Building Music studio at home !!

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Andyshub

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Hello guys, I'm a vocalist by profession, rather new to recording music at home. I'm currently using an Blue Yeti USB condenser microphone. I used to connect it to my PC and record Audio with a free editing basic software but not getting pro quality sound. In this Covid era now I've started planning to build a room which will be completely dedicated for Music recording and Live programs. I wanted to know what must have equipments should I buy for this ? I am planning to buy a Audio interface but confused whether should I buy a Mixer ( it seemed pretty complicated on first look in guitar center )..... I do covers of songs with karaoke backing tracks, and occasionally I play the keyboard as backing track.... but I am missing getting reverbs or other sound effects when I am doing concerts in Facebook live / zoom meetings !! Will appreciate your help guys.
 
You won’t be able to use the USB mic with the interface. You know that, right?

Effects like reverb (for live streaming) can be added by first going through a mixer and you can plug that into an interface, or you can get a mixer with USB output and skip the interface. The third option is to get an interface that has the ability to load or use internal effects.

You can insert effects in via software in the computer but that almost always creates latency between the audio stream and video if you are using a webcam or plugging directly into a smartphone or tablet.

If you are plugging into a phone or tablet you need to confirm that whatever you buy will be compatible with that device.
 
Yes... I know interface needed an XLR mic...planning to buy AT2020 condenser mic.
I have no idea about a Mixer like; how to operate it or how to connect it for a live streaming. Can you please give me a tutorial from which I can atleast get a basic knowledge about it !!
 
You can use OBS software (free to d/l) to add FX (from a DAW) to your live feed streams.
 
An interface, if you are mainly singing you wont be needing many inputs there are a lot of options for this in every price range.
You will need a microphone.
I would recommend a good pair of headphones (but you might already have those)
And if your room acoustically is a workable room, or you have got the money and/or time and DIY skills to make it sound good, a pair of solid studio monitors would be great.

Then you'll need the obvious basics like cables and a microphone stand.

Lastly you'll need a Digital Audio Workstation (DAW) which is software in which to record your audio, in the program you will find all the effects you are going to need.
Most computers will be able to run those, when you get into bigger projects or heavier effect proccessing, you might start needing a more powerful computer.

This should be enough to get you going. I would not bother with a Mixer and Hardware Effects (Effects like Reverb that don't come from your DAW), unless you have got loads of money. If you want to go in that direction you can always choose to later on.

My recommendation would be get the gear you need and then focus on spending time making music, recording, developing your ear, finding what sounds you like and such. You can always buy more/other gear later on, but you can't start soon enough with developing the necessary skills.

Good luck, and have fun playing and recording!
 
Dicus said:
An interface, if you are mainly singing you wont be needing many inputs there are a lot of options for this in every price range.
You will need a microphone.
I would recommend a good pair of headphones (but you might already have those)
And if your room acoustically is a workable room, or you have got the money and/or time and DIY skills to make it sound good, a pair of solid studio monitors would be great.

Then you'll need the obvious basics like cables and a microphone stand.

Lastly you'll need a Digital Audio Workstation (DAW) which is software in which to record your audio, in the program you will find all the effects you are going to need.
Most computers will be able to run those, when you get into bigger projects or heavier effect proccessing, you might start needing a more powerful computer.

This should be enough to get you going. I would not bother with a Mixer and Hardware Effects (Effects like Reverb that don't come from your DAW), unless you have got loads of money. If you want to go in that direction you can always choose to later on.

My recommendation would be get the gear you need and then focus on spending time making music, recording, developing your ear, finding what sounds you like and such. You can always buy more/other gear later on, but you can't start soon enough with developing the necessary skills.

Good luck, and have fun playing and recording!
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Thanks so much for your advice... I was thinking of buying Focusrite scarlet 2i2 ...does it have built in reverb ? Actually I want this more in my Live stream programs.
One more question.... I usually record and edit my songs in Audacity... can it get better if I use DAW ?
 
Interfaces don't play a part in effects and other such stuff - they just convert the audio to and from digital.

Audacity IS a DAW. The DAW software does the eq, effects, routing and everything. Audacity is free, but actually well thought of. Swapping Audacity for something different will give you more control, more features and loads of other stuff - but NOT quality. We have loads of reaper fans on here and I'm a Cubase user, but really it's down to finding something that does what you want, not us. Truly, there are few bad DAW packages, just awkward or difficult ones. The popular ones all have huge numbers of fans, which means problems are always covered on the net somewhere.

