best buy to complete set up

Aleko Carola

New member
Hello Everyone, first time i post here, and would like your opinion regarding something.
i’m a bit on a budget so i can afford one good piece of equipment to complete a set up for home recording.

i have a macbook, its old but it works, i have logic, i have an apogee duet, and a sennheiser md431ii (great mic)

i’m looking into buying a preamp in the 1000k range and was thinking either the solo 610 or the neve 1073lb..

my question is: would this be the best purchase to achieve good vox and guitar sounds, or having a duet i’m better off investing in something else? say a compressor or better plug-ins and let the duet work on its own? the only thing i know is that with what i got the sounds aren’t too thin but theres no warmth and they could definitely be “bigger” and more tridimensional.

thanks in advance for any input!
 
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Acoustic guitar? That mic is a handheld dynamic mic. Expensive, but, well, not what I'd point at an acoustic guitar, except maybe in a live situation.

It would be useful to hear a recording.
 
Do you have monitors? Good headphones? What is your recording space like - any acoustic treatment. You are unlikely to hear any noticeable improvement from an external preamp compared to the mic preamps in the apogee.
 
Do you have monitors? Good headphones? What is your recording space like - any acoustic treatment. You are unlikely to hear any noticeable improvement from an external preamp compared to the mic preamps in the apogee.

Hi,
yeah i have good earphones! the room has a good acoustic, i’ve recorded in it before, it has some treatment and records decently. monitors is a good idea! so you reckon better to invest in monitors and room than a preamp?
 
hi,
i know a condenser is better for acoustic but atm i have a sm57 and the sennheiser, can’t afford a proper condenser mic..
but honestly i personally find it to be quite versatile, good sound overall especially for voice and electric guitar (i tested it in a pro studio against some high-end condenser mics and granted it wasn’t up there but it held up surprisingly well.
thing is, they had good valve preamps..thats why my question..
 
hi,
i know a condenser is better for acoustic but atm i have a sm57 and the sennheiser, can’t afford a proper condenser mic..
but honestly i personally find it to be quite versatile, good sound overall especially for voice and electric guitar (i tested it in a pro studio against some high-end condenser mics and granted it wasn’t up there but it held up surprisingly well.
thing is, they had good valve preamps..thats why my question..

Neither of those mics is going to hit a pre amp hard enough to cause much 'attitude' IMHO. Both are at about 2mV sensitivity and so the only real benefit of a pre amp MIGHT be a better noise performance on the acoustic but if noise/gain is a problem the FetHead is a cheaper solution.

Yes! Monitors! Then monitors again! You cannot know WTF you are doing unless you can hear the results accurately. You say you have good headphones but they are really not the same (some disagree)

After accurate monitors comes room treatment. Some say "pointless to have one and nit do 'tother but unless you are reproducing a lot of bass, nearfield monitors keep much of a small room at bay but you still need some absorbing material at the 'mirror points' and maybe some behind and between the monitors. Check out the "Studio SOS" articles at Sound On Sound | The World's Premier Music Recording Technology Magazine

Dave.
 
cheers mate, thats helpful!
interesting. yeah the room is treated with some foam and rock fiber and has thick walls, sounds alright for not being a studio! and imho the md431ii actually sounds really great when standing a feet away with the apogee gain cranked, so i might look into monitors and perhaps a decent condenser mic (with 1k i could get some decent monitors and a sm7b perhaps, and stick with the apogee as a preamp!
thanks!
 
cheers mate, thats helpful!
interesting. yeah the room is treated with some foam and rock fiber and has thick walls, sounds alright for not being a studio! and imho the md431ii actually sounds really great when standing a feet away with the apogee gain cranked, so i might look into monitors and perhaps a decent condenser mic (with 1k i could get some decent monitors and a sm7b perhaps, and stick with the apogee as a preamp!
thanks!

? Say what? You say "condenser mic" then "SM7b"! The latter is regarded as a fine talk mic but even its greatest fans would say you can do better for acoustic guitar IMHO. (you might also REALLY have a noise/gain problem!)

There are some really good LDCs around now in the $200 range (are you $$s?). Yes we would all like top end Neumanns but we gotta eat as well! Now, My son in France is waiting on a Mackie LDC cost dad about $100 (in £) shipped. He has done some recordings of classical guitar with a very decent USB mic and a very cheap BM-800 and so maybe you could look at monitors for now and by the time that is sorted he will have something for you to judge?

Dave.
 
hi Dave,
I know, i know..i thought about what i said as soon as i posted, i got confused?
and actually i chose the md431 over the sm7b in the first place, its got a brighter more modern sound to it.
i’m looking at a cad e 100s as far as condenser mics go, but the rode nt1 is cheaper (yet brighter but i have a very deep voice)
i say condenser just cos i’d like to take care of the voice as thats where most people focus on when listening..my guitars sounds pretty good actually with the md431 (and the sm58 with the cap removed is pretty much a 57 so i’m ok guitar wise!)

i was looking at the monitors now, i have no experience at all..prices go anywhere from 100 to 2k and more..so so thats gonna be a whole other chapter..
do you have any opinion on the Ik multimedia iloud? they’re around 350, they seem like good monitors
 
btw, thanks for the input about your son, thats kind of you, sounds good! let me know if he has a channel where i can hear his music if you like!
 
