifiers, etc.)? 1 & 3 - No interference at all. Grounded power is fine as well, I tested this earlier. I was testing number 2, when all of a sudden, there was no buzzing. I can't hear it at all, it just went away on it's own... is this something I should concern myself with, or just forget about since it worked itself out?
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Apr 10, 2010 02:46
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My band recently recorded a demo as our first official recordings of any kind. They came out pretty well all things considered - but we definitely didn't know as much then as we should have. The whole thing was done in audacity apart from mixing, which was mistake #1, and our singer recorded the vocals badly so there's some static noise from that. http://www.myspace.com/cautionct - you can hear all three songs from the demo there. The thing is, we're looking to record an EP over the summer and I could use some advice on how we should go about it. We really want this to be a more high quality and legitimate sounding release, because while the demo came out well, it definitely doesn't stand up against "real" CDs when I compare them back to back. One option is obviously to go into a studio, but it turns into a cost/benefit sort of thing. It would be awesome to lay down the ~$7000 that my other band put down and get professional quality recordings for our EP, but we don't have anywhere near that kind of money. If we were to work on a budget of, say, $1000, I feel like we'd probably get more bang for our buck buying some new equipment than finding some cheap studio that we'll rush our way through recording in to keep under budget. The equipment we have available right now:
The real question is this: What should we be buying? Assuming a hypothetical budget of $1000 (which is a high estimate but we'll find a way), where should that money go to give us the capability to record a legitimate sounding EP? I'm thinking we'll definitely need an audio interface that allows us to record at least four tracks at once, plus a few higher quality mics. It's a bit overwhelming and I'm not entirely sure where to begin. If anybody could recommend me some starting points, I'd be hugely appreciative. Summary: My band recorded a demo and it's decent but we want to boost the quality in a major way for our debut EP. What do we upgrade on a $1000 budget to do so?
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Apr 10, 2010 05:42
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If you went to Berklee then you should know some engineers. Go make friends with an up and coming engineer who has decent equipment and is hungry for a portfolio. Give him the $1000 to spend two weeks recording your band at your rehearsal space and then mix it. If $1000 is your budget then this is probably your best bet.
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Apr 10, 2010 07:29
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I'd recommend you record at least at a small studio, even a home one. The graduate should know a few cheap ones. By this I mean somewhere with more than just a laptop with 4 input interface. Student engineer or not $1,000 should get you more than that.
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Apr 13, 2010 03:38
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Apologies in advance, it's a long thread, and I browsed, but didn't read every post. I just picked up a Presonus Audiobox (USB) for not much money, and I have to make sense of the assorted software I have available to me, and figure out what to do for a computer--the 5 yr. old HP laptop with half a gig of RAM is probably not gonna cut it. I want to start finding my way again in the wonderful world of home recording, having last fussed around with this stuff when all I had was a cassette 4-track and the sequencer on my Ensoniq ESQ-1. I expect to lay down keyboard tracks and some guitar/bass/mandolin--maybe some vocals if I get all brave. There's a variety of software available to me--I purchased a bundle (er....from a guy on Craigslist who promised it was legit) that contains working versions of Reason 4, Ableton Live 8, and assorted plug-ins. With the Presonus came something called Studio Live Artist, which provides for audio and MIDI input (my controller and partial sound source is a 10yr old Korg), and has some built in instruments and effects. It doesn't take advantage of 64-bit OS's, apparently, meaning, as I understand it, that it won't utilize anything over 3GB of RAM. Will I be sad down the road about that? The "Artist" version doesn't support VSTs either. As I see it, to have the best experience out of the box, I could upgrade Reason to include Record, upgrade from Studio Live Artist to Pro to get 64 bit and VST support, or go with some other software entirely. Or just try the bundled Presonus software and see how it goes. What do you folks think about a)the software I should start out using and b)how much computer do I want vs. what I can get away with. Will I get significantly more performance for my money if I get a desktop rather than a laptop? Will having more than 3GB of RAM available be important to minimizing frustration in the long-term? I'd like to come out of this for well under $1000 on the computer.
