To clarify, I am a newbie to songwriting, and we're going to be getting a computer pretty soon to help aid in songwriting.
Whether you use Cakewalk, Sonar, MasterWriter or any other songwriting/mixing program, what kind of vocal mic do you use to record your vocals to your hard drive? And how does the setup actually work? Do you hook into a USB port direct, or do you have a rig set up to a mixing board?
I am COMPLETELY new to this, so any details you can give me would be helpful. I need to know what kind of monetary investment I'm going to need to make before purchasing the computer.
Thanks! Zach The TuneHead
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Take Care . God Bless . Rock On . Zach . The TuneHead
The sound card (a.k.a audio interface) can be the USB variety or the Firewire kind. If you're on a PC I recommend the USB. Apple computer can handle both.
Go here www.audiomidi.com
Look up sound cards and mics. Your investment could be as little as $150 to $500 depending on what you buy. Look up Audio Interface (USB or Firewire) and Microphones in their list of categories.
In those price ranges it doesn't really matter what you buy, it will probably be adequate to do what you want at home on a computer for basic sketching and demos.
You could get an M-audio USB sound card and a Studio project B1 for about $300-$400 dollars.
You'll also need a mic stand, an XLR mic cable, a pop filter and some headphones. So maybe about $500 total to get going.
You can also look at guitar center, musician's Friend or Sweetwater for vocal mic/sound card bundle packages that come with recording software, mic, headphones, sound card, etc.