Hey I Need Some Help

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nl553

New member
HI MY NAME IS NICK AND I AM STARTING TO GET IN TO THE RECORDING WORLD AT HOME. WOULD LIKE TO KNOW WHAT YOUR REALLY NEED TO GET A GOOD RECORDING (ON A LOW BUDGET). I ALREADY HAVE A 4 TRACK RECORDER AND 3 REALLY GOOD KEYBOARDS AND A MIXER AND 2 GOOD MICROPHONES, BUT MY FRIEND HAD SAME STUFF THAT I DID AND THE QUALITY OF HIS SONGS ARE WAY BETTER THAN MINE. IT SEEMS LIKE WHEN I RECORD THAT THE MIC IS TO LOW THEN WHEN I RECORD AGAIN AND TURN THE MIC UP IT IS TO LOUD AND A LOT OF HISSING IS HEARD AND I GET a lot OF STATIC BUT THE NR DOES NOT SEEM TO WORK I WOULD BE VERY GRATEFUL IF SOMEONE COULD HELP ME ALONG THE WAY AND GIVE ME SOME TIPS. I WILL BE AWAITING YOUR RESPONSE THANK U FOR YOUR TIME
 
First things first. Lay off the CAPS LOCK key. ALL CAPS is regarded as shouting.:eek:

slightly paraphrased I have all this Good Stuff...
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Can you tell us the brand names/makes/models of all that Good Stuff?

Also, how "Good" is your computer and soundcard? You might be able to skip that 4-track and go digital.

Queue
 
hey

the trak recorder i have is a fostex x-55 the the mixers are casio and the keyboards are a korg and yhmaha
 
nl553 said:
WOULD LIKE TO KNOW WHAT YOUR REALLY NEED TO GET A GOOD RECORDING (ON A LOW BUDGET).
Click to expand...
This is a classic... without the normal sarcasm I might add here (hey, you're new!) You have to spend money to get to a level of "good", otherwise live with "bad" to "mediocre" recordings.

The big-boy's facilities cost well into 6-7 digits to create excellent recordings.... obviously, you don't have spend THAT much, but for sure you will need to spend more than "low budget" would indicate.

OK....... lecture aside... the X-55 is pretty much a song scratch pad tool, so your recording quality is already behind the 8-ball with it, but anyways... you don't mention what kind of mics you have but I'm assuming you didn't spend a lot of money on them. Big problem. Cheap mics sound like crap - but there is an exception - a Shure SM57 or SM58 (around $75 for the 57 and $100 for the 58) -- good solid workhorse mics that give a good sound on many sources.

Next, the x-55 is going to have pretty bad pres on it - you shold consider buying a small external mic pre (hey - I told you, you're going to have to spend some money to get to even "modest or mediocre" sound quality!) ART has one for around $150.

OK - that would improve your recording signal chain a little bit. You still have a problem with mixing and tweaking - the x55 doesn't leave you much in mixdown flexibility, so it's even more important to get the sounds recorded half-decently.

For non-microphone sources, again run the keyboards thru the mic pre and make sure you're recording the signal hot enough to get around the limited s/n ratio of the cassette multitrack format. NR only reduces tape hiss, it will not reduce noise in your signal sources, which is why you wouldn't have heard a difference.

The next level up in terms of sound quality would be to migrate to some flavour of digital multitrack, or go the computer recording route. But the cost outlay of course is higher.

You don't get something for nothing - there's no big conspiracy where the studios spending hundreds of thousands of dollars on gear to get excellent sound could really have gotten the same results for less than a grand! :p

You gotta pay a bit to play!!! ;)

Cheers,
Bruce
 
Yeah, what Bruce said.

And then what any budget wont buy..............the necessary skills to produce "that" good recording or the time it takes to learn it all.

Sorry guys, I had to add that.:)

Peace.........ChrisO :cool:
 
Bruce,
Very nicely put! Married life must be treating you well, taking a little growl out of the bear.

nl553 -
Other tip is to read as much as possible. Both here and other places. Get some books & magazines. It will all look like complete gibberish at first, EQ this, gain that, signal path, yadda yadda. Don't be overwhelmed, keep reading. It will start to make sense.

Go to Artist Pro.com they've got free interactive online lessons there.

Keep learning, and eventually post a mix of some of your work in the MP3 mixing clinic here. People will help you along the way.

Queue
 
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