Hardware needed to record live?

Archived from groups: rec.audio.tech (More info?)

"chuck" wrote ...
> I've been doing a lot of vinyl and tape to CD recording on the
> PC, and now my son-in-law wants me to set up his machine for
> recording live music (voice with guitar, SCA stuff!). Can I
> do this thru the MIC input on the sound card or is this too
> simplistic?

Unless you have a premium quasi-pro or better sound card,
the mic input on most sound cards is barely adequate for
telephony or voice recognition. It is usually too lousy even
for amateur music recording. Not to mention that many (or
most?) are monaural.

> What kind of mic(s) would work well,

That is a constant (and frequently contentious) topic in
this forum week in and week out. Depends on a lot of things,
not the least of which is what you are recording, and your
budget.

> and do I need a pre-amp??

Absolutely. For example, I recently bought an M-Audio
"Duo" on closeout for $150. Two reasonably good quality
mic preamps and USB connection to laptop or desktop
computer.

Archived from groups: rec.audio.tech (More info?)

On Sat, 15 May 2004 19:37:39 GMT, chuck
<cciafNOSPAMfone@earthlinNOSPAMk.net> wrote:

>I've been doing a lot of vinyl and tape to CD recording on the
>PC, and now my son-in-law wants me to set up his machine for
>recording live music (voice with guitar, SCA stuff!). Can I
>do this thru the MIC input on the sound card or is this too
>simplistic? What kind of mic(s) would work well, and do I need a
>pre-amp??

You'll get a result from the mic input but, for various reasons, it
won't sound very good.

Ask in:
alt.music.4-track
alt.music.home-studio

Several people there are used to answering the "what do I need for a
basic home studio" question.

(BTW ignore messages from a guy named porky. He's playing a game
where he offers plausible advice on everything, but is almost always
wrong:-)

Archived from groups: rec.audio.tech (More info?)

chuck <cciafNOSPAMfone@earthlinNOSPAMk.net> wrote in message news:<7kupc.11367$KE6.8621@newsread3.news.atl.earthlink.net>...
> I've been doing a lot of vinyl and tape to CD recording on the
> PC, and now my son-in-law wants me to set up his machine for
> recording live music (voice with guitar, SCA stuff!). Can I
> do this thru the MIC input on the sound card or is this too
> simplistic? What kind of mic(s) would work well, and do I need a
> pre-amp??
>
> thanks,
>
> chuck

Since you don't specifically mention having some expensive soundcard
intended for digital audio workstations, I going to assume that you
have the level of card that most people do, which means that the mic
input is really designed for a single mic (usually not particularly
good or expensive) that needs some DC voltage from the soundcard in
order to work properly, so what seems to be a 2 channel stereo jack on
the soundcard really isn't.
You've been running your record and tape left and right channels
into the sound card's line in jack, correct? Keep using this jack
with some kind of mic mixer. You can possibly use your cassette deck
if it has mic inputs, plug the (borrow some "guitar plug" type
inexpensive PA microphones from the church or wherever) mic's into it,
put it on record and pause, and plug its output into the soundcard's
line in jack. Then, if he's any good, you can investigate spending
real money on professional grade microphones and pre-amps and mixers
and a $200 -$1000 sound card.

Archived from groups: rec.audio.tech (More info?)

chuck wrote:

> I've been doing a lot of vinyl and tape to CD recording on the
> PC, and now my son-in-law wants me to set up his machine for
> recording live music (voice with guitar, SCA stuff!).

Tell him to look at a harddisk recorder or a Fostex FR2 instead and to
use the PC for editing rather than for recording.

The mic questions may be better asked in alt.music.4-track or
alt.music.home-studio or - if you need a broader audience: rec.audio.pro
....

> chuck


Kind regards

Peter Larsen


--
*******************************************
* My site is at: http://www.muyiovatki.dk *
*******************************************