Beginners Advice - What Equipment Do I Need?

[lasvegan]

Hey guys,

so ive been using ableton live in the past few months to do some electronic music. pretty lofi, since i got no equipment other than my computer and my keyboard. still, its a lot of fun.

the things i want to do are: - record guitar tracks und edit them in a reasonable quality. right now im using a stealth plug by ik multimedia. there are better options i think.
- record digital music, probably using a midi controller and stuff like that.

what do i need to record better music, and realise my visions better? im a noob so im counting on you guys to give some advice.

thank you for reading,

david

[Yoseph]

I agree with the previous post. Get an audio interface. I'd recommend the M-Audio Fast Track. It's inexpensive, and it gives you a 1/4" in for a guitar and an XLR input if you get a condenser microphone. Take a look at the Line 6 POD studio if you just want to record guitar direct in.

[condra]

Spend most of your budget on good monitors.

[lasvegan]

Spend most of your budget on good monitors.

monitors = ?

also, do i need a new soundcard?

[doghouse]

do i need a new soundcard?

No the audio interface becomes your soundcard.

I would argue that you need only two things:

1. audio interface
2. heaphones

That keeps the cost down.

Monitors are important later on, but you're not turning pro in the first few months

[Warrior Bob]

You have Live so your editing and effect quality is plenty good. To make decent guitar recordings you'll generally need an audio interface and maybe some kind of guitar-oriented amp/cabinet sim (Ableton's Amp and Cabinet is cool if you have Suite which you might already have).

Honestly though, as a beginner all you need are basics. To realize your visions better what you really need is time, learning, and eventually expertise. Put the hours in, rather than the money

Best of luck!

[Angstrom]

People often mention monitors, but they are an expensive investment. Don't get too hung up on that.
I worked for years on some really quite shitty hifi speakers, I just had to get used to their flaws and do a lot of extra work checking on other peoples systems. So it's possible to function without them, as long as you are prepared to do the legwork involved in checking what you did.

Many people would say that some audio treatment (bass traps, diffusion) are more important than monitor choice. You can make your own treatment, it's way more difficult to make pro quality monitors!

For checking mixes I usually find the crappiest little speaker I can and listen through that. It's miraculous what it will reveal. It's always beneficial to a mix paying attention to what's learned there. I currently send a raw mix to my phone for this! Perfect mono shit quality mix revealing magic.

[Angstrom]

there's also these articles examining the real differences between the two

Sound on Sound : Monitors vs hifi speakers #1
Sound on Sound : Monitors vs hifi speakers #2

[dewaldo]

If big speakers aren't practical for you, I'd turn to a nice pair of studio headphones. As a suggestion, I am very pleased with the DT990 pro 600ohm that I have...they are powerful, bassy, accurate, comfortable, and relatively affordable at ~$300(http://www.amazon.com/Beyer-Dynamic-Pre ... rds=dt+990).

You'll need to power them with an amp, which can be done via a FiiO E7/E9 amp (~200; http://www.amazon.com/FiiO-Desktop-Port ... ds=e7%2Fe9)

[dewaldo]

The 600ohm version, which gives you the highest quality, has a large amount of electrical impedance, requiring additional power to give the same level of output. As far as I understand it, more ohm's = higher quality = more electrical impedance = more external power (amping)required. The e7/e9 combo works well to power them, as it functions as both an amp and external sound card.