General Music Chat

ok ppl here is yet ANOTHER dumbass question I need help with,,,,

have finally purchased Audix drum m ics, going through behringer 16 channel mixer ( 8 XLR 4 Stereo), WAS going to ADT until t-storm fried it, guitarist mentioned using computer. ???????????? ok I am 44 and a total idiot when it comes to sound and now they want Me to pipe the sound into comp??????????

waht hardware will I need?
what software?
user friendly?
can a caveman run it?
any and all advice is greatly appreciated.

going nuts in west texas

Audio computer solutions can be great but can also be complex and expensive and not very portable.

For example, to track live sound you'd need a sound card or audio input/output with multiple interfaces, fast processor, memory etc.

Add to this the fact that you'll have to get to grips with the software and you could end up spending frustrating days trying to get everything to work and sound how you want it to.

I'm guessing that you want to practice, play and record which is why I suggest you don't go down the computer route. It's not that you're not capable (everyone is capable), I just don't think you'll enjoy the time it may take to get up to speed and the little blips that delay what you're trying to do may frustrate you.

I would advise that you look into purchasing a 24 track digital recorder. These are getting pretty good now with pre and post effects, auto gain and levels, intuitive recording/tracking/mixing. If you get one with multiple inputs (just like the old analogue 4 or 8 tracks companies like Tascam made) you can output clean sounds from your desk and record each input on a separate track play/mix/re-record/produce at your leisure.

A 24 track digital recorder will also allow you to export the tracks to a pc if you want to play around with computer software. For example, some hardware comes with Cubase Lite (ideal for people looking to try out audio editing software). Once recorded on to your 24 track, you can import the audio into Cubase Lite and havce a play around.

Pro's for 24 track digital recorder:
portable (gig's, rehearsals)
no moving parts (low failure rate).
fast (they're designed to record multi track high quality audio)
intuitive and user friendly.
It's digital - that means hard drive or solid stat memory (like the 2Gb chips you get for digital cameras etc.) and that means record, re-record, make mistakes, erase with no need to buy extra media.
Archive all tracks and finished audio to your PC.

also

Some hardware gets you a FREE copy of Cubase Lite software to use on your existing PC.

Hope that helps.

I agree that computer based isn't the way to go unless you're only recording one or two tracks at a time. If you want just a simple recording setup for your own rehearsals or demos, get a digital recorder that records all the track simultaneously. The old ADAT 8-tracks can be found on e-bay for $200 or less. An 8 channel mixer would work, but you'll be repatching each time and changing the mix every time you listen back. I'd suggest you look for a 16 channel mixer. I had an Alesis Studio 32 that I used with my ADAT. 16 channels with designated send and receive for each channel for recording. I ran out of the first 8 channels into the ADAT, then out of the ADAT into the next 8 channels for mixing back. Worked great! When you listen back using channels 9 thru 16, you're not changing any of the recording settings, making punching in a breeze. Also, you could use your Behringer mixer to get a drum mix and just send it to two channels, giving you 6 channels for everything else. Some of the older Mackie 16 channel mixers had record outputs on the first 8 channels for doing this too.

Audio computer solutions can be great but can also be complex and expensive and not very portable.

For example, to track live sound you'd need a sound card or audio input/output with multiple interfaces, fast processor, memory etc.

- in other words you'd need a cheep laptop, soundcard and cool edit free edition...
my p2 500mhz processor w 512 mb ram would do 8 tracks easy...

there's a reason folks are dumping these multi track setups cheap...

Add to this the fact that you'll have to get to grips with the software and you could end up spending frustrating days trying to get everything to work and sound how you want it to.

sm stubling block you might have learning to run a reel to reel or adat or digi recording setup.

A 24 track digital recorder will also allow you to export the tracks to a pc if you want to play around with computer software.

feel the need to point out that a digi recorder has software in it and has a processor, ram and all the little goodies you find in any other computer...

I know this poster's heart is in the right place... but let me point out the benefits of going computer based:

-if soundcard bites the dust you can buy a new one... what if your adda converters in your digital recorder go? big bux
what if the disk drive in it fails ? instead of $50 for a new faster disk drive you'll spend redic amounts for their proprietary drive that's not nearly as good. what happens when they no longer support your $900 paperweight?

-you can incrementally upgrade - ie today upgrade soundcard, next week the software, then perhaps add some ram... no option to do this with a digi multitrack setup.

-for the money you can get ten times the performance from a computer

- you can get support from us on the web for a computer software setup... try that with your digi recorder.

-digi recorder has confined little graphic display- this limits the complexity of things you can do



there are some keys to having a successful music computer, here are the ones I know:
the biggest mistake most ppul make is using one computer for everything... you load it down with drivers, networking software, other programs, virus protection, etc etc and yes, it will ultimately lead to stress.

you buy a comp specifically for audio, never connect it to the net so that you don't need virus software, in fact don't even install a networking card.
dont' install microsoft office, vid games, etc. just install your operating system, the drivers for your graphics/sound card... and maybe some digital backup software that doesn't go online (paragon drive backup?)

install windows home edition instead of pro (this just means it won't install all the networking software... you could just install xp and 'tell it' to not install this stuff but lets move on)

make sure to get 1 hard drive for your programs - maybe 60 gig - (windows, cubase, etc) and buy install one dedicated hard drive for wave file storage - 500 gig. Always choose this second drive as the place to store 'temporary files' for cubase, cool edit etc...
DO NOT PARTITION A DRIVE!!!!!!!!!!!!

depending on how much performance you need... get the best you can afford in terms of processor(s/b 2ghz or up), 1ghz ram memory, decent graphics card -this would be avg or low end for today's standards.

don't rely on the cheap sound card that comes with a computer.... spend at least $100 and up to get something far better and designed to work with recording software.

start off using cool edit pro - it's free and does multitrack.
if you can afford it buy something else... cakewalk, cubase, logic...

that's all I'm gonna spew right now...

cheers however you decide to proceed.