424 based studio . need advice/suggestions/wisdom

[greyJ]

i have a tascam 424 mkIII. i also have an attic space that has been carpeted/painted. it has multiple slanted ceilings, and 2 pertruding support walls that create 3 sections on the left side of the room. the right wall is slanted. there is a walk in closet. (i dont know if any of that matters.)

the room is used pretty much just for a practice/jam room right now. ( guitars/drums/bass/vocals are used)

the acoustics of the room are pretty bad. when we rehearse it sounds jumbled and is often hard to distingush sounds.


so. i want to make good analog recordings of my music. budget is low . around $ 1100. i have a lot of questions. answer one or two or three or all .


1. what mics are worth investing in?
a.) overhead drum mic(s)
b.) snare mic
c. ) kick drum/(bass cab) mic
d.) vocal mic
e. ) guitar cab mic


2. what do i do about effects . ( reverb , compression , limiter. )? ( i have no knowledge on rack units at all, besides that i think thats what you are supposed to have. )

3. do i need to get a mic preamp?

4. what could i do about the jumbled sound environment that is cheap?


5. would it be a good idea to create a control room, either in the closet or by putting up a wall elsewhere in the room?


sorry for the ignorance.


i would greatly appreciate any help.

 

[Mark7]

1) For overheads, probably a pair of MXL603Ss for $200, plus a Rolls PB223 (or similar) for $55 to give em the juice they need.

Total so far: $255

For snare and guitar cab, either a pair of 57s ($178), or an SM57 and a Sennheiser E609 ($188)

Total so far: $433/443

For kick and bass cab get a pair of Audio-Technica ATM25s for $278.

Total so far: $711/721

Vocals: Studio Projects C1 ($200), MXL V67 ($100) or ADK A51 ($150)... are just three of the choices you have for under $200 And don't forget dynamics like the SM58, etc.

2) Outboard. Don't bother with a compressor, the 424 has no insert points. Just make sure you don't let the overdrive get too obnoxious (unless you're a Punk band, of course )

As for reverb. Well, if you go with the C1 as your vocal mic you'll have about $189. Time to trawl ebay, or just save up for one later and do without reverb for now.

3) No you don't need a mic pre amp: The 424 has six of them already.

4) Sorry, I'm not an acoustician

5) Control Room, Conshmole Room. This is guerilla recording man! Stick the mics up, plug em in, slap on a pair of cans.

BTW: Don't forget to budget for mic cables. You'll need six longish ones to go from the mics to the mixer and PP box, plus two shortish ones to go from the PP box to the mixer. I'd look at getting six XLR Fe to XLR Ma for the long runs, and a pair of XLR Ma to unbalanced 1/4" for the short run.

 

[Mark7]

And when I say "slap on a pair of cans" I don't mean...

 

[greyJ]

thanks for the info. it will be very useful. ....especially the picture.

 

[notbradsohner]

for the "jumbled" sound solution, it sounds like a bass problem. with all those corners in such a small space, you are going to have a lot of bass buildup around there. you need something that will absorb or "trap these lower frequencies.

pretty much the best and cheapest thing is owens corning 703 rigid fiberglass insulation. It absorbs bass frequencies better than anything out there, and when mounted across a corner it will help with those bass problems. check out this . It will explain just about everything you need to know about acoustics for building a small home studio.

 

[Mark7]

Close miking with cardioid and hypercardioid mics will also help a lot, as it'll attenuate the effect of the room on the sound.

As for your reverb problem, here's one possible solution you could use at mixdown time.

Find a room you do like the sound of and mic it up using the two 603Ss.

Now, take an amplifier and a pair of speakers and place them in the same room.

Plug the mics into Mic/Line Inputs 5 and 6 and assign them to the stereo buss. Place them so they face into opposite corners facing away from the speakers.

Patch cables from your 424s Fx sends to the left and right inputs of the amplifier.

Set up your machine for mixdown (i.e. put channels 1 to 4 into tape playback mode) and turn up the FX Send controls on Channels 1 to 4.

Now, if you monitor the output of Channels 5 and 6 you should hear the sound of Tracks 1 to 4 being played over the amp and speakers into the Reverb Chamber (which is basically what you've just created). So, it's just a matter of making adjustments to things like mic positioning, FX Send levels and the levels of Channels 5 and 6 (remember not to turn up the FX sends on these two channels).

And obviously all the volume and EQ changes you want on Tracks 1 to 4 as well.

 

[greyJ]

AHA! thanks that is awesome stuff.

 

[greyJ]

recording drums??

i do not know how to record drums. what i mean is. with the two overhead condenser mics, i will run them thru the rolls and then into the 424 using track 1 and track 2. then do i use the other two tracks for the snare and kick drum mic. ? if this is the case. how do i go about bouncing those tracks down . or whatever. ????

 

[Mark7]

If you record the overheads on tracks 1 and 2, the snare on track 3 and the kick on 4 you've used up all your tracks. The only way you could bounce down would be externally to a stereo recorder of some description. You'd then have to do a second bounce from the stereo machine back to two tracks of the four track.

Then you want to add the guitar(s), bass and vocal(s).

Personally I reckon you'd be better off tracking the guitar, bass and drums to a pair of tracks and then using the remaining two tracks for vocal and guitar overdubs. If the band you're recording is any good then having the rhythm section play together will give the recording far more "liveliness" than tracking everything separately.

Don't get hung up on bogus modern production methods.

 

[Flovern]

GreyJ, one of the things I used to use to cut the muddiness on the 424 was a BBE 482 Sonic Maximizer. I plugged it in between the 424 and final mixdown cassette deck. Sweeeeeet! Nice sparkle to the high end too!