Do I have all I need to start?

rubbertrampray

rubbertrampray

Member
I want to record my voice and guitar with programmed drums and maybe add some bass if needed. I have a Lenovo ThinkPad laptop, my DAW is Reaper, I have a Yamaha AG06 audio interface, A shure SM58 (for vocals and harmonica), a Boss Katana Artist MKll amp (I'll be using the direct out into the Yamaha), A Fender American Performer HSS Stratocaster, An Alvarez jumbo acoustic/electric guitar and Hydrogen drums. I'll buy a P Bass later if I decide I need one. I want to get a Tony Joe White sort of sound to my songs. Good examples of the sound I want is song "Who You Gonna Hoodoo Now?" or his cover of John Lee Hooker's "Boom Boom." I'm a pretty good dead thumb style finger picker.

I'm thinking I could build a tent of blankets for a DIY vocal booth.

I do not have mixing monitors but with just voice, drums and one guitar I don't think mixing will be too much trouble with quality headphones. If so I'll get some down the road or hire someone to mix that knows what their doing because I don't have a clue. Maybe someone here?

Am I ready to start?

Is there anything I should get for recording vocals? Plug ins (whatever those are)? I know how to dial in a good guitar sound and how to steal drum patterns but I'm not sure what to do with my croaking voice.
 
The stock plugins in Reaper are more than good enough. It seems like you have everything you need.

I wouldn’t build a vocal booth. Vocal booths were only a necessity to separate the singer from the rest of the band. Think Frank Sinatra and the big band he sung with. As long as your room doesn’t sound horrid, it should be fine.
 
Hi Tramp and welcome. You seem to have most of what you need. I was a bit worried by that Yamaha USB 'mixer' but it is a second generation 24 bit device and so should be well up to the task. Yammys are also known for good, low noise preamps so I doubt you will have a problem with the SM57 and vocals. What might be lees than fine however is if you wanted to record acoustic guitar with that mic. My son did that with a 57 (Behringer umc204hd) and with the guitar 8" from the mic got a decent level and lowish noise but he kept clouting the mic! If you try it and find you DO like the sound the mic picks up I can strongly recommend the FetHead inline pre amp. Effectively turns a dynamic into a capacitor mic levelwise.

Monitoring: I am 'old school' and like my Tannoy 5As (NOT that I do any mixing!) but yes, many people rely on headphones these days (aka "cans"). However you really need two types. closed and open backed. The closed back jobbys are to wear when overdubbing with a live mic, they stop the 'twittering' leaking into the mic. Open backed cans are however generally much more accurate but I think the gap is closing. You can get some really good closed back phones now for around $100.

Couple of suggestions you might have anyway being a muso of old? Spare cables, especially XLR mic cables, essential to diagnose faults. and IMHO nobody with even the slightest interest in recording should be without a $20 digital multi meter!

Note, I am more a technician than musician but been in AV,PA and recording all my adult live and assisted musical son (he plays, I solder and pays!)

Have fun. Dave.
 
Welcome aboard.

Yeah, I would say you have most everything you need. The main thing is to just start doing it. Set stuff up, hit record and see what you get. Start building tracks, play with it, nuke it and start over if it's a mess. The more you work with your system, the better you'll get. I've recorded acoustic songs with 3 part harmony on a simple Zoom H4n and an external condenser mic (Studio Projects B3) then mixing into Reaper.

If I was to add anything, it would probably be a basic condenser mic. You can get a small diaphragm condenser like the AKG P170 for under $100. Or you can get something like the MXL V67G or AKG P120 for about the same price.

As for using headphones for mixing, it can be done, but you have to be careful, as they don't always translate well to speakers. At the least, you can take a mix out to a car and give it a listen. If you have a basic stereo, you can use that. I'm not a big fan of the really cheap small monitors like MAudio BX3 or Mackie CRX3. About the least I would go with would be something like the JBL 305. You can often find them on sale for just over $200 for a pair. Check Craigslist. Sometimes you can find a good deal on monitors there.

A good player will do a better job with what you have than a hack player with $10,000 of studio equipment.
 
Awesome! Thanks for the input fellas.

My concern about vocals is background noise. I have kids and they can make a racket. But I have an idea about something to help. I'll asks in the microphone section.
 
rubbertrampray said:
Awesome! Thanks for the input fellas.

My concern about vocals is background noise. I have kids and they can make a racket. But I have an idea about something to help. I'll asks in the microphone section.
Click to expand...
Sing multiple takes of vocals and comp them, if the kids scream over the same part twice then that's just gonna suck. Record more than 2 takes, it's quite normal to work this way, you then take the best bits from each take to make 1 great vocal.

It is worth doing anyway even if you don't have background noise issues, you just never know when that second take might save your ass
 
Good lad,

I am over £1000.00 a month better off now I am single. Only need to work half as many hours and have time to enjoy my life.

I would never again go back to my old life either.

Seems to me like an awful lot of guys have the same attitude nowadays, and I can't blame them.
 
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