What piece of kit do I need next?

H

Hot Rats

New member
Hi there,

I'm trying to get a bit more serious about my songwriting and I'd be interested in some advice on what single item (hardware or software) will most improve my setup. I'm particularly interested in improving the final sound of my mixes, with EQ and separation being my current concern.

I currently have
1.4 ghz Laptop 512 meg RAM
M-Audio Audiophile Firewire
Alesis Quadraverb GT (for FX and as a guitar preamp)
Cubase SX2
Reason2
Native Instruments Battery 2.
Yamaha DTXpress Electronic drumkit
Acoustic guitar (with pickup)
Electric guitars
A cruddy microphone
Old Yahama keyboard for playing keyboard parts (but use sounds in Reason)
Cruddy headphones

Most of my songs are predominantly acoustic and electric guitar played through my quadraverb. I play the drums myself and I use Battery as the output.

Like I said I'd love to improve the separation and overall quality of my mix. Needless to say I don't have a lot of room or cash to spend on it. But I'd be interested in people's suggestions.

Obviously I don't have a mixing desk but I don't know what benefit I'd get. Also I'd thought about some monitor speakers.

Fire away.....
 
Last edited:
Hot Rats said:
Hi there,

I'm trying to get a bit more serious about my songwriting and I'd be interested in some advice on what single item (hardware or software) will most improve my setup. I'm particularly interested in improving the final sound of my mixes, with EQ and separation being my current concern.

I currently have
1.4 ghz Laptop 512 meg RAM
M-Audio Audiophile Firewire
Alesis Quadraverb GT (for FX and as a guitar preamp)
Cubase SX2
Reason2
Native Instruments Battery 2.
Yamaha DTXpress Electronic drumkit
A cruddy microphone
Old Yahama keyboard for playing keyboard parts (but use sounds in Reason)
Cruddy headphones

Most of my songs are predominantly acoustic and electric guitar played through my quadraverb. I play the drums myself and I use Battery as the output.

Like I said I'd love to improve the separation and overall quality of my mix. Needless to say I don't have a lot of room or cash to spend on it. But I'd be interested in people's suggestions.

Obviously I don't have a mixing desk but I don't know what benefit I'd get. Also I'd thought about some monitor speakers.

Fire away.....
Click to expand...

I'm not a big fan of DI'd guitars, acoustic or electric so that would be my first thing to work on. I guess if the budget is tight you're not in a position to buy a decent guitar amp at the moment but you could get a mic and pre for the acoustic.

Seperation and good overall quality in a mix is achieved at the tracking stage just as much (if not more) than at the mixing stage so getting some nice tones and sounds from the instruments you have is your first priority. Also the quality of the recording environment has a huge effect. This is a major bummer for your average home recordist like you and I who aren't blessed with the means and space to create great sounding recording rooms. Get your self in the studio building forum though and you should get some ideas on what you can do to at least improve on the space you have. There's a great thread on the importance of this here: https://homerecording.com/bbs/showthread.php?t=153234
Of course while you're DI'ing everything this isn't really an issue but once you start micing things up it will be.

Once you've got the gear to produce some good sounds out of your instruments and have made the best you can of your recording space then monitoring would probably be your next concern.

Do you record vocals as well? How many tracks do you record simultaneously? what is your budget?
 
Hi, thanks for the reply.

I do record vocals on my crummy microphone. That's obviously a weak point but it's the only thing I don't DI at the moment. I forgot to say that I have a pickup on my acoustic.

Budget? It depends on how much the finance committee (my wife) will let me waste! I suppose at the moment I was looking at between £200-£300 but I might be able to go higher, it depends what I was spending it on.

I never record more than one track at a time.
 
Hot Rats said:
Hi, thanks for the reply.

I do record vocals on my crummy microphone. That's obviously a weak point but it's the only thing I don't DI at the moment. I forgot to say that I have a pickup on my acoustic.

Budget? It depends on how much the finance committee (my wife) will let me waste! I suppose at the moment I was looking at between £200-£300 but I might be able to go higher, it depends what I was spending it on.

I never record more than one track at a time.
Click to expand...

I think you'd benefit from a condensor mic and a preamp. You could record both the vocal and acoustic guitar with it and it could be used in the future for micing a guitar cab etc. Despite the pickup on the acoustic if you mic it up you'll get a much nicer sound. You could even record both the mic'd and DI'd signal and blend to taste at the mixing stage.

