JeezyMcNuggles
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- Feb 23, 2018
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What Exactly Do You Need For Recording?
- Thread starter Mr Cheese
- Start date
Interesting, because I went from Cubase to Studio One Prime and found it very intuitive. Everyone's brains are different, I guess!
Active DI that switches to passive as well (optimal). Active for passive bass, passive for active bass. This is great to have but I’d rank it last on the list until you start to crave a more optimized signal.
Interface - you can find them for around $100 now. The Focusrites are tried and true. They have an instrument in which will work alright as a DI to start with.
PC with a DAW. Garage band is fine if you have a Mac.
That will get you started. Then in the DAW you can run plugin effects and a cabinet sim and have fun dialing in different tones.
Good to know there are a few of us !!!
I was on Youtube several dozen times this year - doing worship sets for virtual church services. I have a Mac mini. The output of my pedalboard (which normally feeds FOH in a live setting), through a cable (I spent $5 on this) straight onto my computer was my hardware. I used Quicktime (came with the computer) to record my tracks. If you're the one doing the mixing, you'll need more software, but if you're just contributing parts, you don't need much to do a good recording.
The video part? a $65 Logitech camera.
The video part? a $65 Logitech camera.
Once folk start down a DAW route it's hard to change to another DAW.
If you've never had a DAW before, then you will not have a preference.
Cakewalk by BandLab is totally free.
What better way to start off!
BandLab: Make Music Online
If you've never had a DAW before, then you will not have a preference.
Cakewalk by BandLab is totally free.
What better way to start off!
BandLab: Make Music Online
I compared Focusrite Scarlett Solo to PreSonus Studio24c and found the Focusrite slightly warmer sounding. The Presonus sounds more clean and detailed with better level controls and additional MIDI in/out.
Another vote for the Focusrite. I got the 2i2 because I do sing and play bass at the same time, sometimes.
I don't feel a DI or preamp is needed with it. I was aready a little familiar with Audacity so I use that as my DAW because it is really like an old school tape recorder interface.
sometimes I put these things in front of the 2i2
and I usually have these things in a row right after the Bass
It's lots of fun, enjoy.
I don't feel a DI or preamp is needed with it. I was aready a little familiar with Audacity so I use that as my DAW because it is really like an old school tape recorder interface.
sometimes I put these things in front of the 2i2
and I usually have these things in a row right after the Bass
It's lots of fun, enjoy.
That's what I got, and it seems to work OK (well I havent figured out how to get the 2nd input to work, but one thing at a time is all I can handle anyway). And, hey $49.
I’ve been using cakewalk sonar for decades. Now it is FREE via Bandlab . It’s a pretty robust daw but , as with anything, there is a learning curve. Get an inexpensive interface and start learning. You don’t need a DI. You can be up and running for almost nothing but the price of your PC and an inexpensive interface (focusrite, m-audio etc.).
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Yeah, strongly considering that one, among with Reaper and Garage Band.
Looks confusing as heck. Like staring at an Algebra problem, my brain goes.........uhhhhhhhhhh.
truthfully, if you can find one of these, it is the easiest way to get into recording!
My current home studio setup is pretty affordable. Just an inexpensive HP laptop. Focusrite 2i2 interface, and headphones. I use reaper for the DAW, a Only virtual instruments I really use are for drums. I use the GGD modern fusion kit and have a couple of their groove packs which make it really simple to build songs. Probably spent around $50 total on drum stuff. I run from the xlr out of my head to the focusrite. I went with the 2i2 because I also play keys and have a keyboard. I prefer using my keyboard over virtual instruments because I’ve used virtual instruments for all keys sounds before and it really eats up processing power doing it that way. I have to play keys better when I record because I can’t edit midi because I’m recording audio but I honestly think the result is better because it sounds more natural and not so locked to the grid which tends to be the problem with most midi stuff. One of the things I like so much abo it the ggd drum stuff is drum grooves are played by real drummers and are not locked to the grid. So it sounds more natural/less robotic
Been doin' this for a long time. A lot depends on what all you want to do. Do you want to lay down multiple tracks for arrangements? Use software synths/samplers/virtual keyboards? Record vocals and acoustic instruments?
