[panfilero]

Hello, I'm looking for some help/suggestions in setting up a small
studio... I'm not really trying to do a whole lot, just have a way to
record guitar, keyboards and microphones

I went out and bought a used computer, pentium 4, I'm going to add
some RAM to it so it'll have 2-4gigs RAM. I'm also planning on
getting some 5" KRK rockit monitors.

Here's my question: In order to record say, guitar and keyboards....
should I purchase a mixer and then go from the mixer into the
computers sound card and then record with some software like cubase or
acid? Or would I be better off getting a stand alone digital
recorder, recording on that and then dumping my files into the
computer for editing? I've never used a computer to record before and
don't know how good they are at just hitting record and recording for
like10 minutes straight or something.... Also, can anyone suggest any
soundcard and are external firewire soundcards just as good or better
than internal ones?

I have another slightly unrelated question.. does anyone know, if
those little speakers I see at the stores... like the little bose
speaker, if they are good enough to replace old 80's/70's combo
cabinet speakers? I got an old pair of big ol cabinet speakers with
like 12" woofer and a mid and a tweeter that is pretty big and bulky
and was wondering if I can replace them with something smaller but
that will still pack the same punch.

much thanks!

[Garry Smith]

On 9 Jan, 20:43, panfilero wrote:
Hello, I'm looking for some help/suggestions in setting up a small
studio... I'm not really trying to do a whole lot, just have a way to
record guitar, keyboards and microphones

I went out and bought a used computer, pentium 4, I'm going to add
some RAM to it so it'll have 2-4gigs RAM. *I'm also planning on
getting some 5" KRK rockit monitors.

Here's my question: *In order to record say, guitar and keyboards....
should I purchase a mixer and then go from the mixer into the
computers sound card and then record with some software like cubase or
acid? *Or would I be better off getting a stand alone digital
recorder, recording on that and then dumping my files into the
computer for editing? *I've never used a computer to record before and
don't know how good they are at just hitting record and recording for
like10 minutes straight or something.... Also, can anyone suggest any
soundcard and are external firewire soundcards just as good or better
than internal ones?

I have another slightly unrelated question.. does anyone know, if
those little speakers I see at the stores... like the little bose
speaker, if they are good enough to replace old 80's/70's combo
cabinet speakers? *I got an old pair of big ol cabinet speakers with
like 12" woofer and a mid and a tweeter that is pretty big and bulky
and was wondering if I can replace them with something smaller but
that will still pack the same punch.

much thanks!

I use a mixer (Soundcraft Compact 4) into the soundcard and Cakewalk
Home Studio. The mixer gives me 48v phantom power for condenser mics
(I have an Audio Technica 3035 large diaphragm and a couple of AKG 415
small diaphragm mics). It also has switchable hi-pass filter on one
channel
and DI on the other which I use for bass. Also a couple of channels
with phono inputs and switchable RIAA eq for turntables plus all the
usual ins, outs and monitors plus two headphone sockets, solo switches
etc. I'm kind of old fashioned in that units are available that go
into the USB socket. I don't know if that's better or not.
Electric guitars go in through a Pod2 and thence into the
mixer. Acoustics are mic'd.
Use of a software system does give you lots of drum
options and there are loads of free and cheap plugins out there,
effects and VST instuments.
All this runs on a Pentium4 3.2Ghz machine with 1G of RAM
and it's never shown any sign of running out of steam on me yet, and I
done a couple of, for me, quite large productions, with, say, 6 tracks
of vocals, a couple of guitars, bass, sound font drums, any number of
compressors, maybe a couple of reverbs and an echo going.
I found I was up and running with Cakewalk very quickly.
Had a go with Cubase, didn't find it as intuitive.
If you want to hear what all this gets me, go
here..............

http://www.myspace.com/garrymsmith

Hope this helps.
Garry

[Paul Stamler[_2_]]

"panfilero" wrote in message
...
Hello, I'm looking for some help/suggestions in setting up a small
studio... I'm not really trying to do a whole lot, just have a way to
record guitar, keyboards and microphones

I went out and bought a used computer, pentium 4, I'm going to add
some RAM to it so it'll have 2-4gigs RAM. I'm also planning on
getting some 5" KRK rockit monitors.

Here's my question: In order to record say, guitar and keyboards....
should I purchase a mixer and then go from the mixer into the
computers sound card and then record with some software like cubase or
acid? Or would I be better off getting a stand alone digital
recorder, recording on that and then dumping my files into the
computer for editing?

You can make technically decent recordings either way. What differentiates
the two methods is how comfortable you are with them, and you can answer
that better than we can. However, you should know that the mic preamps and
mixers built into stand-alone do-everything recorders aren't (usually) up to
those available separately.

