Looking for a cheap home recording set up

6stringmaniac

Hi
Im very new to this home recording thing and was wondering if you guys could help me out.
I read all the stickies but now i need advice on what to buy.
I have a low budget of about 200/250€ but i can go over it a bit.
I want to record guitar, vocals and maybe drums.
The computer Im going to use is a
Samsung r60 plus Running on Windows Vista-http://www.mobilecomputermag.co.uk/20071212213/samsung-r60-plus.html

What I want to know is the raw essentials of what i need, as in Mics, DAWs, Audio interfaces, Monitors.
Whick of those can I do without and still get decent enough recordings

I was thinkin of buying something like this:

Lexicon Omega Studio(Comes with cubase LE) - http://www.thomann.de/ie/lexicon_omega_studio.htm

Any recommendations or ideas?

TelePaul

You're going the right route with an interface. Just make sure the company has released Vista drivers for it.

You need a mic...if it's acoustic guitar you're after, you should probably go with a condensor, or more specifically, a large diaphragm condensor, plus mic stand, plus cable.

You wont be able to get worthwhile monitors on your budget...either hook your interface up to an old hi-fi amp/speaker combo or just use headphones for now.

Drums are the dealbreaker here...you need an interface with at least four inputs and four well-suited mics. I'd stick with MIDI and samples for now.

6stringmaniac

I was looking more at recording electric guitar. I can use my friends electric drumkit because it has a MIDI output. Any other Recommendations?
Is cubase LE any good?

TelePaul

6stringmaniac wrote: »

I was looking more at recording electric guitar. I can use my friends electric drumkit because it has a MIDI output. Any other Recommendations?
Is cubase LE any good?

Electric guitar = Shure SM57 on the amp.

Cubase LE is fine for what it is, it'll let you arrange, edit and mix your tracks. You can always dowload Reaper - free to try, uncrippled, unexpiring software.

6stringmaniac

I dont fully understand what plugins are. Also do you record everything seperately and then put it together on the computer or do you have to record it live (all at once). Also how many inputs would I need to record acoustic drums?

Like I said Im a complete newbie

TelePaul

6stringmaniac wrote: »

I dont fully understand what plugins are. Also do you record everything seperately and then put it together on the computer or do you have to record it live (all at once). Also how many inputs would I need to record acoustic drums?

Like I said Im a complete newbie

You're grand, these are all sensible questions.

'Plug-ins' are just software applications. A plug-in can refer to pretty much anything, but in the majority of cases, they're a digitally rendered version of a piece of audio hardware...amp, compressor, reverb unit, EQ processor etc etc. Most of them come in the form of a graphic interface with tweakable knobs and buttons.

In your case - and in the majority of cases - you'd record everything seperately...drums, bass, guitars, vocals, one at a time. Then you use Cubase to edit it all - change the volume of certain tracks, pan them (how they sit in the stereo field), add effects, fade-in/out etc etc.

For acoustic drums you'd probably need at the very least 4 inputs...a firewire interface with 4 inputs would let you direct each mic to its own individual track, i.e one track for the kick drum, one for the snare, one for left overhead, one for right overhead. This obviously gives you alot of flexibility when it comes to editing them. USB can't really route to more than two (though in some cases four) tracks, so you lose a little functionality. But without a good kit, good mics and a good room, you wouldn't be able to do much with drums anyway.

6stringmaniac

Thanks for all your help. Youve been great. Thes are probably my last questions.
On my guitar amp there is an output that you can use for an external speaker/headphones. Instead of micing the amp could I connect that to the audio Interface?
Also would this sound bettter or worse than Micing the amp with a Shure SM57?
What exactly is a preamp and do I need one?
What advantage is firewire over usb

Edit:Also, can you plug an electric guitar straight into the audio interface? If so how do you control the type of sound you want?

TelePaul

6stringmaniac wrote: »

Thanks for all your help. Youve been great. Thes are probably my last questions.
On my guitar amp there is an output that you can use for an external speaker/headphones. Instead of micing the amp could I connect that to the audio Interface?
Also would this sound bettter or worse than Micing the amp with a Shure SM57?
What exactly is a preamp and do I need one?
What advantage is firewire over usb

Edit:Also, can you plug an electric guitar straight into the audio interface? If so how do you control the type of sound you want?

Questions are good, it's essential that you know the basics.

What amp is it? Is it a line-out or an emulated D.I out? A headphone output wont drive a speaker in most cases. If it's a D.I output, then yes you can connect it, but it mightn't sound very good...so much of an amp's sound comes from moving air. So micing an amp is usually always your best bet. I know it might be difficult if noise is a concern, but it'll almost always produce better results.

A pre-amp provides a low-level signal to a line effect. It basically prepares (pre) a signal for the next stage in processing. You wont need one right away - the interface you provided a link to and others like it have built-in Pre amps. Some interfaces - some firewire ones anyway- may boast say, 8 inputs...but they only have 2 pre-amps which means you have to find some way to power mcirophones.

And yes, you can plug your guitar straight into the interface but it wont sound very good. You can get amp-simulation plug ins or run a POD or something similar before the interface.

6stringmaniac

I found a microphone called the GLS ES-57. A clone of the SM57.
Ive read alot of good reviews on it and am thinking of buying it.
Anyone have any expierience with it?

studiorat

6stringmaniac wrote: »

I found a microphone called the GLS ES-57. A clone of the SM57.
Ive read alot of good reviews on it and am thinking of buying it.
Anyone have any expierience with it?

The GLS has a higher impedance than the Shure. Basically it'll be quiter so you'll have to turn it up more, thereby making more noise in the chain.

Pusshead

Hi dude,

I find the Line 6 toneport UX2 is great for home recording. You've got a ton of guitar, bass amp & mic pre-amp models at your disposal. You also ableton live (correct me if i'm wrong) multitrack recorder with it.