Hello and questions

[adilici]

Hi, I'm quite obviously new.
I'm a guitarist at heart (blues to thrash), i've been in a couple of bands and i'm looking to do some home recordings of some guitar-heavy instrumental songs i've written.

I own and plan to use the following:
ESP guitars (Eclipse & M-1000) with EMG pick-ups
Xotic AC Booster
Dunlop Crybaby
Koch Powertone II head 6550 (an absolute monster)
Koch 4*12" cab

Intel Quad Core Q6600
4GB RAM 1066MHz
Win XP
Cubase SX3
Native Instruments Battery 3
Steinberg Hypersonic 2
A bunch of other VSTs

What lacks from my setup would be pretty much an audio interface, a (couple of) mic(s), studio monitors and headphones (correct me if i'm wrong ).

I was thinking of the following (take into consideration a rather low budget):
- TC Electronic Konnekt 6
- Shure SM57LC
- M-Audio BX5a or KRK RP5
- AKG K 271

Questions:
- Any good bass samples to use with Hypersonic?
- Any better gear than what i plan to buy in the same price range for what i need (recording guitar & bass and drums from midi triggered samples, all mixed in rock fashion) ?
- is the price difference between bx5a and rp5 justified? is it worth spending more on monitors considering the rest of my rig and that i'm at a relatively amateur level?
- do i need 2 mics? if so, should one of them be condenser?

[brandondrury]

I was thinking of the following (take into consideration a rather low budget):
- TC Electronic Konnekt 6
- Shure SM57LC
- M-Audio BX5a or KRK RP5
- AKG K 271

All of these have provided great results. I wouldn't hesitate to recommend any of them based on what other RecordingReview.com members have told me.

- Any good bass samples to use with Hypersonic?

I've never used Hypersonic. I use Kontakt2 or sometimes the built in Kompakt. For real sounding bass I generally use Quantum XP Hardcore bass, but there is a preset patch of a Stringray in Kompakt that I like a lot for certain things.

You may have better luck posting a new thread about this one in the MIDI Sequencing forum.

- Any better gear than what i plan to buy in the same price range for what i need (recording guitar & bass and drums from midi triggered samples, all mixed in rock fashion) ?

I'm of the opinion aftering hearing about a zillion mixes from the Recording Review section that all home recording gear a given price point is going to sound pretty much the same. It's more of an issue of getting the features you require than quality.

- is the price difference between bx5a and rp5 justified? is it worth spending more on monitors considering the rest of my rig and that i'm at a relatively amateur level?

This is a very good question. You could read user reviews of both, but in the end studio monitoring is a very personal thing. If the room is bad, the they will never be accurate anyway. As much as I hate headphones, if the budget was that low, I'd be tempted to use studio monitor headphones.. You'll have to decide on that one.

You can look at this several ways.
a) The M-Audio bx5a studio monitors cost 50% more than the KRK rp5 studio monitors.
b) The bx5a's cost $100 more per pair than the rp5's. In this audio game, it's not uncommon to see studio monitors at the $2k level even for hobbyists at home. So on the whole grand scale you are still in the entry level category.

If I was broke, I'd either go with the headphones or the cheaper ones. If I had some cash I would invest more in the studio monitors.

- do i need 2 mics? if so, should one of them be condenser?

Depends. I own over 20 mics because I want the right mic for the right job. A SM57 is very versatile. You can record many things with it, but I would have to only have one single microphone. I'd recommend something like a Shure SM57 and maybe an Audio Technica AT2020 found here.

Consider getting all this gear at Musicians Friend. I have a mouth to feed!

[adilici]

Thanks for the reply.

I'll try out your tip on Kontakt2. I'm pretty unhappy with the built in bass sounds in Hypersonic.

Regarding monitors, I'd probably use them as the main monitoring tool while mixing, but i have kind of a rule to listen to a mix on as many speakers and headphones as possible before deeming it worthy. That's why I want a pair of good as-linear-as-possible headphones like the AKG K 271. I'll also be checking my mix on my Nokia N91 with it's stock headphones, which give suprising instrument separation. I know it's not professional, but then, neither am i

Unfortunately, I can't get the gear from musiciansfriend, because i live in Romania, and the shipping costs are huge. Even though the gear tends to be considerably more expensive in Europe, I'd be free of shipping costs and taxes and come out cheaper.

Thanks again for the feedback. I'll be posting further questions in the appropriate sections