hey people, especially beau hall, cloud9 and other more organic musicans, what gear do you use to record? I have a mic that come with the computer, thse thins and white, a small peavey ampli, and a genius soundcard, of course when i record it sounds like shit. How do you record your songs to achieve good quality? a good mic improve the sound very much? or a good soundcard? What is necessary to have an average/good sound in a home studio? It cant be expensive! sorry 4 the english, im almost sleeping

exchange have for use in the topic. duh :/

AMD Duron 800MHtz PC with Cubase VST, Logic Audio & Cooledit software, a Boss GX-700 Digital Guitar effects rack, a Yamaha MA10 Preamp, an Alesis D4 electronic Drumkit with roland pads, a Yamaha QY70 sequencing unit, a Korg 5XD sound module, a 6 piece Yamaha Stage Custom Drum Kit, a Squire Stratocaster, a Les Paul special, a Music Man 5 string Bass, a Korg X5D Keyboard & a Jupiter Tenor Saxophone.

maybe i should try be bob dylan

7salles said:

Hahaha.

No man. You don't need to dumb it down.

I have TWO ITEMS to do all my recording now.

I looked into creating a DAW (Digital Audio Workstation) on my computer, but it required too much stuff to bring my computer up to speed - ram, hard drive, sound card, good programs - it would have ended up costing $1000 when I was done.

Instead I got a Zoom MRS 1044. They're going for $350 on Ebay right now. It's got a ton of stuff built in for the home-recording types - mic effects, guitar/bass amp simulators, drum machine built in, bass sequencer built in. On top of all that, it has a USB connector, so after I mix/master a song, I just drag the wav file into my computer to convert it to MP3.

After that, I bought a Otava cheapo large-diaphragm mic (MK-319?) for my vocals, and now I'm set. (I already had the guitar and bass guitar, I'm assuming you got something like that).

So, all total, I spent less than $500. (well, I got my MRS last year when they were going for $500 so it's a total of $600, but if you got all the stuff now, it would cost between $400 and $500.)

I could do away with everything else and I'd be happy. And believe me, I have a TON of stuff I'm trying to do away with.

Wait a minute, Otan...we have the same recorder? And you're shit still sounds so much better than mine? Hmmm...I must be doing something wrong. I use an AKG C100S mic to record with. Anyhow...

hey artist8, HEy i liked velvet promise, it's beautiful. About your acoustic gigs, have you tried to sign the house of the rising sun? i think it would work great with you. An acoustic version of the jimi hendrix version.

7salles said:

WHICH, by the way, is royalty-free. You can put a cover version on a CD and not have to pay anyone royalties on that song.

artist08 said:

How long have you had yours? I've learned to stop trying to make it sound like something else (Stevie Ray tone? Forget it. Clyde Stubblefield drums? not gonna happen. DECENT bass thumping setting? Nope)

So learn to work within the limitations. No matter WHAT you use to record - learn what the limitations are and work them to your advantage. Look at Izaiah - using the MTV generator and turning out some seriously artistic shit.

And I've been writing/recording songs since 1985. Ain't saying the years make me a better songwriter, but maybe hopefully a better studio engineer?

Can I get that at least?

Hey otan, thanks for the feedback from my original question

otan said:

i've got the MK 219.. i dig my cheap lil mic