just a couple more newbie Q's

The best advice with your budget would be, keep saving up. I hate to say it because I know what it's like, you want something and you want it now!

Save up and get your moneys worth.

I don't care if you can't identify the strings you are playing. The point is, you plan on getting better and there is no better way to follow your progress than recording it.

With that said, the products that you might choose might make you sound worst than you are. Unwanted distortion is a major factor in killing what might be a killer performance.

I've heard that over and over again, but now it kinda makes sense to me. I suppose my previous price range was slightly low. Is $250-$300 good enough for a decent recording? If so, does anyone know any good products to fit that price range?

M-Audio MobilePre USB = $150

Shure SM-57 = $90

Behringer UB1002 Mixer = $60

If you wanted, you could skip the mixer for now because the MobilePre has input controls and a headphone jack. Look up the specs and what you can do with it. It is the center piece of all my equipment.

Without mixer = @ $300-350 after taxes and cables.

If you bargain around you might be able to get it cheaper. Don't be afraid to haggle! Just because they say it is a certain price, doesn't always mean that's what they HAVE to get for it. Then again, don't go overboard with the haggling.

With mixer = over four hundred

I don't think I forgot anything……..

Mike

If you wan't cheap you can get the mixer and a cheaper mic( The sm 57 is a good investment though), and just use your sound card and get the M-audio mobilepre USB later, and download Audacity and your good to go.

I'm sorry tracker but I have to strongly disagree. You absolutely definitely do not need a $300 budget to start some decent recordings. I would suggest only getting stuff that is absolutely nescessary. For example, the soundcard might suffice for now, and could always be upgraded later. The difference between a Behringer Xm1800 and a Shure SM57 are pretty much non-existent when you have no idea how to record. Besides, what are you going to do with your awesome mic if you have no idea how to properly mix something together?

To me it still seems best to take it slow. You've got a card, so don't worry for now. All you need is a mic and eitehr a mixer or a device that allows you to plug it into the computer. A mixer is needed anyway later on for most, so get a small mixer. Once again: it really depends on what you're after. As I said before: I can record some stuff next week to have you hear how different things sound. Starting from a $10 setup. It is easy to feel tempted to buy as much as you can, and depending on your ambitions and desires it can be absolutely required. But if you just want some decent stuff to record a guitar and voice to have others listen to it you really shouldn't spend all that much. You can always upgrade other parts later, right? So you can start now with the basics and keep saving up to get the more expensive additions later, without having to wait some more years before you can start.

Arjen,

I understand what you are saying, but if you but cheap stuff now and you want to buy better stuff later…… why buy it twice?

If you buy the quality gear now and lose interest in it, you can always sell it for only a little less than what you paid for it.

I tend ro agree with Tracker & Co.

Get the SM57 - you'll not regret it.

Get the mixer - Behringer 1002 is a really good piece of gear.

Use the sound card that's in your PC for now - certainly until you get to grips with recording.

Don't forget to buy a mic stand and cables.

Arjen,

I understand what you are saying, but if you but cheap stuff now and you want to buy better stuff later…… why buy it twice?

If you buy the quality gear now and lose interest in it, you can always sell it for only a little less than what you paid for it.

You can always use a mixer and a cheap mic can come in handy at the gig later :D Point is that some folks ( students for example ) can only afford the bare necessities to get started :( --the dog

http://www.soundclick.com/bands/songInfo.cfm?bandID=213596&songID=2713379

I did this with UB 1202( pretty much the same as a 1002, and a sm57. The tele I used the sm57 and the lap steel i went direct from the amp to the mixer. the drums /bass was a midi file, The sound card came with my HP Pavilion. I used audacity. ( please don't laugh to hard guys :oops: ) Maybe this will give you an example of what you can do going the "cheap route)--the dog

I second Arjen.

