BTW, complete non-sequitur: What are DBing guitarists using for home
recording? (-Carl Edlund Anderson)
Good question. I'd like to know what other people are using, too. This is my setup- I'm including prices for some things, just to show that you can have a great system without paying $30,000 for a bunch of DigiDesign stuff.
Computers: 733 G4 tower with 1Gb Ram, 100Gb (a 60 & a 40) HD 677 G4 PowerBook with 384Mb / 30Gb HD 120Gb Lacie external firewire HD
Input / Output: M-Audio Firewire 410: 6 in/10 out. A great box for around $400.
Software: BIAS Deck: ($400 total- upgraded from the $99 Deck LE) Multitracker with 64 playback & 999 virtual tracks, VST, 5.1 surround mixing, and a buttload of other features. BIAS Peak LE: (included w/ full version of Deck) A waveform editor with VST and AU support. DoggieBox: Our favorite drum machine :-) Myriad Melody Assistant: Composition software with MIDI and a host of other features. At under $20, it has the same capabilities of programs retailing for $300-$700. Apple GarageBand: Love it! Great for experimenting with arrangements. Various software filling supporting roles: SimpleSynth, MidiKeys, Apple Soundtrack Loop Utility, Dent Du Midi, Audio Hijack, and iTunes.
Microphones: 2 Oktava MK-310 Condensers ($699 list, Guitar Center was selling a truckload for $99 each) 2 Shure SM-57 1 Shure SM-58 1 old Fender mic that works great with my particular voice.
Other Stuff: A Fender Roadhouse Strat, Samick bass, cheap Casio keyboard I keep meaning to replace, and a big horkin' pile of effects pedals, cheaper guitars, miscellaneous junk, cables, other instruments and whatnot. Also, a PowerBook 5300 that I stuck into my pedal board to keep my sheet music handy.
-Mike
*********************************** -- The Reverend Rat -- Rock and roll like it still matters. http://www.revrat.com ***********************************
BTW, complete non-sequitur: What are DBing guitarists using for home recording? (-Carl Edlund Anderson)
Well, I'm not quite as hooked up as the Reverend, but what I have works. Feel free to listen at www.itsallconnected.com/downloads.php. My setup:
PowerBook Ti 667, 512 MB RAM, 60GB HD (7200RPM) Edirol UA-5 USB Audio Interface (2-channel) One mic I got free with a mic stand (or was it the other way around?) One borrowed mic from a friend Deck 3.5 (upgraded from LE, $190 total) Doggiebox ($29) Zoom GFX8 Pedal ($300) Posting music and chatting with other Doggiebox fans (priceless)
What I really need to get next is some proper studio monitors. Anyone have a suggestion for a pair in the $300-400 range?
Cheers,
Christoph
On 27 4 2004 at 2:48 pm -0400, Christoph wrote:
What I really need to get next is some proper studio monitors. Anyone have a suggestion for a pair in the $300-400 range?
Actually, I would be keen on hearing recommendations on this too, since I'm in the same position.
I haven't gone on a listening spree yet, but some that I want to check out include the M-Audio BX5s and BX8s, as well as the Behringer Truths.
-ben
<quote who="Christoph">
What I really need to get next is some proper studio monitors. Anyone have a suggestion for a pair in the $300-400 range?
We use these and they're awesome. KRK Systems:// ST6
http://www.krksys.com/v3/passive_st6.asp
They have powered versions as well in your price range.
The Reverend wrote:
Good question. I'd like to know what other people are using, too.
Well, my set-up is pretty basic :)
Studio Hardware: * Roland VS-1680 (currently USD 8-900ish on ebay, I think). Apart from its inability to swap files directly with the computer, this is a great piece of kit. It packs a powerful amount of studio power and effects into a small, even portable, package. * AKG K 240 Monitor headphones (GBP 60-70 when I got them). Ain't got money or space for monitors :P * a cheap Shure Beta Green mic (don't remember what kind!). I need to pick up an affordable workhorse condenser mic like an AKG C1000S.
Instruments and the Like: * Gibson LP Standard guitar (about USD 900 second-hand in 1993). * Rickenbacker 4001 bass (about USD 500 second-hand in 1994). * Martin "backpacker" model mandolin (though I haven't recorded it yet!). * Thomas Organ crybaby wah (ancient and frankly in need of servicing). * DOD bass grunge pedal (though I haven't got good results from it with recording. * a little collection of old Boss stomp-boxes (my fave is the analog delay, mostly 'cause I like wrenching the knobs around to make horrendous "Dr. Who on acid" noises :) but I haven't been using them in recording. * _Doggiebox is my drummer!_ That should be a T-Shirt or something, no? :) He runs on a relatively new G4 iBook, using mostly ns_kit samples (because I like playing with velocity changes :) I run a little cable from the headphone jack on the iBook to a stereo splitter, and then into 2 seperate track inputs on the VS-1680. Sounds top-notch :)
I also have my Laney 50w guitar combo with me, though it's been banished to the attic since there isn't room in the "house" :) and I'm playing bass rather than guitar in live settings these days (for which the DOD bass grunge plugged into a borrowed bass combo seems to work fine). I have another guitar and Marshall 8080 combo and some pedals, I think, sitting in my parents garage, but that's on a different continent and not much use :)
I really want to get a something like the aforementioned AKG C1000S for vocals (and mic'ing the mandolin!), and I want to sort out something to improve amp simulation situation for my all-direct recording situation (though the guitars ain't _too_ bad even now).