There is an excellent deal on at the moment at Digital Village for a studio projects B1 large diaphragm condensor mic and a VTB-1 mic preamp bundle for £140:

http://www.dv247.com/invt/18659

The VTB-1 can be used as a DI box too but I'm not sure how this would compare with what you already have.
It's budget gear but it's decent quality. There is a lot of gear in this price range which is pretty crap but there are a few bits and pieces that have a certain amount of respect and are regarded as decent by many for the price. The B1 and VTB-1 definitely fall into the latter category.

Not sure about you're remaining budget, maybe put it towards a small guitar amp or a modeller? The behringer V-amp (cheaper version of the POD) has had some decent reviews and I think you can buy them for £60-£70. Or maybe put it towards some monitors if you're happy with your current electric guitar sound?

Good luck with it all anyway.
 
Ok, thanks I'll look into the mic. I can see monitors being on the shopping list at some point too.

Another thing I didn't mention is that I already have a Fender Roc Proc 70W, but I never use it for recording as it would disturb my children when they're in bed.
 
Your big weak areas seem to be mics/preamps, as kevin has suggested, and your monitoring chain. If you don't have a decent set of monitors to mix on, your mixes will sound bad. Of course, if your base recordings sound bad (because of poor signal chain on the front end), it will take a lot more effort to make the mixes sound good even with good monitors.
 
Hot Rats said:
Ok, thanks I'll look into the mic. I can see monitors being on the shopping list at some point too.

Another thing I didn't mention is that I already have a Fender Roc Proc 70W, but I never use it for recording as it would disturb my children when they're in bed.
Click to expand...

They do earplugs for kids don't they? :D

If you do get the chance you'd get a much nicer sound from micing the amp. Dynamic mics would usually be used for this (Shure SM-57 being an old and fairly cheap favourite) but the B1 would work from more of a distance.
 
Hot Rats said:
I suppose at the moment I was looking at between £200-£300 but I might be able to go higher, it depends what I was spending it on.

I never record more than one track at a time.
Click to expand...


An M-Audio Tampa mic pre and a Studio Projects Large Diaphram Condensor Microphone will set you back about £260 NEW, a lot less used on eBay. That'll take care of your signal chain and get you very good results believe it or not on acoustic guitar, vocals, electric guitar DI'd and bass guitar DI'd, you'll also get pretty good results on anything else from bongos, tamborine, handclaps, ball scratching...you name it.

Trade the mobile pre for something like the M-Audio 24/96 and hook up the tampa to the S/PDIF input on the soundcard. You're laughing.

As for monitors, in the UK if you're spending under £240 and not buying the Warfedale diamond pro 8.2 actives you're wasting your cash...also, if you have spare cash invest in good cables, seriously.

Good luck

Alec
 
Hay you sound sort of like what I am wanting to do But I have nothing except my guitar and lookin intoo getting the computer, maybe yous guys canhelp me. what I need is something simple, cash is a problem (Tight), living off disability. What I need is a way to record me singing with accortic guitar and then set it up like kareoka so I can sing along or other can sing along with me, How do I do this. God Bless
Direct Current.
 
Direct Current i can suggest to you what I do, as I do a similar thing. But take into account that I am quite the noob.

I have a software program called Guitar Tracks Pro3. It has a total of 32 individual tracks to record onto. Check it out here...


http://www.cakewalk.com/Products/GuitarTracksPro/default.asp

I actually use GTP2, but 3 is the new one so I will suggest that.

I used to use a simple cheap dynamic microphone and run it directly into the mic input of my soundcard.

I recorded rhythm guitar 1st. Then you can go back with headphones on and listen to that track while you record other tracks over the top. You can then pan the tracks, add effects, mix it down etc.

I use Wavelab 4.0 for final mixing and mastering of the tracks.

Anyway, I reckon those programs are good basic ones. They are quite effective too I think.


On a side note....do you guys think mastering/ final mixing (whatever it's called) can be done on a nice set of headphones? I've often heard that the best way to master is to listen to the result on a variety of different speaker types...like headphones, monitors, hi fi, boombox, car stereo etc.

But for best results, cleam monitor speakers are the best hey?
 
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