How to get a better professional sound while recording?

[joepro0000]

i got a stageworks condensor mic hooked to the Tube MP Studio Amp, but my recordings don't sound professional. Should i invest in a better mic amp? i record on a Tascam 788. (Hip Hop)

[The Green Hornet]

Yo Joe "da' Pro:

Well, Joe, your question is a large one. Could be several reasons why you're not getting the "sound" you'd like to get.

First, you can search around here and get some clues on mics, and pre-amps and a good REVERB unit. [I'm not familiar with the 788 -- I'm assuming it has no reverb built in.]

Are you burning CD's? In that process, you might be missing something as you input the tracks.

Suggest you go to the Tascam Forum and punch in a question about quality results with the gear you're using.

Without owning some of that "very expensive" stuff in professional studios, you should be able to get a quality result if you study the problem, read, ask, and, maybe, find someone in your area who has a studio or uses the 788.

Green Hornet

[chessrock]

I've got a copy of Quark Express and Photoshop, and for some reason my graphic designs still don't look like professional jobs.

Should I get a better computer? I have a Mac G4.


I also have several paint brushes and oil paints but for some reason, my paintings don't look very professional either. Should I get a new canvass or should I just learn how to paint?

[Chris Fallen]

There are two ways to get professional sound:

Way 1: Go to a professional studio.

Way 2: Have a great musician play through a great instrument into a great amp recorded by a great mic in a great position in a great room into a great preamp mixed by a great mixer and sent to a great mastering company.

I probably missed a few chinks. If you're going digital you also need great A/D.

[joepro0000]

Originally posted by The Green Hornet
Yo Joe "da' Pro:

Well, Joe, your question is a large one. Could be several reasons why you're not getting the "sound" you'd like to get.

First, you can search around here and get some clues on mics, and pre-amps and a good REVERB unit. [I'm not familiar with the 788 -- I'm assuming it has no reverb built in.]

Are you burning CD's? In that process, you might be missing something as you input the tracks.

Suggest you go to the Tascam Forum and punch in a question about quality results with the gear you're using.

Without owning some of that "very expensive" stuff in professional studios, you should be able to get a quality result if you study the problem, read, ask, and, maybe, find someone in your area who has a studio or uses the 788.

Green Hornet

yes i'm burning cds. thanks for the help.

[Han]

I've bought a formula one racing car and I want to become a champion some day.

Can anybody tell me how to drive it?

[Outlaws]

Originally posted by Chris Fallen
There are two ways to get professional sound:

Way 1: Go to a professional studio.

Way 2: Have a great musician play through a great instrument into a great amp recorded by a great mic in a great position in a great room into a great preamp mixed by a great mixer and sent to a great mastering company.

I probably missed a few chinks. If you're going digital you also need great A/D.

You forgot good cables.

[FattMusiek]

Originally posted by joepro0000
i got a stageworks condensor mic hooked to the Tube MP Studio Amp, but my recordings don't sound professional. Should i invest in a better mic amp? i record on a Tascam 788. (Hip Hop)

Factors of a professional sounding recording:

1. Top of the line equipment.
2. An excellent band that performs great.

and most of all...

3. Skilled engineering!


That's what I would say in a nutshell. Better mics/mic pres won't enhance your skill as an engineer.

[tombuur]

Don't play down the importance of good equipment! Of course skill is the most important factor for achieving good results, whether you want to paint or drive a car or whatever ...

Still, you can't rule out the importance of good equipment. The sad thing about starting to play a musical instrument is that you should buy a real good one which usually means a very expensive one. Too many have been discouraged by a poor instrument.

True, I can do some decent guitar playing with a very cheap instrument. And because I was a press photographer half a lifetime ago, the quality of my home videos shot with consumer quality cameras impress people. Yet, I would still recommend people to get the best equipment they can get, considering their fincancial strength and expected degree of use.

... If Bill Gates wanted some homerecording equipment. What would you recommend, even though he had no skills?

[grinder]

Originally posted by tombuur


... If Bill Gates wanted some homerecording equipment. What would you recommend, even though he had no skills?

I'd tell him a Tascam 424 was the way to go.Then I'd sell him mine for $5000.

[Harvey Gerst]

Originally posted by grinder
I'd tell him a Tascam 424 was the way to go.Then I'd sell him mine for $5000.

Then sell him an operating system upgrade for another $5,000, six months later.

[Stealthtech]

Originally posted by Harvey Gerst
Then sell him an operating system upgrade for another $5,000, six months later.

Harvey !!!! I thought you were done posting ?

[Harvey Gerst]

Originally posted by Stealthtech
Harvey !!!! I thought you were done posting ?

I said that I wouldn't post in the microphone forum anymore. I'm not welcome here, either?

[Mark7]

Umm


He's expressing surprise, not telling you to get lost.


We all thought you'd given up on HR.Com in general; not just the Mic Board.

[Harvey Gerst]

I apologize then. I'm probably still a bit "over sensitive" after the bashing I got on the mic forum and in the cave.

I've posted a couple of times in the mic forum when nobody else supplied the requested info, but I've tried to keep a very low profile over there. I'll usually email someone directly with my comments, rather than post to the forum. Things haven't changed much over there since I left.

[mallcore pop]

Originally posted by Harvey Gerst
Then sell him an operating system upgrade for another $5,000, six months later.

But with driver support due to dropouts with the new OS, it'll be more like $12,000.

MP

p.s. Welcome!!! Do stay.

[Han]

Originally posted by Harvey Gerst
I apologize then. I'm probably still a bit "over sensitive" after the bashing I got on the mic forum and in the cave.

I've posted a couple of times in the mic forum when nobody else supplied the requested info, but I've tried to keep a very low profile over there. I'll usually email someone directly with my comments, rather than post to the forum. Things haven't changed much over there since I left.

Harvey, my brother in arms, almost everybody loves you on the several forums you post on. Except for a couple of "whatever you want to call them" guys.

Keep posting, you're a great help to many of us.

[StevenLindsey]

Good to see you here Mr. Gerst. Thanks for hanging around! I've missed your input - even the parts that I don't comprehend. I think you know that most of us are glad that you spend some time here. ( when you do. )

[Fishmed]

Originally posted by sonusman
They always come back to the bbs.

ALWAYS.

Ed

Yea, like me. How's it going Ed?

[Fishmed]

I have been spending most of my time (and money) remodeling my house. I have one project in process where I bartered studio time for tile laying time. I have another band scheduled for Nov; projects are slow but steady. Do you miss the van?

[Mark7]

[chessrock]

Originally posted by Fishmed
Do you miss the van?

is right.


Uh . . . guys. You might wanna' take this somewhere else.

[Lt. Bob]

Originally posted by Harvey Gerst
Things haven't changed much over there since I left.

The mic forum's a strange and scarey place! I feel safer in the cave than in the mic forum. Every once in a while I'll cautiously stick my head in the door and then jerk back to avoid the flying furniture.
Pretty friendly in the MP3 forum and that's where the music's happening.