NEWBIE!!

[bassnboards04]

please help ive had a band for about a year and we wanna start recording we have no idea what to look for we wanna probably just make a demo cd and stuff to post on our site. I went searching online and all the technical stuff on the product descriptions is just confuseing to me. please explain what i need and why i need it. how to use one efficiently would also help too....thanks in advance

[Correlli]

You will need:

Cables - eg Plant Wave
DI Box - eg Sansamp BDDI
Compressor - opitional
Mic Preamp - controls levels to the soundcard
Soundcard
Multi-track recording software - eg Adobe

You will also have to ensure that all other members of the band have recording facilities. They will need to produce drum, guitar etc tracks saved on mp3/wav files. You can upload large wav files to www.dropload.com. You will also need to learn how to write bass riffs, grooves, song patterns to a click track. Click tracks provodes an easy way to ensure that everyone is kept in time. Duing the mixing process you can easierly remove the click track from the demo.

If you have any other questons, email me chrisbfield@hotmail.com

[Kelly Lee]

Probably the easiest way is to have someone do it for you. Look around and I'll bet you'll find someone thats reasonably priced. Have him/her record one or two tracks for you and check out what they are using and what they do.

Ofcourse, if you have your mind set on doing it yourself you have to decide how you want to record it and the quality your after before buying gear. I suggest going PC if you have one available thats up to it. From there its how much you can afford compared to what you need/want to do.

Currently my home setup is:
old 700mhz Athlon PC- faster is better but its all about FSB speed
Soundblaster Live 5.1- better one out there with way more inputs. I have only two inputs
ACID 3.0 and Nuendo 1.5 w/lots of plug-ins- my essential recording softwares-some don't like the complexity or price of
Nuendo, I love it!
384 megs of RAM- the more the better
30g HD for software and a 20g HD for actual recording- two so each one can run as quickly as possible
DoD 1642 Mixing Console- for mixing drums or when you want to record the whole band at once with limited soundcard inputs
Samson E62- self explanatory, its a dual 31 band EQ
various cables
lots of Shure SM57 mics!- the standard mic in just about any club you'll ever play

This is just a bare bones type of setup as I'm planning to upgrade my whole system soon. BTW, this setup is also just for my audio, not for anything else!

[Stax]

I would echo Kelly Lee's advice. You will save yourself a ton of time your first time out and you could learn a lot, as well. If you go this route, make sure you explain to any potential engineers that you want to learn how to record on your own and that you are looking for an educational as well as functional recording experience. I am sure you can find a reasonably priced engineer who is willing to show you some of the ropes along the way. Of course, you will want to go with someone who has a home studio that you can replicate/emulate down the line. Make sure you listen to some samples of their work. Some may let you observe a session they are working on.

Have fun.

[fallon]

Using pc's for music is fashionable but a fad.If you want to play games,you buy dedicated hardware,likewise if you want to make music buy dedicated hardware with real slider controls linked up to real speakers.Horses for courses as the saying goes.Recording, using computers is the same to drummers as smoking in a non-smoking cafe is to non-smokers.Why don't you get down to your local recording studio where people who know what they are doing will do the job professionally for you.Just because you got Pro-tools,Logic or Reason,it does not qualify you as a recording/editing/mixing guru.Just my thoughts...I may well be in error.

[Freaky Fender]

Originally Posted by fallon

Using pc's for music is fashionable but a fad.If you want to play games,you buy dedicated hardware,likewise if you want to make music buy dedicated hardware with real slider controls linked up to real speakers.Horses for courses as the saying goes.Recording, using computers is the same to drummers as smoking in a non-smoking cafe is to non-smokers.Why don't you get down to your local recording studio where people who know what they are doing will do the job professionally for you.Just because you got Pro-tools,Logic or Reason,it does not qualify you as a recording/editing/mixing guru.Just my thoughts...I may well be in error.

I have no idea what your income is, but not EVERYONE can afford such things. You can make a fairly good demo using small lo-fi stuff for around $400 (all added together). Sorry you don't like that recording is now becoming more and more accessable to people that A.) can't afford it B.) Are in the middle of nowhere C.) Just like the Do-It-Yourself attitude.