Best practice basics

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phxbluesman

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Greetings,

Although I have spent my share of time in studios from spare bedrooms to commercial studios and as a musician have a decent grasp on the equipment and process this is the first time I have made a foray into home recording since the cassette 4 track days. Santa brought me a new computer for Christmas so I figured with all the gear I have acquired over the years plus buying an audio interface I could hopefully lay down some decent quality tracks.
Of course realizing that even the best equipment in the wrong hands can make for a poor sounding recording and knowing that my gear is far from the best, I was hoping for some thoughts on the equipment I have available.
Here is my gear
Compaq Presario w/ 3.2 ghz AMD Phenom II Quad core
4GB RAM
500GB System Drive
1TB internal storage drive
750MB external USB storage drive
1 M Audio 1010LT 10in 10out PCI Interface
1 Audio Authority AD converter for inputs 9 & 10/spdif on interface (up to 24bit 96 kHz)
Yamaha EMX 5000 20 channel mixer
10 hosa DOC 106 direct out cables (steals the preamped signal from mixers i/o)
1 Sennheiser e602
3 Sennheiser e604
1 Shure sm57
3 Shure sm58
1 Shure rs130
2 VocoPro mics 50hz 16khz (sound pretty good IMHO)
1 V-TECH vt1080 80-120 HZ
3 Star Audio mics (cheeeep)
50ft 16/4 channel snake
4 sets of reference speakers and switcher
Plenty of amps, headphones, cables, connectors, extensions and adaptors.
3 bedroom house with 1 room as my office /man cave/rehearsal space/studio
1 very cool girlfriend who supports the music and has volunteered her walk-in closet as vocal booth. It is STUFFED clothes and is in the center of the house so it is a quiet as any fancy vocal booth I have ever been in! Other rooms offer excellent isolation options for amps.

I know I really should get some condenser mics for overheads and vocals but this is what I have.

Questions:

Signal processors during recording or mixing.
Noise gates y or no?
Compressors? y or no


My drummer has 4 piece...micing seems obvious except for the OHs
Kick: e602
Snare: sm57/top e604/bottom
HH: sm58
RT: e604
FT: e604
OH1/Cymbals: sm58?
OH2/Cymbals: sm58?

Bass: use balanced XLR from bass player’s amp into mixer?

Guitar amps: sm57?

Vocals: sm58? (Until I get condenser)

I have heard the sm57 and sm58 share the same guts. Unscrew and remove the ball from a 58 and basically you have a 57?

Assuming
A: My PC can handle the bandwidth/processing and...
B: hard drive space isn't an issue for me

Is there any downside recording at 24bit 96 kHz

88.2 kHz...Does being able to simply divide in 2 really have a benefit when converting to the final 16/44.1 for CD?

Thanks for the help!
 
Last edited:
tbh some cheap sd condensors will suit over heads better
 
You've got a good start with your present equipment list.

- Not sure if you need the mixer for recording, just go straight into the 1010LT and mix in the box. Or maybe the 1010LT doesn't have mic pres's, if not, then you need to use the mixer, but direct out from each channel into the 1010LT.
- You didn't mention monitors or your mixing room. While it doesn't have to soundproof, you should give priority to treating your mixing room acoustically. You've got to hear your mixes accurately.
- I used to record 24/96khz because I had the extra horsepower and storage. But when I bought my UAD cards, I found I get more than twice the plugs if I use 24/44.1khz. You won't notice the difference in sound, but you will save a ton of computer resources.
- Speaking of which, you didn't mention any software. You'll need a DAW program like Sonar or Cubase.

cool,
 
Oh yes forgot to mention Using Sony acid Pro7.0..mostly becauase I just finished and extensive video project on Sony Vegas Pro so I am familliar with the software. Interface only has preamps on 1/2 inputs
 
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