Totally lost on recording gear

jjmac1992

Junior Member
Hey, first post of many I've been getting into recording with my mac a lot lately and so has my band so I need some help on picking out all the stuff I would need to record into logic 8 to get some decent recordings. I'm not looking for grade a quality but enough to get by. If you have suggestion on what direction I should go it is much appreciated.
 
Welcome! I am not so long in the tooth around here, but I been a messge board/forum guy for a long while now. It sure is cool to have a forum like this with all kinds of people with the experience you are looking for, which is why we are all here...

I will give ya a few tips before ya get blasted...

"Search" is a clicky thingy in the grey bar up and to the right of this page kinda... It should be your first try when looking for information. I bet there are no less than 20 posts on this exact question.

Second tip: Be specific with your questions. The short and not so helpful answer to your question is "just use the onboard mic on your Mac and you will be fine!" The long and expensive answer is hire a guy at $1,000,000 a day to just record ya.

If I was you, I would be asking something like this...

"Hey, first post of many I've been getting into recording with my mac a lot lately. I would like to (insert specific question regarding mixing boards/mics/usb recording interface/recording software/specific kinda project) and I have $XXXXX amount to spend."

Trust me, I feel your pain in the lack of knowledge on this subject. I have been to like 3 seminars, own one mixing board and some mic's and have never ever recorded myself at home. I think I could, but for lack of time and room I just have not done it yet. This subject is a huge Pandora's Box. Every time you get an answer to a question, you will have more questions...

So let me ask some questions that should get you some more helpful answers than this long winded post.

  • What is your goal with the recording? Demo, gift for family, just wanna see how it works...
  • What recording gear do you and your band mates have?
  • What is your budget?
  • How long have you been playing?
  • How often do you and your band practice and how often do you play shows?

I hope I didn't make you feel silly, because that is not my intent. I just don't wanna see ya get thrown to the wolves on your first post!

and again,
WELCOME!!!!
 
I was in the same situation as you about a year ago. What I ended up doing was buying a mixer (Yamaha MG 12/6 or something like that) And three mics (Digital Reference, which is actually Audio Technica, but their DR-VX1's standard vocal microphones.) Then I plug the mixer directly into my mac through the RCA out but its split and goes into a one way which plugs into the mic in on the computer its a little microphone sign. I record in garageband and then compress the files in Audacity. I now have more microphones but that did just fine. I put one by the snare and tom under the high hat and crash one over head on the right from behind the kit to get the ride, other crash, and floor tom, and one on the bass drum. You'll need some stands but it works great and since I'm only 16 i've been recording local bands and making them demos ever since for some side money.
 
Get a Presonus Firepod. Use an overhead, a snare mic and a kick mic to record the drums and use the remaining five channels to record the rest of the group.
 
Get a Presonus Firepod. Use an overhead, a snare mic and a kick mic to record the drums and use the remaining five channels to record the rest of the group.

Agreed!

Shure mics are classic standards, I'm partial to Sterling Audio mics, Audix makes some things fairly cheap of good quality. Firepod is reliable, cheap, and has great sound quality. Throw in a few cables and mic stands, and you'll still come in at less than $1000 dollars.
 
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