Most of these things can integrate into live streaming (usually with small or large amounts of fiddling)
 
Andyshub said:
Yes... I know interface needed an XLR mic...planning to buy AT2020 condenser mic.
I have no idea about a Mixer like; how to operate it or how to connect it for a live streaming. Can you please give me a tutorial from which I can atleast get a basic knowledge about it !!
Click to expand...
Short answer - I'm not going to pen a tutorial or do a video. You need to search YouTube and see how folks have done it - there are a lot of different ways, and maybe one or the other makes more sense to you.

If live streaming is your only focus, then I'd look for a mixer with USB connection and see if you can find videos of folks describing how they used that for live streaming.

If you want to record as well as live stream, then an interface with built-in FX or the ability to download them might be a better option, but it introduces more complexity. I have a Steinberg model that has this capability, and they may be the lowest cost with that feature. I used it exactly once with the built-in DSP (a little reverb and compression) as a proof of concept for live streaming using the computer webcam. It works, but the tradeoff is that since it's primarily an audio interface, the control of the FX is another piece of software you have to use on your computer (no phone version) so, e.g., if you want to stream with a phone, you have to first connect the computer to set the FX, then connect the phone.

If you want to have better video than a computer webcam, a newer smartphone is your best option, so then you have to insure your audio capture device can connect.

If you are planning to use a camera other than the one built into the device you are streaming from, e.g., plug in a DSLR for the video and connect it through a "capture card" to the computer, with the sound going through either a mixer and/or audio interface, you will need an additional bit of software like OBS. I have fiddled around with that, and this is another level of stuff to fool with. (Way up there on the list of reasons I decided live streaming was not something I was interested in.)
 
Yes..for now streaming is my only focus.
keith.rogers said:
Short answer - I'm not going to pen a tutorial or do a video. You need to search YouTube and see how folks have done it - there are a lot of different ways, and maybe one or the other makes more sense to you.

If live streaming is your only focus, then I'd look for a mixer with USB connection and see if you can find videos of folks describing how they used that for live streaming.

If you want to record as well as live stream, then an interface with built-in FX or the ability to download them might be a better option, but it introduces more complexity. I have a Steinberg model that has this capability, and they may be the lowest cost with that feature. I used it exactly once with the built-in DSP (a little reverb and compression) as a proof of concept for live streaming using the computer webcam. It works, but the tradeoff is that since it's primarily an audio interface, the control of the FX is another piece of software you have to use on your computer (no phone version) so, e.g., if you want to stream with a phone, you have to first connect the computer to set the FX, then connect the phone.

If you want to have better video than a computer webcam, a newer smartphone is your best option, so then you have to insure your audio capture device can connect.

If you are planning to use a camera other than the one built into the device you are streaming from, e.g., plug in a DSLR for the video and connect it through a "capture card" to the computer, with the sound going through either a mixer and/or audio interface, you will need an additional bit of software like OBS. I have fiddled around with that, and this is another level of stuff to fool with. (Way up there on the list of reasons I decided live streaming was not something I was interested in.)
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Yes...as of now streaming with a pro audio with reverbs is my only focus. In that case M going for a mixer with built in usb interface. I am looking at Yamaha mg10xu ...is that a good one for a beginner like me ?
 
Frankly we don’t know. We thought you were a bit further advanced than you are. You seem to be doing a Queen. You want it all and you want it now. You will need real microphone(s) of course. Your usb is fine for chatting, but if you need a pair of channels for the keyboard, one for a mic and another to play in tracks from a hardware device you just need enough. But if your tracks are on the computer you are going to stream from, then that audio needs to come out somehow, and then into the mixer? Using the mixer to get audio in doesn’t offer the reverse at the same time without it getting complex. You want fairly clever processes with no background. Many newcomers take ages to just get music recorded, your needs require multiple apps to be mastered quickly, we have no idea if you can do this.

you will have already downloaded OBS and have be one familiar with it, or you wont. If not, why not? When I wanted to start streaming, google got me OBS. Ten minutes later I was streaming across the room. Two hours later I had the issues ironed out, and then I was trying to make it do cleverer things. Is this you? If it isn‘t, do you know why not. The success of this project is NOT hardware. OBS can do all sorts.

usb mixers really just are half way houses. Real interfaces make it easier to send things back and forth, cue mixes that kind of stuff. I’m not sure your heart is really in this.

if it was me, I’d have already bought kit, had it arrive and maybe even sent it back by now! I’d have made a list of things I had to have, looked around and gone for it. I would have made my mind up, right or wrong, then watched you tube reviews to see if people were warning of things they didn’t do. YouTube is very low on signal to noise.experts and idiots all with the same gear. You need to have a strong filter and click away to better videos. The info is out there. Forums like this fail when people want specifics without background.
 
