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Author Topic: A question about recording  (Read 3510 times)

Unosuke

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A question about recording
« on: 17 Jul 2010, 05:00 »

So, this isn't really about music, but I figured a bunch of musicians would know a thing or two about recording.

Me and my friends have come up with the idea to write and record our own audioplays and podcast them out onto the internet. But we don't have any recording equipment. The way I had envisioned the set up was to have 2 or 3 mics running into a mixer, then have that running into a computer. Now I've talked to some people and they say I can do it for a lot cheaper than what I was thinking. We're mostly going to be recording just voice, but I want to do a decent job of it. so I won't use crappy computer microphones and that kind of stuff.

So my question to you is: how should I set this up so I'm not spending a whole lot of money and still doing a decent job of everything?
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Christophe

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Re: A question about recording
« Reply #1 on: 17 Jul 2010, 08:54 »

You can easily get small mixers that have 2 to 3 mic inputs for about $50 to $70, and used will probably be lower than that. Go look around, you might find something.

Workable dynamic mics will definitely be cheap. SM58s usually cost about $100, but cheaper microphones can be found at less than half that price.

Have you considered how you're going to run this all into the computer? You'll probably want to get something like this, which has 4 RCA jacks, two in two out, and connects to your computer via USB. I also do remember seeing an Alesis USB mixer with two mic channels so that might work for what you're doing.

Hope this has helped... somewhat! Let me know if you has more questions.
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Patrick

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Re: A question about recording
« Reply #2 on: 17 Jul 2010, 15:31 »

Tascam DP-008
Couple of SM58s and a couple of SM57s

Run you around $6-700 but I will forever swear by my DP-004. The DP-008 is basically the same thing, but it has more inputs, and you can use either a 1/4" instrument cable or XLR (standard microphone) cables. The benefit of XLR cables being that you don't get a bunch of disgusting hissing sounds.

DP-008 is also an 8-track recorder instead of 4-track like the DP-004. It has input EQ, post-recording EQ, and reverb. They both record to SD cards (I'm currently using an 8GB card) and songs can be exported to your computer hard drive via USB, or if your computer's got an SD card slot, just remove the card and insert it there.

Don't know what your budget is, but that's an inexpensive option that will yield AMAZING results.
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Unosuke

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Re: A question about recording
« Reply #3 on: 19 Jul 2010, 06:48 »

The Tascam is more than I wanted to spend, but It might be worth it in the long run. It would certainly make my rig more portable, and that would be a plus. Also ebay has them for like $200, so I'll keep it in mind. What are some digital mixers I should look at? Someone mentioned those to me and I don't know what I should be looking at.
« Last Edit: 19 Jul 2010, 06:51 by Unosuke »
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Patrick

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Re: A question about recording
« Reply #4 on: 19 Jul 2010, 13:02 »

Hell, I paid $20 for a cheap-ass 4-channel mixer, but it's all 1/4" instrument inputs to 1 output, same type. It was on sale at the shop, though. Normal price is around $50-60.
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Jimor

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Re: A question about recording
« Reply #5 on: 19 Jul 2010, 15:53 »

USB output, even on low end mixers, is becoming pretty standard these days, which makes things a lot easier interfacing with the computer. Just a quick search on "USB sound mixer" turn up this.

What you need then is a multitrack recording program that can keep these channels separate until final mixdown/effects are added. This also gives you the option of adding sound effects to your radio program after principle voice recording is finished.

I use the shareware n-tracks from http://www.fasoft.com/ but there may be other options out there now that I'm not aware of.
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Re: A question about recording
« Reply #6 on: 20 Jul 2010, 00:40 »

Reaper is the multitrack shareware of the moment.  Pretty cheap if you pay, but uncrippled if you don't (when I last looked).  Probably far more complicated than necessary for this, but a useful tool in the armoury if you want to develop to fancier things.
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Unosuke

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Re: A question about recording
« Reply #7 on: 23 Jul 2010, 10:50 »

I guess I REALLY don't need a mixer. really I just need a way to plug 3 xlr cables into a computer
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Patrick

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Re: A question about recording
« Reply #8 on: 23 Jul 2010, 13:58 »

Here why don't you go for 8, it's like $300
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