What Is Needed To Recorded?

If your a newbie at this then don't get too hung up on loads of quality gear. Move into it slowly and make sure it's for you before you go spending too much money, you can build up as you go as you get more experienced. Despite what some people may tell you, it is entirely possible to get good results with basic software like Cubasis or even some of the freeware out there. Start with just a reasonable sound card and microphone and cheap software and take it from there after you have gained some experience.

If you do live stuff as well then start with something like a SM58 mic and use that until you can justify something more expensive like a decent condenser, you may even find it does everything you want depending on your needs. Mixers are not a necessity to start with, you may want one at a later date but not necessarily. The most important thing which I would consider a must is a low latency sound card, the Creative ones can give good results but I would personally stay away, they are not the cheapest and they are restricted to 48k sample rate for ASIO. I cant think of any particular one right now but there are some decent cards out there, not a lot of money and equipped with balanced XLR inputs which will take a mic differently.

Thats my 2 cents worth anyway :)

Lee

As in, what is included the the recording process. I've been trying to come up with a list of the things you need.

Don't blow a tremendous amount of money to start with.

Keep your signal chain simple and learn the basics first.
In it's simplest form you'll want:
Mic -> Pre-amp -> Sound card
Personal recommendations for above:
Mic: Shure SM-57
Pre-amp: Art Tube MP
Sound card: M-Audio Audiophile 2496, or their Delta series cards

Keep in mind that you really should dedicate a computer to recording and nothing else if you can. That way you can tweak the computer for recording, and won't have all the services running and stealing processor power that "normal" computers have.

Software: START WITH THE FREE STUFF.
Yes it's limited, but it's powerful enough for you to learn the basics of recording, and get an idea of what features you'll need when you do drop some money on a recording suite.

Things to try:
Audacity
Krystal Audio Engine
Pro Tools Free (win 98/Me only)

heu guys i know nothing about recording,but what is a sound card??and what does it do??

heu guys i know nothing about recording,but what is a sound card??and what does it do??

It's what lets your computer interprut digital sound signals, and most importantly, let's your speakers play your music. It influences how well a system can record music, although the exact process and terms escape me. The higher the bit the better. Many cards are 16-bit, some better consumer ones are 18-bit, 34-bit to about 32-bit is good consumer stuff. I think 64-bit is a professional standard.

Now, just if you guys would play with me here, and help me understand the concept better through a scenario, I would greatly appreciate it.

If money was no factor, as in you could get anything that is right now available or being developed anywhere in the world, with the intention of trasmitting a sound played by a band, live (as in the whole song at the same time, no overdubbing) in a way that sounds most like what is being played at the time, what would you include in the rig? No any specific model, nor even an idea of what kind of each thing, just in general what would be included?

I'm thinking:
what is being played by the band and how the acoustics treat it>preamp>microphones/pickups>sound imaging>signal processor and/or condenser>pitch corrector>another pre-amp>level frequency mixer>microphone level filter>audiocard>computer program>digital sound encoder>cd-burner>cd.
Anythign else? Any changes in the order? Mor or less pre-amps?

Well, if money's REALLY not an object... and if the goal is capturing the live performance... I'd scrap all the signal processing stuff (since it's all designed to 'enhance' sound, it's no longer a duplication of live). I'd take the money you save by scrapping that gear, plus a boatload more, and invest it in microphones and a mixing board. Figure at least five mics for the drums: one on the bass, one on the snare, one on the high hat, 1-3 for the toms, and at least one overhead to pick up the cymbals. Then you'll need one mic for each other instrument and voice.

Now you've got somewhere between 5-8 channels of drums, and probably another 4-8 inputs from the other instruments and vocals, so you're looking at a 16x2 mixer.

If the bleed from one instrument to another is tough to manipulate (and it probably will be), then I'd get a few more boatloads of money and build isolation booths for at least the drums and vocals.

The mixing process will allow you to adjust levels and add EQ to the different tracks to get a balanced sound.

Don't forget to leave enough money in your budget for good headphones for everybody :)

Actually, wouldn't merely two vocal mikes and two instrument mikes best capture the sound which people in the room with the band would hear?

Although more mikes might capture the sound that exists when the instrument is played, or a note is sung, but what I'm going for is the audience effect. Not neccessarily to make it more true to the intended sound, just what the audience hears. It's not for any ethical reason either, just that I believe natural would be better. I can't prove that based on any theoretical level, but it's just logical that it would be that way. Plus, otherwise if it weren't we'd all be listening to midi files with overdubbed lyrics.

