New Members: Introduce Yourself Here!

[ecc83]

What is Tech Death? Sounds like a cool way to say 'my death metal has more fake digital sounds than your death metal'. lol

To each there own. If it moves you then enjoy.

Welcome to the forum Basti95.

Heh! Beat me to it James! I was goung to say "WTF is that!?"

But yes, welcome Basti and I am SO pleased you are taking an interest in electronics. Most of the noobs (and others!) that come here can't build even a pot in a tin (a very handy device!). If you can learn and survive valve amp servicing you will never go short a lunch.

Dave.

 

[Basti95]

Thanks guys
Hahaha yeah, I just added that as a vague identifier in case someone with similar tastes happens by. For future reference it's tech as in "technical" as opposed to "technological", no fake digital sounds there.

 

[ecc83]

Thanks guys
Hahaha yeah, I just added that as a vague identifier in case someone with similar tastes happens by. For future reference it's tech as in "technical" as opposed to "technological", no fake digital sounds there.

"I'D" be careful what you say about digital amps around here mate!

Heh! Heh!

Dave.

 

[rose62]

I'm Steve from Atlanta (or close by) via Houston Tx., Greensburg Pa. I've been playing guitar since I was 50 (I'm 53 now) but I've owned guitars and been in bands since I was 15. Been in the studio I couple of times and learned a lot about getting a song ready to record but learned nothing about the process itself. I just stopped playing in a band (called Strange Mojo, youtube us) due to typical band crap. I've had a hand full of tunes that I've been messing with since high school that the band never got around to playing live and I need to record them so I got a Focusrite 2i4, and a Lenovo laptop. Got that hooked to a Casio from a garage sale and my Behringer powered monitors. And I'm totally stumped. Had a dream last night that EVH came over and when I asked him to look at my setup he said, 'I just play guitar, man!' Hope to learn on here but there seem to be too many options. Getting discouraged already. It's like, 'ok, I'll start at the beginning...' then I discover that I'm still to deep in and must go back further. Exactly WHERE IS the beginning. And is there a 'template' on here? Like, 'first, do this, then this....' and so on?

 

[thianpa]

hi there

Hello,
I'm Sangtea from Mizoram, India. I have always love music and well you can say i a Singer/Song writer. I am beginning to make my home studio and I have ordered the Scarlett Focusrite Studio Bundle (Buy Focusrite Scarlett Studio Bundled Recording Package at Lowest Price & Free Shipping in India, Authorized Dealer, Distributor | Bajaao.com) Anyone have this? I have read several reviews on this product and seems to be one of the best. I have played with FL Studio and Cubase as well. I would appreciate the help from you guys. Also my PC is an AMD X4 4GB of RAM. You think its good enough for me? I also have a midi keyboard. So what will be the next important thing for me on making my home studio.

Thanks in advance

 

[ecc83]

Hello,
I'm Sangtea from Mizoram, India. I have always love music and well you can say i a Singer/Song writer. I am beginning to make my home studio and I have ordered the Scarlett Focusrite Studio Bundle (Buy Focusrite Scarlett Studio Bundled Recording Package at Lowest Price & Free Shipping in India, Authorized Dealer, Distributor | Bajaao.com) Anyone have this? I have read several reviews on this product and seems to be one of the best. I have played with FL Studio and Cubase as well. I would appreciate the help from you guys. Also my PC is an AMD X4 4GB of RAM. You think its good enough for me? I also have a midi keyboard. So what will be the next important thing for me on making my home studio.

Thanks in advance

Hi Sangtea and welcome.
I am not a the 2i2's biggest fan but I an in the minority about that and many find it an excellent interface and I am sure it will serve you well.

The AMD X4 seems to be a 3.2G 4core processor? If so it will be well up to music work. I note it is 64bit capable, what Operating System are you running? Best bet IMO is Windows 7 64 bit. If you are 32bits then you have maxed out your memory in fact you won't able to use quite all of the 4gigs, no matter, many a good tune's been done on a lot less than 3 and bit gigs!

What make and model of MIDI keyboard please? If you want to play VSTis and softsynths out of the computer you might have some "latency" problems, that is a delay between hitting a key and hearing the sound (or it might be fast enough but clicky and noisy) but in general such things can be fixed, do let us know if you have problems.

Dave.

 

[BroKen_H]

Exactly WHERE IS the beginning. And is there a 'template' on here? Like, 'first, do this, then this....' and so on?

First off, Welcome!

As to the beginning: Read all the stickies in the forums that sound even vaguely like where you need to learn, pay particular attention in Studio Building and Acoustic Treatment.
Coursera has a free course on Introduction to Music Production. Hit that up and see where you're at. I didn't see a next start date, but it usually runs every 6 months or so.
Check out the forum for whichever DAW you are using.
When you ask a question, make it at least semi-specific. "What's the best microphone under $100?" Is a lousy question. "Anybody have experience with MXL 2008 vs AKG Perception 120 that I'm considering?" will get you a good set of answers. Be aware, though, that everything in music is subject to the listeners ears. Don't be surprised if you get good and bad on both...but make sure you ask questions. It's an important part of the learning curve.
Experiment, practice, have fun.

