Recording real flute+drums

[Tuomas]

Hi again

I bought a set of bongo drums. The point is to use them to create music for my game-to-be. Now I was wondering if anyone had ever recorded this before at home. You see, I do have a mic-headset, which I use for the flute, but it's not ideal either, and by no chance with bongos. I mean,Ã,  I considered getting one drum mic, that is if they sell them one at a time, but is it really worth it? I'm still going to record straight to my computer through the mic hole and with Audacity because I don't know better. I do though have the feeling, that the headset-mic won't take in the bongos.

Now I know there's people here who've done recordings more or less. I also want to record my flute, but don't want the microphone to cost more than the flute did . Which leads me to the next question. Should you know one and be able to help me, what would the cost be. If it will go to spending lots of money just to make a small difference, then I'll rather just use midi, which I really really hate (can't emphasize enough).

Thanks for ideas in advance.

[nulluser]

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[Nikolas]

Tuomas,

Problem is that without a decent sound card (with pre amp input, and the large cable thingy (<-yay for the description)), you won't be able to get very far...
Any decent microphone needs a decent input. Otherwise...

Don't know how much your flute costs, but you could get a sound card for around 200 euros plus anothr 100 euros for a decent mic...

On the how, it would be best to get a couple of mics (thus 2 inputs), and record stereo, or even better get one close to the bongos (and the flute), and the other at a different place, far away, in order to get the natural reverb and toy around with it.

for a price check try: www.turnkey.co.uk . Not the absolutely best prices, and it's in London, but it will definately give you an idea, plus it does ship internationally, or if it doesn't I surely can!

[Tuomas]

Don't know how much your flute costs, but you could get a sound card for around 200 euros plus anothr 100 euros for a decent mic...

O_O

... I need that job from somewhere. No problem, luckily my game is at the stage, that I'll have time to gather money. I knew I was going to have to get a better sound card. Luckily uni is over for me in 3 weeks, so I can get a real job. Or maybe I'll just take a loan like I did for my trip to Hungary Yeah, thanks, I'll take a look at it. It's just nice to know where I stand.

[Adamski]

Just a warning, don't order from turnkey if you can avoid it... I'm currently having a massive headache because of them upholding their reputation for despatching stuff to the wrong address (as well as their tendancy to put stuff on your order you didn't ask for)! http://www.thomann.de have better prices, might be good to start there.

If you want a good recording then you're going to have to unfortunatly bite the bullet and grab a mic and soundcard that has XLR inputs... fortunatly you can get some really great budget stuff these days but Niks estimation is about right, you'll be looking at 300 euros to get an external audio box and a mic that sounds halfway decent.

[Hammerite]

Well, you could always buy a cheaper, lower quality microphone. It will cost less, but it won't work as well.

its also perfect if you want that lo-fi sound. 

[Nikolas]

Adamaski...

Never heard of this for turnkey, and I have a friend who work(ed) there... :-/ Can't doubt it. Just to mention that I've ordered three times from there, to have absolutely no problem, where time & space had a severe delay (due to the over ordering probably of Garritan stuff on group buy period, but anyways). The thomman sounds pretty decent though!

Wish we were in the US, then we could use sweetwater... :-/ (btw, if you have friends over at the US, you could scam your way without paying import taxes, but... I've never done anything like this really...)

[Evil]

Well, bongos can be difficult to record. I've tried dozens of times but can't get them to sound right either. A condenser mic would be the best to use, pointing it at the drum head. Room shape, size, and direction the mic and drum head are pointing can also make a big difference.

[GarageGothic]

I don't have too much experience with recording equipment. But one way of avoiding getting a new sound card might be a USB microphone. I've been looking to buy this one myself: http://www.zzounds.com/item--SAMC01U