Hey! New To Site, New To Recording

CrazyChef

CrazyChef

New member
Hey! Well, so who am I? Just an older 55 year old dude who wants to get back to his first love - playing guitar and recording.

I loved playing guitar when I was a younger dude. Haven't played in 25 years, so I started buying guitars (have 17 now - I know, WAY too many) and recording stuff.

Besides the guitars, for recording I have the following gear:

  • Interface: Focusrite Scarlett 6i6 (2nd Gen)
  • DAW: Cuckos Reaper (paid)
  • Computer: Dedicated Macbook Pro with external 1TB drive
  • Keyboard Controller: Nektar GX49
  • Speakers: M-Audio BX5 D2 desktop monitors
  • Headphones: Audio Technica ATH-MSR7BK
  • MIC: AKG P170

So, I'm here to basically sit back, read, and learn as much as I can from you seasoned pros. So, thank you for having me, and thank you in advance for answering all my noobie questions as they arise!
 
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I would say, other than recording and you seem to be setup pretty well. Might want to look at acoustic treatment. Might still be early, but it would be worth your time to at least understand why room treatment is important for mixing. It can also help you understand room acoustics for recording.

Welcome to the board.
 
DM60 said:
I would say, other than recording and you seem to be setup pretty well. Might want to look at acoustic treatment. Might still be early, but it would be worth your time to at least understand why room treatment is important for mixing. It can also help you understand room acoustics for recording.

Welcome to the board.
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Thanks! Any recommendations for treatment options? I can't do it soon, because I'll be moving in the next couple of months. But at least I can have my research done for the new place.
 
Lots of stuff on the board, it is answered so often. Do a search under sound treatment.

Mostly DIY and rockwool. You can probably treat a room pretty well for around $200. But look around and educate yourself for your new place. That will give you a jump on things.
 
DM60 said:
Lots of stuff on the board, it is answered so often. Do a search under sound treatment.

Mostly DIY and rockwool. You can probably treat a room pretty well for around $200. But look around and educate yourself for your new place. That will give you a jump on things.
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$200 is very much on the low side for treatment IME. Yes, you can get a bunch of rockwool for the first hundred, but if you want to build and mount framed panels, with even the cheapest fabric, it's going to push into the $500 area pretty quickly I'd think.

Maybe others have some real money saving tips, but the wood, fabric, screws, mounting brackets, etc., etc., have me at around $700. I spent too much on fabric, I'll concede, but unless you have a stack of suitable framing material or a friend who can slip you stuff on the side, even standard/common boards will add up.

Don't want to discourage you, so I invite others, and I know there are probably some shortcuts I didn't take, but brace yourself - this hobby can run out of control easily :).

P.S. If you have a choice of rooms in the new place - pick a rectangular one, and not a square one!
 
I personally don't believe there is such a thing as too many guitars. Does not compute. I only have 12 myself. Not including basses. Or mando. Or well.. okay maybe I do have a problem.:facepalm:
 
Welcome to the site.

I treated my little studio for about $200 but I'll admit, that was about 10 yrs ago. Maybe prices have gone up, but I still think you can do it right for less than $500. Guess it depends on the size of the room and how much you care about aesthetics.

For the average home recording type person, you only get one room to do both tracking and mixing. Common wisdom says to treat the room to benefit the mixing. You really need to hear your mixes accurately. For tracking, you can eq or add in ambiance to compensate for a dead sounding room.

17 guitars, but I didn't see anything about a bass or drums....
 
I did not see a guitar amplifier in that kit list? Maybe you are just an acoustics player?

Now, 17 ELECTRIC guitars is a bit excessive but 17 acoustics?? Mad that! Heh! Ok so, AKG P170, good mic for the money I have read. I have two P150s, been fine but whether you are recording amps or acoustics, two mics are far more useful than one (and for acoustics if you end up with a good room, do consider a stereo pair)

Guitar amps especially often sound better with a dynamic, the venerable SM57 but there ARE other dynamics!

As you have a mac I cannot help you there but anything 'electrical'..shout.

The 6i6 is now into '2nd Generation' and I believe the software can be upgraded for the earlier model. Certainly worth a try and do a firmware upgrade if there is one as well. I have an 8i6 but that model is discontinued so no upgrade for me! Not bovvered, my KA6 is better anyway!

Dave.
 
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DM60 said:
Lots of stuff on the board, it is answered so often. Do a search under sound treatment.

Mostly DIY and rockwool. You can probably treat a room pretty well for around $200. But look around and educate yourself for your new place. That will give you a jump on things.
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Thanks - I took a look around and didn't realize there was a whole subforum here just for that kind on info - Studio Building & Acoustic Treatment. I'll be checking out all the relevant posts there.

ecc83 said:
I did not see a guitar amplifier in that kit list? Maybe you are just an acoustics player?
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Yeah, I didn't want to bog down a thread with all my guitar stuff in a forum devoted to recording, but since you asked I have 6 amps.

ecc83 said:
Now, 17 ELECTRIC guitars is a bit excessive but 17 acoustics??
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11 electrics, 1 bass, 5 acoustics.

ecc83 said:
Guitar amps especially often sound better with a dynamic, the venerable SM57 but there ARE other dynamics!
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Cool, thank you. I just bookmarked one on Sweetwater for a later purchase.

ecc83 said:
The 6i6 is now into '2nd Generation' and I believe the software can be upgraded for the earlier model. Certainly worth a try and do a firmware upgrade if there is one as well. I have an 8i6 but that model is discontinued so no upgrade for me! Not bovvered, my KA6 is better anyway!

Dave.
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Yeah, I have the 2nd Gen. Just forgot to add that to the description. I edited the post to reflect that.
 
Chili said:
Welcome to the site.

I treated my little studio for about $200 but I'll admit, that was about 10 yrs ago. Maybe prices have gone up, but I still think you can do it right for less than $500. Guess it depends on the size of the room and how much you care about aesthetics.

For the average home recording type person, you only get one room to do both tracking and mixing. Common wisdom says to treat the room to benefit the mixing. You really need to hear your mixes accurately. For tracking, you can eq or add in ambiance to compensate for a dead sounding room.

17 guitars, but I didn't see anything about a bass or drums....
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Good advice - thank you. I have one bass, and no drums. Gonna have to rely on purchased tracks for now. I have a subscription to Jim Dooley's drum track samples. Are there any recommendations for something better? Like I said, I'm a complete newbie and it seemed like a good deal for only $5/month.
 
Ha!! You're asking the wrong person. I am so deeply entrenched in EZDrummer that I don't even know of anything else available. Well, an exaggeration for sure. There are Addictive Drums. Steven Slate, and.... hmm, I guess that's all I know.

None the less, hands down EZDrummer is the best. Easy to set up, easy to use, sounds great. It is a VSTi which means it works within your DAW software. Audition drums tracks, drag them to your time line and build your song.
 
Chili said:
Ha!! You're asking the wrong person. I am so deeply entrenched in EZDrummer that I don't even know of anything else available. Well, an exaggeration for sure. There are Addictive Drums. Steven Slate, and.... hmm, I guess that's all I know.

None the less, hands down EZDrummer is the best. Easy to set up, easy to use, sounds great. It is a VSTi which means it works within your DAW software. Audition drums tracks, drag them to your time line and build your song.
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Okay, well if that ain't a glowing review, I don't know what is! :D Okay, I'll look into it right now.
 
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