Anything else I need to purchase?

zepp76

I've recently been putting together a recording set up, so far I have: Tascam DP-03SD 8 track portastudio, Alesis SR18 drum machine, Alesis Elevate 5 MK2 speakers, AKG K702 headphones and two Mic's, a Shure SM57 and a Rode NT-1A. Is there anything missing that I may need and that I've overlooked? As I'm completely new to this recording malarkey I'm hoping I haven't missed anything out so if you kind people can think of anything else it would be much appreciated, thank you.

Edit: I'll be recording acoustic as well as electric guitar if that makes a difference?

octatonic

You seem to have the basics covered.
You might want to think about a compressor pedal.
I assume you have microphone stands?

PolarityMan

I wouldn't be starting on a hardware portastudio personally, I'd go the laptop route.

Winny_Pooh

I'd get a round base stand like this:
https://www.thomann.de/gb/km_25960.htm

Super useful for micing amps and acoustics while seated, plus the lack of legs means it's useful in small spaces. 

zepp76

octatonic said:

You seem to have the basics covered.
You might want to think about a compressor pedal.
I assume you have microphone stands?

Thank you for your replies.

I have mic stands and a Whirlwind Red Box Compressor.

PolarityMan said:

I wouldn't be starting on a hardware portastudio personally, I'd go the laptop route.

Is there any reason for that? I was hoping to not need a computer until I have completed recordings.

Winny_Pooh said:

I'd get a round base stand like this:
https://www.thomann.de/gb/km_25960.htm

Super useful for micing amps and acoustics while seated, plus the lack of legs means it's useful in small spaces. 

Thank you, that looks quite handy.

spark240

Looks like theres a remote jack on the Tascam...if thats for a footswitch I suggest getting one...useful for dropping into recordings...

zepp76

spark240 said:

Looks like theres a remote jack on the Tascam...if thats for a footswitch I suggest getting one...useful for dropping into recordings...

thank you for your reply, I've got the footswitch for punching in and out of recordings. 

pintspiller

Multi effects unit could be handy

PolarityMan

zepp76 said:

PolarityMan said:

I wouldn't be starting on a hardware portastudio personally, I'd go the laptop route.

Is there any reason for that? I was hoping to not need a computer until I have completed recordings.

Flexibility and workflow. Assuming you already have a laptop of some description then for the saving of £100 or so I dont know why you'd tie yourself in to a fairly obsolete form factor.

zepp76

PolarityMan said:

zepp76 said:

PolarityMan said:

I wouldn't be starting on a hardware portastudio personally, I'd go the laptop route.

Is there any reason for that? I was hoping to not need a computer until I have completed recordings.

Flexibility and workflow. Assuming you already have a laptop of some description then for the saving of £100 or so I dont know why you'd tie yourself in to a fairly obsolete form factor.

It's only for recording a few bits here and there, I'm not expecting studio quality recordings I just want to try my hand at recording mine and my friends ideas so portability is a must so I can take my gear to my friends place. If I get on with the kit I have computer software will probably come at a later date. Thank you for your input.

PetGerbil

PolarityMan said:

I wouldn't be starting on a hardware portastudio personally, I'd go the laptop route.

Is there any reason for that? I was hoping to not need a computer until I have completed recordings.

 

 

Why should you get away without the living hell of latency,ground loops,noise, expense...?

...comes round here,just plugs straight in!! not a care in the world.!!! 

In my opinion,you're doing it the right way. Just use the computer to assemble and mix the tracks.

maltingsaudio

pintspiller said:

Multi effects unit could be handy

This or at least some form of reverb device

zepp76

maltingsaudio said:

pintspiller said:

Multi effects unit could be handy

This or at least some form of reverb device

I have plenty of reverb pedals, reverb on the amps and the ability to add reverb on the portastudio so pretty much covered there along with a plethora of other pedals.

PolarityMan

PetGerbil said:

PolarityMan said:

I wouldn't be starting on a hardware portastudio personally, I'd go the laptop route.

Is there any reason for that? I was hoping to not need a computer until I have completed recordings.

 

 

Why should you get away without the living hell of latency,ground loops,noise, expense...?

