# Home recording set - up



## Rawpower

I have a questions about recording your guitar or band at home. What is your set-up like? I was thinking of buying an 8 channel mixer With a USB and then going to my Mac. I know some people go straight into an interface and then to the computer. I just want to see what most of you are using. If you are using a mixer, which one? If you're using an interface which one would you recommend? Any insight would be appreciated. 

Thanks


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## MB

It really boils down to how much money your willing to spend, how much room you have, and which program you perfer ... Protools , logic Pro X , or PreSonus Studio One. If you go the board route and want to cover everything at once you could consider buying the PreSonus 24 board ( one of the better less expensive boards ) and you would be able to track 1 - 24 tracks at a time ( if you have the space and isolation rooms to do it ) and it interfaces directly. The next step up from there gets expensive fast and everyone knows the best way ... just ask them  ... I have a Digidisign M box2 that allows 2 mono channels or 1 stereo channel at a time to interface with your computer. It's obsious how limited this type of interface is. There are several differant rack mounted interface boards with more inputs at differant price points to look into ... From the 3-400 dollar range to the 4-7000 dollar range ( the higher the price point the better the quality ). Once you review all the options and cost you see which system fits best for you. BTW: Anything is better than nothing ... You can always upgrade 

MB


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## GT11

I use the Fasttrac Ultra as my interface into my workstation through USB and mix (plus everything else) through ProTools. My setup isn't super expensive but you can get some high quality stuff out of it.

The advantage of doing it this way is I can record a clean guitar track, vocals and MIDI for the drums and key board, then add whatever sound or effects I want.

Example, I plug the guitar directly in to the FastTrac and record it clean, then add any guitar effect I want to it plus I can change the sound if I don't like it. I then record the keyboard as MIDI, can correct mistakes and timing, then duplicate that track. My last recording was Desperado and I used the MIDI track for the piano, copied it and used it again for the strings plus built another for drums.


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## Bruce J

Rawpower, although I rarely record anything, I have a set up similar to your description and it works well. I use an Allen & Heath 10 channel mixer (about $300) which has a USB connection to my Mac. It works well for recording and we also use it with the band for mic'ing the vocals and keyboard. It's a very well built piece of gear for pretty modest money.


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## Bobby_G

I just purchased a Presonus with Studio One setup...very happy with it so far. I had my wife, who is an incredible pianist, lay the piano tracks through MIDI. I then lay a couple of guitar tracks...then lead vocals followed by the harmony parts. Its very user friendly. I am not proficient enough to add drum tracks yet. Its a whole lot of fun though. For me the difficulty is the timing when adding vocals...Ive had difficulty with cutoffs...especially with syncopated charts.

I am on an Eagles fix at the moment....they have such great harmonies and it's really fun covering some of those old classics...

I'd recommend the Presonus Studio One setup...I spent right at $500 for the interface box, software, condensor mic, external speakers, headphones and pop filter through Guitar Center


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