That's my best advice on where to start.

 

[ecc83]

Do heed Ken's advice Rose 62 but can I add some thought as well?

Do not get hung up on "gear" . Do not handwring for ever about this or that AI/mic/monitor. Just remember, even the cheapest AI you can buy today (M-A Mtrack, ~$100?) and the cheapest condenser mic is WAY better than the kit we had 40 years ago! ...We would have KILLED for a 75dB dynamic range (just about possible on a VERY good live FM broadcast) leave alone 90 to 100dB...Fork, only very good power amps had a -100db noise floor!

So, get "an" AI, "a" mic, "some" cans and look to spend a minimum of $300 and get stuck in. Like virtually all hobbies, you won't get the best kit first time round but the results will be good to very good as your skill and understanding improves.

MUCH cheaper than GOFF!

Dave.

 

[rose62]

Thanks for the encouragement guys. I feel like a guy that had driven automatic trans cars for my entire life and now I just bought a stick. "What the 'ells that extra pedal for and where is "Drive"?'

As for software, I'm going to try to use the Ableton that came with the 2i4. I've got a Line 6 Spider III amp with about 9.4 million presets and an SM57 to record the guitar. But I don't know if plug-ins for guitar are the way to go. Just seem like another layer of complexity for something that's already too complicated.

Regardless, I'll take what you fellows say and try to run with it. And by the way, no chance about be becoming a 'gear head.' When I think of all the great music done with a tape recorder alone, I see the folly in getting too focused on gear.

 

[djayarr808]

Aloha,
I've been lurking for about 3 months, about when I started the MELE program at Honolulu CC (Audio Engineering/Music Business tracks). Just wanted to say "hello" and say thank you in advance for all the information i'm sure to learn here to supplement my education!

Take it easy,
DJR

 

[JimmyS1969]

Thanks for the encouragement guys. I feel like a guy that had driven automatic trans cars for my entire life and now I just bought a stick. "What the 'ells that extra pedal for and where is "Drive"?'

As for software, I'm going to try to use the Ableton that came with the 2i4. I've got a Line 6 Spider III amp with about 9.4 million presets and an SM57 to record the guitar. But I don't know if plug-ins for guitar are the way to go. Just seem like another layer of complexity for something that's already too complicated.

Regardless, I'll take what you fellows say and try to run with it. And by the way, no chance about be becoming a 'gear head.' When I think of all the great music done with a tape recorder alone, I see the folly in getting too focused on gear.

Room treatment, microphones also fall under the title 'gear'. Just saying.

Oh yeah and \m/

 

[rose62]

I don't understand: Did I commit a faux pas?

 

[BroKen_H]

I don't understand: Did I commit a faux pas?

Not at all, Jimmy's one of the most friendly people on the board. What he's saying is, like I alluded to when I said pay special attention to the Room Treatment forum, is that getting your room to give you an "honest" sound is very important. Whether you do that by spending $1500 on acoustic treatment like I did (money well spent) or by pulling your bookshelves in and creating a QRD with the books on the shelves, it's all good if your room is honest. At the very least you'll want to trap the corners (where the bass frequencies like to gather and party ).

Your SM57 is the prime choice microphone for all occasions. If you asked 90% of the people on this site what microphone they couldn't live without if they had to have only ONE, they'd say SM57...But when you get your room right, you'll open up to the wonderful world of condenser microphones that catch those wonderful, subtle nuances of the spoken/sung words, acoustic performances. Even a cheap MXL 2001 (like mine) can do wonders for your recordings. I only have three microphones, the MXL and TWO SM57s. So don't be too put off by that little bit.

And I think the \m/ was Jimmy's confusion between your post and the Hawaii post that followed...

 

[BroKen_H]

Aloha,
I've been lurking for about 3 months, about when I started the MELE program at Honolulu CC (Audio Engineering/Music Business tracks). Just wanted to say "hello" and say thank you in advance for all the information i'm sure to learn here to supplement my education!

Take it easy,
DJR

Welcome to the board! Are you a native Hawaiian or just there for the course?

 

[rfhanover1]

Hey all, Bob here. Pretty new to the whole home recording thing. Mostly interested in recording solo acoustic grand piano. I'm leaning towards purchasing an R8 and a couple of decent, cheap condenser mics to experiment. My goal is to produce something demo quality that isn't an embarrassment. I know, not setting the bar too high!

Any help from someone who's recorded solo acoustic piano would be great. (Is there a forum topic on this?). Mic advice would be welcome. Remember, though, I am just wading in the kiddie pool -- not ready to jump in the deep end yet until I see how all this works out.