If you haven't gotten the computer yet, there's the question of what specs to look for and what kind of machine. I use Macs and Linux for almost everything, but Windows for all my DAWs, because of the body of synths and plug-ins I've amassed over the years. They're more expensive, but I tend to use high-end laptops for DAWs, for the portability and for the (acoustic) noise factors. If all you're doing is recording audio, you can use a really wimpy computer BUT chances are you're going to want to have some EQ, effects, compression, etc. and those consume compute cycles. I recommend almost-the-fastest CPUs you can buy (the very fastest always cost a ridiculous premium) and 4 or more cores. USB3/USB-C is plenty fast for multi-channel audio. I personally would never buy an audio interface that didn't have MIDI in/out because I've got a lot of MIDI controllers, but you could save a few bucks on audio only if you're sure that's all you're going to do for a while. I've used RME, PreSonus, and Focusrite interfaces over the years. RME stuff is fabulous but really expensive, especially in the US. Focusrite seems to be the current market leader in volume and number of products, and they have an interface for almost any budget. I have not been wildly impressed by the stability of their drivers (RMEs were legendarily solid), but on the other hand their pre-amps are pretty good for the money. I could plug a bass or guitar directly in and it would be OK, but as I happen to have pre-amp pedals for bass and EUB, I keep those and run the XLR outs into the interface, instead of the high-z 1/4" instrument-in.
As for which DAW software to use, if you're going for best value-for-money and aren't fussy about user interfaces, Reaper is an obvious option. You can use it free in uncrippled demo mode forever, but buying a license is very cheap for what you get. I just find the user interface the least intuitive of any DAW I've tried (which are basically Creator, Logic, Sonar, Studio One, Ableton Live, and Reaper). Sonar was great, but they folded and the folks who took over the source base aren't the same people. I went to Studio One after Sonar, and it's very well designed in many regards, but its MIDI management is nowhere near as good as Sonar's was.
IK Multimedia has a virtual SVT amp plugin that's actually quite good, but something of a one-trick pony. I also play guitar/stick/etc. so I've been using Native Instruments' Guitar Rig for years, which has a big portfolio of guitar amp/cab models as well as a few bass rigs, and adds a HUGE toybox of cool effects.
If you haven't gotten the computer yet, there's the question of what specs to look for and what kind of machine. I use Macs and Linux for almost everything, but Windows for all my DAWs, because of the body of synths and plug-ins I've amassed over the years. They're more expensive, but I tend to use high-end laptops for DAWs, for the portability and for the (acoustic) noise factors. If all you're doing is recording audio, you can use a really wimpy computer BUT chances are you're going to want to have some EQ, effects, compression, etc. and those consume compute cycles. I recommend almost-the-fastest CPUs you can buy (the very fastest always cost a ridiculous premium) and 4 or more cores. USB3/USB-C is plenty fast for multi-channel audio. I personally would never buy an audio interface that didn't have MIDI in/out because I've got a lot of MIDI controllers, but you could save a few bucks on audio only if you're sure that's all you're going to do for a while. I've used RME, PreSonus, and Focusrite interfaces over the years. RME stuff is fabulous but really expensive, especially in the US. Focusrite seems to be the current market leader in volume and number of products, and they have an interface for almost any budget. I have not been wildly impressed by the stability of their drivers (RMEs were legendarily solid), but on the other hand their pre-amps are pretty good for the money. I could plug a bass or guitar directly in and it would be OK, but as I happen to have pre-amp pedals for bass and EUB, I keep those and run the XLR outs into the interface, instead of the high-z 1/4" instrument-in.
As for which DAW software to use, if you're going for best value-for-money and aren't fussy about user interfaces, Reaper is an obvious option. You can use it free in uncrippled demo mode forever, but buying a license is very cheap for what you get. I just find the user interface the least intuitive of any DAW I've tried (which are basically Creator, Logic, Sonar, Studio One, Ableton Live, and Reaper). Sonar was great, but they folded and the folks who took over the source base aren't the same people. I went to Studio One after Sonar, and it's very well designed in many regards, but its MIDI management is nowhere near as good as Sonar's was.
IK Multimedia has a virtual SVT amp plugin that's actually quite good, but something of a one-trick pony. I also play guitar/stick/etc. so I've been using Native Instruments' Guitar Rig for years, which has a big portfolio of guitar amp/cab models as well as a few bass rigs, and adds a HUGE toybox of cool effects.
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I like this idea!
Like others have stated, I'm totally new/about to just start down the home recording path...
Mixers I get, twisting knobs to get the sound... so I'm guessing that with this setup, you run DI into the mixer, and then to the Focusrite and then to the computer???
Is that correct? What do you use to run from the mixer to the Focusrite??
What is/does the Alesis do??
Sorry for the slight hijack @Mr Cheese . This idea just inspired me to try and record again
I've recorded my bass by plugging it into the microphone input of my PC, with an appropriate 1/8 to 1/4 adapter, and Audacity software, which is free and runs on any computer platform. Since I'm kind of geeky about this stuff, I've measured the performance of such a setup, and the audio quality is quite good.
Beyond that, you can make it as complicated as you want.
Beyond that, you can make it as complicated as you want.
