Few random questions

[deviatedwolf625]

Alright, a few questions, related to composition:

Firstly, I wish to get into electronic music, but I only own a bass at this time. Is it possible to squeak by without it?

Second, is it possible to do pinch harmonics with your fingers on bass?

Third, I need a semi-decent cheap microphone to buy, for recording vocals. I'm a cheap motherfucker, I've got ... 20$. Any suggestions?

[All-One-Mind]

Alright, a few questions, related to composition:

Firstly, I wish to get into electronic music, but I only own a bass at this time. Is it possible to squeak by without it?

Second, is it possible to do pinch harmonics with your fingers on bass?

Third, I need a semi-decent cheap microphone to buy, for recording vocals. I'm a cheap motherfucker, I've got ... 20$. Any suggestions?

1) If you don't mind pirating software, your computer is really all you need to make electronic music. Get yourself a sequencer, some synth plug ins, Fruity-loops, and/or Acid Pro (plus whatever else, like VST and Direct X plugins). PM me, and I could probably transer you some of that shit via AIM sometime.

2) ?

3) My advice, is save another $80 and get a Shure SM58. Other than that, for $20 you are kind of screwed.

[deviatedwolf625]

thanks, it's what I thought. After X-mas I'll buy myself a good mic, with however much money I get.

[sound.out.light]

yeah man...get urself a shuresm 58..not exactly the best for recording...but its a pretty standard live mic..and its probably the best for the price....itll do u pretty good...
if u have a nice mic, a little 4 track mixer, a decent sound card, and some good editing equipment, youd be suprised how good of a sound u can get....a good editor would be cool edit pro..which has multi track recording as well as editing....
going thru a mixer isnt necessary tho it is very helpful because u dont have much control over your levels unless u use the windows mixer...but honestly, that thing sucks..
pick urself up a cheap ass 100 dollar yamaha 4 track....if u want really good live sounding drums, id go with Propellerheads Reason...which is going for about 350 but im sure u can find a better deal somewhere..pirated versions are hard to come by....
its good on the electronic side of drums too..only downfall with that program is there isnt much editing options for the drum sounds....but, it does have 3 or 4 software synthesizers and a sequencer..the sequencer is kind of lame cuz u cant do chords but if u pick urself up a nice cheap midi keyboard and run it thru ur usb port, u can do chords that way....ive got a cheap radium49 midi controller..costed me 150 bucks...its got a pitch wheel, mod wheel, 8 assignable faders and 8 assignable knobs....
here is a link to my music..im doing it with :
my guitar, a line 6 pod, a bass, propellerheads reason, cool edit pro, and a shure 58 mic.....and with a lot of practice in mixing, etc.
http://www.angelfire.com/indie/soundoutlight
hope this is of some help to you...unfortunately, ur gonna have to spend a little bit of money..but as far as software, if u find pirated versions, you'll save urself about 500 bucks...

hope this finds you well..
-d.

[elevate]

My advice, is save another $80 and get a Shure SM58.
get urself a shuresm 58
No.

For recording purposes, an SM 58 is far from ideal. There are several large diaphragm condenser mics that are about the same price as the SM 58, but will give you much better results. Look into Studio Projects and MXL mics.

For $20 you're not going to be able to get anything worth a crap, but if you must, there's always Behringer's SM 58 knock-off. (http://www.8thstreet.com/product.asp?ProductCode=6535&Category=Microphones)

[deviatedwolf625]

hmm ... alright, I'll see how much I can save.

[elevate]

Here are some specific models:

MXL 1006
MXL V67G
Studio Projects B1

Another thing, pretty much all LD condenser mics need phantom power, so that's something to keep in mind.

[deviatedwolf625]

alright, how much is the phantom power adapter?

[elevate]

Allright...I guess we need to back up a few paces. How were you planning on connecting this mic to your computer? Mics need preamps to boost their signal (as opposed to line inputs which don't, but they can sometimes benefit from preamps as well). So, do you have a mixer or something, or were you just planning on pluggin this straight into your sound card?...and what kind of sound card do you have?

For the record, phantom power supplies can be had for around $30, but most mixers provide phantom power.

[deviatedwolf625]

Alright, fuck.

I don't own a mixer, so I was going to buy a couple audio adapters and plug it from that straight into the comp, using the mic preamp on my SB Live! card (shitty).

[elevate]

Well...it is kind of an investment to get that big leap in quality, but if you want to just get something to get you by with, you could get that Behringer mic I linked earlier and use that till you're ready to step up. Just be realistic in your quality expectations.

[deviatedwolf625]

I'm not expecting professional vocals. My recording equipment ain't the best I know.

As long as that behringer will catch the low end of my voice, I'm happy.

[All-One-Mind]

You recommended some good mics. However, with his setup, I would still recommend the Shure SM58. I am not sure about the knock-off, but if it's just as good as the real thing, then go with that. One thing is for sure, the SM88 will come in handy in the future, especially when you do live gigs.

Why not get a condenser microphone? Well, you've already covered the phantom power issue. Another problem is the noise from your computer. Sure, you can set the roll off to catch some of that, but it still leaks through. I am using the Waves noise reduction DX plug-ins, and I have a rackmount Symentrix noise filter. Even after all those things, I still get too much room noise/computer fan noise to make a condenser mic worthwhile. NOt to mention traffic noise sometimes... fuckers

So yeah, dynamic is not ideal for the best quality vocals, however it will do. It will also come in handy when you do live music.

Here's the minimum, that you need to start recording now:

a computer, with at least a 500MhZ Celeron, w/ 128mb ram, Windows 95+, and a few gigs of free space
a sequencer/audio recording program (Sonar/Cool Edit/Cubase/Nuendo, ect...)
a sound card (integrated sound is fine)
a quarter inch to eighth inch cable adapter
a quarter inch cable
a mic (for vocals, you can also use it to mic your amp if you want. You will then need a line transformer, to convert the XLR connecter to quarter inch)

EXTRAS:
Mixer (I have a 24 channel mixer, but you could get a cheap 16 channel mixer and have more than enough)
A better sound card (since I record only myself, I just use my integrated sound card)
Direct X and VST plug-ins (Waves Gold, Sonic Foundry Noise Reduction, amp simulation, reverb, synths, ect...)
As many cables an adapters as you can get (you never know when you'll need them especially when you start jamming with a ton of other people)

Do you have soulseek, because then I could just let you browse my files, and you could take what you like.

[deviatedwolf625]

Alright, it turns out, through sheer luck, I have ... 100 dollars to drop on it. I am cheery.

Bad news is I have to buy it at guitar center (50$ gift certificate)

Any suggestions on what to look at?