Recording guitar tracks and mixing on my computer

[SHRED]

Anyone know of any good sites, forums, and/or message-boards that explain/discuss how to set up a PC for recording music?

I want to add guitars including bass, vocals, and drums(drum machine or software). Then, of course, I want to do a mix down and burn. Nothing fancy, just clean sound for my enjoyment and others.

I might want a firewire solution due to the fact that I will be going from a desktop to a laptop in a couple of years.

My system:

P4 2.53 @ 533 FSB
Intel Blue Mountain 2 D845PEBT2 (5 PCI, 1 AGP, 2 DIMM, Audio, LAN, IEEE-1394) mobo
1g Crucial 2700 DDR ram
Seagate Barracuda(80 GB, 7200 RPM, Serial-ATA/150)
ATI Radeon 9800pro
Plextor CD-R 48/24/48x
Turtle Beach Santa Cruz sound card
etc...

Thanks

[emulatorloo]

1. Try this site

lots of good stuff at

http://www.tweakheadz.com/guide.htm

[St. Jarvitude]

2. I'm not sure exactly how an amp works

But I would think you would need a sound card with a decent Line-In jack.

If you do a little searching around on the DU forums, you can find old threads by people seeking help "ripping" their vinyl collections. You might find a few helpful tips there, I dunno :shrug:

Actually... I just found this:

http://home.tiscali.be/guido.vanspranghe/hsr.html

EDIT:

Oi... the page is horribly designed. To get the text, highlight starting from the top + scroll all the way down, and paste it in notepad or Word or whatever.

[nine23]

3. Buy a breakout box/card from Yamaha and you're set.

on edit: I say Yamaha because they have models from dirt cheap to pro, and you're up and running 10 mins after you get home from the music store.

I use ProTools and I'm a sound designer by profession. I could talk about this for hours but there's no point.

The above is your easiest entry/solution in my opinion.

[toddzilla]

4. harmony-central.com

that's one of the better places to go.

there's a software section and some home recording stuff on there too.

[democracyindanger]

5. I recently bought this

http://www.guitarport.com/overview.html

It's a Line6 product that connects to your PC via USB. Fairly inexpensive, I think around $60. Software allows you to simulate all sorts of effects and speaker types. You can also pay for a subscription to an online service that provides prefab setups for specific artists and songs.

I haven't recorded with it yet, but I've used cakewalk's studio before and liked it.

[SHRED]

8. Wow

So you can record with Guitar Port also?

I was thinking of getting a Line 6 but this is what I would have used a Line 6 for.
Awesome.

Thanks

[jdots]

6. go to our DU musican section= good answers there

first thing to do is get a whole shit load of money,then go buy a ton of stuff you can't figure out,toss it all out,then get a huge pile of money and go with the pro tools option & a few G5 macs.Now notice that your place has become a recording studio and the toilet has been clogged up by some odd person with a leather cape and spandex face mask.
The hard part is not going overboard,set a strict budget and stick to it !!!!!

[SHRED]

7. Thanks!

DU is the best!!!

Thanks again.



:toast:

[SlackJawedYokel]

9. Definitely go Firewire.

Firewire inputs... more money buys you more inputs... minimum 24bit/192Mhz and at least 2 inputs.
Your computer is fine, though I'd maybe consider adding another hard drive for storage.
Optimally what you want is a dedicated audio card... something like a TerraTech 88 for the DSP processing power but it isn't necessary.

Native Instruments makes a great VST/standalone proggie called Guitar Rig that absolutely rocks.
Get a good mike and a mike preamp.(Shure 57/58 is fine... try out some tube mike preamps for what your prefer)

For straight recording I recommend Adobe Audition 1.5(used to be CoolEdit Pro)check Buysusa.com.
You can record multi-track, mix down, and burn from Audition.
The Waves line of audio plug-ins are unbeatable.

If you want to branch out pick up NI Absynth(really flexible soft synth) or the Reason suite(unbeatable assets for the price... includes synths, samplers, drum machines and sequencers).

Good luck.

Cletus