Home recording Voice/accoustic

[lookingforward]

Hi,

Looking for some advice and hoping there are some muso's on here.

Daughter plays guitar and sings and has asked for a mic with pop shield and software to be able to record her songs onto her Windows 7 laptop and then presumably onto youtube.

I've only got a budget of about £100 and have looked on ebay but the choice is bewildering with mics ranging from £20 up to £100's. I've done a bit of research and yes the best one's cost a lot of money but I'm hoping someone can recommend a reasonably priced set up that would work well enough for what she wants to do

I think the software will have to be open source again due to cost so again recommendations please.

Thx

[Never-In-Doubt]

Re: Home recording Voice/accoustic

Pompey will know as will Elsa as both have guitarists in their family

ill ask them to pop in.

[Undercover Elsa]

Re: Home recording Voice/accoustic

Already here
My son's a pro musician and recording engineer..I've passed your query on to him LF...I'll let you know as soon as he gets back to me xx

I used to use Audacity to process live band recordings, have a look here, it is free: http://audacity.sourceforge.net/
My son might know of other/better ones.

[pompeyfaith]

Re: Home recording Voice/accoustic

Thanks Niddy

My son is in a band and he does all there recording too so ill ask him to take a look and offer help, soon as he gets up that is lol was at a gig last night

[lookingforward]

Re: Home recording Voice/accoustic

Brilliant, thanks everyone

When I did home bedroom recording back in the day, I had a reel to reel tape recorder that by the time you over dubbed the 4th track you could hardly hear the 1st track, I would have loved the options kids have today

[Undercover Elsa]

Re: Home recording Voice/accoustic

Hi LF
From my son:

There's no way they will get a mic and the means to record for £100 I'm sad to say.
To record on a Win 7 laptop not only do they need software, but also a external soundcard as the laptop only has either usb or mini jack inputs. So it's likely she'll need to buy a mic which is already to usb and they lag like crazy.

She would need something like cubase as software which costs a fortune... There are some free programs, but they are very hissy and are hard to use to make anything you record sound decent. I would say that for such a small budget her best option is to buy a Zoom H2 for £50 which is a portable recorder - spend £20 on some SD memory and then try to grab a cracked copy of a recording program like cool edit to load all her recordings into, rather than using the program to record with... it's an option.
The mic she needs (like the one I use) costs around £90 on it's own and the cheap versions are NOT worth buying... they are hissy and awful. You get what you pay for and sadly not much money to spend seriously limits her options.

To use programs to record with with a mic like she wants... ideally she should save up and buy things specifically and be patient... either that or simply buy a decent HD camera to do her youtube videos from that... options but not many i'm afraid

This is the mic my son uses: http://www.dv247.com/microphones/stu...FWIUwwodpgMAcQ
This is a similar type on Ebay: http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Samson-C03...item3cf3aa755d

Hope this helps a little

Elsa xx

[lookingforward]

Re: Home recording Voice/accoustic

Thanks UE and thank your son for me bit of an issue it seems then. I've got a small stereo mixing desk here somewhere would a mic go into that and then into the laptop I wonder ?

[Undercover Elsa]

Re: Home recording Voice/accoustic

I think you'd still need some kind of audio interface to convert the output to digital, between the mixing desk and the computer. Or an external recording source so the files can then be transferred to the pc.
It's a massive subject with many different routes she could take.

At the very basic level you can buy guitar/mic to USB leads to get the sound onto the PC. You could use the best quality mic you could manage. That coupled with the free Audacity software would be the cheapest way to go but quality would be limited.
Next option up is to get an Audio Interface. You can plug your guitar/mic lead into this and it converts the sounds so they can be processed on the PC. Most come with their own software. I think my son's first one was an M-Box mini (a Christmas present from Mum of course!) a couple of Christmases later it was upgraded to an M Box Pro. Trust me..it never ends!
You can get a starter package from the same company which includes a mic as well. Best price I've found so far is £159 including mic/interface and Pro Tools software on Amazon here. Make sure any interface you buy has software included.
I have been on the route you're on for a few years. Every birthday/Christmas is an upgrade to my sons music equipment

How old is your daughter and how long has she been playing?
Is it electric or acoustic guitar, and if it's acoustic does it have a built in pickup or need to be mic'd up?

