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Dear All,I am a novice when it comes to home recording - but in the next couple of months I will began recording from home and I am seeking advice. I've read a few books to acquaint myself with what I need - and I would like any constructive advice (in layman's terms).FYI - I am a Singer/Songwriter and I plan to mainly record acoustic guitar and vocal, and will use software or my Midi Keyboard to record other instruments and loops.Computer - I plan to buy a Laptop which i will dedicate solely to music. At present I am looking at HP as I believe Dell are not great for music. Although with HP there is no option for a specific Soundcard (when building the machine online) which seems weird. Has anyone got any Laptop advice? I plan to spend about $1K. Software - I plan to buy Cakewalk Home Studio XL at about $160. Is looks fairly user friendly for the novice and appears to have good tools. Does anyone have any opinions on this software.Audio/Midi Interface - I plan to buy an Edirol UA-4FX for about $160. Is this a good audio and midi interface?I already have some decent microphones, guitars, and a good Casio Keyboard. I am trying to figure out the best way to record Bass and Drum loops but it looks like the music software would help me out here or I could do some of this on my Casio. Any suggestions or ideas?Any advice or suggestions are greatly appreciated. Am I missing any key components here, or should this be all I need?Many thanks.

Sounds like you're off to a good start. I'm not familiar with the Edirol device you mention, but have heard good things about them in general. Here's my 2c.Try not to get to worried about the particular hardware software config you use at first. Do some dilligence then get goin'. You're gonna learn and grow. When you start taking things to the next level you'll undoubtedly upgrade. I believe that the cakewalk program you're buying has a nice upgrade path to SONAR a very nice DAW. The main thing to remember is that great results can be achieved with minimal gear and software. See Mazz's tag --> it's the ear, not the gear. Sometimes the toys can be a distraction, or an excuse not to practice our craft --> it's easier to spend 2 hours demoing plugins or researching audio interfaces than it is to put the last bits of polish on an existing project.That said, make sure that the sound card you buy is compatible with your OS, are you going to run 64bit, then make sure there are drivers avaialable for that. Do you plan to make the W7 upgrade, then make sure that Edirol already supports it, or plans to (it's probably going to work since the driver model didn't change for W7). Most of all, have fun and post up your projects on P2P. It can be intimidating over there, but there are lots of extremely talented folks that are willing to help out, and you can help out by giving your critiques of their work, even if it's just 'hey this is cool, but I think the bass might be a little bit loud...'Regarding drum and bass, I like Drums on Demand for drums that are ready to go. There are lots of other vendors out there. And, don't overlook a drum plugin like EZDrummer, or Addictive Drums. I record mny own bass, so I'm sure others can chime in with their favs for that.HTH,Erich

Excellent advice above, but I would ask, "What are your goals for the music you intend to produce?"If you're pursuing music and recording as a hobby, you might wish to allocate funds differently than you might for professional purposes.

My musical goal is to create, record and produce music of a high enough quality to be released independently. I have previously been using the Fostex MR-8HD recorder but I think I need to broaden from just guitar and vocal in order to get a fuller and more commerical sound. Hence, the decision to record using a computer (with the additional tools!) rather than using the Fostex.

Sounds like you have a bunch of things figured out already. Have you ever considered the Mac platform? Not trying to derail what you've got going already but it might be worth considering. Garage Band comes with the OS. It is pretty straight forward. It contains some loops and some sounds already. It is designed for the beginner recordist and is pretty user friendly. When you're ready you can then bump up to Logic Express or Logic Studio. All of the software and hardware will already be compatible. You can check it out on the Apple Website. Just a side note. I know people often shy away from Macs because they think they are too expensive. In my experience they have been well worth it. They are stable, well built and intuitive. What is sometimes saved upfront is soon lost in time. The missing component that I don't see in you post is a good pair of speakers and/or headphones. Doing much of anything on built in speakers will not give you a satisfying experience. If your budget allows I would get both.Best of luck. Christi

Thanks for advice to far - some good tips!. I am definately getting a PC rather than Apple laptop and I will get speakers also. I already have good headphones.Thanks all.

I may be able to save you a ton of time and money on equipment. Make things really easy on yourself and get an MBox2 Factory bundle, it comes with everything, and I mean everything you need to record, mix and master professional grade tracks. I think it's about $500 total depending on where you get it. ProTools LE that comes with it is very easy to use, it's geared to be user friendly, basically if you have ever used a tape recorder, you can us ProTools LE, plus it comes with instruction videos that walk you through everything.As for the laptop,if your not going for a Mac go for a Toshiba Qosmio, one thing that is reallt nice about them it there is no limit to the RAM upgrade, right now I'm running 4GB's of Ram, and that's only because I couldn't find bigger chips. So far I've run up to 18 tracks with 2 or 3 plugins on each and haven't maxed out my memory.This is just my 2 cents but I hope it helps.

Aug 10, 2009, 9:21am, weapon wrote:I may be able to save you a ton of time and money on equipment. Make things really easy on yourself and get an MBox2 Factory bundle, it comes with everything, and I mean everything you need to record, mix and master professional grade tracks. I think it's about $500 total depending on where you get it. ProTools LE that comes with it is very easy to use, it's geared to be user friendly, basically if you have ever used a tape recorder, you can us ProTools LE, plus it comes with instruction videos that walk you through everything.As for the laptop,if your not going for a Mac go for a Toshiba Qosmio, one thing that is reallt nice about them it there is no limit to the RAM upgrade, right now I'm running 4GB's of Ram, and that's only because I couldn't find bigger chips. So far I've run up to 18 tracks with 2 or 3 plugins on each and haven't maxed out my memory.This is just my 2 cents but I hope it helps.RAM RAM RAMAs weapon says, the amount of RAM memory you have will determine many things including amount of tracks, plugins, instruments, etc.That and a fast external hard drive for sure. Don't use the internal laptop hard drive. For one, they're usually 5400 RPM which is too slow for audio, and also you don't want your system and apps on the same drive as your audio. Your system will work much better with a lot of RAM and an external drive.Mazz

I would go reaper for the DAW $60. Free download to try it!!Also free great manual to learn from.put the $100 saved to the t-rack deal.Any big name card should be good enough to start. Edirol are fine.I would also look at m-audioThe mbox is also an option.My thoughts are reaper is going to become a standard of sorts, great for swapping projects.Failing that mbox with protools.

For a bare bones little rig like your putting together, your sonic quality is going to directly correlate to your knowledge with the software and plugins you use for production. Lil Something to keep in mind... Thus, ill further echo the need for your computer being strong and stable. (lot o ram, top tier processors, and fast drives with a lot o space.)AFA interfaces go, they're all about the same-around that price point.*As Christy said, It looks as tho you may be overlooking the need for an efficient set of studio monitors.. Just a little FYI that might help. For your situation as a singer/songwriter, although id highly reccomend going Mac; (just to be honest) id definitely try a few of the different PC programs out there and then go with which one clicks best with you.Again, for your goals, your ability to reach that level of commercial quality on budget gear is going to depend on your versatility and knowledge of the software and having a solid understanding of recording. A couple books ive read that id reccomend for you are: Guerilla Home Recording: By Carl Coryat, Practical Recording Techniques: By Bruce and Jenny BartlettBest of Luck,Jamie