The Uninvited
New member
There has always been much debate and knowledgeable contradiction across website forums, such as this one, about the home recording studio and much of it depends on the experiences of one of two camps. Both believe they are doing it right, both believe you are doing it wrong and neither can agree on a common standard. This dear reader is because sound, much like politics and religion, is unique in that what pleases the ears of one does not necessarily please the ears of another.
Audiophiles - Hi Fi Nerds as they are more popularly called - those who spend vast amounts of money on reproductive equipment designed to wring as much information from the recorded media as possible, then to convey that information with uninhibited purity to the listener, will tell you that they are too often restricted in their listening choice, because of bad recordings, dire production and overzealous mixing. They will also tell you,that while some of their collection sounds superb, often, much of it doesn’t. They will further tell you that jazz lovers follow a path far removed from their classical or rock orientated peers.
Recording engineers, conversely, spend endless hours trying to work out the best method for getting sound from its original source and delivering that sound to a mixing desk. They will tell you blithely, how they were up all night ridding a room of bass traps, experimenting with microphone distances and calculating spatial effects.
Having a foot in both camps, I see the problems faced by each. Recording engineers rely on an infinite number of tweaks, gizmos and gadgetry to bring out the best while the audiophile would frown at the presence of even a simple bass, treble or balance control. A sound engineer understands there is a complexity beyond just sticking a microphone in front of a singer to record his or her voice, in the same way an audiophile knows that the journey from stylus to speaker cone must be one without intervention, impedance or interruption.
Because sound is a creature with many tentacles, no two people will ever agree on what sounds right and what doesn’t and what sounds good, and what sounds plain bad. You wouldn’t amplify a Gibson through a 50watt home hi fi anymore than you would plug a Stradivarius into a stack of Marshall amps.
I once witnessed a furious argument erupt between a bunch of guys on a mixing desk, each insisting a on how a particular reverb fader should be positioned. One eventually walked out, the other got drunk and the third moved the fader. I don’t know if he was right or not but his reverb ended up on a CD that charted at 16 and sold half a million copies. I didn’t like it myself but this had nothing to do with the reverb on track 6. It just wasn't my thing but half a million people obviously did like it and in the various reviews I’ve read, nowhere was the reverb on track 6 an issue. And then, at an audio exhibition, I sat in on a long and very boring debate concerning the micro-capacitance of metals. This between two learned audiophiles and an exhibiter of the finest of pure copper connectors and cables.
When you have one side forever-inventing new gadgets and wizardry to record sound, and the other trying to take it out in order to reproduce it, is it any wonder no one can agree on anything.
So building a home studio is going to be something of a labour of love, and one which will be spent in deep frustration as those ‘in the know’ dispense advice and tell you how you are doing it all wrong. Don’t misunderstand, I have learned much from other peoples experiences, my own failures and numerous electric shocks. I’m old school. An analogue dinosaur. My favourite tool is a wire stripper and the smell of a hot soldering iron is a feature of my studio.
The thing is, to establish what it is about the music you like to hear that turns you on. For instance, I love live music. A band in a pub or small hall shaped theatre is listening heaven to me. You can stick huge arenas. You can stick the Albert Hall and you can stick the fireworks and laser beams. I want my music raw, gutsy and swinging baseball bats.
I’m in my 50’s now and have been experimenting and tweaking for years. My early recordings are pretty poor but at the time, I thought they were pretty good considering my first microphone cost me £20 quid from Maplins and could only just play one string bass guitar. But they get better chronologically, mostly after searching on websites like this one, with other people asking the same questions as I was asking. ‘Why do my vocals sound shit?’. Is it me or my guitar?’ ‘What’s that buzzing noise?’
It will be everything from headphones to strange clicking noises but be aware. Buy the best equipment your budget will allow. Read forums like these and find out what everyone else is using. Don’t sell the car and put your wife and kids into prostitution to buy the finest mic on Earth if you live next to a concrete plant, buy a trusty SM58 instead. Nano ear buds are great on the tube, not in a studio. You will end up like me and many others, with a loft full of old used equipment. Stuff you bought once like that portable four channel mixer but have since replaced with a sixteen track mixing desk and digital recorder. I still have my old Akai reel to reel somewhere.
But don’t be frightened by talk of bass traps. I’m still not quite sure what they actually do… if anything at all. If my studio needs them I’m unaware of it and as I’m the only one in there and I enjoy the sounds from all of my music collection and the pleasure I get from making up songs and recording them. No one person or guide can give you concise and exact instructions on studio construction and sound recording. Start with the room. Try recording something in there and listen to the result and ask yourself… what do I need to do to make that sound better.
