Basic Home Studio Recording Equipment
Author: admin Category: Home Music Studio
This is a video I made for the hundreds of people who have asked me what I use to record with. Yes there are many other things out there and I have used a few of them. This is basic recording equipment without spending thousands of dollars and sounds just as good! I know I have had most and have compared many recordings to others like Pro Tools, and it was outrageous! Good recordings but too expensive for the same recording I get with what I use in this video. M Audio was another one worthless to me! Its was not that great and needed other things to get decent recording with. I dumped those off on ebay very quickly! Sorry if you bought them from me? lol! But they sucked in many ways! PODxt has Comp,Gate and everything else you will need in it when you create your tones in the Line6 Edit for your recordings. This way you can make sure that tone sounds correct in all levels and aspects then Push SAVE! You have that tone forever to use live or recording at any time! I know there are people that dont like Line6 and everyone I have ever met in person that didn’t like it. By the time I showed them how to create a decent tone for live or recording? They wanted it before leaving my house or stage at gig. Not knowing how to use something correctly can anyone off! Even band members that were still tearing down there equipment 45 minutes later were getting tired of seeing me walk off stage in 5 minutes with everything I needed. I’m done and they are still wrapping up there guitar chords and un hooking there pedals? And they still have to carry out amps, cabinets, and everything else. I love my stacks also! There awesome! But to have to haul them back and forth when the are becoming obsolete in stage setups? Big speakers are for looks anymore with the way most stages are already setup with all the house speakers needed for gigs. The only time I need a Cabinet and a Small Combo amp is when the place im playing only has electrical outlets. Then yes! You have to have all the rest of it. Parks, Parties etc… Other than that? Get ready for the future of music!
Equipment Details Needed:
1. Line 6 PODxt / PODxt 3/ Or PODxt Pro rack mount
2. Creative - Audigy 2Zs PCI Card for Laptops or regular sound blaster sound card with front bay for regular PC’s. These are great sound cards for this. There are others, thats your preference but I would make sure they are at least 24bit Advanced HD for better recordings!
3. Guitar Tracks Pro 3 by Cakewalk. Its a 32 track digital recording software that works great for any instrument! They do have other software thats your choice also. PODxt works with any of them.
4. 1/8″ to 1/8″ Stereo cable (Gold Tipped is the best for noise reduction)
5. 1/8″ to 1/4″ Stereo Adapter
The pedals that work with the PODxts are the FBV2 or the FBV Short board
Your PC or Laptop should be a Pentium 4 or better! At least 1.73GHz processor with 1.0GB or better in memory. The more memory the less chance for what is called dropouts in the recordings. The faster processor the better speeds and quality your recording will be also. The newer type computers you should have no problems with!
PODxt Live Floor Pedal Boards I am not sure if they have the right outputs needed for computer recording? I have never looked that closely at them to see if they can? I do know the the 3 I mentioned do! The Pocket Pod is not good enough and has no outputs to really do what I do. They are a practice take on the road or short walk type thing to me. Not for live or gig use.
Other Must Haves!
Line 6 DL4 Delay Modeler:
This is a great thing to have for studio use or live use! It has a loop sampler in it that you can actually go up to 28 seconds of play that will repeat, stop. start back up by the click of a button at will! So cool to have! Solo can be worked on much easier with a repeating rhythm in the background. Then it has so many other delays in it that are really cool! Also a expression pedal that does things that cannot be re produced by any other pedal out there that I know of yet! To me right now after owning just about every top of the line amp, pedals or you name it! Line 6 is the “Best” thing I have ever used! Its going to be really hard for something to come out that I will like better than Line6!
Second Wah Pedal for cool thing to do in your playing and also a Nice amp for sure! I use Line 6 Flextone IIIXL 150 watt Combo Amp. It has all the features I need including being able to hook up into the mixer for any gig! It can also run 2 full stacks stereo with no problems! great amp!
