what's your recording setup and why ?

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kim
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what's your recording setup and why ?

Post by kim »

share plz. i'm at a loss. all my equipment is fighting all my equipment, it's driving me nuts. problems problems. :(
especially latency, lantency is the biggest prick in the world.

so.. your setup..esp. when it comes to simple/cheap home recording mixers, what's your stuff ?
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Reece
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Post by Reece »

Simple setup - 4 track and a self-powered condenser mic.
PC Setup - USB Condenser (I know, I need an interface) into Sonar.

Latency is alright for me, even with the USB mic, what sound drivers are you using?
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kim
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Post by kim »

that's it, it's just a standard pc with xp on it and i'm stuck with audacity for a while. the soundcard freaks out when i put a mic into the mic input and record my amp because it's loud and i've an m audio solo interface that just crapped out (perfect timing idiot) and a behringer guitar to usb kinda thing that DOESN'T TAKE A MIC INPUT ONLY GUITAR WTF????

so yeah... i was thinking of getting a cheap tapco or behringer mixer ? but surely that won't get rid of the latency either ...
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Post by Mike »

heavium wrote:i've an m audio solo interface that just crapped out (perfect timing idiot)
ROLF
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Post by BobArsecake »

I have to just play and remember it in my brain :(
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Reece
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Post by Reece »

Ah. Audacity doesn't let me change to ASIO drivers so it's always got really bad latency.
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kim
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Post by kim »

it does right ? i haaaaate it !!!!! i miss garageband, it's so fun and easy
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Post by stewart »

i recorded that pixies submission on audacity and it was ok, but i tried something else and it kept fucking up and crashing, so i gave up. i've got logic on my mac at home, but i'm never there, and don't have much in the way of guitar gear there so i don't get much chance to use it...

how's this for the most bozo recording setup known to man?

a couple of years ago i had a demo version of ableton live but didn't fancy shelling out on the full version, and you can't save or export on the demo. so i'd record my tracks, leave the computer running til i was finished, then run a line out through my sampler and back into sound studio, do a few different stereo mixes and pick the best one. if the program crashed or someone switched the computer off i'd lose everything. utter nonsense, but it's funny how quickly you learn to make do with what you've got.

i downloaded a hooky version of cool edit from mininova for using on a PC a while back, it's a pretty good program if you can get hold of it. better than audacity anyway. give it a try if you can find it.
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Reece
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Post by Reece »

By the way kim i forgot to say, Audacity does have a built in workaround for the latency. Just record two things that should match up exactly, then select the difference you get between them when you record (have to be EXACT).

See how long this is in milliseconds then goto edit > preferences. Theres a box labelled "latency correction" just put in the value as a minus number.
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kim
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Post by kim »

thanks for the tip ! will do that !!
arcadedave

Post by arcadedave »

Zoom H2 -> Audacity.
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Post by Ian »

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Here is my rack as it stands today.

Hoping to fill in those gaps with more cool pre's. and the top half rack space with 8 more channels of conversion via aphex 142.
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Post by More Cowbell »

I know how to use protools, didn't have alot of money and bought a Digi001 interface, I use some cheap presonus pre's and mxl mics until I git sum monies.
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Mages
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Post by Mages »

I just bought an M-Audio Firewire 410:

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it is pretty sweeeeeeeet. 2 analog inputs and 8 analog outputs. but it has optical input too so you can potentially have up to 8 inputs. does anyone have m-audio protools for MAC??? I can only find it for windows (let me know if you want it).


also I have the TASCAMs:

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you should get a little 4 track to play with they're cheap and easy.
cogito ergo sum...thing or other...
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Post by Sloan »

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I did everything from 2003-2007 with a Yamaha AW16G. I had to get some outboard preamps to add extra XLR inputs. I could do 8 tracks at once. I always mixed/"mastered" in the box and burned to cd all in the unit. It worked flawlessly, but I had been experimenting with software and it's just so much more flexible, I can really bend sounds to my will better. So I sold the AW16G.


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For the past year, I've used my friend's Mackie Onyx 1604 w/ firewire to record tons of live shows. It works great. 16-ins, 4 groups, and lots of routing possibilities.
I would get one myself because it makes live recording so easy, but it's out of my price range. And people jizz all over the place about mackie and i don't like to hear it.