But I have to say that DB has made the biggest difference for me in home recording. Being able to easily program up even a basic percussion track that I can play other parts over is _fab_. It just sounds more like real music that way :) When MIDI control (and multiple kits) come in, I am going to be in very good shape on the percussion front. (I'll still need to track down more samples to build "ethnic/world" kits, but that's do-able.)
Cheers, Carl
On 28 4 2004 at 12:34 pm -0400, Carl Edlund Anderson wrote:
- AKG K 240 Monitor headphones (GBP 60-70 when I got them). Ain't got
money or space for monitors :P
Same 'phones as I've got. I've been pretty pleased with mine.
To round out my input on this thread... even though I haven't been doing much recording lately (I keep chastising myself, must start writing again SOON!) my gear generally consists of:
- MOTU 828mkII for input (firewire with two mic preamps plus piles of analog I/O channels) - an Alcivar-brand electric guitar I bought used several years ago which feels great and sounds pretty good - Simon&Patrick acoustic I bought new just over a year ago, sounds and feels great - generic SM58-type microphones which I use for all purposes; I could probably stand to get some "real" mics sometime - the pedals I mentioned previously - uh... Doggiebox :) And I've actually just acquired a set of Apex- brand drum mics (clip-ons for the toms and snare, plus a kick mic) which I've not played with much yet but want to do some drums record shortly too.
- _Doggiebox is my drummer!_ That should be a T-Shirt or something,
no? :) He runs on a relatively new G4 iBook, using mostly ns_kit samples (because I like playing with velocity changes :) I run a little cable from the headphone jack on the iBook to a stereo splitter, and then into 2 seperate track inputs on the VS-1680. Sounds top-notch :)
Nice. :) That's a good slogan... I'm looking at various promotional avenues now too... cool.
(I'll still need to track down more samples to build "ethnic/world" kits, but that's do-able.)
If and when you do, please share!! :)
-b
Ben Kennedy wrote:
To round out my input on this thread... even though I haven't been doing much recording lately (I keep chastising myself, must start writing again SOON!) my gear generally consists of:
I guess I'll chip in here too.
Recording: - M/Box, going into a G4 450 DP - ProTools LE or GarageBand, depending on complexity. I find that GarageBand is really nice for quickly mocking up a song idea to show the band, but ProTools and DB are great for making more of a finished product. - Some AKG dynamic mic that sucks. I need a condenser Mic for vocals - My soundsticks and some crappy Koss headphones for monitoring (punk rock!)
Guitar Gear: - Behringer V-Amp2... only used for recording, but not much anymore. The Tech 21 going direct is much more realistic sounding. - Tech 21 Trademark 120 -- the 2x12, 120 watt combo version of the Trademark 10. It has 3 preamps, all equipped with the sansamp technology. - Dillion Les Paul Goldtop copy with P90s - FrankenTele built by a local guitar shop here in Portland - Dillion 56 Tele replica - Cheapo ($100) Kramer Focus P-Bass copy, works just fine for my recording needs
I used to have a ton of effects, but now I have none. I need to build my pedalboard back up very soon.
-Bret
Ben Kennedy wrote:
On 28 4 2004 at 12:34 pm -0400, Carl Edlund Anderson wrote:
(I'll still need to track down more samples to build "ethnic/world" kits, but that's do-able.)
If and when you do, please share!! :)
I would sure like to -- the difficulty is that most of the reasonable sources for WAV samples I've found are commericial (even if cheap!) and copyright technically forbids re-distribution as samples :P even if use in composition is allowable.
I could, of course, always pass thing "under the virtual table" ;)
And there's the "recipe" idea ...
All I've got so far is a list of sources and occasionally an email from someone in admin or sales assuring me that their purchase-for-download package contains multiple samples of the same insturment at different velocities and such. (Sample vendors seem bizarrely reluctant to reveal the details of what they want you to cough up for!).
I was listening to a CD by this guy called Cabas, though, and he has a few tracks with pretty rocking guitars and a pile of Latin percussion. Sounded different and pretty cool. I think I can get part-way there with the DB library Djembe kit in combination with a rock kit that has woodblocks and cowbells, though.
Hmm, what would dbsong format get like with multiple kits? I guess really it's sort of like two dbsong files glued together, of necessity sharing the same time signature(s) and tempo(s) throughout ....
Ben Kennedy wrote:
On 28 4 2004 at 11:09 am -0400, Carl Edlund Anderson wrote:
getting a halfway decent bass sound without demolishing buildings seems to be a real bitch! For me, anyway ....)
I've gotten some fat-sounding bass in the past by putting it through a good old Electroharmonix Big Muff pedal with the tone turned most of the way down.
Oh, yeah, I've got an Sovtek Big Muff reissuey thing, though alas stuck in the US at the moment. Hadn't tried it on bass, I have to admit!
Having said that, I've generally been using my Nobels Bass Overdrive pedal with my guitar lately (tone turned most of the way up) since I find it to sound more "organically crunchier" than the Muff...
I get good live results when running through my DOD "bass grunge" into an amp, but it sounded buzzy as hell when I was recording direct at home. I could really crank the pedal for a very trashy early-80s Lemmy sound :) but then I gave up and went back to twiddling with the VS-1680's built-in amp sims to get something more like what I wanted.
Cheers, Carl
-
Ben Kennedy -
Bret Van Horn -
Carl Edlund Anderson -
Christoph -
Corey Knafelz -
The Reverend