No idea what your budget is - what is '1000k'? There are many LDCs in the US$150-$250range. For monitors, it all depends on your budget: JBLs 305, 306, 308; Kali; there's even an Adam 5" for $200 each now.
Room treatment - foam can screw you if you depend on it - it will absorb some high frequencies, but leave the rest to muck up your sound. rockwool and compressed fiberglass panels, as many as you can get in the typical home 'studio' will help.
 
hi, cheers!
yeah my bad i meant 1k..
wish i had 1000ks to invest on gear haha
i’m looking at ik multimedia iloud micro atm, for 250 i get the pair and for small spaces they seem really good actually! have you tried them?

foam i only have a few squares really cos i had them lying around but i mostly use rock fiber on a few surfaces and windows and a big old thick blanket on a wall..i also have quite a few boxes in the room so all together it makes up for the bright sound there is..sounds alright but i will add more rock fiber as i like the results with it!
 
For $1000, if I was looking to expand on what you have already, a pair of monitors and a new mic or two would be on the list. You can get something like a pair of JBL308s KRK Rockits, or Adam T7Vs for $500, leaving $500 for a good mic. I found a used pair of JBL308s locally on Craigslist for $300. Find something like that and you can add more than one mic.

Lots of choices there in the $300-500 range. WA47jr, AT 4040, Rode NT1 or NT2A, Lewitt 440pure, Lauten LA220, Roswell Mini K47, sE Electronics sE2200a II.

Microphones are like voices. They tend to vary more than electronics for timbre. While they all say "20-20,000" they rarely specify the tolerances which can be as much as +/- 5-10 dB. For $600, you could get both an NT1 and a WA47jr, or AT4040. Or maybe a LDC and a SDC. A pair of AKG P170s or SE7s plus an NT1 or WA47jr would give you lots of possibilities.
 
hi, cheers!
yeah my bad i meant 1k..
wish i had 1000ks to invest on gear haha
i’m looking at ik multimedia iloud micro atm, for 250 i get the pair and for small spaces they seem really good actually! have you tried them?

foam i only have a few squares really cos i had them lying around but i mostly use rock fiber on a few surfaces and windows and a big old thick blanket on a wall..i also have quite a few boxes in the room so all together it makes up for the bright sound there is..sounds alright but i will add more rock fiber as i like the results with it!

I would never recommend any 'monitor' speakers with 3" 'woofers' - although the spec say they can go down to 55Hz, what is the actual dB dropoff in that range? Also, I've learned that any 'monitor' speakers that have the amp in one speaker, and the other is non-powered, with a line running from the first amped speaker are really not suitable as monitors - they may be a big step above the usual computer speakers, but that's all they really are - better computer speakers.
 
cheers mate,
yeah thats the direction i’m heading in, a pair of decent monitors and maybe a condenser mic. i’ll look up the JBL 308 you speak of!
as for mics, 1k was the most i could do but the pandemic crisis could go on longer than expected so i might not spend the whole amount and stick with the md431 i have, its a great mic (i honestly think its better than the much loved sm7b, i tried both but the md has more presence and goes really well at least with my voice)
the rode nt1 could be an option tho ?
 
cheers mate.
i hear you. the price and general reviews on youtube made them seem really interesting. i’ll look into different option and maybe some used ones too. i just feel that electronics are best when new, i trust an old guitar but not so much when it comes to electronics and speakers as i don’t know much about the use and state of them..
 
hi,
i know a condenser is better for acoustic but atm i have a sm57 and the sennheiser, can’t afford a proper condenser mic..
but honestly i personally find it to be quite versatile, good sound overall especially for voice and electric guitar (i tested it in a pro studio against some high-end condenser mics and granted it wasn’t up there but it held up surprisingly well.
thing is, they had good valve preamps..thats why my question..

Get a two channel cloudlifter. $250 -- will turn those dynamics into entirely new mics, and open the door to more dynamics and ribbons in the future. Then later, start adding condensers to the mix. I personally think a home studio with nothing but dynamics and ribbons with a Cloudlifter can sound great.

The recommendation for JBL 308's is a good one. $400/pr new. I missed a deal for $200 used, but they're out there. The 305's aren't bad, but the 308's could literally be your forever monitors.
 
hi, cheers!
thats interesting as its what i was looking at..i should pick up tomorrow two single fetheads! they’re used but hopefully the guy will let me try them. you reckon its the same as the double channel cloudlifter?
 
hi, cheers!
thats interesting as its what i was looking at..i should pick up tomorrow two single fetheads! they’re used but hopefully the guy will let me try them. you reckon its the same as the double channel cloudlifter?

Yes -- my sense is that those are similar if not essentially the same. Good move!
 
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