tell me about audio recording hardware

looking to buy something to set up some sort or multitrack recording station, for guitar/audio/acoustic instruments.

Not really worried about software at this point, want to get some some hardware sorted and play around with various stuff.

Been a long time since I played about with any of this, and never seriously, so fair clueless.

from googling so far sounds like I need a laptop(I want a laptop), audio interface and some sort of condenser mic.

Sound about right, anyone any recommendations? I don’t need blistering fast 48 channel recording, but something that could play 8/12/16 track will recording live with low latency would be nice.

Any thoughts? Don’t particular want to break the bank either, so cheaper the better.

It’s actually possible to do stuff with an iPad, and an appropriate MIDI interface. A mate at work does stuff on his iPad, along with his guitars, several synth apps, (MOOG and Korg) GarageBand, and a bunch of other stuff. Last time I tipped him off about a new synth app he told me off because he was up until gone 3am playing with it. On a work day.
Alternatively there’s the laptop route, which a huge number of musicians use, usually a MacBook, with GarageBand as the main installed app, and suitable MIDI interface, keyboards etc.
That’s as far as my meagre knowledge goes, but I’m sure there’s stacks of stuff out there on the interwebz, it’s making sense of it all that might be the challenge.

Zoom R16 sounds like what you’re after. I bought one a couple of years ago, used it loads for recording a full band. It’ll record up to 8 channels simultaneously

http://www.gak.co.uk/en/zoom-r16-digital-recorder-usb-audio-interface-and-daw-controller/26077?gclid=CNLFsYKy5MICFQEGwwod-QkAmQ

Look for USB interface devices, like these:

The Top 10 Best Audio Interfaces for Your Recording Needs

What instruments/inputs are you wanting to record? Unless you need to record multiple players at once, you likely won’t need more than a couple of inputs.

Yes audio interface like that is what I’m after. Looking for a recommendation on those. Need a guitar input and mic input and maybe midi for a keyboard down the line.

Want to be looking at a laptop rather than a stand alone device as I need a laptop anyway so that’ll be multipurpose. But I need to know the must have specs on that.

If you want low latency and quality look at RME, might need a mic pre-amp as well though.

funnily enough I was looking at that stuff this morning and ended up looking at most of the stuff on three_fish’s list

For the spec on the laptop you will probably have to decide on an interface first and the look at what the minimum spec is from that but I’m using a two year old laptop quite happily with a USB interface so I doubt you would have any real problems. Main things I wish I had was more memory (I’ve got 4GB at the moment) and a faster hard disk for when playing more than 8 tracks back at the same time. I’m only at 5600 at the moment so 7200 would be nice and SSD even nicer of course but files can take up a lot of space

Focusrite 2i4 might be right up your street http://www.thomann.de/gb/focusrite_scarlett_2i4.htm but it depends on your budget of course. Comes with the ‘lite’ version of Ableton which is also nice

I’ve just been looking into that focuswrite, so basically, if you buy that you can get latency free multitrack recording through the direct monitoring, as it’s done directly through that box and not the sound card on the comp?

So essentially, what you are looking for in the comp isn’t particularly the sound card, but more processing and ram so that it can handle which ever program, plugins and number of desireable tracks? so I’m thinking i3/5 with 8 gig and a fast harddrive is what I’m looking at there? and not a lot else really matters for low latency becasue of the audio interface?

Sound about right?

You only need low latency if you are going to do some processing in the computer and then output it again to your headphones while you are playing. Usually most interfaces allow you do monitor the signal that is coming in directly as the delay can quickly get too long. So I’m not sure latency is so important unless you want your computer to do some live processing.

You don’t care about the sound card in the computer as that is what the USB interface is doing.

If you intend to use a log of plugins then an i5 might be nice. If you are playing back lots of tracks with things like amp simulators in the effects then it seems to eat processing power (I’m using an i5). However you can of course just process the tracks offline, it depends on what you are doing.

If you think you may be wanting to record more that two things at the same time in the near future then you may want to consider going up a step to something that can record 4 or more inputs. Although it is possible to stack to USB interfaces together using ASIO4all I believe there may be a problem due to not using the same sample clock if you are recording long tracks. I’ve never tried so I can’t confirm that though.

Last thing, some interfaces (e.g. Steinberg UR44) have a small number of built in effects such as compression and reverb that you can use in the direct monitor if whoever is singing prefers that

Ok got it, Cheers all, think I understand what I need now 🙂 I’m off to read loads of reviews!

oh, before I forget, when you are recording I find it helpful to switch the computer to flight mode to kill all network connections and disable the antivirus. There are other things you can do as well but those two are easy and make the biggest difference to stopping recordings getting messed up

ta 🙂

I use a ART Tube audio interface. Records really well; has two XLR and Jack inputs which is all you should really need if you’re not planning on recording drumkits. Also has built in compressors and low-cut filters on each channel which is nice.

