Found this board, read a bit and found that it has almost all the comforts of home! Hey gang! LV here from the great state of Illinois that lately has been more of a cesspool of politics than usual. Oh, well like much in life, take the good and the bad. before anyone asks, no, not from Chicago (just outside Chicago is a little place called Illinois) but in the heartland of Chief Illiniwek (it's not a mascot, it's an attitude).
I looked at the original link that westhemann asked about and lo and behold, three + years later, it was still a good link and was still a good basic recording setup.
Several points that were not mentioned in this thread came to mind as I read and felt that some here might benefit.
In all the discussion of what everyone uses, no one mentioned the fact that the system in the link could serve as a basic idea of what all is needed to make a recording. I know that I will miss a few items, but it has a recorder, amp, speakers/headphones, cables, recording media, mics, stands, etc, etc. If I were going to try to explain to someone totally unfamiliar with the recording process, I would pull up this web page and explain what each piece of the puzzle did in relationship to the others. That said, one can also use this (as I did several decades ago) to get a basic recording setup together to make tapes (cassette) for my friends. I started using cassette tape bounced to cassette tape and by the third or fourth bounce, the noise floor was so present, I had to roll off all the highs just to get another pass. Totally unlistenable by today's standards of Mac vs. PC. But I could share my song ideas with my band members and we could get it closer faster that way than any other way that was available to me then.
Fast forward - today, I still use some of the same tricks that I used then to capture ideas and flesh them out for others to share and expand upon. Using the ad linked to above as a guide, I would buy the incidentals new and try to find the best used gear for the high ticket items. To explain, I was using a small two track recorder wishing I had an 8 track reel to reel. Boston used only 8. The Beatles only had four after the White album. To have 8 and the ability to bounce down through a good noise reduction unit would be the best I could ever imagine. Fortunately, others had better imaginations…
Well, long story short, I did get the 8 track back in 1988 and have not looked back. I now have a second for backup and to use for spare parts. Shortly after the first 8 arrived at my studio, the ads and hype started showing up for the new (then) ADAT and DA series digital.
DIGITAL!
No loss on bounces!
Heaven... <<<SIGH>>>
(NOTE: “gear-itis” is _not_ deadly or even fatal – except for the damage to the wallet and for the marital bliss of those with spouses…)
Today, I have three TASCAM DA-38's and a fourth for spare parts. All four were purchased for less than the "complete” setup shown on the link above. I also was able to purchase new cable for the rig and a box of new DA tape.
OK, when did I buy them? Three years ago. I know, “that’s so old school”. But I have also been able to _afford_ three new axes, a VOX modeling amp and a SRW bass amp (I liked the VOX Valvetronix so much, I bought a new Tonelab to use exclusively at home). plus am still under the costs for a comparable 24 track digital setup… (and the spouse is resting in bed while I write this).
The point? Well, we can all wet our pants crying after the latest, greatest, but we cannot forget the first and foremost reason the have a recording setup is to capture those 'magical moments"... the ones that will surely get away into the ether otherwise. The people who are the first to get the "latest, greatest" with every last bell and whistle, IMHO are the beta testers for the music products industry. Let them go and beta test, I'll keep on using what I have to record what I like and not have to spend 75% of my time with my nose in a book/webpage/cheat-sheet trying to figure out how to get it to do what I'm trying to do.
Again, the thread covers some really great points and I _have_ favorited several of the product links here for closer study.
Thanks for letting me share a few thoughts with you all.
Kindest regards,
LV