Ok lets say i want to get a mixer or something. Something so that i can record. Can be on comp or on flash or something, tape even (probably not though). Would this be ok? If i have nothing else what else would i need to make this work? I just wanna get something with phantom power and stuff. Can have less channels and all that than this. Any hints/suggestions/help?
http://www.music123.com/Behringer-Eurorack-UB1222FX-Pro-i128230.music?match=1
aka Izabella
Nothing less than the $60 UB802 (for the phantom power and a couple mic in's.) The $90 UB1202 would give you a lot of room to play with dual mic'ing and effect sends, but if you'll be recording mostly one track at a time (i.e. solo) you can do most of this and won't find much of a restriction with the 802. It depends on how many simultaneous players you want to record and how much room you want to get experimental with. (I won't confuse the issue with the UB1002, other than to say that it is a $70 option if you can't make up your mind between the other 2, mostly giving you some more output options which can be useful but probably not needed.)
The one you asked about is really powerful, and the fx can be useful (at least the time modulation stuff), but is probably more than you need (and quite a bit more expensive, you could get a great mic for the difference in price), unless you'll be using it to mix your whole band live down to stereo prior to recording. A lot of this effect stuff you will probably do with your own effects boxes or in the computer. The UB802 is pretty nearly ideal for a first mixer for recording IMHO, especially at the price.
I think ill get that $90 one. I would like to play more than solo. Thanks.
How would one like multi-track with one of these majigs? Is it possible?
aka Izabella
It's going to be stereo, so pan one "in" to left and one to right and plug into recording device of choice. You will have 2 tracks which will be whatever you fed into each side, like guitar on left and vocal on right, or clean guitar to left, dirty to right. Once recorded you can set each track to be in stereo during the mixing step. Also you can keep on recording additional tracks (rhythm and lead guitar, percussion, backup vocals, multiple tracks of the same vocal or guitar can be very effective) adding them up in the computer and ultimately mixing them down to one set of 2 stereo tracks. As simple or complicated as you want to make it.
You should note that a stand alone multi-track recorder will have it's own mixer, so early on you wouldn't need a device like this one. Ultimately, I bet you would still find uses for it, if you get into recording. And It would be required to record a live band unless you bought a $1000 + multitrack recorder.
The cheaper one really is for the guy like me that sits by himself recording multiple solo tracks, or maybe just one other buddy on guitar or bass at the same time. Very compact and useful, but it takes you about two days to discover it's limits.
Of you're going the computer direct route, you also need to consider things like sound cards and hard disc speed and how much memory you have, if you start multitracking.
I avoid the sound card issue by using a "cheap" multitrack recorder to capture sound then mixing on the computer. But your built in card will get you started. You will probably discover digital clipping pretty quickly though, so watch those levels and listen for distortion.
I also tend to hover around 4-8 tracks which doesn't cause too many problems with speed. If you start piling on the tracks and using a lot of modulation, your machine might choke.
Experiment and find the limits. Some others have more experience than me with this direct to computer route. Check out this Home recording website.