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July 8th, 2009
Depends on which …
Depends on which one? I know Roland makes some good ones. Im sure there are many others out there by now also? But there are cheaper ways of getting a band recording if he has a electric drum set. Otherwise your going to have to mic all his drums and hopefully they will sound right.
July 8th, 2009
do u think getting …
do u think getting a digital recorder for a band recording is good also.
July 8th, 2009
I alread have a POD …
I alread have a POD XT, but I want to make it’s recording quality even better! Do you have any hint?
July 8th, 2009
Sure a interface …
Sure a interface will work ok as well. I have seen allot of them though and they just do not compare to what the PODxt can do! You have to realize that most of the things out there are knockoffs of the Line 6 stuff. But yes they will do some of the stuff the PODs can do. For the money? I would go with the PODxt or POD X3 Not only 4 recording though! You can use these live as well instead of a amp through a mixer? U can find 1 on Ebay cheap! You will not regret it fro the price! Trust me!
July 8th, 2009
So an interface …
So an interface will do the job in a great way too?
July 8th, 2009
1st thing is I can …
1st thing is I can use the headphones output of the PODxt for stereo recording, and the sound card will also give you better recording. The computers sound card on board will run lower bit rates. The sound card will record 24bits. Much better quality recordings.
July 8th, 2009
hey! why u don’t …
hey! why u don’t use the usb connection to record?
July 8th, 2009
I had spent plenty …
I had spent plenty of money on other gear that has done nothing close to what the PODs do! And you can take these straight to a gig and plug them right int to the main house without hauling big amps, cabinets, and pedals that are just about useless now and days. I only use my Marshall stack now for gigs that have to have them! Parties and parks? Other that that I haven’t even touch them in long time! lol! No need!
July 8th, 2009
I have a POD X3 and …
I have a POD X3 and you’re right - the people that doubt these either don’t know how to run it, or are kidding themselves due to all the money they’ve sunk into other gear.
July 8th, 2009
I have a Line 6 Pod …
I have a Line 6 Pod Xt Live and it is simply amazing. It’s super simple to record directly to my laptop and it sounds amazing. All I record with is my Dell Webcam and select my Pod as the sound input.
July 8th, 2009
Ya I just checked …
Ya I just checked out the Lexicon on line. It just a small interface for PC recording, thats cool. But I would rather have the PODxt as my guitar interface with everything it has and can do over most things out there. But I am sure it works well for basic recordings and few VST & the 35 presets. But I do like the limitless of L6 to make what ever you want? With most any effect out there, then being able to save it for ever and recall it when you want it? I just havent seen anything better I like
July 8th, 2009
ya I would love to …
ya I would love to have a Mac! lol! The one I want is not cheap though! actually its about $2,400.00 for the one I want with a few custom things on it? But the laptop I have now is really great and I have no problems on it at all with the recordings. Never did like Cubase though. Always little problems in recordings with that software? Maybe it doesn’t like my laptop? lol! The GTP3 never messed up on me? Really simple to use also. Ill check out the lexicon though see what it is? Thanks!
July 8th, 2009
use a mac for …
use a mac for recording its the best i just got out of the largest studio in the north west called black diamond studios theay use mac i use mac at home and if your looking for a basic set up that not gonna kill your wallet than start off with the rig call lexicon alpha its a 100.00 buks u get cubase 4 and a interface and software records up to sound pro and is fully capable of up grades and whatever you need i promise you wont be disappointing it served
July 8th, 2009
The reason why I …
The reason why I say these as minimum requirements is because you don’t want to have drop outs in your recordings. You want to have enough memory and a strong enough processor to stop this from happening in mid recording. Theres nothing worse then getting half why though a perfect recording and having it drop out to have to start over again. Now for the PODxt or better gives you so many amps, cabs, and effects to work with. You can also create your tones to have and save for future recordings
July 8th, 2009
The better your …
The better your computer the better the recordings will be. You can use laptops or pc it done matter to much. I do think that laptops are better because they run more silent with internal parts. Sometimes fans or processors can be noisy in recordings. There are certain requirements needed. A processor of 2.0GHz or better, 1.5GB of memory or better & a good sound card is needed also! For guitar I would also recommend a PODxt Also a Lg hard drive for storing music 80GB or more Music files are big
July 8th, 2009
whats a good …
whats a good computer to buy for a home studio ? what computer do you use?? get at me thnx
July 8th, 2009
Compression, …
Compression, environments like in a concert hall or different size rooms or chambers and much more before mixing it down as a finished track. Its why I like the PODxt for guitars. You just create the tone with all of that in it and record your song. The only thing I have to control is the level input to the PC or Laptop. The rest of all effects,comp,gates,mics,reverbs,chorus etc… is all in the tone created and saved forever for any future songs. You’ll get it in time.