By the way, you don't necessarily need a mixer to record into a computer,
just a mic preamp and a soundcard. M-Audio cards offer good
bang-for-the-buck. The Real Nice Preamp (that's its name) is just what it
says it is.

I've never used a computer to record before and
don't know how good they are at just hitting record and recording for
like10 minutes straight or something....

Any computer that's properly set up will do this just fine.

Also, can anyone suggest any
soundcard and are external firewire soundcards just as good or better
than internal ones?

As mentioned above, M-Audio's cards are decent and affordable; there are
better-quality cards out there, but for where you are right now the money is
better spent elsewhere, on room treatment, microphones, a preamp and
(especially) good monitors. Whether you go firewire or internal seems not to
make a huge difference in the entry-level market; at the higher end of
performance, though, there are a lot of excellent internal cards
(CardDeluxe, Lynx, etc.). Then when you get to the Rolls-Royce class, things
go external again, but now coupled via AES connections.

I have another slightly unrelated question.. does anyone know, if
those little speakers I see at the stores... like the little bose
speaker, if they are good enough to replace old 80's/70's combo
cabinet speakers? I got an old pair of big ol cabinet speakers with
like 12" woofer and a mid and a tweeter that is pretty big and bulky
and was wondering if I can replace them with something smaller but
that will still pack the same punch.

No. Even if your speakers are crappy, a crappy speaker with a 12" woofer is
almost certainly better than a crappy speaker with a 3" woofer. A good
speaker with an 8" woofer, however, is better than either...but they aren't
in computer stores, and they aren't made by Bose.

Peace,
Paul

[Mike Rivers]

On Jan 9, 3:43 pm, panfilero wrote:

I went out and bought a used computer, pentium 4, I'm going to add
some RAM to it so it'll have 2-4gigs RAM. I'm also planning on
getting some 5" KRK rockit monitors.

That should all work fine. You'll need some software, of course.
Although you can learn a lot about the process using your computer's
built-in sound card (and I suggest that you do before investing in
more hardware) you'll almost certainly want to get either a better
quality (internal) sound card or an external USB "sound box." There
are many choices.

Here's my question: In order to record say, guitar and keyboards....
should I purchase a mixer and then go from the mixer into the
computers sound card and then record with some software like cubase or
acid? Or would I be better off getting a stand alone digital
recorder, recording on that and then dumping my files into the
computer for editing?

Either approach will do, but assuming that you intend to play both the
guitar and keyboard yourself, unless you get a digital multitrack
recorder (like one of the Roland, Boss, Zoom, or, Korg if they still
make one "workstations") you'll be working in the computer after your
first recording pass. So you might as well jump in the deep end.

I've never used a computer to record before and
don't know how good they are at just hitting record and recording for
like10 minutes straight or something....

If you add several steps before that, they're pretty good.

Also, can anyone suggest any
soundcard and are external firewire soundcards just as good or better
than internal ones?

There are hundreds. I believe you mentioned recording with a
microphone as one of your tasks. If there's a built-in sound card for
a computer that works even passably well with a microphone other than
those designed for chatting over the net, I've yet to see it. There
are many external audio interfaces that include mic preamps that will
work with any respectable recording or PA mic, and can do justice to
many excellent "professional" mics as well.

Chances are your computer doesn't have a Firewire port, so you'll need
to get another card for it, and in addition to being a bit of bother
to install it, it can be another can of worms that don't need to open
as a beginner. Some Firewire audio hardware is simply not compatible
with some Firewire host cards, and there's no good reference for what
works. You're better off getting an interface that connects to the
computer via USB. That almost always works.

M-Audio is a reliable brand that makes pretty decent sounding
equipment. Their Fast Track Pro has two pro-capable mic preamps which
double as direct inputs for a guitar or bass pickup, and two line
inputs for your keyboards. While you may need to plug and unplug
cables occasionally when switching recording sources, it will give you
all of the inputs and outputs that you need, for a while anyway,
without having to buy a separate mixer. And you won't outgrow it real
soon because you can expand it in a few directions should you need
more inputs.

http://www.m-audio.com/products/en_us/FastTrackPro.html

I have another slightly unrelated question.. does anyone know, if
those little speakers I see at the stores... like the little bose
speaker, if they are good enough to replace old 80's/70's combo
cabinet speakers?

There are so many speakers that it's impossible to give you anything
but a very general answer of "maybe." But other than during your how-
it-works learning phase, where you don't need to worry too much about
great mixing techniques, but just want to get the basic operations
down and figure out how you can do what you want with what you have,
I'd suggest that you get a modern set of speakers. The Rockit series
isn't too bad (I have some 5's on my "desktop" system) and they have
power amplifiers built in so you don't need to rob your stereo system
or get a separate amplifier. And like it or not, they'll have a more
"contemporary" sound than your old speakers, which may help you make
better decisions in placing microphones, choosing patches, or mixing.