Home Studio Recording....need Advice

[danfran17]

I will soon be purchasing a new computer and the primary purpose will be to do home recording of my music with my guitar and some drum software. So I have 2 questions--

1- Should I go PC or Mac for this purpose?

2- Any suggestions on recording software and/or drum software or advice in general?

I have been playing for years, just new to the whole computer recording deal.

[Yetti]

Hey man,

Recording at home is way awesome!
As far as computers go i would choose what your most familiar with...you can argure with people all day about whats better mac vs. pc so go with what your most familiar with. - Your choice is also gona depend on what software your going to use or if you plan to buy any preamps, mixers ect...as well.

And for Software ive used Pro Tools, Cubase, Cool edit Pro, once ive tryed frooty loops or whatever its called.
Cubase and Cool Edit Pro are very good for begininers and pretty easy to figure out with a little guidance.
My Favorite program is Pro Tools because i learned it in school.
Drum software i personally only use Leaf Drums - that way i can Cue up my own samples and set them up pretty easily on any time signature.

My Current Setup now is i use:
Cubase -- because it came free with the Alesis 8 Track USB Mixer -- i bought The mixer because of the preamp and allows me to Fine tune my Highs, Lows, Mids while it goes into my comp for recording, also comes with 100 onboard effects to get better reverb and any other Effects that my amp doesnt do.
- I would much rather use Pro Tools because i love their setup for everything. But i will not purchase Pro Tools unless i become more active in recording at home. Its like 500 bucks so if you got the money you cant go wrong with that.
And as i said before For drum i use Leaf Drums - its an old program but does exactly what i need.

My Mics:
Berhinger 800/600 Cab Mic - For guitar the only real good mic i own and it does the job nicely.
First Act mic i use for vocals its pretty shitty but will handle vocals really good ive just never really had a chance to actually record it to tracks...i know it sounds good when im monitoring it, with my headphones.
- You have mics already im assuming right?

Ultimately my advice is with any equipment, you get what you pay for...you buy something cheap its gona sound cheap. I only record a few times a month, if that, and ive invested around 400 bucks in the equip i use and thats with just the mixer, mics, and other cables and accessories.
Secondly have fun with it...for the most part your going to learn by trial and error so u just got to experiment.

Hope some of that helps,
Keep questions coming if you have more.
Cheers
-Yetti

[Pete-Rock]

I mainly use Samplitude Professinal which I can really recommend. Its handling quite similar to ProTools. I run it with a RME Hammerfall 96/32 Card which is studio standard.

Check them here

http://www.samplitude.com/eng/seq/

http://www.rme-audio.de/en_products_hdsp_9632.php

I also use WAVES plugins, they are definitely the shit, I highly recommend them!!!!!!! The problem is that they are very expensive and that for I would say only buy them if you really use them!

I got several mics, a Neumann U87 and the new Brauner Phanthera for example which are both excellent for recording vocals and can be used for instruments as well.

[Pete-Rock]

Oh and I would go with Yetti for the computer thing. Choose what you are most familiar with. Why buying a mac if you always used a PC?

[Yetti]

That samplitude looks pretty sick i just might have to check that out. Hopefully its compatible with my Mixer

[danfran17]

Thanks for all the info, it will take me a while to research it all as I hadn't heard of any of this stuff. The guy at my music store was steering me in the direction of a Line-6 port as my interface, then using N.I. guitar rig to get my guitar sounds and B.F.D. for the drums--any thoughts on any of this?

[Pete-Rock]

That samplitude looks pretty sick i just might have to check that out. Hopefully its compatible with my Mixer

I'm pretty sure it will work as it supports thousands of setups. Yes, check it out, it is awesome. And let me know what you think.