Haha.

By the way, sorry about so many questions but I have a tad few more questions. These will be a bit quicker hopefully.

a) Does a pre-amp or audio interface connecting by USB damage the sound at all? If so, are all USB cables the same, and the difference in reliability?

b) What are the effects of multiple reamps, let's say you turned a pre-amp to add 5 db to the low band, and than through another pre-amp on a amp cab to add add 5 db, what would be the ttoal, effect: bass band lower by 10 db?

c) Does a band effect a range or a group of frequencies. Like a bass band would it be like all frequencies from 32-250, or only at the 32, 64, 125, 250 keystone frequencies?

The reason I put so many mics on the drums, cmaracz, is that drum sounds reverberate so much they can get muddy fast - you want to capture them close to the source so you can adjust the balance better in mixdown. Otherwise you end up finding on playback that the cymbal crash is buried, or the bass doesn't come through... and then you need to move your one or two mics around and do the take over. (I did some record production in the early 80s, and learned this the hard way - when I was paying for the studio time and thought I'd save money on setup. In case you wonder why I no longer produce, it's because I learned enough things the hard way that I never made any money at it!)

For the new Qs...

1. anything going through the USB is digital. You won't 'damage' the sound, since it's all 1s and 0s at that point.... they're still 1s and 0s on the other end. I haven't noticed any difference in USB cables at all.

2. I think you're complicating things by doing EQ at multiple points, and I really don't understand what you mean by 'lower by 10db'. My understanding of db boost through EQ is that it raises the peak-to-peak signal ratio. I found a chart in an old Craig Anderton book on recording that shows a 5db boost is a 1.78 increase in peak-to-peak. Doing that twice would give you 1.78x1.78=3.1684... his book shows 10db at 3.16, so yes, you'd get a 10db boost.

3. EQ affects the whole band - and then some. The ends of the range are roll-off points, where the effect of the EQ boost or trim starts to decline (or roll-off, hence the name). Some EQ units allow you to adjust the slope, which is how fast the EQ affect rolls off once you hit the end of the range.

haha thanks a lot. And sorry if you might have been annoyed at my compelte lack of knowledge on the subject. I have never attempted to truly make an audio track with a clear sound, and have only ever seen cheap setups to have any idea about. I was thinking that using too many mics, such as let's say five mics for the drums, it would be difficult to remove any bleeding through and difficult to make a natural mix out of all the lines.

And thanks for the answers to the other questions. Perhaps the USB question might have seemed silly, but I figuared different USB lines might transfer the data in a slightly different format (some data formats are quite loseful,) hey, it could happen haha.

Yeah, you can't avoid bleeding through on drum mics. Just the nature of the beast. Still, the closer the mic is to the source, the better the input to the mixer... and I always mixed the drums first, then adjusted everything else to the drum level. Percussion mixdowns were actually a lot of fun, and mixdown time was about 1/3 less than recording time when I was doing it, so even if it took a while it was still cheaper than multiple takes (not to mention less tiring for the drummer)

I'm not a recording guru by any means (and the only recording I've ever done to a PC I can count on one hand with fingers left over). Just so there's a full disclaimer here, I started out with a dual-deck HK, then went to a TEAC 4 track, and currently do 8 track digital at home. My production experience was all 16 and 24 track. I'll bet there's a few folks on here with lots more production expertise who can give us both lessons! :)

In it's simplest form you'll want:
Mic -> Pre-amp -> Sound card
Personal recommendations for above:
Mic: Shure SM-57
Pre-amp: Art Tube MP
Sound card: M-Audio Audiophile 2496, or their Delta series cards

Question on the above, since I am in kindergarden when it comes to recording equipment. Could a modestly sized mixer substitute for the pre-amp in the above setup? I'm assuming mixers have the pre-amp function built in- I'm not sure. If I had a small mixer, I was thinking I could plug both the guitar and a mic into the mixer and go straight from the mixer to the PC. I'd also then have the added advantage of being able to balance the levels of vocal and guitar. If a mixer would work, what makes/models would be recommended for the entry level?

Question on the above, since I am in kindergarden when it comes to recording equipment. Could a modestly sized mixer substitute for the pre-amp in the above setup? I'm assuming mixers have the pre-amp function built in- I'm not sure.
Mixers do have the pre-amp built in, and yes, you can sub a mixer for a dedicated pre-amp.
As for which mixer to buy - that depends on your budget. In general you'll want a mixer with high quality pre-amps for recording ( lots of head room, low distortion). Buy the best you can afford.