Recording on a budget

[Happynoj]

Hi there. I am putting together a mini home studio on a small budget, and wanted opinions/suggestions for my gear.

At the moment, I am thinking about:

Line 6 Toneport GX with Gearbox and the Effects Junkie add-on

Reaper

Reason 3 (I know someone who will sell me one cheaply)





Toneport - for guitars and bass, maybe vocals if I need them

Reaper - for the actual recording

Reason - for drums, strings, synths etc

I have monitoring and cables covered already





Is there anything you would swap around or anything I should add?

 

[bluestarbass]

What kind of music is this? If its for a type of music that needs real sounding drums then dump reason or get something else. Reason is a really cool program but realistic drums are not its forte. Its made for techno and hip hop. Get like DFH or strike or something thats made to sound more natural. Nothing is going to sound like a real drummer, but those programs are much better than reason.

Its its like an ambient or hip hop style your looking for reason will work great.

How are you gonna play back? Do you have monitors? Do you have a good set of headphones? What about mics?

 

[skidrawk]

Mics on the cheap that get the job done:

Shure SM57
Studio Projects B1
AKG D112
Rode Nt5's

Never underestimate the power of Ebay. I can get away with putting near professional recordings with just the 57 and B1.

What instruments will you be tracking?

 

[Happynoj]

What kind of music is this? If its for a type of music that needs real sounding drums then dump reason or get something else. Reason is a really cool program but realistic drums are not its forte. Its made for techno and hip hop. Get like DFH or strike or something thats made to sound more natural. Nothing is going to sound like a real drummer, but those programs are much better than reason.

Its its like an ambient or hip hop style your looking for reason will work great.

How are you gonna play back? Do you have monitors? Do you have a good set of headphones? What about mics?

Can you tell me more about these drum programs? I don't know much about them, so all help would be appreciated.

I can get some monitors and I have decent headphones, so that area is fine.

I will mostly be recording guitars, keys and bass, so at the moment I will not need any mics. If I do need them in the future I will look into them more closely.

 

[skidrawk]

In case you don't know what you're getting yourself into, recording can become very addictive. Hold on and enjoy the ride.

 

[bluestarbass]

Can you tell me more about these drum programs? I don't know much about them, so all help would be appreciated.

Reason is a step sequencer. Meaning it will play the samples in an exact pattern everytime. Reason and fruity loops accomplish the same thing, they are just sequencers. You can load real sweet drum samples into a step sequencer but there is little feel, its very very robotic

DFH or strike is just slightly better. It basically gives you a GUI of a drum kit on the screen, but you can control more parameters more easily. Like decay, how hard the drum is hit, more of a "feel" type of time. Drummers dont play like robots so thats what makes it tough. Those little nuances and mistakes are tough to recreate with a program. I just find actual drum programs do a better job than a step sequencer.

Im def not bashing Reason. Its a very neat program that does alot. Just not real drums well. Listen to NIN songs. Even though some are actual drums they all have a very sequenced feel to them.