Question for Greg and Hydra

Since my band broke up, Im looking to write more solo stuff. I can program drums, I just hate doing it, but I was looking for some input in recording.

My past experience has been with my ex bass player doing it all

What programs are the best and what kind of hardware do I need for my PC?

I also own this http://www.amazon.com/Line-6-POD-Studio-UX2/dp/B001EKECC2/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1357639318&sr=8-1&keywords=line+6+ux2

Well at the very least you need some way to get high quality audio into your PC and then you need a program to edit and manipulate said audio.

Some type of USB or Firewire interface is usually what most people are using. There's also PCI cards but that market seems to be drying up. Don't think there are many manufactures left who make PCI cards.

It looks like that POD thing would do the trick. Says it records 44.1kHz at 24-bit which is really all you need quality wise. As long as the latency isn't bad while recording (below 8 milliseconds is good right around 4 milliseconds would be more ideal)

If you're looking to mic up your amp you'll need some mics obviously. I think the most popular ones for guitar are Shure SM-57 and Sennheiser MD-421.

Getting mics and all that jazz can get expensive though and you'll need to learn some mic techniques to get the sounds you want most probably so if you don't want to go that route then there's the software modeling route.

I've messed around with amplitube 3 and guitar rig 5 and you can get some pretty decent sounds out of those. They're pretty pricey programs but a motivated individual could acquire them by other means.

You could also try messing around with cab impulses to get a more realistic sound if you're using amp models. It's kind of complicated to explain so look it up but it's basically an emulation of the frequency response of ABC cab miked with DEF mic in XYZ position. It's just a more accurate emulation than the amp software alone can provide. I don't have any first hand experience with impulses though. I think all you need to set that up is an impulse loader and some impulse files. I'm sure google could point you in the right direction though.

Now when it comes to your editing program (DAW) it doesn't so much matter what program you use in the way that it won't really affect the sound quality of what you recorded (unless you use the plugins within the program then sound quality may vary). What you're looking for in a DAW is the feature set and how easy it is for you to work with the program. You need the program to do what you want it to do in a way that's easy and intuitive for you.

Personally I like Reaper http://www.reaper.fm/download.php it has an awesome feature set that rivals any other DAW and they provide an uncrippled and I believe unlimited demo for you to try out plus the full program is only 60 bucks which is very cheap compared to other DAWs that will run you hundreds of dollars unless you were to acquire them by other means. Reaper is also open source which is pretty cool and their forums are very active and quite helpful.

But I'd say try a few different programs out and see what you like best/fits your workflow style better.

Hope that helps man.

Hydra pretty much covered everything. I would suggest some tutorials on youtube (micing techniques, DAW techniques, recording etc.)

I personally use Cubase, which I would recomend, although it can be a little steep learning and price wise.

Here's a few other DAWs you might want to check out. I don't have any experience with them though so I couldn't vouch but they are generally accepted as being pretty good.

FL studio
Ableton Live
Sony ACID pro
Pro Tools (probably shouldn't bother with this one)
Sonar
Presonus studio one

I think those are pretty well the major players in the DAW world plus Reaper and Cubase like me and Greg mentioned before.

HydrasBreath wrote:Here's a few other DAWs you might want to check out. I don't have any experience with them though so I couldn't vouch but they are generally accepted as being pretty good.

FL studio
Ableton Live
Sony ACID pro
Pro Tools (probably shouldn't bother with this one)
Sonar
Presonus studio one

I think those are pretty well the major players in the DAW world plus Reaper and Cubase like me and Greg mentioned before.

Ableton LIVE is geared more towards live mixing. Great for DJing elctronic music live, hence it's slightly off-beat approach and logic. I wouldn't reccomend this for Sym's needs.

Pro Tools are great and not as complicated as people make it out to be. They can be a bitch to install on PC sometimes as there are compatibility issues with some soundcards. Again, probably a reason to steer clear unless using a Mac.

Sony ACID....yeha, right. If you're gonna tackle a DAW, you might as well go for a more complete one. Sure learning curves might be a bit steeper, but it's worth it, both for end result and skills that you can pick up in the process.

I hear Sonar is good, but have not really checked it out.

What goes for Sony ACID goes for FL Studios of course.

Hydra, check your msgs.

Checked my messages... Nothing. And yeah I don't really know much of anything about those other DAWs I just hear them mentioned quite a bit... My bad.

I used to use Sonar years ago, but lost my ripped copy.

Sucks

Thanks guys

Recording it just kinda scary to me.

I dont have much experience in it

So that POD will work?

It should as long as the latency isn't terribad . The quality will be fine. Are you planning to mic or are you gonna use amp emulation?

Not gonna mic

Cant afford that right now....

SM57, a mic stand and an XLR cable is all you need to mic. Used, this shouldn't be all that expensive.

Shotgun Dismemberment wrote:SM57, a mic stand and an XLR cable is all you need to mic. Used, this shouldn't be all that expensive.

Yeah you could probably get all that for under 100$ if you get a used mic.