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[Metallus Maximus]

Metallus Maximus � Metallus Maximus Forums � Musician Outpost (Moderator: Hellboy)
Recording equip/software

[Carl Wood]

I know nothing about recording/engineering and was wondering if anyone here can offer me some advice about what I should invest in?

What I'd like to do:

- Record and edit guitar tracks
- Add effects
- Add and edit additional tracks (bass, drums, vocals, etc.)

Budget: less than $700CAN
Hardware: PC

Thanks for the help.  I was looking at some gear yesterday, but it's quite expensive, and I want to make a somewhat informed choice.

[Release]

I use a Mac so I can't be of much help but you'll need an decent interface to convert the guitar signal to digital (you might be able to use a standard audio card but the quality will be lower).  Crap in = crap out. 

As far as software, I've heard good things about Reaper which is a free digital audio workstation.

Sorry for not being able to help more.  I know a lot about the Mac side of things but nothing about recording on a PC.

[eaeolian]

Reaper isn't really free, but it *is* cheap - and the demo isn't crippled and doesn't expire, it just nags.

We did the last Division album with it, and it's as full-featured as anything on the market.

As for PC interface, there's several quality interfaces in the $3-400 range now. I use a PreSounus Firepod (now FP-10), which is probably overkill for you, but you can get the Firebox for about $170, and it has the same preamps, just fewer of them.

[Carl Wood]

One more reason to purchase a Mac...

OK, so looks like before I consider what software I'm going to use, I'm going to have to think about what interface I'd like to use.  Makes sense.

As for the "crap in = crap out" philosophy; I completely agree.  Granted I'm not running a studio here, but I do want a setup of moderate quality.

Let me check out Reaper, and the interfaces mentioned...

[Balls]

Try to find some used gear.

I would suggest looking into the Digidesign Digi002, it's an older model so you can find it for 500-600$ instead of $2000.... It also includes the full version of Pro-Tools, which is to me the best recording software out there.

Other than that you can look into some of the higher end M-AUDIO rackmounts.. good stuff in there

[Snamu]

A lot of interfaces now come with "basic" versions of recording software.  If all you're doing is recording and editing a (relatively) small number of audio tracks, you'll very likely be good to go.