$300 budget...

[daveIT]

I want a recording setup...to record my geetars. I have a couple tube amps that I'll want to mic up.

I already have a good set of headphones
Looking at a used M-Audio Fasttrack Pro for $100
I've seen SM57/Cable deals for about $70-$100

My amp stand has an attachment for a mic boom...so I need one of those...$10.


What else am I going to need? Maybe a set of monitors...seen those used $50 or new $99+?

[Old Cane]

Normally I would say don't buy cheap monitors but I just read a review of the Tascam VLM3 and for $99 I'd say start there. But sure, $100 for an interface, $100 mic and $100 for monitors. There ya go. It'll keep you busy for a long time. A 57 you will always have but everything else you can upgrade as you are able or want to. Or not. If it does what you need no need to spend more.

[Martin R]

I've got a Fasttrack Pro and a couple of 57's I record guitar with. Any electric you hear on the link below was done that way.

What software will you use? If you have a Mac you're set with GarageBand.

[daveIT]

So I found an SM57 for $65 shipped...still looking for the rest. The $100 Fast Track Pro fell through, so I'm looking for other options as well. I don't need any fancy "modeling software" or anything.

Mic Boom - Musicians Gear from Musicians Friend $10
Mic cable - $15

What's the best audio interface for $200-ish? Only need inputs for guitar & mic.

I have a Mac w/ Garageband, so I'm covered there.

[brewwagon]

susan and terry jacks the poppy family invested $625 and cut "which way you going billy " and sold over 2 million copies " in 1969/70

[daveIT]

Well, my budget is only $300 so I'll probably sell a little less than a million! :-0

[woodman]

Shoot, man, I'm at that point in my career that sales in double figures are astounding!

[Warren Pederson]

The Poppy Family???...Brewwagon you are seriously embarrassing ALL Canadians. I don't care how sweet the recording enginuity is.

[1955]

57 for amp and a good fairly flat frequency response pair of earphones. Mine are sony and they were maybe 30 bucks. 3 or so boom boxes to test mixes on. Simple mixer/recording station. Set all your eqs flat in your car and at home to train your ears and that's all you need. Don't get too complicated and you'll focus more on the actual playing which imo is more important.

I had all kinds of stuff at first, but through the years found that mixing on the phones and testing thru the boomboxes and in the car is all I really needed. Most people listen to music on junky computer speakers or earbuds, jamboxes, etc. There is such a thing as an audiophile addiction which can lead to gear-lust and it got me good for a couple years.

The bass is the elusive thing and you have to try different volumes on playback to get that right. For guitar, though, i just cut everything under 90 or so and limit/compress a little, maybe -10 db at 4:1. I just set the mic somewhere between the center and edge of the speaker, pretty close on, that's just me.

Don't forget that the recording gear industry is one big money-pit even for diy-ers and you don't have to have fancy-smancy to get a decent sound. The performance is where it's at and if your amp sounds good, you're half way there imo. Plus, always cut and don't boost works for me. If it's muddy on the whole mix, cut at 250/300 HZ.

What I just said is worth at least a couple thousand bucks I could've paid more bills with way back when. Some could argue that some gear is worth it, and wouldn't be wrong, but it all depends on how much dough you got, because once you buy it, it's never worth that much again.

[Okieactor]

http://pro-audio.musiciansfriend.com...dle?sku=702525

Up your budget $100, buy it as a package. I saw this online after having the GC sales guy try to sell me all the stuff separately. Pretty nice, I think. Looks like maybe you'd have to add a pop filter.

[Old Cane]

Up your budget? Well up yours! Ha, I hardly ever get to sya that.

Anyway, yeah, that's a decent deal for sure but I'd just check craigslist and get the best you can for $100. There should be some presonus and m-box and so on used for that. A lot of guys give up and a lot of guys move up so you should be able to pick up something. It will most likely come with a "lite" DAW if you need it. If it has 2 mic preamps and speaker outs and a headphone amp they are all going to be very similar in quality. And remember that sure there are some with premier premaps and/or converters ($2-5k) but the ones in the $200 boxes now are probably at least as good as the ones used in the '80s. They made lots of recordings in the '80s.

[daveIT]

Well, blew the budget a bit...but sold a couple pedals and some bicycle parts to compensate. I got a MOTU Ultralite mk3 for $105 off during one of the Guitar Ctr online sales. $20 for a used mic cable and boom stand off CL and my $65 SM57...so I'm still under the $625 to sell a couple million like "the Poppys" above...

Planning to mic up the amps, but I've been having a lot of fun with the amp models and effects in GarageBand...haha! Love the 'old school funk'...I need to make some porn soundtrack music!

[Rolling Estonian]

When I first got my Line 6 UX2 with Podfarm, I was absorbed for days! Tons of combos. Very fun stuff!

M