 

[nunovice]

Hi guys - im Ben and new to the music scene, hopeful I can find some great tips and info on here

 

[ecc83]

Hey all, Bob here. Pretty new to the whole home recording thing. Mostly interested in recording solo acoustic grand piano. I'm leaning towards purchasing an R8 and a couple of decent, cheap condenser mics to experiment. My goal is to produce something demo quality that isn't an embarrassment. I know, not setting the bar too high!

Any help from someone who's recorded solo acoustic piano would be great. (Is there a forum topic on this?). Mic advice would be welcome. Remember, though, I am just wading in the kiddie pool -- not ready to jump in the deep end yet until I see how all this works out.

Oh no! Not another Bob! Heh! Hi Bob and welcome, I am (yet another!) Dave. ....Hmm? Piano is a bit grand for me (boom! boom!) but I would say you are going to need two mics on it? Then I would say there are two basic way to tackle it.

If in a big, really nice sounding room, stereo. A coincident pair (Google it) or a spaced pair are two, different MOs but there are infinite variations. Now, do you intend to sing as well? If so you have to be looking at Audio Interfaces with 4 mic inputs and this might test your budget a bit!

In small less nice acoustic close micc'ing would be the order of the day but treat the room as well.

I am not that familiar with the R8 but my gut tells me you would be better off looking at good quality AIs. Microphones? Not qualified but I feel pretty safe in saying that this is ONE area where the 57/58 would not shine!

Dave.

 

[rfhanover1]

Oh no! Not another Bob! Heh! Hi Bob and welcome, I am (yet another!) Dave. ....Hmm? Piano is a bit grand for me (boom! boom!) but I would say you are going to need two mics on it? Then I would say there are two basic way to tackle it.

If in a big, really nice sounding room, stereo. A coincident pair (Google it) or a spaced pair are two, different MOs but there are infinite variations. Now, do you intend to sing as well? If so you have to be looking at Audio Interfaces with 4 mic inputs and this might test your budget a bit!

In small less nice acoustic close micc'ing would be the order of the day but treat the room as well.

I am not that familiar with the R8 but my gut tells me you would be better off looking at good quality AIs. Microphones? Not qualified but I feel pretty safe in saying that this is ONE area where the 57/58 would not shine!

Dave.

Hi Dave,

Thanks for the response.

There will be no singing. Nobody in the house or neighborhood wants that!

I was figuring that a simple all-in-one like the R8 would suit my needs for now since I was only planning on recording 2 piano channels. I didn't really care for going right to my computer hard drive because I'm too lazy to figure out what kind of system is required for reasonable performance. The investment in one of those standalone units isn't too great and I thought I could use that until I learned it's limitations. They are convenient also.

I was asking about mics because Google just yields a a whole slew of conflicting information, most of it pertaining to voice, guitar & drums. Very little piano and what there is, recommends really high-end mics. You can even find tons of demo recordings of various mics on YouTube. Almost no piano.

The piano is in my living room so close mic is the way to go, I think. I used a Zoom H2 to just try things out and I got listenable results. Not great by any means but encouraging enough that I figured with a small investment I could get MUCH better results.

Also, I have tried the MIDI option. Did ok, but there's nothing like a real piano.

I'm throwing it back there, if anyone can see where I ran completely off the rails with my thinking on how I want to set myself, please do a working guy a favor and stop me from making a costly mistake. Also, if anyone can recommend a decent, affordable mic solution for my purpose, it would be appreciated. Not looking for CD quality just nice results.

Bob

 

[BroKen_H]

Hey all, Bob here. Pretty new to the whole home recording thing. Mostly interested in recording solo acoustic grand piano. I'm leaning towards purchasing an R8 and a couple of decent, cheap condenser mics to experiment. My goal is to produce something demo quality that isn't an embarrassment. I know, not setting the bar too high!

Any help from someone who's recorded solo acoustic piano would be great. (Is there a forum topic on this?). Mic advice would be welcome. Remember, though, I am just wading in the kiddie pool -- not ready to jump in the deep end yet until I see how all this works out.

Bob, this might be of interest. You'll need to download the files to hear it, but THIS LINK goes to a test of several different microphones and miking styles. Bear in mind, those are all big name, high dollar microphones (well, the KM 184s are midrange), but once you know where best to place the mikes, and about what sounds the best to your ears, we can give better advice on LDC/SDC/dynamics that would best suit your purposes. Personal taste would be toward a LDC/SDC in the bass/treble positions...Something like Shure KSM27/KSM109 which are really good for piano at the price.

EDIT
Also, adding a room mike and a floor mike (if you're room is at all ambient) and blending can add a lot of nice flavor...

 

[ecc83]

Hi Bob,
if the R8 appeals to you certainly go ahead with it but it seems AT LEAST as complex to use as a basic AI would be to me, something like the Steinberg UR22.

Dave.