Profile your home studio
It though it might be handy for people new to home recording if we each profiled our setups, since there are so many different ways you can go about it. I'll kick it off. Please post your own:
The hub of everything is a 24" iMac desktop computer. I get my sound into it via a Line6 TonePort UX2 audio interface. I use Line6's Pod Farm software to fake the amp and cab combinations I like, and I record that into either Ableton Live 6 or GarageBand '09. For drums, I use either Live's built-in drum sampler, Impulse, and the sounds that came with it, or I use Toontrack's EZdrummer lite, which came free with my Korg nanoPAD, a MIDI pad controller that I use to bang out drum parts. For more keyboard-type instruments, I use an M-Audio Oxygen8 MIDI keyboard controller.
That's about it. When I finish a track (which happens what, about twice every five years?), I render it out to a WAV file and then use Audacity (free, open source, audio editor) to convert it to mp3.
Wheat
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i actually have two....
My main one is a Powermac G4 desktop with a 17" monitor. I get the sound in thru a Digidesign 001 pci interface. i record on it using Protools 6.4. i have a M-audio keystation 66 keyboard midi controller and currently use an Alesis SR16 drum machine for any drums.
my other one is a Windows desktop with 17" monitor. it had a M-audio delta44 pci interface and i am still experimenting with which recording software i want to use but i do have Cubase SX3 and Protools M-Powered on it.
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Greg
Http://www.myspace.com/kybassmaniac
Http://www.youtube.com/kybassmaniac
*and it harm none,do what thou will*
Nice set ups, both of you.
Nice set ups, both of you. Audacity, Lightsnake, Dell computer, and Dr. Rhythm drum machine is all I have.
Bo
You don't love me, you just love my FINGERSTYLE!
Peavey T40; SX/Squier P-bass; Spector Legend 5
Roland Bass 30 Cube
My Gear
I play with a ibanez 5 string and Yamaha 5 string Little mark head, Kustom 4/10 and Kustom 15 The Deep End , with digitech chorus, Aphex bass xciter, Aphex Punch Factory, Tuner acurate with in 1 cent. Ive played a lot of brands over the years, this is by far the best rig ive played an owned. Aphex and MarkBass have done great things for a bassplayer, Punch Factory is killer, can now cut thourgh the mix and has endless sustain. The bass xciter, gives full body tones with giving it volume gain. Mark bass heads Rule, they are light but powerful, have a true tone not just a eq power block. Kustom cabs are great to not the highest priced but has thundering lows due to there are no ports, its a sealed box, produces crazy low end punch.
I like Kustom. My guitar
I like Kustom. My guitar amp is a Kustom Arrow 16R, which is an absolutely great little practice amp. At one point back in the early '90s, I had one of the big Kustom 2x15 tuck-n-roll amps on extended loan. That was a great amp! It cut through anything and it looked great, too.
Do you do any home recording, Randy? What's your setup for that?
Wheat
What I use and it gets the
What I use and it gets the job done ...
A washtub, an RCA44 mic and a Sony TC-630
For playin'
And these get the recording done;
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"Carburetors man!! That's what life is all about."
Musicians Collaboration Studio
Now that, is kickin' it old
Now that, is kickin' it old school.
Wheat
HA!
My Dad still has his reel-to-reel. It's a 1972 Sony. Still works very well.
I have both an old Dell PC
I have both an old Dell PC and a HP Media Center PC running M-Audio Session with a Fast Track M-Audio guitar/mic recording interface. I also render the tracks out as WAV files and use Audacity to convert them to mp3.
Geoff :-)
Right now I'm using a
Right now I'm using a Toshiba Satellite M70 Laptop for my music. It's running at 1.96 GHz. 2GB RAM. 80GB HD.
I run my bass and mics through a Behringer 16 channel FX mixer. I have my Chunk pedals on the insert port and my SansAmp inline with my bass.
All the mixer output goes to the Toshiba line in. I use PGMusics RealBand for recording and mixing. I also have Audacity as a fall back.
I use BiaB for jamming and arranging the BassIAB tunes.
I also have a Edirol Keyboard controller that I haven't really used yet.
iMac
I have my 17" iMac with Garageband 08. I use to just plug into the 1/4" jack and use the effects in Garageband. I now am starting to develop (pun intended) my new artistic outlet, photography. Aperture 2 is a powerful program. You think GAS is bad with bass gear? Try camera equipment. There are hundreds of lenses out there ranging price from $150.00 to $5500.00!
Wow! I guess I'll have to
Wow! I guess I'll have to stick with music. And I thought that was expensive!
I'm saving up for an Ableton Live upgrade. I'm on version 6. Version 8 is out now. But version 8 has a built-in looper that works a lot like my beloved Boomerang, but with Live integration (e.g. tempo mapping, etc.). I'd love to upgrade my EZdrummer Lite to the full version, too. It never ends.
Wheat
At least...
I'm seeing some ideas once I can convince the wife to let me spend some more on this hobby. Between buying the guitar and new pickups for the bass, I don't think that is going to be for a bit :D
That's the purpose I hoped
That's the purpose I hoped the thread would serve. There are so many ways to go about it, that it can be a little confusing/intimidating. I've used several over time, with varying success:
1) Yamaha MT-100 4-track cassette multi-tracker + Alesis HR-16 drum machine + some cheap mic + some cheap Realistic cassette deck for mastering.
Pretty much the perfect setup if you really enjoy frustration and don't care at all about quality. The drum machine was actually very nice, but I've never seen a 4-track cassette multi-tracker that was worth using.
2) Dell laptop + SonicFoundry Acid Pro 2.0 (later bought out by Sony and rebranded) + some cheap mic + Fruity Loops (for building drum loops).
Pretty good until Sony bought Acid and turned it into insanely resource-hoggy nonsense (e.g. all the versions after 3.0).
3) The current setup: iMac + Ableton Live + Line6 TonePort UX2
Kicks much ass. A pleasure to use.
Wheat
Alright, for real now ... An
Alright, for real now ...
An 8yr old PC that I had built for gaming AND recording, does both well but have since removed all the games and replaced the processor, audio card and video card.
Most everything I record is direct and dry. If I were to add a bit of moisture to the track I either do so during mixing OR I will toss the old ME-50B in-line. Every so often I will mic the cabs and for that I use a CAD-GXL-2200
All input/output is handled by an E-MU1616 and a 1010PCI card and a set of Alesis M1Active520 monitors.
To capture, mix and master... I use Alberton Live7, does everything I need and a hell of a lot that I will never need to use.
For drums I use the "Drum Machine" from Alberton, Some samples (about 500) from Cakewalk or I ask a real player to record a track.
For anything key related I use a Roland JV-30 Synth, a bit outdated but still in excellent and I picked it up many years ago for a fraction of what they sold for from a local studio that closed up shop.
A cool example of the JV-30, either turn the volume down or learn to speak Dutch but it gets the idea across well.
Most other instruments I leave to others to do with the exception of the occasional rhythm/lead guitar part but I keep those from the public's ears.
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"Carburetors man!! That's what life is all about."
Musicians Collaboration Studio