Basic Home Recording

[Blackburn]

I was hoping you guys would provide some tips for good home recording setups. I'm not talking about recording a band, just basic amp demos and what not. I have a Shure SM57 and a little Yamaha mixer that a friend gave me. I'm curious as to what else would be needed/recommended. The Audacity program is free, but are there others that come with higher recommendations? I know there are better ones, but I'm not looking to spend oodles on a recording program and free is awesome.

I've heard a bunch of good clips here and elsewhere and decided it's something I'd like to learn more about. Any and all tips are much appreciated.

David

[xtian]

You're all set; just need to get the audio into the computer. Does the mixer have USB out?

[Firestorm]

The 57 is a little peaky (I forget the frequency). The 58 is the same capsule, but with a pop screen. I think you could eq your way around. But I always liked have a line level signal to mix in; direct box or such.

[lord preset]

You can get perfectly good sound from the SM57 if you play around with mic placement. It's sort of the defacto standard for miking guitar amps. You absolutely do need proper audio interface - the inputs to your computer sound card won't cut it. A entry level USB interface will run $100-200 depending on what you pick. Focusrite, M-Audio and Steinberg have decent units in that range.

And if you have the interface you probably wont need the mixer at all. The interfaces have mic preamps of their own so there in no reason to add more noise to the chain.

BTW, if the mixer is a recent model and has USB audio out you can try it instead of a dedicated audio interface but typically small mixers will only support 16-bit USB out - which might sound fine in your application or it might not..

[vibratoking]

It depends on what results you want and how much money you have. Sounds like you want to do it on the cheap, so use what you have. I've made some decent recordings using the A/D in a Soundblaster type card. Get Audacity, use your mixer, experiment with mic placement, and use whatever sound card you have. Experiement with the levels and you'll be surprised. So, don't spend any money and record a few things. You'll form an opinion and learn some valuable things along the way. Just do it...swoosh. You have everything you need. Well maybe a cable or two.

[lord preset]

It depends on what results you want and how much money you have. Sounds like you want to do it on the cheap, so use what you have. I've made some decent recordings using the A/D in a Soundblaster type card. Get Audacity, use your mixer, experiment with mic placement, and use whatever sound card you have. Experiement with the levels and you'll be surprised. So, don't spend any money and record a few things. You'll form an opinion and learn some valuable things along the way. Just do it...swoosh. You have everything you need. Well maybe a cable or two.

I think you misunderstand. People don't record to make recordings. They do it to have an excuse to buy more gear.

[NickC]

It depends on what results you want and how much money you have. Sounds like you want to do it on the cheap, so use what you have. I've made some decent recordings using the A/D in a Soundblaster type card. Get Audacity, use your mixer, experiment with mic placement, and use whatever sound card you have. Experiement with the levels and you'll be surprised. So, don't spend any money and record a few things. You'll form an opinion and learn some valuable things along the way. Just do it...swoosh. You have everything you need. Well maybe a cable or two.

I think you misunderstand. People don't record to make recordings. They do it to have an excuse to buy more gear.

Truer words were never spoke!

[Firestorm]

It depends on what results you want and how much money you have. Sounds like you want to do it on the cheap, so use what you have. I've made some decent recordings using the A/D in a Soundblaster type card. Get Audacity, use your mixer, experiment with mic placement, and use whatever sound card you have. Experiement with the levels and you'll be surprised. So, don't spend any money and record a few things. You'll form an opinion and learn some valuable things along the way. Just do it...swoosh. You have everything you need. Well maybe a cable or two.

I think you misunderstand. People don't record to make recordings. They do it to have an excuse to buy more gear.

Truer words were never spoke!

THAT explains why I have the Neumann! Used it, like twice.

[Blackburn]

Thanks a lot for all the helpful tips, guys. I have a buddy that I've not talked to in a while that has a studio and a lot of nice toys for recording. Only problem is, he doesn't do electric at all, just acoustic, but does have some of the nice things mentioned above that cost an arm and a leg. I'll see if I can hook up and get in there soon, but in the mean time be playing with the mike and mixer a bit and be seeing what I can come up with.

I just looked and the mixer is the Yamaha MG10/2. Is anyone familiar with that one? And as for mikes, I know there's a plethora of others that are great, but how about great and inexpensive? Again, thanks for all the help everyone.

[NickC]

If I could only have one mic, it would be a Shure SM57. Excellent for close miking a raging guitar amp, and a decent vocal mic to boot.


Don't get caught up in building a personal studio though. I don't recommend it. It becomes ........ what's the word? ....... obsessive.

[matt h]

(deleted)

[LeeMo]

You have all of the basics. Check out this article by Ethan Winer on hooking a mixer to a computer.
http://ethanwiner.com/mixer2daw.html

Watch your levels for peaks. Unlike tape that affords some compression when you bounce over the red line, digital recording crackles and distorts in a very unpleasant way when pushed over the line. Keep in mind that you have a much larger dynamic range available with digital so you can record at lower levels without hearing the noise floor like you would on tape.

LeeMo

[Firestorm]

Remember how "awful" the equipment was when the Beatles became famous. You don't need much, but you need ears.

A justifiably famous engineer I know said he would sometimes burn a quick CD, take it out to his car and drive around the block until he could hear what needed tweaking.

Get max undistorted signal on disk. Compress to taste. Everything else is EQ. IMHO.

[JoeCon]

OK this is interesting to me as well but I'm a Mac guy.
So an SM57 into an M Audio M Track into my Mac running garage band should do it??

[xtian]

So an SM57 into an M Audio M Track into my Mac running garage band should do it??

Yup. Perfect.