July 8th, 2009
Bitrate is what the …
Bitrate is what the devise processes the audio as. (The Quality) upon mixdown to say a wave file or mp3. Most software or devices will save them as:
Wave File - 24bit
mp3 - 16bit
You may not find out until you mix a piece of audio down from the Boss Recorder.
Its may say Export audio as?
Mastering the audio is basically editing it, theres many different things in the processes. Hopefully the device will do allot of it for you? Things like adding chorus to a clean track, reverbs?
July 8th, 2009
Thank you for your …
Thank you for your great words of advice. It seems like the Boss (Roland) BR900CD that I own, plus a condenser mic, should be well good enough to produce broadcast quality CDs and, MP3s for itunes. I don’t know how to determine this recording bit rate you talk about though. I do I find out?
I’ve read a little about ‘Mastering the final mix’ but, not really sure what this is either! Lots of new jargon to learn I suppose!
July 8th, 2009
If your a material …
If your a material type person that follows the trends of who has the better this or that? When you can get something that works the same way for much less! Then by all means! Go ahead and waste your money. Theres a saying for those type people and these companies depend on those types of people to sell high priced over rated products!
(A fool and his money will soon part)
Very few thing are worth paying more for the quality of it. Most of the time there are products that work just as well!
July 8th, 2009
There are tricks …
There are tricks like when I record? My laptop has a small fan in it that comes on sometime that makes a little noise in the recording. Now? By putting a small fan near the laptop keeping it cooler in summertime keeps the fan from ever coming on. In the winter it never is a problem. Theres so many tricks in recording and its a art as it is if you read books from the pro’s There stuff cost thousands for what they had back then I’m sure, but they also used tricks to keep costs down as well.
July 8th, 2009
Also? Just about …
Also? Just about any recording now and days are pretty much better than years ago from say Hendrix days of recordings and they put there stuff on the radio and tapes then cds? You still listen to it now and days all the same. If you get decent recordings with no background noises in them they will work just fine. I am sure they station you have will work fine also, but theres always going to be something better and more money to take from a person wallet thats stupid enough to follow trends.
July 8th, 2009
Then you need other …
Then you need other things also like comp, gate, and add ons they recommend to get costing thousands more dollars. If your going for a full recording studio to record bands in a place that is only a recording studio then go for it! Spend your life savings! lol! But people do just fine with things like I set up here and put music out on ITunes. Remember your guitar better have nice pickups for recording also or you’ll get noise. So how far are you willing to go? Or Spend?
July 8th, 2009
There are many …
There are many things that are nice to record with but at what price is it worth to you? When is to much to much! to pay for something that really doesn’t work any better. If your computer is not set up for recording also the other things like Pro Tools is worthless! A PC with to many fans in it will have so much noise in the recording its not funny! The reason being is PTs picks up every thing better! Including the noises inside the computer. You would need the specified Dell Laptops required
July 8th, 2009
Its a stand alone …
Its a stand alone multi track recorder and it should do just fine as long as you know how to work it correctly. What is the bit rate it records in? 16 for mp3’s & 24 for wave files right? As long as you can get these 2 bit rates in its processing it should be fine. Pro Tools is nice but way over priced when I can get almost near quality recording with what I have right here for a few hundred bucks. What I have seen that worked awesome for a friend of mine was the Roland Work Station.