So many options LOL. Might be an idea to ring or visit a few music shops with tech departments, tell them her needs/setup and see what they suggest. Speak to a few before deciding - you can also google their recommendations for cheaper online prices too

[lookingforward]

Re: Home recording Voice/accoustic

I think you'd still need some kind of audio interface to convert the output to digital, between the mixing desk and the computer. Or an external recording source so the files can then be transferred to the pc.
It's a massive subject with many different routes she could take.

At the very basic level you can buy guitar/mic to USB leads to get the sound onto the PC. You could use the best quality mic you could manage. That coupled with the free Audacity software would be the cheapest way to go but quality would be limited.
Next option up is to get an Audio Interface. You can plug your guitar/mic lead into this and it converts the sounds so they can be processed on the PC. Most come with their own software. I think my son's first one was an M-Box mini (a Christmas present from Mum of course!) a couple of Christmases later it was upgraded to an M Box Pro. Trust me..it never ends!
You can get a starter package from the same company which includes a mic as well. Best price I've found so far is £159 including mic/interface and Pro Tools software on Amazon here. Make sure any interface you buy has software included.
I have been on the route you're on for a few years. Every birthday/Christmas is an upgrade to my sons music equipment

How old is your daughter and how long has she been playing?
Is it electric or acoustic guitar, and if it's acoustic does it have a built in pickup or need to be mic'd up?

So many options LOL. Might be an idea to ring or visit a few music shops with tech departments, tell them her needs/setup and see what they suggest. Speak to a few before deciding - you can also google their recommendations for cheaper online prices too

Hi UE,

Brilliant, thanks for all the info. Was looking at an M Box a while back funnily enough. My daughter will be 17 on her birthday, she plays guitar/piano self taught. Her Guitar is an electro accoustic (Yamaha). She loves her music but has wanted to be an actress for as long as I can remember and is studying acting at college so the music is a sideline that she loves but isn't what she wants to do as a career. My son studied music performance at college so he could also get some use as would I so I want to get something that will work well if possible but may have to wait until I can afford something better rather than buying now. I'm going to have a good look at second hand on ebay though as you never know.

[Undercover Elsa]

Re: Home recording Voice/accoustic

Hi LF,
Good that the guitar is electro acoustic, easier for recording
Are there any open mic sessions in your area?
Always a good source of info and contacts, as well as a good introduction to performing in public.
My son ran one for years, through which he made many good friends who have gone on to record on each others albums and generally help each other out.
One of them has toured with Ed Sheeran. I'd guess your daughter is into that sort of stuff - indie acoustic / folk rock?

[CleverClogs (RIP)]

Re: Home recording Voice/accoustic

It's a massive subject with many different routes she could take.

Indeed it is.

With a notation program, one could enter a score, produce a MIDI file and then play that through another program (or an external box) to convert it into sound. Thus, one could add backing tracks to one's music at no cost...

Noteworthy Composer (link) is reasonably inexpensive and isn't too bad, but Sibelius is better which, as it costs over twice as much even in the 'schools' package, it ruddy well ought to be! For example, Sibelius (link) can handle heptupulets (seven notes in the space of one crotchet) whereas Noteworthy cannot - one hasto fiddle the note lengths to get them to fit, then tell the program that it's a triplet.

Also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_scorewriters

[CleverClogs (RIP)]

Re: Home recording Voice/accoustic

My daughter ... plays guitar/piano self taught.

Does she play by ear?

[lookingforward]

Re: Home recording Voice/accoustic

Hi LF,
Good that the guitar is electro acoustic, easier for recording
Are there any open mic sessions in your area?
Always a good source of info and contacts, as well as a good introduction to performing in public.
My son ran one for years, through which he made many good friends who have gone on to record on each others albums and generally help each other out.
One of them has toured with Ed Sheeran. I'd guess your daughter is into that sort of stuff - indie acoustic / folk rock?

She loves Ed Sheeran. We live a bit in the sticks but I'll have a good looksee thanks

[lookingforward]

Re: Home recording Voice/accoustic

Does she play by ear?

Hi CC, yes by ear, I'm assuming those other programs require you to write music. Wish I could read, I did try when I was younger but didn't have the time really between work and playing (that was my excuse)

[lookingforward]

Re: Home recording Voice/accoustic

I knew mbox rang a bell, I won this on ebay for her back in 2013

Mbox 2-Digidesign- AKG condensor Microphone-Package. It also had a mic stand £100.00 the lot :-)

Seller refused to send as it went too cheap