i'm a newb with questions

[newvintage69]

hey, i have a few questions to ask:

how many mics must i have to record a album in my basment studio?
i've got : drums, bass, 2 guitars, vocals, keyboard, piano, back up vocals/etc.

i wanna get off to a good start but don't want to spend more than $700

i also don't need to record all my instruments simultaniously

thanks

[hairylarry]

Hi,

At least 2.

Thanks,

Hairy Larry

[ermghoti]

Unless your basement is acoustically treated (eggcrate foam or a pack of Aurelex from GC does not count) you're asking for trouble recording a piano, and drums could be trouble. Step one is search/browse the Studio Building section.

If your room is somewhat together, you'll need to compromise to hit your budget. Get a SM57, cabs, snare, occasional b/u vocals, emergency "other" mic. I'd be willing to gamble on a couple CAD M177s, they do well on the samples I've heard, they are cheap, and they can be used for OH, possibly your piano, vocals, and a good chance of working on "other." You'll need/want a purpose-built kick mic, like a D6, B52, or D112, they're all $200 or so. You could use the kick mic on bass, some would argue using the same mic on two different sources in a similar EQ spectrum is asking for trouble. You might consider DI for bass, to avoid the previous issue, and bypassing the room's sound.

You should have a couple hundred left in your $700 now, you might consider a SDC or two, or you'll have some wiggle room if you want to explore other LDC options, or maybe hunt down a used SM7 or something nifty like that.

[nuemes]

Here's what I'd do recording a band on a $700 mic budget. I've used all of these mics in the past & use most of them currently:

Drums:
Snare: Audix i5 $100
Kick: ATM25: $125
OH: MXL 991 x 2 (comes with 2 MXL 990's as package): $200

Guitars: 1 SM57's: $90
Vox/guitar cab: 1 SM58: $90

Vox: MXL V67: $95

The Audix i5, SM57 & SM58 can all be used on snare, elec guitar cabs, vocals & bass cabs, kick in a pinch.

The MXL 991 (same as the MXL 603 as far as my listening goes) will work for stereo micing of drum OH, piano & acou gtr.

The MXL V67, SM58, and 990's would all work for vox depending on the situation.

This setup would allow you to come pretty close to recording everyone together as well. Buy used and you'll easily have enough money to pick up 2 more mics in this range. If buying new I'd buy them all at once and haggle for a bulk discount. You could likely talk it down and save $50-100 including tax.

[mrface2112]

for a $700 budget, i'd make them practice a whole lot and then send them to a "real" studio for 2 days and hammer out rock-solid live versions of the songs......and have the band worry about the performances rather than if mics are passing signal.

cheers,
wade

[ermghoti]

Originally Posted by nuemes

Kick: ATM25: $125

Tragically, discontinued.

[nuemes]

Originally Posted by ermghoti

Tragically, discontinued.

Holy cow. Thanks for the heads-up.

[sleeper414]

700 bucks?
go to a real studio, have your songs well rehearsed, and do them there.
its a lot cheaper to spend 25-50 an hour at an engineers house, or at a big studio to do it right, then to spend you money on mics..etc...and have it sound like crap, then take it to an engineer 3 weeks later because you cant figure out why it doesn't sound good.

no offense of course, ive just seen this happen too many times to idly sit by...

[Robert D]

Gotta agree with the "go to a studio" answer, unless you left out the part where you have lots of other recording equipment & experience, and the room is already properly acoustically treated.
Not that $700 can't get you moving in the right direction, but this is not the kind of thing where you just decide one day "I'm going to record my own album, I've got $700 to build a home studio".

[89gtsleeper]

Some people claim that the Audix I5 outperforms the Shure SM57 on guitar cabs in some applications. I have never used te Audix, but ask around alot of people have made this claim. If that's te case, you may get the I5 and hold off on the 57 to save a hundred bucks.