Another Newbie who needs your advice... thanks.

[donniem]

Hello.

I'm a keen and talented songwriter / singer / guitarist.

Recently I've been recording a couple of my songs in my bedroom. The kit I've got just now:

• Pentium 4 2.6Ghz
• 1 Gig Ram
• Creative Audigy 2 Platinum Pro with external unit
• US Fender Strat (Olympic White, Jimi Hendrix stylee)
• An old Shure mic

I've recorded 1 song with Cubasis (got it with the soundcard) and splashed out on Sound Forge to add compression, reverb etc to vocals and guitars (no drums so far).

So far, it sounds good but is not quite CD quality. I've got a bit of cash to splash, so can you recommend what I should buy to make CD quality music. I've got quality songs and want to make the most of them - I've read that a condenser mic would help a lot but I'm not sure what to buy. Also, any ideas how I could add drums without a drum kit?

I apologise if this stuff has been asked a million times before but I think it's helpful for people to know what kit you're currently working on.

Thank you,
Donnie, Scotland, UK

 

[AlChuck]

The only way I know of is to learn everything a good recording engineer does, and why, and practice over and over again for a long time. There's no instant answer or magic solution.

 

[donniem]

Thanks for the reply... wonder what the best way to do that is though. Maybe to watch an engineer in a studio... am sure the kit they use and the kit we use (i.e. the pc) can't be that much different?

Or maybe it is.

 

[jeap]

yes!

apprentice yourself at a major studio!

or you could read about mics at the mic forum

do web searches for fruity loops and gigastudio - those are popular solutions for sequencing drum samples

yeah the studios use computers... a lot of them use macs and pro tools (most?)

the computers are optimized for music

look into interfaces and outboard mic preamps and maybe a compressor

 

[donniem]

Cool.. I use a PC but borrow my works mac laptop at the weekend... begs the question, what is best for recording music, a PC or a Mac... but lets not go there.

Any kit recommendations?

 

[Dogman]

You asked about drums with no drummer. Here you might find some simple drum loops http://www.hitsquad.com/smm/win95/DRUMS_PERCUSSION/ . If there is nothing here, you might need to buy a drum machine.

There is tons of info about mics here, read and take it for what it is. Lot's of opinions. But a good mic can do wonders for the sounds you create. I just bought an AT 4040, and it sounds pretty good. The only thing I have to compare it to is a Shure SM58, so I have limited experience.

 

[Phobophile]

Ever try mastering your music? If you're super-serious, it's usually better to hire a professional mastering engineer with professional tools, but some compression and EQ tweeking may work wonders on your finished mixes. These days, much of the token "professional" luster is added during the mastering process.

Just a tip.

 

[jeap]

the ultimate is mac with pro tools

some like cubase or sonar (recording programs)

mastering is compression and eq and maybe some reverb if it needs more.

you can do that in soundforge but it helps to know what to do!

 

[Rokket]

This question has been asked a number of times. The answer is, unfortunately, a lot of money (into the 10 of thousands). Pro studios will spend $5,000.00 just for a compression module. They are using the best of the best in audio technology. The average start-up for these studios is about 50k... and that's just to get the basics.
Most of us can't compete with the major studios in that aspect. But maybe you can? You never mentioned how much you could spend on it. My advice is to research the whole process. You can gleen a lot of information from the internet. And to visit a studio, like was suggested.

You can still produce quality stuff with your home equipment, sound-wise. The difference will be the volume level of your home recordings. Like was mentioned, mixing and mastering is a skill that takes time and a lot of experience to get really good at.

And since no one else has said it:

Welcome to the board, I hope you will enjoy it here. We have a whole motley crew of people here. Some of them have been doing this for years. We have a few people who run active recording studios. I recommend you pick their brains.

Blue Bear is one of them.

Harvey Gerst also hangs out here. He was on the ground floor when JBL was getting started, and has forgotten more about recording and mics then I will ever know.

Good luck!

