Looking for some more definitive answers.

M

MatthewH

New member
Hey, im Matt im new to Home recording as you can see and at the moment im trying to build up a "studio" and have been looking up information on getting the best results while recording for a short while.
I play in a four piece rock band that plays covers but wants to focus more so on originals. i would like to record the band and get near to local studio quality results eventually, i am willing to put the time in as i find recording very fun and satisfying with an end result.
all i have currently is:
couple of SM58s/57s
plenty of drum mics
BOSS compressor micro rack series on input
Windows PC - 2GB memory triple core processor
Reaper DAW software
Creative Audigy 2

So my main problem is i want to record separate tracks simultaneously, Ive looked a lot into audio interfaces but not any of them specifically say they can record more than two tracks simultaneously, i would need at least 4 simultaneous tracks, preferably 6-8 Via USB any suggestions?

Secondly how much should i consider spending on monitors? considering i have a low budget what are the most important things to be spending money on, once again suggestions would be nice.

Thirdly i have three rooms to use, one very small (closet sized empty.) another relatively small but entirely empty and the third larger but has my bed and some draws, are any of those going to be specifically better for mixing or tracking ect?

Finally i have read how important room treatment is, but where should most of the money be spent, tracking room? mixing room? vocals? also are there any DIY alternatives, like carpets to dampen high end frequency(i think)?

Oh and also id say i can spend around £300 at the moment, i could probably push it to £500 and if something is really most definitely worth the wait, ill consider saving, but im hoping from this point i can keep improving my gear and seeing a improvement in my work because of it.

thanks for reading, sorry if my questions are not all that clear, English isn't my strong point, and thank you for any advice or suggestions, ill be active if you have any questions and i hope to be here in the future producing good quality recordings. :)
 
okay ill take a look at those, and thanks for the advice, i was planning on improving my ram anyway, ill make sure i get that done, thank you.
 
MatthewH said:
English isn't my strong point,
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If you're in Birmingham, that's not a disadvantage ! Don't worry, I'm not knocking my hometown.
If you want some basic but effective and reasonably priced monitors, for home recorders in England, I usually recommend these. They're made by the store, Studiospares. They make a couple of their own brand, actually. You could justifiably argue that I wouldn't know good monitors from shitty ones, but I like these and they do the job until you feel you've outgrown them. I got a pair of their stands as well. Good stuff, they do what they have to.
 
aha yeah, you'd think that, but i can really talk myself and everyone around me into confusion :P and awesome, ill take a look at those and a look around the site, thanks for the advice.
 
MatthewH said:
So my main problem is i want to record separate tracks simultaneously, Ive looked a lot into audio interfaces but not any of them specifically say they can record more than two tracks simultaneously, i would need at least 4 simultaneous tracks, preferably 6-8 Via USB any suggestions?
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With your limited budget, it's going to be hard to better the previously mentioned TASCAM US 1800. This many simultaneous tracks generally cost a fair bit more.

The other thing you could look at would be an ALESIS MULTIMIX 16 MIXER. This would be a squeeze on your stated budget but might be worthwhile if you could also use it for live gigging.

However, the other thing I'd say is that you need to consider how much live multitracking are you really going to do in a relatively small, untreated space. To record drums, guitars, vocals etc. all live at the same time isn't going to sound like a pro studio unless you have acoustic treatment, lots of space to separate things, screens to put around the drums, etc. etc. In the real world of home recording, you may find your self doing a scratch track live, then recording each element separately for quality.

Secondly how much should i consider spending on monitors? considering i have a low budget what are the most important things to be spending money on, once again suggestions would be nice.
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Monitors are important but, until you up your budget, you're not going to get much worthwhile. It's entirely possible to mix without "real" monitors--but it takes time to educated your ears to understand what things need to sound like on your system to also sound good on a wide range of other things. The usual way is to make a CD then play it in your car, at your friends' houses, at a friendly pub, etc. etc. At first, every place will sound different and often not very good--but eventually you'll teach yourself what things need to sound like in your studio to sound okay everywhere.

For the future, my personal recommendations are Tannoy Reveals (cheaper) or Genelec (loads of dosh but great). Or, find some second hand audiophile stereo speakers.

The other side of monitoring, by the way, will be headphones and a headphone amp/distribution system for members of your band to use while tracking.

Thirdly i have three rooms to use, one very small (closet sized empty.) another relatively small but entirely empty and the third larger but has my bed and some draws, are any of those going to be specifically better for mixing or tracking ect?
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Your small closet will probably sound crap with live mics. The big empty room has promise but you'll need to put soft stuff in it--hang duvets, mover's blankets etc. around and behind people playing and singing until you can do real acoustic treatment. I won't try to go into treatment details here....that's got a whole sub forum!

Do you really need separate tracking and mixing spaces? That's the way pro studios work but, at the pro studio, different people are doing the tech stuff and the performing. At home, it's usually one and the same person and room. If you do split rooms, you'll need to double your acoustic treatment and work out communications systems between the areas. It might not be worth it.

Finally i have read how important room treatment is, but where should most of the money be spent, tracking room? mixing room? vocals? also are there any DIY alternatives, like carpets to dampen high end frequency(i think)?
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See above. Real acoustic treatment is great, but anything to deaden things a bit and stop slap and reflections is better than nothing. You'll probably start with some bass traps and keep the soft stuff to deaden the highs.

Oh and also id say i can spend around £300 at the moment, i could probably push it to £500 and if something is really most definitely worth the wait, ill consider saving, but im hoping from this point i can keep improving my gear and seeing a improvement in my work because of it.
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Three to five hundred pounds is a drop in the ocean once you get into home recording--but you have to start somewhere!
 
thanks for the long reply, it really helped out, and yeah the Tascam us-1800 seems like a good investment, cause i can do a lot with it and it should last me a fair way into the future. Also i wasn't planning on doing live recording, my plan was to use around 6 tracks for drums so they could be manipulated separately and use a mixer for some rough live backing tracks. The mixer you posted seemed like it could be worth while, i am currently using an old kinda meh mixer for live performance and i wanted to upgrade that soon, i guess now would be a good time to look into that :)

I had already planned on making monitors an extra for the time being, it may be naive but i cant see why i cant understand the frequency response of my speakers if i just test the same tracks on speakers everywhere to get an idea if mine are bass heavy/light ect.
thanks for the advice on tracking, i was planning on using the bigger room, but im sure i read somewhere closet kinda space was good to record vocals? maybe im dreaming o_O
and yeah ill take a look into bass traps if i have some extra money and think about building a wooden frame with insulation to block around what i am recording to deaden the sound of the room.
Oh and i had problems tracking in the same room because i had the amp directly behind me so i couldn't tell what was coming out of my speakers, so getting a sound i was happy with was difficult with separate room what i hear in my speakers is what ill get + im pretty happy sorting out a communication device, even if its a return to a monitor in the other room :)
last thing, :P i know that £500 is literally nothing but im hoping that this will get me started to make a few okish demos then get them out to everyone, use the money from gigs and part time jobs and just keep adding to what i have and learning as much as possible, i really appreciate the help and sorry i keep writing heaps and heaps lol :)
 
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