help me rebuild a cheap recording set up

Get that song on tape! Errr... disk?
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Larry Mal
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Re: help me rebuild a cheap recording set up

Post by Larry Mal » Thu Apr 14, 2022 7:12 am

panoramic wrote:
Thu Apr 14, 2022 6:20 am

that's good advice for sure. I am probably not going to get super expansive in my endeavors. I plan to make recordings with friends using this stuff as my days of being in a full on band seem to be behind me. I'm not a spring chicken anymore
Yeah, I was a little hesitant to mention this, since I don't see you needing a whole lot of inputs. However, there are creative options with certain preamps sometimes, maybe not something useful for you, but I wanted you to be aware of the possibilities.
Back in those days, everyone knew that if you were talking about Destiny's Child, you were talking about Beyonce, LaTavia, LeToya, and Larry.

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Re: help me rebuild a cheap recording set up

Post by panoramic » Thu Apr 14, 2022 7:35 am

Larry Mal wrote:
Thu Apr 14, 2022 7:12 am
panoramic wrote:
Thu Apr 14, 2022 6:20 am

that's good advice for sure. I am probably not going to get super expansive in my endeavors. I plan to make recordings with friends using this stuff as my days of being in a full on band seem to be behind me. I'm not a spring chicken anymore
Yeah, I was a little hesitant to mention this, since I don't see you needing a whole lot of inputs. However, there are creative options with certain preamps sometimes, maybe not something useful for you, but I wanted you to be aware of the possibilities.
It's definitely good advisement and I am sure i won't be the only person to reference this thread over time. I always look at other people's posts before i make one on any subject and read up on what was said previously just in case I don't need to actually make a thread. I know I made one 10 years ago about a lo-fi recording rig but that hardly has much value now as the entire game of recording has vastly improved much like reverb pedals and delays, they upgrade constantly.

has anyone tried this arturia interface?
https://reverb.com/item/50875905-arturi ... face-white
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Re: help me rebuild a cheap recording set up

Post by Firecat » Thu Apr 14, 2022 10:15 am

Larry Mal wrote:
Thu Apr 14, 2022 6:02 am
The Scarlett will handle your guitar's DI just fine. You don't need anything else for that.
I'm not sure I understand what you mean. You need some kind of amp/cab simulation to make it sound decent, especially if there's any overdrive or distortion involved. It sounds super thin if I plug in my pedalboard straight into my Scarlett interface, while it sounds great if I go pedalboard => Iridium => Scarlett.

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Re: help me rebuild a cheap recording set up

Post by Larry Mal » Thu Apr 14, 2022 10:22 am

Filipe wrote:
Thu Apr 14, 2022 10:15 am
Larry Mal wrote:
Thu Apr 14, 2022 6:02 am
The Scarlett will handle your guitar's DI just fine. You don't need anything else for that.
I'm not sure I understand what you mean. You need some kind of amp/cab simulation to make it sound decent, especially if there's any overdrive or distortion involved. It sounds super thin if I plug in my pedalboard straight into my Scarlett interface, while it sounds great if I go pedalboard => Iridium => Scarlett.
I guess I meant no other hardware was needed, but yeah. That being said, though, Garage Band not to mention Logic has a suite of pretty good amp modeling software built right in, so do some of the others.
Back in those days, everyone knew that if you were talking about Destiny's Child, you were talking about Beyonce, LaTavia, LeToya, and Larry.

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Re: help me rebuild a cheap recording set up

Post by Larry Mal » Thu Apr 14, 2022 10:26 am

And actually, REAPER has that too:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z4tOzcr94ks
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Re: help me rebuild a cheap recording set up

Post by Firecat » Thu Apr 14, 2022 10:27 am

Larry Mal wrote:
Thu Apr 14, 2022 10:22 am
Filipe wrote:
Thu Apr 14, 2022 10:15 am
Larry Mal wrote:
Thu Apr 14, 2022 6:02 am
The Scarlett will handle your guitar's DI just fine. You don't need anything else for that.
I'm not sure I understand what you mean. You need some kind of amp/cab simulation to make it sound decent, especially if there's any overdrive or distortion involved. It sounds super thin if I plug in my pedalboard straight into my Scarlett interface, while it sounds great if I go pedalboard => Iridium => Scarlett.
I guess I meant no other hardware was needed, but yeah. That being said, though, Garage Band not to mention Logic has a suite of pretty good amp modeling software built right in, so do some of the others.
Oh yeah, I see, that's definitely an option! I prefer messing with a pedal, but that's just personal preference I guess :)

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Re: help me rebuild a cheap recording set up

Post by panoramic » Fri Apr 15, 2022 6:10 am

Filipe wrote:
Thu Apr 14, 2022 10:27 am
Larry Mal wrote:
Thu Apr 14, 2022 10:22 am
Filipe wrote:
Thu Apr 14, 2022 10:15 am