You can have a 6 or 7 digits budget and still come up with a crappy (pardon
my French) result, and that is because the quality is always determined by
the weakest link of the (audio) chain, therefore, having a 50,000$ worth mike
attached to a 5$ whatever's brand pre amp, wouldn't sound like 25,002.5$ -
it would sound like 5$. It's simple as that.
Now, though quality of sound isn't an issue to consider at the moment, being
able to go through the actual action of recording and finish it with your sanity
in one piece, you absolutely CAN'T record with a generic sound card. The
same goes for a Sound-Blaster etc. Not because of the high noise-floor or the
poor jacks, not even because of the 2$ built-in pre amp - because of the latency.
You absolutely CAN'T do that. You don't even want to try.
Trying to record while your card have latency means that you'll have no real
monitoring which is crucial when you want to record vocals and/or more then
one channel in general.
That is really why you must put a sound card as a top priority purchase.
A semi-pro card should do the job just fine. I haven't researched so much about
those type of cards so I have no recommendation on a specific product but
nowadays they're more or less the same. My estimation that a piece of hardware
of that sort would cost around a 100$ to 150$ but don't take my word for it, as
you might found it for much less, hopefully not for more.

As for the SM57, although a fine mike, like all mikes it have its benefits and
weaknesses, because like all mikes it designed for a specific purpose. There is
NO such thing as "multi-purpose mike", it's unfortunately not more then an
urban legend.
Among mikes which designed for the same purposes it's considered one of the
best for a good reason, but on other purposes it's just another mike with different
weaknesses. It can sound pretty good on close miking for drums and amps, but
tends to 'kill' acoustic sources (like vocals and acoustic guitars for example).
For now you can really settle for a cheap mike as been mentioned here above.
All you should consider now is if it'll be possible to make any recordings now
and leave quality for later.

Have a nice day!
-Elvis.

That is really why you must put a sound card as a top priority purchase.
A semi-pro card should do the job just fine. I haven't researched so much about
those type of cards so I have no recommendation on a specific product but
nowadays they're more or less the same. My estimation that a piece of hardware
of that sort would cost around a 100$ to 150$ but don't take my word for it, as
you might found it for much less, hopefully not for more.

That is why I recommended the M-Audio MobilePre Audio Interface. It by-passes your card via USB.

hi!
I record myself throug the built-in soundcard and I monitor it very well
Make sure you have enough Ram memory( 1024 Mb), more than 1 GHz (I have 2.4) and you'll record and monitor real-time

I think you dont need a great hardware to start to record your progress
Just Play guitar and exercise your fingers more than your computer sience, and pluging and unpluging your extense gear... that's the way to sound better and record it well.

I buy my gear on serveral big stores... but I live in spain and I think they won't be any of those where you live. I spent 15$ on a mic. I don't use much... and lot's of stuff it's all around my room whithout being used... so... buy properly... avoid the G.A.S. :wink:

Well whitneyzeldow are you totally confused yet :lol: :lol: Yes you CAN record with a stock sound card :roll: folks have been doing it for years. you can get a mic for about $25 for vocals a mixer for about $50, record direct from your amp( read the amp manual first, you don't want to blow up the sound card) $12 for cables, software is free! total=Under $90 :D You can upgrade later :D Heck I have even recorded my acoustic guitar with the PC mic with good results!! what kind of PC do you have? Let us know how you are progressing 8) --the dog

That is why I recommended the M-Audio MobilePre Audio Interface. It by-passes your card via USB.

Tracker,

As you can see, I'm trying not to step right on the eggshells...
In my eyes, M-Audio's products are a pretty good bargain for a newbie, and I'd
recommend it myself if money wasn't an issue here.
As for USB devices, it can work just fine if your PC is set for it (enough RAM
and processing power, right configuration, and USB 2.0 included) or if you're
not intended to overload it with lots of channels (which is obviously not the case
here). Nothing important for now, but must be stored somewhere in the back of
the head just in case you'll ever need it.
Heck I have even recorded my acoustic guitar with the PC mic with good results!!

Dog,

That's just not true, or just distorted.
It's highly possible to make your first steps with hitting record buttons while
using an on-board sound device, but it's something completely else to make
your first steps at audio recordings. Since more and more first albums are being
self-produced at home nowadays, gear's price is dropping constantly. Now, I'm
NOT saying that you should run and get the best money can buy, but you should
certainly consider one or two things beforehand. It's not too bad to have a rather
noisy recordings on your first trials, I'll even look the other way on the card's
low SNR, you can say it isn't important, but "good results"?? C'mon…
All I'm saying is that you must consider the latency. Just for miking an acoustic
guitar with a PC mic would do, but by thinking this way you're limiting yourself
for that only. When you look at it this way, spending 90$ seems a waste for me.

Have a nice day!
-Elvis.