Building A Basic Home Studio Help???

  • Thread starter Thread starter HarryJames
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HarryJames

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Hi,

I'm new to all this so hopefully I'm posting this in the right place! I'm looking to put together a basic home recording studio, able to record a standard four piece band, I'm decent at using cubase so software wise I'm fine, if anyone could point me in the direction of some microphones, monitors, interfaces that are half decent that would be a massive help! I'm an 18 year old student so price is important!

Thanks A lot

Harry
 
Hey Harry.
I suppose the first thing to do is to decide if you're tracking bands live or separately.

For a live setup you might want a greater number of preamps/inputs than if you were doing it separately and you'd have to consider monitor mixes, headphones, headphone amps etc.

The kit's probably the biggest thinking point in terms of mics. How many mics would you be putting on a kit?
If you're planning to record separately you can save some cash by doubling up on mics.

Kick mic does bass, snare mic does guitar, OH mics (one of) does vocals, maybe, etc.

Room treatment is a massive thing for tracking and accurate monitoring so, if that's news to you, have a good old search around this forum.
There's plenty of great advice on the topic.
 
It would be tracked separately so i was thinking an audio interface with four XLR/three quarter inch jack inputs would be fine for that.

Due the shoe string budget I was thinking 3 mics on the kit... snare, kick and overhead.
Would hopefully try and get a decent condenser mic for the vocals.
Whats more favourable Direct inputting guitars after going through amp, or recording using mics in front of the amp?

Monitor wise I'm pretty clueless so will have to have a look around the site!

Thanks for your help!
 
HarryJames said:
It would be tracked separately so i was thinking an audio interface with four XLR/three quarter inch jack inputs would be fine for that.

Due the shoe string budget I was thinking 3 mics on the kit... snare, kick and overhead.
Would hopefully try and get a decent condenser mic for the vocals.
Whats more favourable Direct inputting guitars after going through amp, or recording using mics in front of the amp?

Monitor wise I'm pretty clueless so will have to have a look around the site!

Thanks for your help!
Click to expand...

Ok, that's a good start.
Mono is your choice but I would 100% recommend stereo overheads for the kit for any modern music recording.
There are plenty of suitable pairs available (sm81, nt5 etc), or you could pick up two oktava mk219s on ebay since they are great for vocals and acoustic instruments too.

I doubt you'll find an interface with 3 XLR inputs so 4 is the number to look for. You may well find that the tascam with 8 inputs is the best bang-for-buck, regardless. It gets recommend a LOT around here.

For guitars, putting a mic in front of the amp is pretty much always the preferred option. If your amp and setup sounds good then using a mic just makes things so much easier.
Bass is a little less fussy. I DI bass all the time without issue.

For monitors do a lot of reading and get reviews from users on here etc. There's a long running poll thread exclusively on the topic.
I would recommend not skimping here though. If you're going to spend £100 on monitors you may as well use good 'hi-fi' speakers, in my opinion - Especially if the room isn't even treated.

I use mackie HR624s myself and love them. :)
I've used cheaper offerings from Samson, Maudio etc and can't really recommend them.
 
I wish it just cost me double.. i would be one happy dude!!

I think my original budget was about $800.. i'm prolly $10k in now.....

PS: Will sell soul or trade shoes for gear!!!
 
polarity said:
I wish it just cost me double.. i would be one happy dude!!

I think my original budget was about $800.. i'm prolly $10k in now.....

PS: Will sell soul or trade shoes for gear!!!
Click to expand...

I hear ya, man! I've been dabbling for over 10 years and my shopping list is no shorter now than it was when I first started buying gear.

$800 will be tight when you're looking for mics, interface, monitors, and room treatment. And don't forget cables, stands, and a pop filter. As much as I hate eBay and Craigslist, you will probably benefit from at least keeping an eye out there because people upgrade or sell off unused equipment all the time. You might get lucky and find a good deal, if you don't get ripped off or robbed :)
 
Also OP if you do want to post your budget we can post up a few specific pieces of gear that might work.
 
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