recording bass, guitar and vox

[daryl]

i wanna record bass, guitar and vocal tracks. planning to mic up the amps. will be recording them separately. i dont need top quaility stuff, something decent will do. what do i need? is audacity a good enough software? haha i know thay are very general questions but i know nothing about recording so please help!

 

[soft]

how are you going to get the sound into the computer? what gears do you currently have?

 

[daryl]

thats what im asking! like what mics do i need, a mixer or something?, cables? i have a gibson sg and a peavey 5150 and planning to get a fender bass and an amp. thing is i dont know how to record properly. i currently use a 10dollar com mike to record everything using audacity.

 

[blueprintstudios]

"planning to get a fender bass and an amp" and you use a 10 dollar mike?

thats more than half the battle lost when it comes to recording..


90¢ worth.

 

[Indigo_blues]

daryl, if u are recording at home, just plan to get 1 do-it-all condenser mic and a decent mixer and you are set to record your bass, vocals and guitars.. i'm not familiar with the specific models of microphones but i think if u pop down to hung brother's at simlim on a weekday when its not so crowded and look for genghis or douglas, i'm sure they can point u to the correct stuff.. think a decent condenser is like $500 nowadays? Decent mixer brands include mackie and yamaha, behringer if u are on a low budget.

The other way is to just get a shure SM57 for the instrument amp mic-up and maybe an SM58 for vocals. This is a better option also if your room acoustics are not so great. they retail for $100+ each..

cheers.

 

[daryl]

thanks indigo blues, most useful reply i've gotten. since i'll be recording the stuff separately, it'll be enough for me to get 1 mic to share between the guitar and bass amps right?

so for your 'otherway' i'll just need to buy the various mics and record using audacity.. no need for a mixer right? sorry im really a beginner

 

[blueprintstudios]

indigo : he mentioned he doesn't know how to record properly.

i'm thinking he's using a cheap mic with a earphone jack, plugged into his soundcard into audacity.

he'll need

[mic (sm57/58 whatever] > [preamp] > [soundcard]

which the option that probably I'd go with is using a presonus firebox.
http://www.presonus.com/firebox.html

mic > presonus firebox > computer (make sure your computer have firewire)

 

[Indigo_blues]

yah. ok.

Daryl, what's your computer like? Can u describe it to us first? What soundcard do you have? All these are important considerations.

 

[daryl]

ill check the specs of my com when i get back home. thanks for helping. my com doesnt have firewire but i have a com in the other room which i could use.

 

[RoRK]

If you can afford to spend $300+, I recommend Line6's Toneport, UX2. It's got amp modelling for guitars and bass and separate mic in for vocals. It also doubles up as a soundcard for your computer and it works with lots of software. If you don't need too many tracks or can make do with 6 or less then head on over to www.acidmusic.com to download their freebie software which offers 6 tracks.

Good luck
RoRK

 

[blueprintstudios]

oh yes that~~~ yeah that one's an option too. I've seen the UX2 being tested. it's good.

 

[Indigo_blues]

hmm yah, but i think daryl intends to record his peavey 5150.. so this would probably not be what he's looking at..

still its an option cause mic-ing an amp can be a real headache to get a 'nice' sound from. More variables to control.

 

[daryl]

hm... oh yeah the line 6 thing sounds good. for only 300 plus. and it sounds relatively foolproof haha. should be good for me.

i do intend to mic up my 5150 but i'll probably need to spend more, no? with the mics and the mixer. i'll go check out the line 6 thingy thanks rork!

 

[RoRK]

Miking the amp isn't an easy thing to do. You still need a good mic. If you have the budget, just head to City Music and give the Toneport a try. Just make sure that input levels aren't too high or the unit will simply shut off automatically. Other than that it's really value for money.

Cheers
RoRK

 

[daryl]

hm.. why will it shut off? im using emgs. haha alright i guess i'll go try it out. thanks

 

[parablue74]

My opinions differ from the rest of you guys...
For guitar amp, that is very important, without that, guitars really sound dull. Line in on guitars is worse than using a $10 mic. I feel you need to get a guitar amp as it's more practical. Than get a SM57 (many others can be used too) to mic the amp.
Get a USB mixer for your inputs, toneport ain't very worthy as it only has 2 inputs and cost pretty much. Get a USB mixer from Yamaha or M-audio, that will really solve your problems on inputing to the pc.
For bass, just get a DI box, they cost roughly $200.
The SM57 can be used for vocals, though not fantastic. You can start with that first if you are really tight. Ultimately, a good condenser would be worthy of choice, find one that fits your voice well....

 

[blueprintstudios]

well i'm a guy who prefers mic up amps than direct line in. but toneport isn't that bad, I do really think that in comparison with nice amp + $10 mic VS toneport DI. toneport would win. besides toneport has 2 mic pre amps, so the option of miking up an amp later is still there. but of course this boils down to personal preference.