hey, im new to the site, and i play guitar. when listening to the things on the site i realized how much better they were than nething i've ever recorded, not so much musically, as just the quality of the recording. being that im only 15 i am pretty limited on cash so the only thing i've used so far is small programs on the comp with nasty feedback and horrible effects, mixing, and what not. i was wondering if nebody could help me out and give some advice on what all gear i would need to get clear recordings with quality sound and such. thx.

dood im in the same boat as u, ive looked into mixers, but being 16 and jobless i cant afford even the basic stuff...

so yeh, ppl in the knw help us! we r willing students to ur knowledge of recording gear

get yourself a computer with a good sound card.  make sure it has audio and MIDI inputs, and that's really all there is to it.  Obviously a good sequencing prgram is essential but something adequate would be fairly easy to come by.  You havent gotta buy a whole studio at once - just piece it together as you go along.

I have moved the post which used to be in this spot to a more accessible and prominent place...

you can find it here:

http://forum.bandamp.com/Gear_Talk/6181.html

hey, thx for the advice, i think the main thing i've been missing is the mixer. the stuff u named seems right up my price range and i plan to look into it. thx a lot

yeah no problem bro, i've already been through that process so i know how it can be

wow man, there's a lot more 2 it than just a mic and a recording program.

Ive been looking into mixers for a little while and i had no idea what all the specs were about but you've cleared it up for me thanks a lot!

I've been singing and playing keyboard for about 2 yrs. now and I've been writing material for about 4 and I just joined bandamp and i'm lost! I have a job and a pretty good amount of cash and the holidays are coming up in afew months and I MAJORLY need help with equipment! I'm not sure what I need but i'm guessing by the posts above I need a mixer with preamp, a mic and a sound card. How do you figure out what sound card you currently have? I can round up about $200-$400 a month and I need to know some good recording equipment so I can put some of my material on site. I've heard you guys sing and play and I'm just blown away! I have a crappy cassette recorder that squeeks REALLY badly when you recording and there's no way I can put up with it anymore. And if I need to I can save up for about 4 months so the budget's basicly between $0 and $1,600 for everything. To sum it up, I need to know the best equipment I can get with that cash but if I don't have to spend all of it, that's good too. So I will patiently be waiting by my computer for a response to my confusion. Plus, I don't trust myself buying anything on my own cause everything about the mixers and stuff looks greek so I need advice before I blow $1,600 and wanna kill myself. lol Thanks a ton! P.S. I don't play guitar, drums, bass or any other instruments, nor do I know anybody that does. Are there, like, mixers that come with instrument beats built in or something?

~ Erica ~

hi, Erica, first off welcome to the forum... secondly here we go

hmm... well... first off... some of your questions have been answered. See my thread entitled "Mixer Lessons" on this same Gear Talk forum. It will help you in that arena greatly. First off, re-read my long post on this forum. No i mean actually READ it apparently you've read it but something didn't sink in. Check out the other threads on this Gear forum because there are other people who have questions similar to yours which you can learn from. Also i don't mean to diss this forum but there is a much better forum for your price range. That'd be http://gearslutz.com/ and it's a little daunting on there... but your question is "how do i get the most bang for this many bucks" and the folks on gearslutz can help you cuz that's what they're ALL about, as the title implies they're all about 100% super high quality gear, and will apparently whore themselves out in certain circumstances to get it - this is how hardcore they are. I don't know what this forum is supposed to be all about as opposed to gearslutz. But to my knowlege this site is more "post and review songs" centric and less forum centric. At least at the moment.

Now... as far as my recommendations for you.

Number one: if you think you can spend $1600... then double it and plan on $3000

Number two: Buy the Audio Technica AT-4060 and the Apogee Mini-Me

Number three: Buy some f8cking good monitors such as the Yamaha MSP5A Biamped Near Field Monitor Pair ... and some Ultrasone (TM) headphones.

tada... end of story.

hehe... why do i say those peices? Well because the MOST important peice of equipment for you is going to be your microphone. The second most important peice of equipment for you is going to be "everything else"... in other words, there are MANY parts of the chain... any one weak link will make the rest of the signal crap... doesn't matter WHERE the weak link is... it'll make it crap... SO

good microphone
through good cables
into good preamps
through more good cables
into a good sound card
out of good monitors

end of story...

The AT4060 takes care of the good microphone

The Apogee Mini-Me takes care of the good preamps and the good sound card... it's an all in one package. Forget about getting a mixer if you're doing a digital computer studio...

there are lots of options for monitors, most all of them are good... i wouldn't worry too much about particular brand make and model of your monitors. Just realize that you can pay upwards of $1000 per speaker when you buy good monitors, so budget accordingly. When you're talking about high quality stuiophile audio, generally stay away from Behringer.

You don't *need* a mixer. Unless you are budgeting for a mackie or similar, then the preamps are gonna be crap in comparison to an equivalent value standalone unit. For single track recording it is infinitely better to buy a decent valve preamp

thanks peeps! i've gotten much advice from everyone and I will put it all to good use! wish me luck and pray I don't blow tons of $$$$ on crap! lol j/w but, does anybody know of a good computer program to get to record stuff? Thanks!

~ Erica ~

agree all the way with DaveUK... mixer is retarded with computer recording... get a good Tube Preamp

also... all your questions are now answered in the other thread i created on this forum entitled the Ultimate Studio Building HOWTO

read it, it's worth your time...

I believe for low budgets the preamp is more important. Try to get a amp simulator. I have a Behringer Vamp(can double as a low budget mike preamp that warms up vocals on "tube preamp" setting) Ther are some free recording software downloads out therr.I can't think of them offhand, but just type in keywords "free recording download" or "free software recording download" and surf it up! There are free plugins too(programs that do the samethingas like, a phasor pedal, a reverb rack unit, a sonic aural exiter/enhancer etc.)

what i bought was a line 6 guitarport, and i couldn't be more satisfied with it. 

the entire thing (with riffworks) can be had for $189.99 usd off of musiciansfriend

it will take care of everything you need (except a microphone) to record a basic song at high quality.