For a mic I use a Røde NT1. It’s really good, lots of versatility, and if you’re just getting started and doing home recording, there’s not much point in spending more on a microphone.

I’ve got a couple of songs on soundcloud that I recorded with this gear and logic pro. It’s not really the same style as you sound like you’re planning on recording, but it’s an example of the gear’s quality.
soundcloud.com/the1fletch

Good luck, and remember to share with the rest of us once you’ve got something recorded!

eventually plopped for the scarlett 2i4 along with a pair of sony monitoring headphones, arrived today, amazing! reckon I’ll be hibernating for the rest of the winter!

Good luck, and remember to share with the rest of us once you’ve got something recorded!

ha, maybe once I’ve figured everything out! 😀

Well, I’ll never make it famous, but as a hobby, it’s hours of fun!

Here’s a sample of a racket! probly best using earphones, I’ve no external monitors.Think I’ve a bit of a learning curve to climb! 😆

https://soundcloud.com/joe-connoe/noise1

Software is the start point. Audacity is free and works fine.

For voices a Shure SM58 goes through a Behringer PMP 2000 Amp and home stereo speakers to a Zoom H2n recorder placed between the speakers at about 10cm. The Behringer has some nice effects, the Shure doesn’t “pop” too much if you are careful.

Electric guitars are recorded with the Zoom in front of the Fender amp.

The bass is recorded the same as the voices but with the bass plugged straight into the Behringer. The sound is cleaner and heavier than a bass amp.

Acoustic guitar is either direct to the Zoom or played through the Behringer which gives a cleaner sound than our Marshal acoustic amp.

If you want one thing to get started, buy the Zoom (and a metronome).

I see I lost the first part of my post editing it. The gist of it was:

Your recording sounds good, really clean, as you’d expect for an all-cable recording. Now you need a microphone.

I should also add a sample someday.

Cheers, aye I got a version of Abelton with the focusrite, which is cracking, limits me to 8 tracks on the free version but that’s more than enough for the moment. Tbh i think once I get more into it and need more, Ill just purchase the full program, it’s a really good, quick, intuative program to use. And there’s loads of toys in the full version I think i’d like.

Aye, some kind of condenser mic is going to be my next purchase I think, so I can get acoustic and djembe recordings done. Vocals, well we’ll deal with that later, I’ll need to find someone that can sing and write lyrics! Not my forte 😆 After that i think some kind of midi keyboard will be on the list.

As for samples, aye I know I should, but I’m still finding my way there, i’ve a billion test tracks made up, as I say, I still well down on the learning curve! 🙂 a mic should be good for creating my own samples.

nice work 🙂 first attempt? very good if it is

your limit of 8 tracks will only start to become a real problem if/when you start working with an acoustic drum kit, for everything else I’m sure it’ll be fine.
Drums can be recorded using as few as two mics, but typically use one mic for each drum (two on the snare, one top, one bottom), one on the hi-hat and a couple of overheads as well. I did a session in a pro studio a few years back, I think there were 16 mics on the kit alone. Overkill perhaps but boy did it sound good!

I know everyone under the sun has their opinion on condenser mics so please take this with a pinch of salt but check out the Superlux s241 http://www.thomann.de/gb/superlux_s241.htm It’s only £61+p&p with the euro just now and it’s my utter favourite microphone (I have 6 of them). You can hear them here. https://soundcloud.com/ollie-boyd-1/sets/glasgow-university-chapel-choir-performs-langlais-messe-solennelle-organ-solos-25112014

Wouldn’t say first attempt, but first attempt I’m willing to share would be more accurate! 😆

Regarding drums, I don’t play myself, so I don’t think I’ll be recording any live tbh. but any tips on midi drums? I just used fulls samples on the above, but when I try and actually create midi drums for myself, they always come out pretty weak. I’m guessing this is just the stock single hit samples that come with abelton are fairly weak(It’s easy to drag and drop into the drum machine)? I take it’s just a case of finding decent samples? I’ve seen there’s a few drum sample packs that looks quite good for about 60 quid, I might purchase them as well.

Cheers Marmaduke, I’ll take a look. 🙂

marmaduke – Member
I know everyone under the sun has their opinion on condenser mics so please take this with a pinch of salt but check out the Superlux s241 http://www.thomann.de/gb/superlux_s241.htm It’s only £61+p&p with the euro just now and it’s my utter favourite microphone (I have 6 of them). You can hear them here. https://soundcloud.com/ollie-boyd-1/sets/glasgow-university-chapel-choir-performs-langlais-messe-solennelle-organ-solos-25112014

Seems to get decent comments on gearslutz, all sounds good from what I’m hearing too, interesting, tempted to purchase at 60 quid! 🙂

https://www.gearslutz.com/board/so-much-gear-so-little-time/181935-superlux-s241-u3.html

I have an old Roland VS studio which you can pick up for around 100 quid nowadays. Back in the day we recorded stuff on it that sounded pretty good (not the songs…but sound was ok!)

