Home studio advice.

L

LXmusic

New member
First off, just wanna say what up to everyone, I just joined the site but I have to admit I've been lurking for a couple weeks now haha.

I'm looking for some advice from some of you guys who have studio setups of your own or that have experience in using equipment at home.

A little background, I'm pretty new to all of this. I've been songwriting as a side interest for a few years now and have built up a pretty good catalogue of pieces. I've always had an ear for music but despite playing around with various instruments over the years I never took anything seriously. This past year I got serious about writing and the production side and with help from a sound engineer/ producer I have two demos near completion. I graduate from college in May and with the support of my family have decided to take a year out prior to seeking full-time employment to see where this music thing may take me (if anywhere).

My question is, with a budget of about 2,000 GBP ($3,004) what equipment would you guys recommend I look into that will allow me to a) track my own beats b) compose my own instrumentals c) record vocals and d) a decent level of editing.

I have played around with Garageband for a while now, but have recently been trying to teach myself the ins and outs of Logic Pro. I also have some experience using FL Studio 8. I have been saving over the past 9 months with the intention of getting myself an Open Labs Miko LX, however no matter how close I get the exchange rate is forever keeping that dream out of reach. I will be back in the states for a short period in the next week to see friends and family and have planned a visit to Washington Music - the closest Miko distributor, with hopes of flying back with it. Any advice before I hand over the cash and leave myself a broke musician? Would the all-in-one unit solve all purposes or would I be better piecing together some good equipment and adding to my collection as I save more money? The Miko is still slightly out of budget but after saving for so long I'd be willing to make up the rest.

Thanks in advance for any suggestions.
 
Well you will need a decent set of monitors. I dont know what kind of room you will be working in but probably some acoustic treatment.

You would be better off listing what you already have as far as equipment goes if any. What kind of room will you be recording in?
 
As of right now I am running Logic Pro on a standard white MacBook. I also have a Windows desktop that I use mainly for Microsoft Office for college assignments, I don't know the spec at this point in time.

I have held off getting a midi controller as I'd hoped to have the Miko before now. I currently have access to a fairly decent recording studio and am learning the basics of the recording process through observing the engineer I'm working with. The studio is a few towns away though and difficult to access, and I'm not certain that I'll even be able to use it past next summer.

A friend of mine has the KRK RP5 monitors I believe, which are pretty nice. Unless they have discontinued production of that model would they be a good set to consider? As you can see I'm pretty new to this and have next to no equipment as a starting point. Another reason why I thought a Miko may cover a number of necessities in one.
 
Ok I dont have any personal experience with the Miko so I cant say anything about that. It looks like a beast though.

Id say definetly look into some acoustic treatment for your room. There are alot of people on this site that will help with this better than I.

The KRKs will do fine. Although you should be inclined to do some comparisons if possible. Bring some CDs of some things you like and do some A/B comparisons.

A interface may be an option (granted I dont know the capabilities of the Miko) for your vocals. Wont suggest one because this depends on how many inputs and outputs you need and other features you may want.

A good preamp will do you vocals alot of good.

Sorry I couldnt be more descriptive but you may have to do some research on what your needs will be as far as inputs/outputs and MIDI. Look at some reviews and see what fits you best.
 
From the information I can glean about the Miko, I expect it would do all you are seeking to do. That, a pair of monitors and a reasonable mike would get you going.

However, as you note, it does come with a hefty price tag. Maybe you don't need to go that far.

If you are already comfortable in a computer environment, you can get by with a considerably lower investment. Either Garage Band or Logic are fine as audio applications. Logic has great midi capacity. Don't know much about GB for midi.

Going down this path, your major investments are the monitors, a reasonable mike, and an interface. Your selection of any of these depends partly on your musical intentions and ambitions. Searching here or on the web will throw up the various possibilities.

A midi controller can come later, but you can pick up something like an Evolution midi keyboard (which hooks up via USB) quite cheaply.

Refinements can come later. These include a bigger selection of mikes, mike preamps, even room treatment (if your room sounds boxy, hollow or echoey, fill it up with as much junk as you can find).

The advantage of a computer-based system is that it is highly modular: you can add, subtract and change parts according to your circumstances and your willingness to be sucked deeper into the whirlpool of home recording.

An all-in-one, stand-alone unit has the attractiveness of being an all-in-one stand-alone unit, but I think they are inherently less flexible (though I'm willing to be corrected).
 
Thanks for the responses guys.

Having saved for so long with hopes of getting the Miko it's hard to admit that financially and logistically it'd make more sense for me to get the various pieces of equipment as I go along.

At this point what I really need is to be able to create my own instrumentals and record vocals, whether they be for guide tracks to be recorded later in the studio or the finished product. The engineering side of things can come later as I know someone interested in helping me with that. So any suggestions and info on what I need to get as far as production and recording equipment, plus product recommendations would be greatly appreciated.
 
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!!)

And you can get a FREE subscription to TapeOp magazine at www.tapeop.com

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 and have good tips:
http://www.tweakheadz.com/guide.htm
http://www.computermusic.co.uk/page/computermusic?entry=free_beginner_pdfs
http://www.harmony-central.com/articles/

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/smm

Another great option is REAPER at http://www.cockos.com/reaper/ (It's $50 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 ($25) 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...)
 
i don't if i'm right about this, but...it sounds like your an artist looking to try to make a living with original works. i don't know if spending money on recoding equipment will really get you to where you want to be. i think you'd be better off trying to get a band together and playing some gigs and get your name out that way. making recordings is a good place to evaluate yourself and maybe make a decent demo of what you sound like, but it would take alot of money and time to make a recording that would really catch anyones ear. no offense to your music, you may be a great songwriter, but as a self proclaimed newb i know from experiece that no matter how good you think you sound once you get into recording there's alot to learn and what's in your head is difficult to translate to a record.

i think we might be in the same boat as far as trying to do something in the music biz and from my experience live shows is where it's at. My plan is to do shows, impress the right people at a show, and hopefully someone will invite me to record in their studio.

i currently record my band in my garage. i've spent over $4000 and have spent more time than i should on reading up on the subject of recording. even still my recordings aren't anything that i would consider sonically pleasing.

As a warning: this recording stuff sucks you in and it's an endless struggle to get the best possible sound with the means that you can afford. Keep in this mind for some prospective: all the money that i've spent on gear over a year and half span a legit recording studio probably spent that on just a preamp.
 
There are really two queston here: one is equipment and the other career.

For 3K you can get some reasonable gear that will do good demos. It cant produce pro level sound. Vocals are usually hard as environment things get in the way.

The career part is harder. Trying to invest 1 year after college to "see where the music thing goes" may represent a way to mostly lose a year. Most who are even moderatly successful in music have been in it way way longer than a year. While there are always exceptions, they are just that... exceptions. The lottery has better odds

Consider getting a job now, and finding a way to do some music on the side, otherwise known as "keep your day job". Then see where you can go with it.

Ed
 
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