 

[jeap]

im not so sure that mastering is an elusive art

once you have a nice mix there are standard eq and compression curves

you can get t racks and use the presets

i used to chop everything below 40hz and cut at 400 then raise the highs a little... normalize to 99% and then compress at 3 or 5 to 1 with a threshold of about 6 - 10 db and it worked fine for getting the squashed sound

i did that with soundforge

to me mixing is much more complex than mastering

 

[jeap]

at this point i would love to have a good fast windows computer with a huge drive and lots of memory

cubase for recording

virtual guitarist keyboard bassist and drummer - steinberg which is yamaha i guess has a whole suite of virtual musicians

then i would have to sing and play lead guitar - lead guitar is my strong suit

then i could concentrate more on my guitar playing. i could make tunes to play along with that would be a lot cooler than band in a box

there are a lot of drum sample libraries available now so maybe i could find something i really like

 

[Neeps]

Hey Donnie,

If you want to learn how to do home recording I think you've came to the right place... I only joined myself a few weeks ago and I've learned loads of stuff... but remember the whole point of this forum is people trying to make cd quality music...

What kind of music are you playing? What will you be recording? How much do you have to spend? It makes a big difference when deciding what to buy.

Your computer is fast enough so no worries there.
I'd record on that cos if your new hobby takes over and you get sacked you won't have access to a mac
Your sound card will do to get started with but you might want more channels later.

More long-term you need a shopping list that includes...

A mixer.
Monitor speakers.
Microphones.
Mic preamps

Be warned you've entered into an expensive hobby. Some people spend shit loads of cash on home studio gear.

Read through the forums over the next few weeks and you'll get an idea of what you need.

As for learning... most people seem to think that hands on experience is the best way to go

https://homerecording.com/bbs/showthread.php?t=147435

And don't be scared of posting your songs over in the mixing clinic... you'll probably get some good tips...

Cheers
Al

 

[Neeps]

and remember most of the purchase advice on here is based on american prices... and damn it's cheap over there!...

You might want to check out Red5 Audio for mics that are priced better for Scottish guys like us... Red5 are based in Greenock and most of their mics are well regarded... (i think!)...

 

[donniem]

Thanks for the helpful replies and the links.

Al, had a look at that website it seems pretty good.

Have got around 2-3 grand to spend which I thought would be enough but obviously not! The music I'm recording is indie / rock.

Thanks again

 

[Neeps]

Shit Donnie... you'll get lots for 2 or 3 grand! Are you recording bands or are you just recording yourself?

 

[jeap]

yep you gotta tell us exactly what you want to do

 

[donniem]

Recording myself, on guitar, vocals and bass guitar - multitracking, obviously.

cheers

 

[Neeps]

Will you be pointing a mic at an amp or will you be recording direct?

If you have a great sounding guitar amp you can mic it... if not you can buy a great sounding guitar amp and then mic it... or you might want to try out some amp modeling equipment (you get hardware and software types)

an example of the hardware type would be the Line 6 Pod unit... (never heard it)
an example of the software type would be IK Multimedia Amplitube... (this sounds okay)

remember you can play late at night with the amp modelling gear...

do you play live as well or just in the bedroom?

you'll get a nice range of sounds with the amp modeling gear but I don't think the sound quality is quite as good yet as micing a real guitar amp...

You have a hugh amount of options for 2-3 grand...

I wouldn't recommend that you spend it all in one go..

Instead just start recording and buying things as you find you need them...

You can even monitor through hi-fi speakers to begin with... although it is hard to mix well using hi-fi speakers and you'll need near-field monitor speakers to get good results...

I'd look into a little mixer first... (mackie? soundcraft? Could someone else advise please... I don't know shit about mixers)
and the Shure SM57 is a cheap microphone that will always be handy (they still get used in pro studios) you can use it to mic guitar amps and initially to record vocals as well...

the SM57 would get you started and you'd never outgrow it... and it would buy you time to decide how you really want to spend all that cash!

 

[jeap]

you need a few microphones

2 channel mic preamp

i like using an outboard compressor

 

[SPINSTERWUN]

Welcome to this BBS, donniem..........

Here's some reading for you.

http://www.theprojectstudiohandbook.com/directory.htm