recording bass,guitar,vocals etc

kimps

ok, here's my query..

i'm really hoping you guys can help me with this as i'm trying to get this for xmas,,

my hubby plays bass, guitar amd drums and doesnt sing too badly either

he wants to get a band going ultimately but for now he wants to put some of his own songs together and set up a website to get his sound out there, and to add to myspace etc..

what he wants to do is play the bass line to the song, then the guitar separately, then the vocals, and although he has a drum kit, its in storage at the mo as we're only in a small apartment, then he wants to put all the separate recordings together on the computer and put them together as the one song if you get me?

i think the idea would be to get a package that would enable him to put in synthetic drums through the software..

what would be the best thing to start him off on?

he would be using my laptop, fairly recent, average specs, average soundcard etc..

i got talking to several stores and had both the zoom h4 (about 299euro)and the m-audio thing thats about 350euro, norw i was given conflicting pieces of advie in 2 stores.. one said the zoom h4 would be better than the m-audio if he tends to go off into a room and just play and wanted to play straight into the thing rather than having to hook up to the laptop too.. but the other store said the zoom h4 doesnt allow you to record bass/guitar/vocals etc separately and then layer it together.. is this true?

then i was also told about a little fastrack thingy thats about 150euro that was basically suposed to be a starter thing but would need upgrading and only comes with very basic software,,

the m-audio pro-tools stuff looked impressive but the cubase stuff that comes with the zoom also looked good.. i was told he would certainly grow out of the fastrack one, but never the m-audio one..

now i'm just confused cos i have no idea about all this stuff..

based on what i've told you he wants to do exactly, could anyone advise me on what to buy?

thanks a million!

Kim x

Doctor J

I used to use cubase but started using protools about 4 years ago. One of the best things about it, in my opinion, is its popularity in studios. Essentially he could record guide tracks at home, take his file into a studio and record drum tracks there, or other instruments too loud to record at home, and then record the rest of his instruments and vocals back at home, all in the same file. The protools version that comes with the m-audio is compatible with the professional version which is found in a huge number of studios around the country, it's proper studio software. I think it also comes with a scaled down version of the sequencer program Reason, which has very decent drum modules in it, should he not want to dust of the kit.

Cubase and Protools both do a similar thing and you'll find plenty of people on either side, it comes down to a personal preference, both would do what you need.

Forget the zoom thing, it wouldn't be suitable for layering a decent number of tracks

Royale with Cheese

Had a zoom 12 track recorder years ago, use cubase these days. Far better quality recordings for a smaller price. The recording desks are handy for jotting down ideas on, but not really for producing demos.

cornbb

Whether he uses Cubase or Pro Tools is pretty irrelevant. Don't buy the Zoom h4, that sort of thing is aimed towards doing field recordings/live recordings/jotting down ideas and isn't the best value for money for home use. The only advantage there is that it doesn't need to be connected to the laptop, but if he wants high quality recordings, connecting to the laptop is the only way to go.

What you need to get is essentially a fancy sound card for the laptop - something like an M-Audio Fast Track (if thats the m-audio product you were talking about).



All his gear is then plugged into this and the recording is done by software on the laptop, eg Cubase or Pro Tools. Most audio interfaces like the one above will come with cut-down versions of these (eg Cubase LE or Pro Tools M-Powered) so make sure whatever you get has something like this included.

TelePaul

cornbb wrote: »

Whether he uses Cubase or Pro Tools is pretty irrelevant. Don't buy the Zoom h4, that sort of thing is aimed towards doing field recordings/live recordings/jotting down ideas and isn't the best value for money for home use. The only advantage there is that it doesn't need to be connected to the laptop, but if he wants high quality recordings, connecting to the laptop is the only way to go.

Correct me if I'm wrong but doesn't the H4 allow use as a sound card? You can use it's in built pres to record to a sequencer AFAIK. Nice mics on it too.

Edit: Sorry, OP that was probably confusing!!! Cubase is a very powerful piece of software and your husband will be able to make some pretty good recordings with it. What Cornbb suggested is good advice, a USB interface is the way to go. You might need to look at a microphone too.

cornbb

TelePaul wrote: »

Correct me if I'm wrong but doesn't the H4 allow use as a sound card? You can use it's in built pres to record to a sequencer AFAIK. Nice mics on it too.

A quick Google tells me you are right. Touché, Mr. TelePaul

I guess that does make the Zoom a viable option then...

Whats your overall budget kimps?

TelePaul

cornbb wrote: »

A quick Google tells me you are right. Touché, Mr. TelePaul

I guess that does make the Zoom a viable option then...

Whats your overall budget kimps?

It's a handy little gadget but some of the pre-sets are a bit gimicky....the OPs probably better off without with a 2 in 2 out USB with phantom power.