So I'm a recording arts student and a rapper, I'm looking to upgrade some of my home studio gear. I currently run my HP g4 laptop with a tascam us122 interface, a audio technica 2035, and i use fl studio 11 producer edition. I'm looking to spend around 300-400 dollars and my main focus is tracking clear rap vocals and being able to end up with a nicley mastered track. I'm thinking about getting pro tools 11 since that is what I use at school, but that would be most of my budget, and I can still function nicley with fl studio. Just looking for advise on what I should think about upgrading, thanks
A pop screen is a must for rap vocals! You would also benefit from some kind of acoustic baffle for the mix stand like the sE Electronics Reflexion Filter X Portable Vocal Booth. You also are going to need good de-esser, EQ and compression plugins for mixing. Your audio interface seems like the weakest link in the chain to me because I doubt you're getting good A/D conversion with those preamps in the Tascam. It also helps to have a little compression and limiting. Something like the PreSonus AudioBox 22VSL would be a big upgrade in sound quality and capabilities for tracking. As far as mastering goes, I'd not try to do it yourself, just because you lost perspective easily on our own work. Moreover, you really need full range monitors and acoustic treatment to do a good job with the bass. Hope that helps! If you want to try me for mastering, I can give you a great rate.
