$500 home recording gear

[mattar]

What should I buy? Cheaper would be better but thats what I have to spend. Need to record drums as well. Overwhelmed by all the different gear but i am tired of just not recording and need to just jump in and get wet.

[Dr. Sherman Sticks M.D.]

nothing better to get wet than a jar of dust and a pack of newports homie

are u looking for something to use w/ a computer/DAW? or a standalone solution?

u should look at how many things you are going to be plugging in/recording at one time, then if possible, get a couple extra inputs for breathing room for the future.

depending on what you are trying to do, (multitrack? 1-2 tracks at a time?) the answer really varies.

[zRobertez]

Last week, my friend was bored and he came by and borrowed a blue snowball mic I had at my house that I got a few years ago for like $50. And as far as I know, he just used that, audacity on his laptop, and his unfinished basement's reverbyness.
Whenever I used that mic though, nothing ever sounded that good.

Him, last week.
[soundcloud]http://soundcloud.com/mikemcclanahan/waiting-on-the-mcrib-to-come[/soundcloud]


Me, from quite awhile ago.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qsK82JgD0BA&feature=plcp[/youtube]

[mattar]

Im planning on interfacing with a DAW on my computer most likely because its a cheaper route with more options in my price range. Probably gonna be recording the drum through multiple mics at a time so i would want a multi track interface or something. That recording sounds really great, the drums especially for single mic.

[zRobertez]

Yeah, I know. I think he's part mixing wizard or something too.

[Ancient Astronaught]

Zoom H4N, and 2 Shure SM57's. You can use the zoom as the overheads, 57 on kick and snare for basic recordings. You can also plug it in and use it directly as a 2 input interface for tracking guitar / bass / vocals, and it doubles as a field recorder (its main purpose). To get into a 4 input interface and 4 mics your looking at over 500$ unless you do some major used gear hunting.

[mattar]

Zoom H4N, and 2 Shure SM57's. You can use the zoom as the overheads, 57 on kick and snare for basic recordings. You can also plug it in and use it directly as a 2 input interface for tracking guitar / bass / vocals, and it doubles as a field recorder (its main purpose). To get into a 4 input interface and 4 mics your looking at over 500$ unless you do some major used gear hunting.

cool, thanks for the gear tips. Any recommendations for interfaces for a computer to look at?

[MEC]

The H4N has a USB connection so you just record to that and then upload the track via USB.
If you are looking for software Reaper is great and pretty much free if you want it to be.

I'm in Jax too and know some people that record cheap. If you'd be in to that PM me.
You could get them to record the drums and then do the rest yourself with 1 Mic or DI.

[mattar]

The H4N has a USB connection so you just record to that and then upload the track via USB.
If you are looking for software Reaper is great and pretty much free if you want it to be.

I'm in Jax too and know some people that record cheap. If you'd be in to that PM me.
You could get them to record the drums and then do the rest yourself with 1 Mic or DI.

Cool man! I might hit you up about that when I get my stuff more figured out, I mostly want to record to get my ideas hammered out and to work on the big picture of it.

Edit: upon reading about the h4n it sounds perfect for my needs, thanks for the advice guys.

[D.o.S.]

X2

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[MannequinRaces]

Look for a used Presonus Firepod (it's got eight inputs)! I love mine. On a side note the Zoom really does nice stereo mic recordings. The only problem with the Zoom is you can't really use it with a DAW... I mean you can but you can't. Let me elaborate further... with a 'real' audio interface you can record something and play along with whats already been recorded or record to a click track, etc.. With the Zoom you hit record, play your bit, then upload the file to your DAW. You can't record along to music that's already in your DAW. Hope that helps.

[stripes]

here's the setup that i started out with that's really as cheap as it gets short of using a USB microphone (which I also did for a while) and pretty close to $500...

focusrite saffire 6 usb (used on ebay) - $80
2 used sm57 off the bay - $120 (i'm pretty sure)
blue spark (good room/overhead mic) - $200
A pair of Rokit 5 monitors - $300 (this is something i did without for a while while i had an interface... if you just get a pair of good $100 studio headphones for mixing, the monitors aren't crucial).
$100 Behringer Mixer (this lets me mic a drum kit and run the stereo mix into the two inputs on my interface). Unless you plan on doing live band recordings, this is a good and cost effective method.

so take out the monitors and you're right at $500. granted finding those used prices could take time. my philosophy on home recording was always to start with what you can get at the time, make do with what you have, and continue to build your studio piece by piece. it's also fun to acquire new pieces like a special occasion. $500 seems like a good start up cost to me, but you're definitally not going to be getting everything all at once, but that's a good thing.

[theavondon]

Man, newports are delicious.

Uhhh, maybe buy a mixer and a 4-track?

[Psyre]

focusrite saffire 6 usb (used on ebay) - $80

This, bought one in my very early days on ILF from B/S/T and it's really a good sounding interface. 2 inputs, but I just hook up my mackie mixer to it.

[erector]

EDIT: Shit, nevermind, just realised the Saffires have a -10dB pad I think? (On a related note: still kicking myself for not noticing that the Scarletts don't have pads on the mic/instrument inputs)

The used Presonus Firepod option is one you should also look into. That is, if your computer/laptop will do Firewire. I've used one before (albeit not with my setup) and it struck me as a no-fuss, dependable interface. Plus you'll be able to record all your drum mics straight into the DAW.