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Help. I am poor, and need to record live audio.


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Hello all. Now, I have a mix that's just about ready, but there's one little problem.

It's all live sound.

I have no serious audio recording equipment. I'm a high school student, on a small budget. I need to be able to record live.

These are the instruments it'll need to be able to pick up (* denotes something still in question):

Trombone

Trumpet

Drumset

Bass Guitar*

Standing Bass*

MAYBE a vocalist, but porbably not.

Any suggestions? The most probable final instrument list is: 1 trombone, 1 trumpet, and set.

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I think my school does have a means to record audio, I'm just worried about the quality of said equipment. Getting access to it shouldn't be a problem, I'm in jazz.

The mix is a brass duet of Aria Di Mezzo Carraterre from Final Fantasy VI (sigh, I know, another one, but what can I say, I love the game).

I also have a few others in the works, but I'm keeping those under wrap until a later date.

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Small means I can go upwards of $100-150 at the max.

I don't think I'll be touching the vocals either, but you never know. It all depends on how well I can end up recording auido. I don't want the voices to sound like crap, and have sound quality count against me. If I ever end up doing a vocal mix, it'll be totally accapella, because I'm a crazy man.

And while there aren't enough mixes of the Aria, there are almost too many FFVI mixes. I feel dirty for wanting to put another on the site.

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If you're just gonna do one recording I'd ask around to rent or borrow a studio or similar that has all the mics, a mixer and all that stuff. Because as said, just one decent mic will cost around 100$ and if you need to record all instruments at the same time, then you need a mic for each instrument (?), a mixer and some form or recording device (e.g a PC with a good soundcard) Well you'd need that anyway. However if you are able to record in layers (one instrument at time) you can get away with just one mic (the drumset is going to be tricky tho..).

I'd go with the "rent-a-recordig-place"

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$150 is enough for an SM57 and a cheap behringer mixer, which is what I use for recording.

However, without a decent soundcard, quality won't be that great.

Quite honestly, I'd reccomend saving up a bit more. The cheapest way I would reccomend to get a quality recording is E-mu 404 soundcard ($100) + UB502 mixer ($50) + SM57 mic ($90).

Of course, if you already have a decent soundcard, all you need is the SM57 and the UB502.

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If you can stretch that to another $50, there is a pretty nice deal at Musician's Friend right now:

http://www.musiciansfriend.com/product/MAudio-Delta-1010-LT-PCI-Digital-Audio-System?sku=701376

M-Audio Delta 1010LT with 2 MXL 990 condenser mics for ~$200.

But you still need 2 XLR cables and 2 phantom power boxes, or a preamp with phantom power support (MXL 990s need Phantom Power) and 2 stands. If you can't borrow those, it could add a bit to the price.

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Yeah and i just wanna add that if youre gonna use Condenser mics, I'd recommend to buy the Behringer UB802 mixer instead of 502. The 802 has Phansom power supply so you wont need external supplies. It also has 2 mic inputs.

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Thanks for the advice, all. Tommorow, I'm going to look at the school audio equipment. If it isn't up to snuff, I'll save up.

The other project I'm working on is a jazz mix of the rocketbelt BGM from the original SNES Pilotwings. The solo is of course played by trombone (I love my trombone) and accompanied by piano and set. I think that one will be easier to get off the ground, as I don't have to deal with another brass player.

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Hello all. Now, I have a mix that's just about ready, but there's one little problem.

It's all live sound.

I have no serious audio recording equipment. I'm a high school student, on a small budget. I need to be able to record live.

These are the instruments it'll need to be able to pick up (* denotes something still in question):

Trombone

Trumpet

Drumset

Bass Guitar*

Standing Bass*

MAYBE a vocalist, but porbably not.

Any suggestions? The most probable final instrument list is: 1 trombone, 1 trumpet, and set.

Samson CO1U condensor mic (It's USB!!!) for only $80. Try looking at www.samash.com or other places. There might be Sam Ash or Musician's Friend/Guitar Centers in your area that sell these things also. I bought mine for $72. The sound is crystal clear, and I can use it without mic cable, mixers, expensive soundcards, or any of that garbage. I'm assuming you have a computer. Buy the mic and download audacity and you're set.

The only limitation I know of with this mic is that you can't record stereo. So recording wide range instruments like piano is out of the question. For most everything else you should be fine.

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Aria Di Mezzo Carraterre from Final Fantasy VI (sigh, I know, another one, b

What do you mean? There aren't enough! Especially ones that take the vocals and lyrics into consideration!

The only people I know that have even touched the vocals: Daknit, and then later pixietricks.

This is offtopic, but are there recordings of those vocals?

I've "touched" the aria myself (after adapting the english lyrics so they actually fit), but I'm not an opera singer, and it doesn't sound right with a small folk-type voice. Check it out in the sig if you're interested.

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