If you are serious about becoming a producer of other peoples music, then like anything else, you must first learn to do it.
Audiophiles - Hi Fi Nerds as they are more popularly called - those who spend vast amounts of money on reproductive equipment designed to wring as much information from the recorded media as possible, then to convey that information with uninhibited purity to the listener, will tell you that they are too often restricted in their listening choice, because of bad recordings, dire production and overzealous mixing. They will also tell you,that while some of their collection sounds superb, often, much of it doesn’t. They will further tell you that jazz lovers follow a path far removed from their classical or rock orientated peers.
Recording engineers, conversely, spend endless hours trying to work out the best method for getting sound from its original source and delivering that sound to a mixing desk. They will tell you blithely, how they were up all night ridding a room of bass traps, experimenting with microphone distances and calculating spatial effects.
Having a foot in both camps, I see the problems faced by each. Recording engineers rely on an infinite number of tweaks, gizmos and gadgetry to bring out the best while the audiophile would frown at the presence of even a simple bass, treble or balance control. A sound engineer understands there is a complexity beyond just sticking a microphone in front of a singer to record his or her voice, in the same way an audiophile knows that the journey from stylus to speaker cone must be one without intervention, impedance or interruption.
Because sound is a creature with many tentacles, no two people will ever agree on what sounds right and what doesn’t and what sounds good, and what sounds plain bad. You wouldn’t amplify a Gibson through a 50watt home hi fi anymore than you would plug a Stradivarius into a stack of Marshall amps.
I once witnessed a furious argument erupt between a bunch of guys on a mixing desk, each insisting a on how a particular reverb fader should be positioned. One eventually walked out, the other got drunk and the third moved the fader. I don’t know if he was right or not but his reverb ended up on a CD that charted at 16 and sold half a million copies. I didn’t like it myself but this had nothing to do with the reverb on track 6. It just wasn't my thing but half a million people obviously did like it and in the various reviews I’ve read, nowhere was the reverb on track 6 an issue. And then, at an audio exhibition, I sat in on a long and very boring debate concerning the micro-capacitance of metals. This between two learned audiophiles and an exhibiter of the finest of pure copper connectors and cables.
When you have one side forever-inventing new gadgets and wizardry to record sound, and the other trying to take it out in order to reproduce it, is it any wonder no one can agree on anything.
So building a home studio is going to be something of a labour of love, and one which will be spent in deep frustration as those ‘in the know’ dispense advice and tell you how you are doing it all wrong. Don’t misunderstand, I have learned much from other peoples experiences, my own failures and numerous electric shocks. I’m old school. An analogue dinosaur. My favourite tool is a wire stripper and the smell of a hot soldering iron is a feature of my studio.
The thing is, to establish what it is about the music you like to hear that turns you on. For instance, I love live music. A band in a pub or small hall shaped theatre is listening heaven to me. You can stick huge arenas. You can stick the Albert Hall and you can stick the fireworks and laser beams. I want my music raw, gutsy and swinging baseball bats.
I’m in my 50’s now and have been experimenting and tweaking for years. My early recordings are pretty poor but at the time, I thought they were pretty good considering my first microphone cost me £20 quid from Maplins and could only just play one string bass guitar. But they get better chronologically, mostly after searching on websites like this one, with other people asking the same questions as I was asking. ‘Why do my vocals sound shit?’. Is it me or my guitar?’ ‘What’s that buzzing noise?’
It will be everything from headphones to strange clicking noises but be aware. Buy the best equipment your budget will allow. Read forums like these and find out what everyone else is using. Don’t sell the car and put your wife and kids into prostitution to buy the finest mic on Earth if you live next to a concrete plant, buy a trusty SM58 instead. Nano ear buds are great on the tube, not in a studio. You will end up like me and many others, with a loft full of old used equipment. Stuff you bought once like that portable four channel mixer but have since replaced with a sixteen track mixing desk and digital recorder. I still have my old Akai reel to reel somewhere.
But don’t be frightened by talk of bass traps. I’m still not quite sure what they actually do… if anything at all. If my studio needs them I’m unaware of it and as I’m the only one in there and I enjoy the sounds from all of my music collection and the pleasure I get from making up songs and recording them. No one person or guide can give you concise and exact instructions on studio construction and sound recording. Start with the room. Try recording something in there and listen to the result and ask yourself… what do I need to do to make that sound better.
If you are serious about becoming a producer of other peoples music, then like anything else, you must first learn to do it.