Another clueless newbie

Radman*123

New member
Hello All

After being in Community Radio since 1994 I have decided to try something new. The problem is I haven't got a clue where to start.

The thing I am looking to do is build up a mobile studio. A studio I can use at home to record and mix and can also take on the road to do live gigs and even possibly record the live gigs. Most of the bands I will be working with are Rock/Metal bands.

After checking a few mags (S.o.S & performing musician) I decided to surf the net, This is where I ound this site. To be honest, this site seems to be the place to find answers.

Could anyone here give me a clue as to the equipment I would need for the purpose stated above. Any help would be very appreciated.

Thanks for your time.
 
Welcome to the site. While there are many people on this site with knowledge they will share - you will find that the more specific the question, the more likely you will get a good response.

Your question is so broad and so general that it is impossible to answer. What is your budget? Do you want a computer based system or a desk top "stand alone recorder"? If you go the computer route, do you want to use all software or a mix of software and hardware?

Recording application are much different than gigging applications - as an example the type of mixing board you may want for a gig could be very different than a board for a home studio and in fact if you use a computer, with the right software, you would not even need a board.

As you can see, until you figure out exactly want you plan to do - it will be difficult for anyone on this site to provide you with helpful answers.
 
Some more definition will help -- if you're focusing on gigs, it probably makes sense to become familiar (if you aren't already) with what's generally needed for gig/live performance, and then think about how you'd insert the recording task into that. The people who attend the gig and the band are going to primarily be concerned with how it sounds live, instead of how good or whether it's recorded, of course.

Also, a lot of venues have at least some of the puzzle completed already -- they may have mains speakers, a big multichannel board of some sort, etc., and if you're always going to be working in that situation then it changes what you need to worry about. If you're going into environments where you have to provide *all* the equipment, then you have a different list of concerns.
 
My obligatory standard reply-for-newbies that I keep in Wordpad:

First off, immediately get a good beginner recording book (spend $20 before spending hundred$/thousand$) that shows you what you need to get started and how to hook everything up in your studio:
Home Recording for Musicians by Jeff Strong - $15
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/07...ce&n=283155&n=507846&s=books&v=glance
(Wish I'd had that when I started; would have saved me lots of money and time and grief)
You can also pick up this book in most any Borders or Barnes&Noble in the Music Books section!

Another good one is: Recording Guitar and Bass by Huw Price
http://www.amazon.com/Recording-Gui...=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1215734124&sr=1-1
(I got my copy at a place called Half-Price Books for $6!!)

Barnes&Noble or Borders are great places to start --- they have recording books and you can go get a snack or coffee and read them for FREE! Don't pass by a good recording book --- this is a VERY technical hobby and you REALLY want to start a reference library!!!

Good Newbie guides that also explains all the basics:
http://www.tweakheadz.com/guide.htm
http://www.computermusic.co.uk/page/computermusic?entry=free_beginner_pdfs

21 Ways To Assemble a Recording Rig:
http://www.tweakheadz.com/rigs.htm

Also Good Info:
http://www.theprojectstudiohandbook.com/directory.htm

Other recording books:
http://musicbooksplus.com/home-recording-c-31.html

Still using a built-in soundcard?? Unfortunately, those are made with less than $1 worth of chips for beeps, boops and light gaming (not to mention cheapness for the manufacturer) not quality music production.
#1 Rule of Recording: You MUST replace the built-in soundcard.
Here's a good guide and suggestions:
http://www.tweakheadz.com/soundcards_for_the_home_studio.htm


Plenty of software around to record for FREE to start out on:

Audacity: http://audacity.sourceforge.net (multi-track with VST support)
Wavosaur: http://www.wavosaur.com/ (a stereo audio file editor with VST support)\
Kristal: http://www.kreatives.org/kristal/
Other freebies and shareware: www.hitsquad.com

Another great option is REAPER at http://www.cockos.com/reaper/ (It's $40 but runs for free until you get guilty enough to pay for it...)
I use Reaper and highly reccomend it...

Music Notation and MIDI recording: Melody Assistant ($20) and Harmony Assistant ($80) have the power of $600 notation packages - http://myriad-online.com
Demo you can try on the website.

And you can go out to any Barnes&Noble or Borders and pick up "Computer Music" magazine - they have a full FREE studio suite in every issue's DVD, including sequencers, plugins and tons of audio samples. (November 2006 they gave away a full copy of SamplitudeV8SE worth $150, November 2007-on the racks Dec in the US- they gave away SamplitudeV9SE. It pays to watch 'em for giveaways...)
 
Sorry for being so broad with my initial question.

I am open to your suggestions on whether to go the computer route or not.

I will try to define what it is I am looking into doing. Basically, due to promoting unsigned artists on our station I have been aproached by a few bands about recording them and producing demo's and/or cd's they can distribute at gigs. The station has no funds for this, so, I thought I Might fund it myself as a hobby. As the station has no room to accomodate a recording set up, and my home is like a rabbit hutch, I was thinking of a set up that could be taken to rehersal rooms to do the recording and then back home for editing/mixing.

I found this, a Zoom HD16CD. According to what it says about it in sound on sound magazine, this should be a starting point for the kind of thing I am thinking of doing.

This is as far as I have got as I have been, between work & the kids, trying to research this subject as much as possible.

Any help will be greatfully received.

Simon
 
The zoom with its ability to dump tracks to a computer for mixing/editing could be a possible option - but there are many considerations.

I think the Zoom unit only has 8 ins (and allows tracking 8 things at the same time). While this could be enough for studio recording (where you can track maybe just the bass & drums and then track guitars, etc) in a live recording, 8 inputs may not be enough to achieve much seperation.

Let's say you are recording a 4 piece band - 2 guitars, bass & drums. We'll assume only the 2 guitarists sing. So your 1st 5 channels (tracks) would look like this:

1. Guitar 1
2. Guitar 2
3. Bass
4. Vocal 1
5. Vocal 2

That only leaves 3 inputs for drums - in a live recording this may not be enough (in particular in a small practise space where bleed could be a real problem).

Now you could purchase a small submixer (say 8 channels) - to use as a drum submix and then bring that into 2 channels on the Zoom.

So now you're looking at the Zoom as your main recording mixing and recording medium and an 8 channel sub-mixer. You will need at least 8 mics (2for vocals, 2 to mic guitar cabs, and 5 for drums). You'll also need a direct box for the bass. Depending on where you plan to set up your work area you may need a snake (mic cables may not be long enough). And naturally you need several mic stands.

There would still be a lot of problems with bleed (vocal mics picking up other sounds, etc.) so you end product may not be ideal (in particular if you don't have recording enginner chops). In turn, your clients may be less than pleases with the end result (because they will naturally expect a major studio sound....even though they will only want to pay you $200).

So.......maybe the Zoom could be a starting point, but you may have to put alot of money into mics & cables. You may need noise gates and compressors to control the sound (if recording in a very small space).

It may be a fun hobby and maybe you can earn enough to conver your costs - but be prepared for a lot of headaches (musicians fwho pay for recordings expect alot - often unrealistic expectations).
 
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