[Mr.Piano93]

Originally Posted by StarFrog

What's your Budget like?

under 1300-ish.

[thecurerocks182]

Hey, I'm thinking of starting up a home recording set-up. I've been wanting to do this for awhile, but have been in school. I'm thinking of going with a Presonus Firestudio Project audio interface, KRK RP8G2 monitors, shure sm57 and rode NT1-A microphones, cubase sequencer (as it comes with presonus). Also, I already have a key synthesizer keyboard. The problem is I only have one amp to record from i.e. a randall RG75. I’d like to record acoustic and rock band music for lack of better terms. Any ideas?

Originally Posted by Mr.Piano93

any recommendations on a good interface out there? I'm currently using a Presonus Firestudio Project and I've outgrown it, looking to get something more professional.

Also, to anyone looking to get a good and cheap ribbon mic, get the Cascade Fathead. picked one up the other day, sounds fantastic on vocals and guitar.

I understand you’ve outgrown firestudio, but how do you feel about it is as a starter interface?

[Mr.Piano93]

Originally Posted by thecurerocks182

Hey, I'm thinking of starting up a home recording set-up. I've been wanting to do this for awhile, but have been in school. I'm thinking of going with a Presonus Firestudio Project audio interface, KRK RP8G2 monitors, shure sm57 and rode NT1-A microphones, cubase sequencer (as it comes with presonus). Also, I already have a key synthesizer keyboard. The problem is I only have one amp to record from i.e. a randall RG75. I’d like to record acoustic and rock band music for lack of better terms. Any ideas?



I understand you’ve outgrown firestudio, but how do you feel about it is as a starter interface?

As a starter interface, I think it's great. I went from using a cheap $200 USB mixer to the Firestudio and I could definitely hear a difference in sound quality. However, I never once found myself using more than 3 inputs at a time. So I think the 8-inputs are a bit excessive.

Also, I highly recommend the NT1-A. I can always get that mic to put out some good sounds.

[thecurerocks182]

Originally Posted by Mr.Piano93

As a starter interface, I think it's great. I went from using a cheap $200 USB mixer to the Firestudio and I could definitely hear a difference in sound quality. However, I never once found myself using more than 3 inputs at a time. So I think the 8-inputs are a bit excessive.

Also, I highly recommend the NT1-A. I can always get that mic to put out some good sounds.

sweet deal. been researching a lot trying to figure out what's the best sound for a tight budget, esp as i'm just starting out. just curious - what kind of setup do you have? since I seem to be going in a similar direction as you.

[Mr.Piano93]

Originally Posted by thecurerocks182

sweet deal. been researching a lot trying to figure out what's the best sound for a tight budget, esp as i'm just starting out. just curious - what kind of setup do you have? since I seem to be going in a similar direction as you.

Rode NT-1A
Senheiser E609
Shure SM57
Cascade Fathead
Firestudio Project
Universal Audio LA610
Logic 9 with Soundtoys and Melodyne

looking to get a tube mic sometime within the next year and possibly some Universal Audio Neve plug-ins.

[thecurerocks182]

Nice! My knowledge of it all is quite limited thus far, but that sounds good. much better than where i stand. I know this may seem like a strange question because i'm attempting to teach myself all of this, but are you able to input your guitar into firestudio or do you need to mic a guitar amp? Its not so much an issue for distorted guitars, as I feel my amp has pretty good tones, but in terms of clean guitar tracking... since firestudio has its own preamps, i thought clean guitar would sound better? anyways, thanks a lot for answering questions :)

[Mr.Piano93]

Originally Posted by thecurerocks182

Nice! My knowledge of it all is quite limited thus far, but that sounds good. much better than where i stand. I know this may seem like a strange question because i'm attempting to teach myself all of this, but are you able to input your guitar into firestudio or do you need to mic a guitar amp? Its not so much an issue for distorted guitars, as I feel my amp has pretty good tones, but in terms of clean guitar tracking... since firestudio has its own preamps, i thought clean guitar would sound better? anyways, thanks a lot for answering questions :)

You can input the guitar straight into the Firestudio, but I mostly mic my amp. If I do use the direct input, I run it through the LA610 to clean up the signal.
I'd just suggest experimenting and see what works best for you. I've gotten some great tones out of direct input, but I've learned that using a mic works better for me. It seems to capture the dynamics more.

[Idlehands]

Has anyone had any luck with it? I'm using it with Audacity, and so far it has been worth the $55 that I paid on ebay. Tips and comments?