Simple to use and linked in nicely with qbase

No idea how old the technology is nowadays, but it worked fine back then

http://www.thomann.de/gb/superlux_s241.htm

Just ordered for £69 delivered! 🙂

Going up a notch, and it may be a bit more expensive than you’re looking for, but have a look a MOTU interface.

http://www.motu.com/products/avb/ultralite-avb

Really nice, and will let you pretty much do anything you ask of it.

Re condenser mics, we’ve found the AKG mics, like the 214 and 414 very robust.

Just ordered for £69 delivered!

Nice! 😀 It’s built like a tank too.

Mixology

Junior and his band and some original songs. All recorded in our living room except the drum parts.

This year’s Christmas number one? What do reckon.

nice mix.

the song’s not my cup of tea but it’s done well

What about the other two songs, John?

oh yeah, sorry, didn’t spot them. will listen later, need to pop out for half an hour

I like “Adolescent Blues”, I must admit, I listened to the end, I even clicked on the “like” button”. The other two songs don’t float my boat but that’s just me.

All very well recorded, good mix – I’m no sound engineer/record producer so don’t take my word as gospel…

Is it a drum machine? doesn’t feel “human”, if you see what I mean

Remember the drums thread? It’s an electronic drum kit with a real drummer, the guy on the right of the photo. One of the problems with making a drummer work to a metronome is that he loses some of the feel. It’s normally the drummer who sets time and everyone else follows. With the limited kit we’ve got everything has to be done to a metronome as it’s pretty much impossible to synchronise afterwards using a programme as basic as Audacity. I thought he did a good job but I don’t know much about drumming. He’s wild live!

Thanks for the feedback, anyone else?

ah, electronic kit, that explains that. when I was talking about it not feeling human, it was the sounds of the cymbals, I thought it might be something programmed in garageband or the like

I can’t post it up on here as it’s not signed off by the rest of the band yet, but we recorded a song using the Zoom R16 last weekend.
I recorded the kit (5 mics), bass (DI) and “the room” (two built-in mics) while playing live as a band, then overdubbed the two guitar & two vocals afterwards on channels 9-12. I then imported the WAV tracks into Cubase AI & mixed it from there, ignoring the “room” tracks.

I have used click tracks in the past, but essentially I’ve always recorded the band live in the room just the same, then overdubbed the guitars, bass & vocals as required. This one was done “raw” so there will be some fluctuation in my time keeping but hopefully you won’t notice.

it’s good if you can get the drummer used to working to a metronome but not always essential. Some drummers don’t need a click track (I’m not one of them unfortunately)

if you can let me have your email address I can send you an mp3 sample (ok, not as good as WAV but 1/10th the size)

I recorded this one from my band:
https://soundcloud.com/longhornrock/alarm

Drums were done in a studio with an analog tape machine and a click track.
Guitars and bass were done through a POD and some fuzz pedals.
Singer did his tracks in my spare room with a SE Titan 2 mic, running into my M-Audio Delta 66 card and associated I/O box.

Wackenesque, yourguitarhero. Junior listened longer than me (all of them) as he’s into metal and I’m more country. Good sound on alarm, junior liked the drumming on Alarm and Long Way which is effective without being over-complicated.

YGM John, assuming the email in your profile is still live.

yep, got it now, cheers Edukator.

I’ve just had some feedback on my mix so I’m going to do a little more fine tuning, but you should have something by the end of tonight. hey, I might even be able to go public 🙂

Edukator, you have incoming…

remember, I’m a drummer not a trained studio engineer / producer…

enjoy 🙂

Enjoyed. 🙂
Is anyone here trained? The only studio experience I’ve got is voice overs for videos and a few TV presentations years ago.

There are as many different musical tastes as there are listeners and musicians. Junior uses hi-speakers and a PA amp to get a really clean bass sound while your bassist has a dirty saturated sound. Periods in musical history and types of music have a particular sound. Country is a Telecaster through a fairly clean Fender amp with a pedal guitar in the background. The 60s jangled and sparkled, the 70s had a Les Paul + Marshal drone… . We’re trying to find a sound that isn’t standard but within the range of what is acceptable to the youth, and not quite so youth, of today.

Guitars make so many different sounds we try to find a frequency range that doesn’t intrude on the vocals. So on a deeper male voice single-coil pickups and a bright Fender 57 Deluxe setting, but when the girl is singing an Orange or metal amp sound and less treble(plus a guitar with humbuckers when they’re live).