Budget recording on Audigy 2ZS

[Markbnj]

... the Audigy has a few drawbacks as a recording interface. Nonetheless I am going to stick with it for the moment, as I will be upgrading my system this fall, and can think about something more capable then.

So what I am looking to do is take a condenser mic for vocals, a piezo pickup on the body of my Martin, and run both through a cheap-but-ok mixer, and then into the line-in on the Audigy.

Looking for recommendations on the pickup (used to have one but lost it), vocal mic, mixer, and recording software.

For the hardware I am prepared to spend a couple hundred or less. Would like less. On the software I am looking for free . But if I can't get that would spend a few bucks. This is all basically fooling around stuff, so don't want to break the bank.

Any recs much appreciated!

 

[coaster831]

You'll get much better results if you use a mic for the acoustic guitar instead of a pickup. If you will be playing live, the piezo might be worth it, but for recording a mic is the way to go.

N-Track and Audacity are free multitracking programs that will handle simple needs like this just fine.

Instead of a mixer I'd get a dedicated mic preamp. That way you get most of your money into the part that will affect the sound the most- the mic pres! The M-Audio DMP3 is a pretty decent one around $130 (don't get the Audio Buddy!).

If you have a real need for a mixer the small Yamahas are worthwhile, as is the Soundcraft Compact4. Stay away from Behringer.

Acoustic guitar mics: Studio Projects B1, Audio Technica AT2020, or MXL 990 are all decent and around $100. Any of those would work fine for vocals as well (you could just live with one and multitrack it). Or get 2 different ones if you want to track both at the same time- it will allow you some variety as well.

 

[Markbnj]

Cool, Coaster, thanks very much. I didn't realize I was better off with a mic for recording the guitar.

You mention going with a mic pre-amp. I was presuming I would need the mixer to mix the guitar and vocals into the single line-in. If I assume I am going to record the guitar and vocals seperately, can I plug the guitar mic directly into the line in? Or is the idea to swap the mics in and out of the pre-amp? I probably still lean toward a mixer for recording both at the same time, but would like to understand the alternative.

Thanks again.

 

[coaster831]

Your "single" line-in is really stereo, meaning there are two channels available (left and right). So, with a stereo mic preamp like the dmp3, you have acoustic->mic1->dmp3 channel 1 and vocal->mic2->dmp3 channel 2, then use a y cable to bring them both into your computer on separate tracks. Now you have the acoustic and vocal tracks separate in your multitrack software and you can mix/pan them as you wish.

The downfall to using a mixer to mix as you record is that you are stuck with the results- you can't separate the guitar and vocal once it's in your computer.

You can achieve the same thing with a mixer as with a standalone mic pre by panning your guitar hard left and voice hard right and using the main outputs of the mixer into your comp, but I still favor the dedicated mic preamp route.

BTW- if you don't know, a mic preamp brings a mic level signal to line level. If you bought a mixer, it would have mic preamps in it as well, but since you're paying for all the extra stuff (EQ, master fader and aux send section, etc), the quality of the pres is going to be less than a dedicated mic pre at the same price point (usually).

 

[Markbnj]

Perfect explanation, Coaster. Thanks a lot. I think I will go the route you suggest. I feel a trip to my local music store coming up tomorrow.