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Apr 14, 2010 16:25
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mordonez posted:There's a variety of software available to me--I purchased a bundle (er....from a guy on Craigslist who promised it was legit) that contains working versions of Reason 4, Ableton Live 8, and assorted plug-ins. Unfortunately 32 vs 64 bit support is still sort of up in the air where PCs are concerned (some audio apps have 64 bit native versions but 32 bit plugins are not always the most stable in that environment, other apps (like Ableton Live) do not have 64 bit versions period. In general 32 bit apps running on a 64 bit OS should be fine, though to be safe you might want to make sure whatever app you are running is supported by your particular OS flavor (e.g. not everything officially supports Win 7). Honestly for most home studio type recording, 32 bit + 4GB RAM + a decent CPU is plenty. I regularly have projects with 15-20 tracks (audio + VST + plenty of plugins) on a 4GB WinXP Core Quad machine with no problems whatsoever. I don't really know much about Studio Live, I think it may be sort of targeted towards Presonus' line of integrated mixers, it's not a very common/popular package in general at any rate. mordonez posted:What do you folks think about As for software I would definitely spend some time with Ableton Live, it has a great UI/workflow and is very capable for everything from synthy/electronic type music to straight up instrument recording. You can also use the rewire protocol to hook Reason into Ableton Live, which mostly gives you the best of all worlds, since you get full DAW-style recording + Reason synths + VST all in package. As for laptop vs. desktop, I think the tradeoffs are something like this: DESKTOP: you can probably build a box w/Core Quad + 4GB RAM + 1 TB 7200RPM SATA drive + 24" LCD monitor + nice case & power supply for around $600-700. Super easy to expand if you want to add more disk/memory or firewire or whatever later on. Biggest downsides are portability and possibly noise management. LAPTOP: a decent laptop with 4GB and a ~250-300GB 7200RPM disk (that's important) is going to be at least $700-800. I'd really recommend getting one with firewire too even if you might not use it right away. Downside is you pay more for less power + a smaller screen (I find it a pain working on more projects with more than a few tracks on a 15" screen), the upside is low noise and portability (and that's a big upside, it's awesome being able to quickly bring a fully capable softsynth/recording rig over a friend's place to jam, or for playing live or whatever). h_double fucked around with this message at 20:14 on Apr 14, 2010 |
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Apr 14, 2010 19:56
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h_double posted:all sorts of helpful stuff That's fantastic, thanks much!
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Apr 14, 2010 20:46
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So, I'm thinking about getting a digital recorder to use as basically a musical notebook/scratchpad. All I really need it to do is easily record and playback tracks that I put into it, namely electric guitar tracks run through a device similar to a Line6 Pod and recorded directly, no mics, no vocals, no drums. Just guitar. The heaviest editing I'd need the unit to do would be adjusting volume and panning the raw tracks. I have all the effects and eq I need already integrated into my setup. I have a good friend who works at a local music store and when I described what I was looking for, he recommended the Tascam DP 008 and that he could hook me up with one for a little less than retail. I don't really want to mess with computer recording right now, and I really like that this unit is totally self contained and won't eat up my actual computer's hard drive space when I use it, and that if I get the urge to lay down an idea at 2 in the morning, I won't have to wait for the computer's OS to boot up and run the recording program. I'll just be able to press the power button on some portable device and bam, ready to record. What I'd like to ask you guys is whether this unit, the Tascam DP 008, compared to everything in this price range, is the best device for doing what I'd like to do. I guess the biggest priority would be ease of use. I mean it looks pretty good to me but I thought I'd run it by your guys first just to be sure it wasn't a hard to use, under-featured device when compared with its competition, whatever that might be. Basically, I'd like the device I get to quickly and easily be able to record a track, pan it, then record another track over or along side it while the previously recorded tracks play back. The next priority would be durability. I'd like the thing to last a while. Is this unit a piece of poo poo that will break on me in a year? And finally, sound quality. But really, as long as it doesn't sound low-bit or noticably low quality in any other way, it's fine with me. I mean, I have a decent set of ears but the AD/DA converters don't have to be Burr Browns or whatever. That's pretty much all I'm looking for - a multi-tracking device that's easy and convenient to use that is also tough enough to withstand regular use, and sounds pretty good. GreatGreen fucked around with this message at 22:39 on Apr 15, 2010 |
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Apr 15, 2010 22:26
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I'm looking for a small set of monitors for £80-100 for my bedroom setup. I know that's not much to spend on them but it's my budget. I'm seeing a lot that have their own volume and tone controls, they don't strike me as being proper, flat monitors. Am I right? I have a volume control on the output from my interface so I don't really need at, I just want something that's properly flat for mixing with. Does anyone have any recommendations? Are the M-Audio AV30/40s any good or is there something better for the price?
chippy fucked around with this message at 21:24 on Apr 16, 2010 |
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Apr 16, 2010 21:21
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