[Mr.Piano93]

Originally Posted by Idlehands

Has anyone had any luck with it? I'm using it with Audacity, and so far it has been worth the $55 that I paid on ebay. Tips and comments?

Sorry, but what's the 'it' you are referring to?

[benlong]

[quote=thecurerocks182;95537672]Hey, I'm thinking of starting up a home recording set-up. I've been wanting to do this for awhile, but have been in school. I'm thinking of going with a Presonus Firestudio Project audio interface, KRK RP8G2 monitors, shure sm57 and rode NT1-A microphones, cubase sequencer (as it comes with presonus). Also, I already have a key synthesizer keyboard. The problem is I only have one amp to record from i.e. a randall RG75. I’d like to record acoustic and rock band music for lack of better terms. Any ideas?

I strongly recommend against cubase, i find it is just a cheap program with lots of problems...I'm currently using an Alesis Multimix 16 and it's been great for me, it came with cubase, which i tried using out of curiosityl and it just frustrated me, I love adobe audition, or you could try going the m-audio route with m powered protools... I've used this a bit in the past with other people and is a decent system.

[imaustin55]

Ive got a question... So ive been using the USB Alesis mixer and when i record drums, the tracks are recorded as a single stereo track... how do i record drums to where i can get a single track of snare, kick, crash, etc...

Also, i use the Cubase LE 5 program that came with the mixer

Any help would be much appreciative

[-Mike-]

Originally Posted by imaustin55

Ive got a question... So ive been using the USB Alesis mixer and when i record drums, the tracks are recorded as a single stereo track... how do i record drums to where i can get a single track of snare, kick, crash, etc...

Also, i use the Cubase LE 5 program that came with the mixer

Any help would be much appreciative

Im not too familiar with cubase, but from what it sounds like, all the tracks are getting sent from different outputs on your mixer, to the same input inside cubase. What you're going to want to do is create a different individual track for each section of the drums you want to capture (i.e kick, snare, overhead l & r) and then set the input of each track(which is in the mixer section of cubase, where it looks like a screen that mimics a sort of mix console) which you can find above the output, which are both in little white boxes above the faders, to different inputs, to whatever they may be coming off your Alesis, probably like A1, A2, etc. corresponding to the different mic-pres on your console.

[thecurerocks182]

[quote=benlong;96529902]

Originally Posted by thecurerocks182

Hey, I'm thinking of starting up a home recording set-up. I've been wanting to do this for awhile, but have been in school. I'm thinking of going with a Presonus Firestudio Project audio interface, KRK RP8G2 monitors, shure sm57 and rode NT1-A microphones, cubase sequencer (as it comes with presonus). Also, I already have a key synthesizer keyboard. The problem is I only have one amp to record from i.e. a randall RG75. I’d like to record acoustic and rock band music for lack of better terms. Any ideas?

I strongly recommend against cubase, i find it is just a cheap program with lots of problems...I'm currently using an Alesis Multimix 16 and it's been great for me, it came with cubase, which i tried using out of curiosityl and it just frustrated me, I love adobe audition, or you could try going the m-audio route with m powered protools... I've used this a bit in the past with other people and is a decent system.

i understand where you're coming from. having said that, i'm short for cash and i have a pc. i'd like to run logic, but don't have the money to buy a mac. also, i have some experience with cubase not to mention it's free with the audio interface i'm planning to buy. i checked out adobe audition, but it's relatively expensive. perhaps, i'll try if i get a bit more money. as for protools, i just didnt find it user friendly in terms of starting out. cubase seems more accessible. with that said, i was wondering if you had any ideas for drum loops. i dont have the money to buy several mics to track drums. what do you recommend for drum samples?

[thecurerocks182]

Originally Posted by Mr.Piano93

You can input the guitar straight into the Firestudio, but I mostly mic my amp. If I do use the direct input, I run it through the LA610 to clean up the signal.
I'd just suggest experimenting and see what works best for you. I've gotten some great tones out of direct input, but I've learned that using a mic works better for me. It seems to capture the dynamics more.

thanks. i guess i meant more in terms of bass, since i dont want to go and buy an amp for one. can i not run the input through say pod farm, etc.

[Mr.Piano93]

Originally Posted by thecurerocks182

thanks. i guess i meant more in terms of bass, since i dont want to go and buy an amp for one. can i not run the input through say pod farm, etc.

if you know what you are doing EQ and Compression wise, using direct input on a bass actually produces some pretty good results.