I'm not sure I understand what you mean. You need some kind of amp/cab simulation to make it sound decent, especially if there's any overdrive or distortion involved. It sounds super thin if I plug in my pedalboard straight into my Scarlett interface, while it sounds great if I go pedalboard => Iridium => Scarlett.
I guess I meant no other hardware was needed, but yeah. That being said, though, Garage Band not to mention Logic has a suite of pretty good amp modeling software built right in, so do some of the others.
Oh yeah, I see, that's definitely an option! I prefer messing with a pedal, but that's just personal preference I guess :)
I'd probably prefer messing with the pedal too, I am going to add this to my list of stuff to pick up down the line.
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Re: help me rebuild a cheap recording set up

Post by panoramic » Mon Apr 18, 2022 6:19 am

I ordered a focusrite 2i2 interface on Friday and now have a decent macbook pro @ 2018 set up in my room. Next up I'll just dig into using this set up with garageband and the mics I have. I've got a decent mixer I can use for some stuff and a tascam dp08 in the bedroom I am on the fence with keeping/selling. I think i may funnel through some of the older equipment i had left over on reverb and see how much I can raise to upgrade as this process moves along. I am likely going to be getting some sort of synth for this or a controller and some drum machine too. Input appreciated as always!
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Re: help me rebuild a cheap recording set up

Post by panoramic » Mon Apr 25, 2022 8:10 am

Well i've gotten started making music again. All i've purchased so far are some adapters I needed to go to usb-c and the interface itself but so far I am pleased with the stuff I have been doing. Eventually I'll put up a bandcamp with my lo-fi cheese. Right now I am making drones as backgrounds for some light shoegaze and dissonance stuff that seems to be my forte these days.
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Re: help me rebuild a cheap recording set up

Post by marqueemoon » Mon Apr 25, 2022 8:35 am

panoramic wrote:
Mon Apr 25, 2022 8:10 am
Well i've gotten started making music again. All i've purchased so far are some adapters I needed to go to usb-c and the interface itself but so far I am pleased with the stuff I have been doing. Eventually I'll put up a bandcamp with my lo-fi cheese. Right now I am making drones as backgrounds for some light shoegaze and dissonance stuff that seems to be my forte these days.
That’s great!

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Re: help me rebuild a cheap recording set up

Post by UlricvonCatalyst » Tue Apr 26, 2022 12:30 am

panoramic wrote:
Mon Apr 25, 2022 8:10 am
Well i've gotten started making music again. All i've purchased so far are some adapters I needed to go to usb-c and the interface itself but so far I am pleased with the stuff I have been doing. Eventually I'll put up a bandcamp with my lo-fi cheese. Right now I am making drones as backgrounds for some light shoegaze and dissonance stuff that seems to be my forte these days.
Glad to hear you're sorted for the basics and back in the saddle. Have fun!

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Re: help me rebuild a cheap recording set up

Post by panoramic » Tue Apr 26, 2022 8:11 am

UlricvonCatalyst wrote:
Tue Apr 26, 2022 12:30 am
panoramic wrote:
Mon Apr 25, 2022 8:10 am
Well i've gotten started making music again. All i've purchased so far are some adapters I needed to go to usb-c and the interface itself but so far I am pleased with the stuff I have been doing. Eventually I'll put up a bandcamp with my lo-fi cheese. Right now I am making drones as backgrounds for some light shoegaze and dissonance stuff that seems to be my forte these days.
Glad to hear you're sorted for the basics and back in the saddle. Have fun!
thank you sir! It will be good to actually finish something. I'll share the new bandcamp as i put stuff together
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Re: help me rebuild a cheap recording set up

Post by panoramic » Mon May 02, 2022 5:35 am

UPDATE:
I was able to make a pair of my headphones work out so I stuck with the ones I had and now I have a large diaphragm cheapo vx mic coming in the mail, an mxl i got used. This should be pretty much what i need to get this whole thing cooking right.
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Re: help me rebuild a cheap recording set up

Post by mcatano » Fri May 13, 2022 4:03 am

For DI guitars, this is a very nice amp sim for $0:
https://www.kuassa.com/products/amplifikation-lite/

And this is a very nice pack of IRs that you can load into the above amp sim for $0:
https://wilkinsonaudio.com/products/gods-cab

If you're doing drone/shoegaze-y stuff, this combo will make an excellent pedal platform. It's basically a 5150 with IRs taken from an oversize mesa 4x12. I've been using it for all my home recording / demo stuff for a few years now and honestly, it sounds light years better than any "real" guitar sound I've had on any studio recording I made 20yrs ago when I was playing in bands and making records a lot.

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Re: help me rebuild a cheap recording set up

Post by mcatano » Fri May 13, 2022 4:57 am

Oh, also to the DAW question... the best choice is to use whatever your friends use. Tech support is important, and having someone you can call in a pinch is wayyyyy preferable to sifting through youtube tutorials.

Failing that, every platform is basically a lateral move; they all have weird quirks and strong points and weak points.

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