...comes round here,just plugs straight in!! not a care in the world.!!! 

In my opinion,you're doing it the right way. Just use the computer to assemble and mix the tracks.

I dunno, its not long before you're in the "I want to try moving the bridge to before the chorus" territory or any other modification where having a screen is going to be a huge help.

I guess if you are performing 100% live (which I guess you're not due to the addition of a drum machine...which btw how are you goign to run, are you going to pre-record the audio in or manage some kind of midi sync with a click on the recorded..in which case your project is now split across 2 devices) then it might be reasonable but using a DAW and a typical 8 channle interface you still have better metering and routing options.

Basically unless all you want is a tape recorder then a laptop based setup is going to win for convenience every time and you can still fit the whole lot in a laptop bag so its plenty portable.

Plus you dont need a migrate step to do your mix work.

zepp76

PolarityMan said:

PetGerbil said:

PolarityMan said:

I wouldn't be starting on a hardware portastudio personally, I'd go the laptop route.

Is there any reason for that? I was hoping to not need a computer until I have completed recordings.

 

 

Why should you get away without the living hell of latency,ground loops,noise, expense...?

...comes round here,just plugs straight in!! not a care in the world.!!! 

In my opinion,you're doing it the right way. Just use the computer to assemble and mix the tracks.

I dunno, its not long before you're in the "I want to try moving the bridge to before the chorus" territory or any other modification where having a screen is going to be a huge help.

I guess if you are performing 100% live (which I guess you're not due to the addition of a drum machine...which btw how are you goign to run, are you going to pre-record the audio in or manage some kind of midi sync with a click on the recorded..in which case your project is now split across 2 devices) then it might be reasonable but using a DAW and a typical 8 channle interface you still have better metering and routing options.

Basically unless all you want is a tape recorder then a laptop based setup is going to win for convenience every time and you can still fit the whole lot in a laptop bag so its plenty portable.

Plus you dont need a migrate step to do your mix work.

Thank you for your help and advice, I have to do a bit of research into how I'm going to sync the drum machine with the portastudio but I'm guessing it's no more difficult than just plugging in a cable and recording straight to the DP-03SD or am I missing something? I do have a new laptop sitting here doing nothing but it's only got 2gb of RAM and am unsure if that's enough to run recording software? I'm open to all suggestions to just get me up and running in the simplest and cheapest methods possible, I'm just a bit of a Luddite when it comes to computers!

PolarityMan

Well you can obviously just record the output but it limits your flexibilit for rearranging etc.

If you're predominantly just capturing a fully live performance then i think the standalone recorder will be fine,  but as soon as you come to do anything further than basic punch ins then I think it will be a PITA to work with.

As a writing tool a DAW leaves them in the ground imo

PetGerbil

Yeah, I agree with using a Daw to arrange stuff. But using a hardware recorder solves so many problems in the recording stage (in my opinion ) Zero latency and convenience are a big win for me. Just hit record and you're done.

Using my hardware recorder as the initial recording device, then squirting it over to the computer for editing has been a godsend for me. I heartily recommend it.

Also,you don't need a powerful laptop or even a decent soundcard if you're just editing.

PolarityMan

If zero latency is important and you are not using VSTs as part of your sund then pretty much all interfaces support direct monitoring. Personally I can live with the latency (a quick look at reaper reports its 4.6ms for my current setup).

About the only situation I think its more convenient for is if you want to capture a live performance entirely as-is, and even then its not really a huge amount more convenient than a DAW + Audio interface.

Legionreturns

I'm a hardware / zero latency guy too. I've done work both ways and being able to just plonk tracks into a DAW when done is fantastic, and I can still drop in via the DAW if I want to, as my R16 also has an interface mode. 

spark240

Thank you for your help and advice, I have to do a bit of research into how I'm going to sync the drum machine with the portastudio but I'm guessing it's no more difficult than just plugging in a cable and recording straight to the DP-03SD or am I missing something? 

Not sure syncing the drum machine is even an option here...sure you can record the drum track to the Tascam and probably do some bouncing

PolarityMan

oh didnt see it was only midi and only 2 inputs, yeah so only option is to record in the audio