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Now I'm using a Presonus FireStudio Project. It fit within my budget constraints at the time and has 8 mic pres - so basically i can still record 8 simultaneous channels. It has great routing for separate headphone mixes, but i haven't been able to use them yet (my blown up headphone amp is in TN anyway). It's been working flawlessly as my sound card since i installed it. Everything that produces sound on my computer works through it. My computer is old as shit now, but i can still mix about 20 tracks ok.

I'm a very minimal type of mixer, so I don't use a lot of effects - my bread and butter is gate/eq/compression/delay/reverb and that's almost all I'll use.

I haven't tracked a band or anything really other than live stuff since I moved to MD about a year ago, but I'm ready to do it. Supposedly, the FS Project will be daisy-chainable with other units in the future so I can get 16 tracks and like 32 headphone mixes or some crazy shit like that.
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Re: what's your recording setup and why ?

Post by liams_coke_dealer »

heavium wrote:share plz. i'm at a loss. all my equipment is fighting all my equipment, it's driving me nuts. problems problems. :(
especially latency, lantency is the biggest prick in the world.

so.. your setup..esp. when it comes to simple/cheap home recording mixers, what's your stuff ?
Seriously, computer stuff can be expensive as. I have a Boss Portastudio, and i have found it pretty good. It gets the job done, and it sounds good when u put in the effort. It has good on board mic presets and Eq's and it has compression and limiting and Mastering and everything u need. Fcuk, i'll lend u my dvd on how to use it. Its all u need for good sounding tunes. and it has a decent drum machine built in and midi if u want to use other sample kits like synths and stuff.

Listen to some recent tunes recorded entirely on it if u care to.

My music Myspace
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Post by DanHeron »

Line 6 Toneport with a Condenser mic. If I want to do something quick, which is most often, I use the amp modelling software instead of micing my amp. That records straight into Ableton Live which I use to sequence and mix everything. It works really well, CD quality recordings.
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Re: what's your recording setup and why ?

Post by Jazzmasterfan »

liams_coke_dealer wrote:
heavium wrote:share plz. i'm at a loss. all my equipment is fighting all my equipment, it's driving me nuts. problems problems. :(
especially latency, lantency is the biggest prick in the world.

so.. your setup..esp. when it comes to simple/cheap home recording mixers, what's your stuff ?
Seriously, computer stuff can be expensive as. I have a Boss Portastudio, and i have found it pretty good. It gets the job done, and it sounds good when u put in the effort. It has good on board mic presets and Eq's and it has compression and limiting and Mastering and everything u need. Fcuk, i'll lend u my dvd on how to use it. Its all u need for good sounding tunes. and it has a decent drum machine built in and midi if u want to use other sample kits like synths and stuff.

Listen to some recent tunes recorded entirely on it if u care to.

My music Myspace
I quite liked those tunes. Thought the drums were a bit too much up in the mix for In The Sun but I did like the tune.
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kim
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Post by kim »

i don't really use midi or fake synths or anything but i do most of the drums with this

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but i'll always prefer live/acoustic drums just not so easy to record those on your own and when you live in a city not in the countryside and neighbors complain lol
liams_coke_dealer
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Re: what's your recording setup and why ?

Post by liams_coke_dealer »

Jazzmasterfan wrote:
liams_coke_dealer wrote:
heavium wrote:share plz. i'm at a loss. all my equipment is fighting all my equipment, it's driving me nuts. problems problems. :(
especially latency, lantency is the biggest prick in the world.

so.. your setup..esp. when it comes to simple/cheap home recording mixers, what's your stuff ?
Seriously, computer stuff can be expensive as. I have a Boss Portastudio, and i have found it pretty good. It gets the job done, and it sounds good when u put in the effort. It has good on board mic presets and Eq's and it has compression and limiting and Mastering and everything u need. Fcuk, i'll lend u my dvd on how to use it. Its all u need for good sounding tunes. and it has a decent drum machine built in and midi if u want to use other sample kits like synths and stuff.

Listen to some recent tunes recorded entirely on it if u care to.

My music Myspace
I quite liked those tunes. Thought the drums were a bit too much up in the mix for In The Sun but I did like the tune.
Hey thanks very much, i really appreciate that. Yeah the drums are a bit high in the mix. i was trying to accentuate the rhythm section. maybe a little too much.