Need advice on Recording gear...

capel

capel

Active member
A friend of mine wants to get into recording sound. Not location sound, but music, singing and voiceover stuff. Can anyone here recommend a good mixer and computer setup? He's already got a mic. He just needs a mixer and decent computer for sound mixing.

Also, any software you guys might recommend (protools, etc.) would be great too. Thanks for any help!
 
If he only has "a mic" he probably doesn't need a mixer.

The question is a little like asking what kind of wine you should get, "not for cooking but just drinking". It's as broad as the ocean.

So I will give my general advice.
He needs to decide what software he likes, AND will run on his computer. Then he needs to get a decent interface that is known to work well with the software. If he wants to use PT then it's easy since it only works with it's own hardware. From what you describe he doesn't need a mixer, an interface with a decent mic pre should be fine.

Computer/ software is a chicken and egg kind of thing. If he has a computer then get software that works with it. If he doesn't and has options then get software he likes and get the computer that works best with it. The later is the best way to go but switching OS's can be very traumatic so if you are comfortable with Mac stay there, same with Windows. It really doesn't mater much what OS your on there is plenty of software that will suck your wallet dry for both.

At his level (I'm making assumptions but he's asking a non sound guy to ask questions about what he should get so...) he shouldn't spend a lot. If he really gets into it there will be LOTS to spend in the future.
 
Thanks for the detailed reply Noiz2.

Here's the thing. My friend is really unmotivated. I've always told him he has a gift for music, singing and voice acting (which he does. he's great) but the guy is just plain lazy. So he asked if I'd do the research for him and help him get set up to start recording.

I'm guessing he doesn't need some screaming, unbelievable computer to run protools. At least not at first. And yeah, I think at this point a mixer might be overkill.

Ok, I'll look into protools. Thanks again.
 
Helping out friends is great, but there's a lot of people who want to get into recording music. Only the dedicated and passionate stand a chance at working professionally with all the competition.

If your friend is truly lazy, then this may not be the ideal field...
 
It's hard to get a whole song recorded even when you ARE motivated! It takes work and dedication.

The easiest thing for him to do would be to get a mac, any mac. LapTop or DeskTop. It comes with Garage Band, and you can start recording immediately. It's a simple interface and there are many youtube videos about how to use it. Later, if he likes recording, he can buy something like Logic or Cubase for more professional features. Logic & Cubase are geared towards musicians, and have lots of synth sounds and things to get a rhythm going.

Interface. Get something with at least 2 inputs, so he can play and sing at the same time.

Here's a simple one that uses USB: http://pro-audio.musiciansfriend.co...Pro-Mobile-USB-AudioMIDI-Interface?sku=241710

If you want to record more tracks then you need a FireWire interface, as USB only does 2 channels.
 
If your friend is lazy stay away from Protools, the learning curve is not that gentle. I would second the garage band suggestion. It will do what your looking for and it's a lot of fun.
 
If he has a PC my roommate uses the fast Track Pro....... its okay for someone just getting started and like everyone else said if he likes doing it then he can upgrade , I think it comes with its own software to use too.
 
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