Some questions

[Rapishorrid]

sp4585 I listened to your recording, I like it the sound quality is nice and the song is good too.

What outputs does the Behringer have? I don't even have a soundcard, its just onboard sound so I am really limited there. How are you getting it into your computer (what inputs does your soundcard have)?

EDIT:

I was reading some reviews of:

http://www.guitarcenter.com/shop/pro...ull_sku=703626

Two mics and an audio buddy for $100. That leaves me with only needing a soundcard, and the cash to get it with! Obviously I'm not getting an SM57 but the soundcard will give me room in the future to upgrade my preamp and everything. Still considering everything though as this could be a really crappy deal without me realizing it. :P And after looking at it some it probably is at least for recording electric guitar.

[sp4585]

Hey it was between the exact package you are speaking of and the MXL V63 for me.

But to answer your question, I am using my stock Conexant AMC sound card that was stock on my Compaq Presario R4000 laptop 2 years ago when I got it. I had all kinds of lag issues in recording the song that you heard but nothing a quick redo didn't fix. I'm saving up to get a soundcard... for that I'll be putting a little bit of actual money into it to get something like 8 analog inputs.

But anyway, my setup is exactly like this and in this order.

1. Always had mic stands and what not.
2. Upgraded my guitar rig over the summer.
3. My tentatively forming band fell apart (scheduling).
4. Itching to play so I bought a Radioshack mic for like $45 and started recording linear .wav's in WavePad.
5. Got editing software: Cool Edit Pro 2.0 (I was given a copy... sort of)
6. Started considering working on this small project studio: waffled between the package you're talking about and a few different MXL single mics. On the recommendation of a recent speaker at a presentation I attended as part of my Audio Production class, I decided that the MXL V63 would be what I needed in my price range ($80 alone - 90 with a shockmount... I think).
7. Needed phantom power obviously so I figured I might as well get phantom power that mixes as well... tried to get my hands on my former drummer's Behringer 20 channel Eurorack mixer (didn't work out). Bought the Behringer Xenyx 802 off of Ebay for $55 + shipping.
8. I already had an assortment of 1/4" step up/down adapters laying around from messing with the radio shack mic.
9. Recorded a song.
10. Wrote this.

In short, you can do what I've done without the soundcard upgrade, but the audio quality is going to need some cleaning up for sure and you may have to be patient with lags/snags when recording.

[brandondrury]

In regard to the computer situation, I would NEVER attempt to record on the same machine that I do my web design, programming, web browsing, etc on. There is NO WAY!

Of course, I push my recording rig very hard...way more than a beginner probably would. So, you may be alright.

If it was me.. (well, if it was me, I'd let everyone else gag on Vista for a year before I jumped in). Assuming I wanted Vista for my main computer, I would go with the dual boot with XP on the audio side. This would be for performance alone. The fact that XP actually works with audio hardware is another gigantic plus. Switching between the two requires a restart, but I don't see that as too big of deal.

Brandon

[Rapishorrid]

In regard to the computer situation, I would NEVER attempt to record on the same machine that I do my web design, programming, web browsing, etc on. There is NO WAY!

I suppose having a dedicated recording machine would be useful for location and such but otherwise I don't really see the advantage If I had the money I'd probably do it, but my current machine would be ten times faster either way.

Dual booting isn't so much of a hassle switching back and forth, its just that I sometimes don't find myself "dedicating" a session to recording and would be jumping back and forth between different things.

I'm still looking at all my options here though so I'll keep you guys posted. Thanks for the advice again everyone

[brandondrury]

Dual booting isn't so much of a hassle switching back and forth, its just that I sometimes don't find myself "dedicating" a session to recording and would be jumping back and forth between different things.

Fair enough. If your recording is more "casual", there is nothing wrong with that. Personally, I see my seperate recording rig is a total blessing. It lets me focus on recording when I'm recording.

Brandon