Setting up a home recording suite.

[xJulianx]

I have been a Music Technology student for over a year now (just started my 2nd year in a 2 year national diploma course), I am very familier with using Logic pro on the college's 17" iMacs. We use a USB MIDI keyboard as an input for our music.

I want to have this same setup at home on my 1.83GHz, 512MB RAM MacBook. the only difference is I would like the ability to record my guitar, be this through a microphone or by plugging the amp straight into the MacBook.

I was wondering exactly what I will need, and, how I will do it. Maybe a diagram to show all of the connections etc. I have had a quick look on the internet and have only found articles that have confused me further.

I will be using Logic Express 7.2 as money is fairly tight, so all other components would need to be of a 'budget' range.

Many thanks for any input

 

[IlluminatedSage]

You will need more ram!!!! alot more ram, load your sucker up.

also maybe look into the m audio midi, guitar, keyboard and mic inputs.

you will also want to buy a nice external hard drive for more storage space.

 

[xJulianx]

You will need more ram!!!! alot more ram, load your sucker up.

also maybe look into the m audio midi, guitar, keyboard and mic inputs.

you will also want to buy a nice external hard drive for more storage space.

I forgot to add, I'm intending to stick another GB of RAM in there, bringing the grand total up to 1.25GB, then, later on when I have some more cash, I'll put another GB on, maxing it out at 2GB.

I think I'll have to make do with the 80GB HD for quite a while, it should be fine for my needs.

When you say audio mudi, guitar, keyboard and mic inputs...is this an external sound card?

Thanks for the help.

 

[CanadaRAM]

Yep: In general you will want an external Firewire or USB sound card, a USB/MIDI keyboard of some description, depending on how experienced you are at piano playing -- if you are a longtime acoustic player, get used to the idea of spending more on a quality keyboard controller because you'll hate the cheap ones.

Have a search through this subforum - we have covered interfaces and keyboards extensively.

Also get ahold of magazines -- Sound on Sound (UK), Keyboard, Electronic Musician, Recording, Future Music (UK), Computer Music (UK). Go to your newsstand and/or Library. They run how-to articles and reviews all the time.


MIDI Keyboard --> MAC <--> Audio Interface| <<--Microphones
MIDI Keyboard --> MAC <--> Audio Interface <<--guitars and other inst.
MIDI Keyboard --> MAC <-->Audio Interface| -->> Amplifier/powered speakers




Thanks
Trevor
CanadaRAM.com

 

[Americanloti]

What you need is an external audio interface either FW or USB. Also I strongly suggest to buy an external drive. Not for storage, but because recording audio to you system drive can mess up your audio files.Here you can found pretty much anything you'll need for set up a home recording studio.

 

[xJulianx]

Okay, many thanks to you all