Originally Posted by
deeaa
These days, MIDI is pretty obsolete, unless you work with keyboards a lot. That Presonus USB would be a pretty good choice I'm sure.
You won't need S/PDIF either, it's handy in one way only for a normal user - and that is getting the music to a home theater amp via it - if you use such an amp for monitors. A pro might want to do DAT transfers via it etc. but normal user...no need. Besides, those are very finicky as well in any other use (like between devices you start going into word clock issues etc.)
BUT you will need phantom power at some point. I would really strongly suggest getting a nice condenser mic for recording most anything. A dynamic will get you a long way too, but a condenser allows you to record from much farther, give you lots and lots of options to test mic placement and get different sounds and whatnot. Simply recording your guitar amp to two tracks using both a dynamic mic and a condenser will give you lots more control over the sound.
Also, if you haven't got anything, I'd also recommend using a small mixer on the monitoring side. Not on the input side, using something like a cheap Behringer before the mic pres of the Presonus for instance will pretty much kill any sound and S/N ratio they can provide.
So here's what I'd recommend any beginning home studio maker:
- Presonus Audiobox or something like it.
- a Shure 57 for recording pretty much anything; you'll always need one. If you mainly do vocals a 58 is pretty much the same.
- a nice condenser mic like a Rode N1 or something (circa $100 buys a nice one; Samson C1 etc. are cheap and OK) Later I'd recommend getting a used pair of small-diaphragm condensers as well, you can get a decent pair used for a fifty or so.
- a popscreen for recording vocals, but you can make a good one with stiff metal wire and some pantyhose stockings for instance.
- IF you record vocals or when you get a few different speakers, a monitor mixer, like a Behringer MiniMon800 (got mine used for 40 bucks) for selecting monitoring and to adjust input/output volume and outboard FX easily when for instance singing (nice to be able to adjust how much of your own vocals you hear as opposed to backing etc...) is a must.
- (again IF you do much vocals) some FX box with reverb so you can hear some reverb while singing, but doesn't go to 'tape' makes singing WAY easier.
- a pair of normal active computer speakers AND a pair of good active monitors - you should spare at least a few hundred for the speakers if you want to make decent mixes at least with relative ease; Behringer Truth, KRK Rockit are good examples. This is what most people save on and it's a bad place to save if you're after reasonable mixes.
- a pair of good monitor headphones; I like AKG240K's but also Beyerdynamic makes decent, cheap monitor headphones. Remember monitor speakers/phones are NOT meant to sound good, they're meant to sound very accurate and level.
One thing worth considering is - do you need portable recording? Do you need recording without the PC? Because you can do away with a few microphones and a monitor mixer if you get a Zoom R-16 for a soundcard - sure it costs double or more but it's a helluva lot more gear too, 8 inputs at once, in-built condenser mics, control surface, mixer, FX box...still, if you mainly do work in a studio there is no replacing a decent setup. But just look at what an R-16 can do, you can literally record guitar demos lying on a sofa with just it and headphones and a guitar, or a full band live! Plus it's a good USB soundcard.
So IMO you need circa 700-1000 bucks to build a good home studio. BUT you can start with a little and build on it. Just getting a soundcard, a 57 and a popscreen plus headphones will run you ~300-400 depending if new or used but will get you a long way anyhow.
I've built myself and friends over a dozen different studio setups based on HD recorders, PC's and whatnot, been involved in building semi-pro full studios and worked in those a lot, recorded two dozen demo releases on them and written two articles in computer mags about creating and using a PC based home studio, so I've really thought about these things some and what's the bare minimum needed...but don't take my word for it, ask around and see for yourself. But in the long run, I'm betting you'll pretty much come to the same conclusions :-)