Music recording equipment

smallzoo2

Quite a newbie on recording music

I have a digital liana keyboard, peavey amp used for my guitars,  accoustic guitar with two passive speakers , a microphone, and garageband on a mac. Someone also gave me a maudio mtrack solo.

realistically exactly what do I need to connect my keyboard, guitars, microphones etc to my mac to record

https://imgur.com/a/f3ptiVV

https://imgur.com/a/TK2jaa3

https://imgur.com/a/zNNnPmm

Andy_L

unless you want to record from multiple sources at the same time for a "live" recording you've got all you need.

Plug the instrument/mic into the appropriate input of the mtrack. You might need the right sort of cable but I suspect you've got a useful selection of random cables floating around anyway

Vitor

The M-Track Solo is fine if you're content to record each instrument/vocal separately, building up the piece track by track.

If you added a simple mixer like a Behringer Xenyx 802 (under £100) you can mix-down multiple inputs but they'd all go onto one track in GarageBand. If you wanted multiple instruments/vocals to be  recorded on separate tracks you'd need to jump up to something like a Scarlett 2i2

DullGreyGuy

smallzoo2 said:

Quite a newbie on recording music

I have a digital liana keyboard, peavey amp used for my guitars,  accoustic guitar with two passive speakers , a microphone, and garageband on a mac. Someone also gave me a maudio mtrack solo.

realistically exactly what do I need to connect my keyboard, guitars, microphones etc to my mac to record

What sort of mic is it? What connections does it have?

Are you wanting to record vocals as well?

The keyboard can connect out the box via USB

The others will go via an audio interface like the mtrack solo. It's up to you if you want to go from the electric guitar straight into the interface and apply any effects in garage band or if you mic up the amp (assuming it doesnt have a line out). 

Generally it's easier to record each item separately but in principle you with a different interface you can record multiple sources at the same as different tracks. You may need to be careful with mic choice however as if you are singing using a condenser mic its likely to also pickup the sound of the acoustic guitar and its highly preferable to have them recorded on separate tracks. 

With most interfaces you can be playing back what's already been recorded whilst recording the next part so you are playing along to something rather than just hoping you are keeping the same time. 

Heedtheadvice

What you need depends upon your aims! Is this just as a hobby, serious recording, sole person (or with others?), a 'bedroom studio' (suitably acoustically treated) or dedicated studio, external, live gigs, live streaming etc. The type may well affect what you need. I have assumed below non live and a bedroom studio!

You probably have enough equipment to record single ' instruments ' one track at a time  into Garageband or a couple together eg amp output via mic, voice via mic or acoustic via mic; or voice plus electric guitar via instrumental input on via your mtrack or keyboard via USB. ( Ensure you have the correct driver software for the mtrack).

One of the advantages of the Mac is that it copes easily with 2 USB inputs simultaneously such as keyboard and audio interface (mtrack).

However this is where my initial question comes in.

As has been mentioned in the above posts more than that ( singles or a couple of the combination I mention) would be an issue such as singing whilst playing  acoustic; and more if you want to play at the same time with someone else.

You may wish to add headphones to be able to listen to playback whilst recording otherwise that will be a problem. Closed back ones in this case.

Further I would query the  quality of recording you desire? If you want high quality then two other areas  to concentrate on are your room acoustics (including background noises) and your monitoring area ( maybe the same room?) and monitoring speakers or method ( headphones are not easy to get a good mix on). Domestic or cheaper types so called hifi speakers should generally be avoided. Monitoring types are best and like mics positioning and the room are important if you wish results that play well everywhere.

Further any decent mic can give  very good results but there are poorer and better ones for things like self noise ( if you have low level acoustic input) and transients such as will be most evident on acoustic guitar plus polar pattern and placement. Apart from the bandwidth differences much ( but not all)  of the individual mic character  can be adjusted by frequency equalisation ( on multitrack recordings! ) during mixdown; you will probably wish differences between voice and guitar anyway. Acoustic guitar recording can be most demanding.

I differ from Dullgreyguy in that it matters little regarding pick up of extraneous acoustic noise ( voice picking up acoustic guitar for example) between dynamic and condenser mics. ( Ribbon mics probably not in use by you?) Condensers are more sensitive generally than dynamics but polar pattern and positioning are the critical things. Both mics have their place.....but if you only have one ( or one input!) and are playing acoustic whilst singing then that is a challenge and you may wish to be recording the guitar at the same time anyway! I would hope you do not have a mic with a very peaky frequency response ( especially several peaks!!) But many common mics have  smooth peak in the 4 to 7kHz area designed for voice recording but are not as good for recording  instruments with low bass or high treble notes, the latter such as acoustic guitar. If you are a close mic singer you could add a pop filter to reduce plosive pick up and position the mic differently.

Lastly you mention passive speakers but not an amp to drive them?

Edit [ did I mention mic stand(s)....]