setting up an analogue home studio

[Tim95]

Hi everyone, some of you may remember me posting over a year ago about which analogue mixer I should buy for my fostex B-16 reel to reel, everyone's advice was great, and in the end I mannaged to get myself a soundcraft ghost 24 channel desk.
I then had to wait until our extention had been built, to use as the studio. There were several hold-ups, but we are finally there! So now I am at the stage of setting everything up, buying equipment etc.
I am completely blind, and am a musician and singer songwriter. I play guitar, drums, some piano, and other stringed instruments.
I basically need some advice on good equipment that I am going to need to start recording.
I currently have 2 shure sm57s, a Rode NT2-a condenser mic, and a cad condenser (unsure of model number). The next mic I want to buy is a vintage AKG D12, to use as a kick drum mic.
I think I am probably going to need a couple of condenser mics to use for drum overheads, and am interested as to what people would recommend? It would be useful to have mics for recording acoustic guitar as well, could I use the drum overhead mics for this too?
My other question is to do with effects and compressers. I have an alesis microverb multi unit, and I also have a 1960s tape echo unit called a melos echo chamber. These are linked to my first 2 fx sends and returns on the soundcraft ghost. I also have another rack mount fx unit which I haven't tried out yet. What else am I going to need?
I have made basic multi track recordings in the past, both on 4track cassette recorders and also on the computer, but I have never used compression, so that aspect is a bit new to me.
Am I right in thinking that compressers have to be connected via the channel inserts, rather than the sends and returns? If this is the case, am I going to need several compressers if I wan to apply it to more than one track? Or would I use a patchbay? I have never used one.
I don't have a huge budget, but I do enjoy buying vintage or second hand stuff anyway. What would you guys recommend as good compressers to look out for?

The styles of music I play are varied, but include 60s styles (beatles, psychedelic etc), folk, rock etc.

Sorry for all the questions, thanks in advance for all your help!
Tim

 

[miroslav]

It sounds like your on the right path with everything.
Yes...the OH mics can certainly work for acoustic guitars too. Often small diaphragm condensers end up in OH and/or acoustic guitar duties...but really, any pair of decent condensers can do both...so let your budget decide.

Yes...comps are usually inserted on single channels or on the master bus...and not on Aux buses, like reverb, etc.
Don't get obsessed about compression...it's not a necessity on everything, and often during tracking it's used minimally if at all. You're also tracking to tape, so a good signal to tape will impart some "natural" compression too.
If you want decent but cheap comps...the Art VLA comps are a good choice. I have a pair, and they can go from mild to decent saturation as needed. Tube comps.
You can also look at the FMR RNC stuff for cheap but nice solid state comps.

A patchbay can be your friend, especially since you are blind....because once you set up your studio and properly connect all your gear to the patchbays...you then only need to use the patchbay to interconnect gear...rather than always get in behind the console or the rack gear...etc.
You put all you gear outputs on the top row...the inputs on the corresponding point of the bottom row...and just patch there. There's also the option to "normalize" points with some patchbays...which just means that you establish normal I/O between two pieces of gear, internally in the patch bay (via switches or internal setup)...and then that gear is always connected to each other until you insert a patch cable at the front, breaking the normal so you can rout it elsewhere. It can make some things easier if you tend to connect some things to each other like 80% of the time...and only occasionally need to break that to connected something different, etc.

Your mic will have to go direct to the console or any outboard preamps...or you can have a mic patchbay, with XLR connectors, so you don't have to reach around the back of the console...but I think if you are doing solo recording, and you want to establish a sort of "template" setup, which might make it easier for you since you are blind...then a mic patchbay may not be needed...just "permanently" assign your mics to specific channels on the console, and always go with that setup.
You can always switch the actual mics at the other end of the cable, and just leave the cables attached to the back.
You'll have to figure that out for yourself...what will be the preferred workflow and navigation layout in your studio for your use...but I think for your case, keeping a lot of things in the same place and not having to run mic cables all the time or moving stuff around a lot, would make things easier.

 

[Tim95]

It sounds like your on the right path with everything.
Yes...the OH mics can certainly work for acoustic guitars too. Often small diaphragm condensers end up in OH and/or acoustic guitar duties...but really, any pair of decent condensers can do both...so let your budget decide.

Yes...comps are usually inserted on single channels or on the master bus...and not on Aux buses, like reverb, etc.
Don't get obsessed about compression...it's not a necessity on everything, and often during tracking it's used minimally if at all. You're also tracking to tape, so a good signal to tape will impart some "natural" compression too.
If you want decent but cheap comps...the Art VLA comps are a good choice. I have a pair, and they can go from mild to decent saturation as needed. Tube comps.
You can also look at the FMR RNC stuff for cheap but nice solid state comps.

A patchbay can be your friend, especially since you are blind....because once you set up your studio and properly connect all your gear to the patchbays...you then only need to use the patchbay to interconnect gear...rather than always get in behind the console or the rack gear...etc.
You put all you gear outputs on the top row...the inputs on the corresponding point of the bottom row...and just patch there. There's also the option to "normalize" points with some patchbays...which just means that you establish normal I/O between two pieces of gear, internally in the patch bay (via switches or internal setup)...and then that gear is always connected to each other until you insert a patch cable at the front, breaking the normal so you can rout it elsewhere. It can make some things easier if you tend to connect some things to each other like 80% of the time...and only occasionally need to break that to connected something different, etc.

Your mic will have to go direct to the console or any outboard preamps...or you can have a mic patchbay, with XLR connectors, so you don't have to reach around the back of the console...but I think if you are doing solo recording, and you want to establish a sort of "template" setup, which might make it easier for you since you are blind...then a mic patchbay may not be needed...just "permanently" assign your mics to specific channels on the console, and always go with that setup.
You can always switch the actual mics at the other end of the cable, and just leave the cables attached to the back.
You'll have to figure that out for yourself...what will be the preferred workflow and navigation layout in your studio for your use...but I think for your case, keeping a lot of things in the same place and not having to run mic cables all the time or moving stuff around a lot, would make things easier.

Thanks very much for all that info, that's really helpful. Yeah you're right, I don't think I would need a patchbay for the mics. I will have a look into those comps you mentioned. I agree, I can't see myself going mad with loads of compression, however I do record lots of different styles, and also intend to record with friends in various projects, so It'd be useful to have some.