bedroom setup... need help!

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mcl116

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I'm just getting into recording and plan to record in my room. I'll be doing mostly piano, electric guitars, acoustic guitar, bass guitar, and drums at a different location. I just purchased an Presonus Audiobox and the M-Audio Keyrig49 Midi Keyboard and will be buying an MXL 990 Condenser mic (or shure sm57 not sure yet). I know I'm going to need another mic or 2 for my drum recordings but this is what I have for now. I still need to get monitors which will hopefully come soon. Anyways, I plan to do my recordings in my bedroom. Can you please advise me as to what I can do to get the best possible sound for my recordings.

PS- If you could tell me how to get the image in my post that'd be great cause I know it's just a little annoying for you guys to have to click on that and what not haha
 

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if I were you I'd for for the 990... I'll probably get flamed for saying that, but a condenser yields better results in circumstances like that (in my experience).

As for how to get the recordings to sound good...
  1. Read about recording (see this thread for a book list)
  2. Get to know your software - Let us know what you're using and I'll give you some links to help you get familiar with your DAW software
  3. Stay up on what's going on in music - The best way to learn is from other people... subscribe to blogs, try out a few social media sites, (keep) posting on forums, etc

For that last one... Here are a few of each that I like

Blogs:

Social Media:

Forums:
 
I'd move my bed so that the head of the bed is where the desk is, and put the desk under the window where the bed is. That would get me out of the corner so that I'd be away from the funny things that happen to sound in corners and would be in the center of the room for best stereo sound.

It really doesn't matter too much, though--- when you're first starting out, it's not worth it to spend much time doing anything other than pressing record and seeing what sounds cool.

That way you'll be getting right to being creative without a lot of farting around with crap that a beginner can't really get maximum benefit from, anyway.

A cheap condenser is a good idea.

Make sure you've got some nice thick curtains up on your windows (not to soundproof, but rather to soak up soundwaves bouncing around and making the room sound small and boxy), and go for it!

oh, and i post images by either loading my own up to photobucket and using the bracket-img-bracket thingy, or posting the link to the image and surrouning it with bracketIMGbracket and then bracket/IMGbracket. Make sense?

headphones.jpg

NOW GET RECORDING!
 
My obligatory standard reply-for-newbies that I keep in Wordpad:

First off, immediately get a good beginner recording book (spend $20 before spending hundred$/thousand$) that shows you what you need to get started and how to hook everything up in your studio:
Home Recording for Musicians by Jeff Strong - $15
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/07...ce&n=283155&n=507846&s=books&v=glance
(Wish I'd had that when I started; would have saved me lots of money and time and grief)
You can also pick up this book in most any Borders or Barnes&Noble in the Music Books section!

Another good one is: Recording Guitar and Bass by Huw Price
http://www.amazon.com/Recording-Gui...=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1215734124&sr=1-1
(I got my copy at a place called Half-Price Books for $6!!)

Barnes&Noble or Borders are great places to start --- they have recording books and you can go get a snack or coffee and read them for FREE! Don't pass by a good recording book --- this is a VERY technical hobby and you REALLY want to start a reference library!!!

Good Newbie guides that also explains all the basics:
http://www.tweakheadz.com/guide.htm
http://www.computermusic.co.uk/page/computermusic?entry=free_beginner_pdfs

21 Ways To Assemble a Recording Rig:
http://www.tweakheadz.com/rigs.htm

Also Good Info:
http://www.theprojectstudiohandbook.com/directory.htm

Other recording books:
http://musicbooksplus.com/home-recording-c-31.html

Still using a built-in soundcard?? Unfortunately, those are made with less than $1 worth of chips for beeps, boops and light gaming (not to mention cheapness for the manufacturer) not quality music production.
#1 Rule of Recording: You MUST replace the built-in soundcard.
Here's a good guide and suggestions:
http://www.tweakheadz.com/soundcards_for_the_home_studio.htm


Plenty of software around to record for FREE to start out on:

Audacity: http://audacity.sourceforge.net (multi-track with VST support)
Wavosaur: http://www.wavosaur.com/ (a stereo audio file editor with VST support)\
Kristal: http://www.kreatives.org/kristal/
Other freebies and shareware: www.hitsquad.com

Another great option is REAPER at http://www.cockos.com/reaper/ (It's $50 but runs for free until you get guilty enough to pay for it...)
I use Reaper and highly reccomend it...

Music Notation and MIDI recording: Melody Assistant ($25) and Harmony Assistant ($80) have the power of $600 notation packages - http://myriad-online.com
Demo you can try on the website.

And you can go out to any Barnes&Noble or Borders and pick up "Computer Music" magazine - they have a full FREE studio suite in every issue's DVD, including sequencers, plugins and tons of audio samples. (November 2006 they gave away a full copy of SamplitudeV8SE worth $150, November 2007-on the racks Dec in the US- they gave away SamplitudeV9SE. It pays to watch 'em for giveaways...)
 
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