Beginner Vocal Home Studio Questions/Concerns

[JohnCutts]

I've setup a really basic studio that main function will be to recording rap and r&b vocals over pre-mixed beats. Currently I have a AKG Perception 200, pop filter, Lexicon Lamdba audio interface/mic pre-amp, Cool Edit Pro 2.1. My mic is place in a corner in my room with foam padding on both walls onto the corner. I'm will probaly buy a hardware compressor soon so vocals can be compressed before they enter the pc.

In the future I plan on moving the mic into a closest where I can surround the closet with foam padding to get as dry of sound as possible. As I said above I plan on buying a compressor. And plan on learning Cubase LE since it has more features then CEP 2.1 and it's more similar to the industry standard Pro Tool.

I wanted to know what people thought of this setup and what I should begin to invest in next. Looking forward to comments.

 

[cusebassman]

You are tracking all this to PC - but what are you listening back on?

If its PC speakers, your next best bet for investment is going to be decent monitors, probably. As much as pros will tell you that PC speakers and cheap monitors are no different, I beg to differ... I get much better results mixing over my KRk RP-5's than I did when I was using a Logitech 5.1 system coming out of my mixing chain.

The RP-5s lack bass though, so I am looking into getting a sub for that system.

 

[JohnCutts]

Since I had a limit of how much money I was willing to spend when I brought my equipment the person at the store said I shouldn't worry about monitors though I was wanting to buy them. I guess I'll have to perfect these pc speakers until I can get some monitors. I normal test my mixes in a couple of different speakers anyways though. Thanks for the advice.

 

[cusebassman]

Yeah, its just a thought - I was mixing on those Logitech 5.1's for a couple years before I bought proper (or at least somewhat decent) monitors. You can definitely work around it, I just got tired of the weird problems I'd end up with in my final mixes due to the fact that the sub seemed to reproduce certain frequencies much moreso than others within its own range. Could never quite nail what they all were as I wasn't mixing on a computer at the time though...

As for how you have the mic set up, I think you've got the general idea. And as they always say, if it sounds good to you, then that's all that matters.

 

[mikeh]

The key to good monitoring (regardless of how good the monitors may be) - is to use reference material.

Play CD's of whatever artist/mixes you hope to sound like and then try to get your mixes to that point.

If you do that often enough you will start to "learn" how your monitors respond and how your mixes will sound on other systems (car stereos, boom boxes, etc). Naturally with rap, being so low end driven - you really need to learn how to trust the low end your monitors are giving you.

 

[cusebassman]

The key to good monitoring (regardless of how good the monitors may be) - is to use reference material.

Play CD's of whatever artist/mixes you hope to sound like and then try to get your mixes to that point.

If you do that often enough you will start to "learn" how your monitors respond and how your mixes will sound on other systems (car stereos, boom boxes, etc). Naturally with rap, being so low end driven - you really need to learn how to trust the low end your monitors are giving you.

This is the problem I am hitting now - not that I record rap (oh dear lord what a product I'd put out ), but even for acoustic material, the low-end of the acoustic guitar ends up under-emphasized through the RP-5s I have, and winds up super-bassy on other systems. I've figured out how to sort of get around it, but it still isn't coming out how I'd like. So, either I've gotta get a sub or be happy with what I've got, since I apparently can't fine-tune my ability on the lacking-low-end monitors

 

[pandamonk]

My mic is place in a corner in my room with foam padding on both walls onto the corner...

...In the future I plan on moving the mic into a closest where I can surround the closet with foam padding to get as dry of sound as possible.

Corner is the worst place even with padding. The absorption, unless very thick(4" staddeling the corner, or 6" minimum flat on the wall, imo), will absorb well at highs, but not at lows. So your recordings will sound very bass heavy and boomy. And, with your lack of suitable monitors/monitoring environment, you probably won't hear this until you the recordings elsewhere. The closet is a better idea, but instead of expensive foam, just fill it with clothes. The layers of clothes should be a lot thicker than foam, which means they will absorb to much deeper frequencies.

 

[pandamonk]

This is the problem I am hitting now - not that I record rap (oh dear lord what a product I'd put out ), but even for acoustic material, the low-end of the acoustic guitar ends up under-emphasized through the RP-5s I have, and winds up super-bassy on other systems. I've figured out how to sort of get around it, but it still isn't coming out how I'd like. So, either I've gotta get a sub or be happy with what I've got, since I apparently can't fine-tune my ability on the lacking-low-end monitors

5" monitors won't give you a good bass response, but the problems could also be/are probably your room... Those monitors have a freq response down to 53Hz. This is/should be certainly enough for acoustic material. If you want to be sure of it, put a high pass filter on with the cutoff at 60Hz. This means that all freqs below will be cut, and then it's definitely not your monitors.

For the best results, centre your mixing position along the shortest wall, and with you sitting 38% on the room length from the wall, and face your monitors in an equilateral triangle with yourself. Try and space the monitors from the wall if you can, still keeping your monitors as wide as possible in the equilateral triangle. This will give you the best mixing position. Then acquire/build some bass traps(4" minimum rigid fiberglass panels in all corners possible, even wall-ceiling). This should sort your bass problems to an extent, and put panels in the first reflection points(side, ceiling, and back wall), to give good stereo imaging.