Karaoke Forums

I am transfering to a new college in the fall and I will finally have a computer of my own. I'm buying a Apple b/c of the garage band feature...I would like to make a cd. Finally record something of my own...my questions is What kinds of equipment would I need or be interested in..What kind of mic, earphones, mixer? Can anyone help me with this?

_________________
† , †

SiNg LoUd !!!

~Tune in to hear me sing in late August!!!!~

Assume you are only recording vocal; then you need a mic; any mic will do. For better sound get a small mixer; you need the preamp for better signal imput to your sound card.

_________________
I can neither confirm nor deny ever having or knowing anything about nothing.... mrscott

There are a number of USB based mixers (and firewire for that matter).  But for most computer based recording I recommend the SoundCraft Compact series.  They're a little more expensive than the Behringer but I have the Compact 10 and it ROCKS.  When it comes to recording on a computer the mic preamps are quite good and it offers stereo inputs on the non-mic channels.  Which means that the Compact 4 has 2 mic inputs (at least one of which can be used for hi-z inputs) and 2 stereo inputs, or a total of 6 channels.  The compact 10 has 4 mics inputs, 2 of which support hi-z, and 6 stereo inputs (or another 12 channels).  All mic channels have phantom power.  The main advantage - it's designed for recording onto a computer.

The drawback is that they expect you to use the effects on the computer for the different channels.  This is a problem if you have an external effects unit for vocals because there is no aux send/return.  Not a problem if you plan to do mixing on the computer.  Note that it only has 2 channels out also.

If you want something a little more 'creative' check out the USB based mixers or the Mackie Onyx 1220.  The 1220 is about $500 but it's a professional level mixer that feeds 12 channels sepereately to the computer and another 2 channels of what goes to the mains.  You can record a show in 2 channels and hand it to the band and then mix the other channels later (they're recorded pre everything so the mix down is 100% digital).  If 12 channels isn't enough then look at the 1620 or 1640 which go up significantly in price.

Read through this for more info:
http://www.karaoke-forum.com/viewtopic.php?t=3991

and for more information
http://www.tweakheadz.com/

...for less than $200 you can get a USB based OR Smart Media/Flash Card based 4 track recording "studio" through Sam Ash/Musician's Friend, etc. that will act as a mixer, have built-in effects, have a metronome, loop, etc. ZOOM makes several good, inexpensive models in this category!!

I got into karaoke after a 2 year run as the singer for a local band. We recorded demos through a Zoom MRS-4B 4-Track Digital Multitrack Studio that I bought new for $149.99 that records about 25 minutes of real good vocal, instruments, etc. on a Smart Media card (though you could always get more/bigger cards as well!!). You then download the tracks onto your computer and can edit it through the software that comes with it (or garage band) and burn it to a CD. The CDs we made off of this machine were not super high fidelity, but more like FM radio quality, and we were more than happy with them!! The recording unit serves as a mixer, and you can always re-mix the tracks later using the computer software.

This is the route I'd suggest as someone experienced with live recording!!

_________________
C Mc
KJ, FL

Thank you all for the reply! I will look into some of these types! I am mainly worried about the mic/headphones now, I don't want to waste money on a terrible mic or headphones with poor sound quality.

_________________
† , †

SiNg LoUd !!!

~Tune in to hear me sing in late August!!!!~

I recommend a Mackie DFX-12, a Behringer Ultragraph Pro, a BBE, and depending on what you want to do either a pair of JBL EON 15 powered speakers OR some Peavy 15 inch towers and a quality amplifier.  My fave amps are made from Crown.  You'll also want a cheap rack to hold your equipment, but you can easily find a 12 space on E-Bay for 50 dollars.  Check my web site (http://leathcodjing.netfirms.com) for my rack I got from E-Bay for only 40 dollars!  You can also get a good view of some of the equipment I mentioned there as well, as well as other stuff you may want to grow into in the future if you are intersted in Live entertainment down the road.  What I have is for karaoke but can easily be used for a live band as well.

The cost for all this equipment will be roughly 1400 dollars, but it's also a very strong system

EDIT:  oops I meant this for the post underneath!  Oh well parts should work for you too!

Leatho...he is not trying to put together a PA system, he wants to record vocal tracks!!

_________________
C Mc
KJ, FL

He's a She TopherM....and yes...I just want my vocals to sound great...I know I can do good mixing if I had to but, I'm wondering what kind of mic/headphones are reliable and less expensive...

_________________
† , †

SiNg LoUd !!!

~Tune in to hear me sing in late August!!!!~

Shure SM58 mics with pop filter for recording (Not my personal favourite, but a darn good mic)
Sennheiser headphones

_________________
† , †

SiNg LoUd !!!

~Tune in to hear me sing in late August!!!!~

_________________
Teri Jo
...May the road rise to meet you... just, not too quickly, and not too hard!

Buy a PC an look into ProTools, Cakewalk, Sonar or Vegas Pro if you honestly considering recording music.

M-Audio maks some great fire wire soundcards with killer Mic Pre-amps that are reasonablly priced for $200 to $600

Or if you are really serious I would buy a Mackie Onyx with the firewire card.

All in all, I started with a 8 channel mackie mixer and creative soundblaster pci512 and a 800Mhz celeron with 768meg of ram and created some great recordings.
I tracked everything one track at a time stereo.
It's not what you have it's how you use it, but as a beginner slightly better equipment will help one, vs inferior equipment that will anger you.

You will get much more computer for you money not purchasing a mac.

The most important purchase you will ever make is a good set of studio monitors.

Rule #1 Don't by Audio Equipment at consumer electonics stores.