"usb mixers really just are half way houses. Real interfaces make it easier to send things back and forth, cue mixes that kind of stuff. I’m not sure your heart is really in this."

Rob is being unusually er? Direct! In this reply but he is ban on the money.

There seems to be two camps on these sort of forums? The 'mixerphiles' and the rabid mixer haters. "You can do all that with a suitable interface" they cry. Well, you probably can if you have 4 or 5 hundred quid to spare. As Rob indicates, USB mixers are not really useful for bi-directional audio but then a simple AI (and the 2i2 is almost as simple as they get) cannot do real time effects.

The solution, as my son found out, is an AI AND a mixer. The latter takes care of the mic amping, and 'collecting' all the other sources and, can add FX where needed. The line output of the mixer THEN feeds the line inputs of an interface.

Messy? Yes and will take you some time to work out the logistics but this is always the case when peeps want a function(s) outside of those a piece of kit was designed for. Interfaces are incredibly cheap for what they do and do brilliantly. Mixers too have really good speccs and cost nanties. Neither device can 'do it all' and I don't know if a 'one box solution' exists, might do but it will cost you in excess of half a bag and take you a month to learn to drive it.

Oh! Jusfort, look at the Rode RodeCaster Pro.

Dave.
 
When I did my teacher training - so much was dull, boring and a bit pointless - but some stuff was so important,it surprised me tha I'd not discovered it. The question of how we learn. I assumed my way was similar to others, and it's not. I'm a touchie-feelie person. It has a proper term of course, but I learn best by touchng, fiddling experimenting, and NOT by reading, or being shown. That drives me mad, and for me it doesn't work. All my life, I've fiddled and of course, sometimes I break things. Sometimes I did things as a teenager that today would be considered deadly, and probably needing to be banned. I had little electronics theory, but just pysics from school and common sense. If I touched something and got a shock, best not repeat it. I plugged my guitar into wires tagged with solder onto an old radio set. I recorded from the radio speaker terminals onto my reel to reel line input. Years later I realised the substantial voltage that was there due to the transformer and tubes/valves. I simply turned the leves down, connected then turned up and watched what happened and listened. education came later, and I have never blown anything up - something the internet would tell you happens all the time.

I firmly believe that you just go for it, and see what happens. If a product can be destroyed by a customer before the packaging is in the bin, it was poorly designed.

With a USB mic and the streaming software, I can't see any reason why it has to be complicated too much. In my office I run cubase elements. Cut down from pro I use in the studio. I've plugged in a mic to my interface, added reverb, set another channel to be a line input, and then set OBS studio to take the output from cubase and squirt it out as a stream. It works fine. Reason would, I'm sure do the same thing. All you need to do what you want is get some DAW software you get on with. I can't see a reason why you can't just use the USB mic if you want. You'd have to fiddle with getting your headphones connectd so you can mix with low latency - a delay in the headphones will kill you - but I could sing and play and have reverb and other effects and stream it. I don't get why you've not at least tried?
 
ecc83 said:
"usb mixers really just are half way houses. Real interfaces make it easier to send things back and forth, cue mixes that kind of stuff. I’m not sure your heart is really in this."

Rob is being unusually er? Direct! In this reply but he is ban on the money.

There seems to be two camps on these sort of forums? The 'mixerphiles' and the rabid mixer haters. "You can do all that with a suitable interface" they cry. Well, you probably can if you have 4 or 5 hundred quid to spare. As Rob indicates, USB mixers are not really useful for bi-directional audio but then a simple AI (and the 2i2 is almost as simple as they get) cannot do real time effects.

The solution, as my son found out, is an AI AND a mixer. The latter takes care of the mic amping, and 'collecting' all the other sources and, can add FX where needed. The line output of the mixer THEN feeds the line inputs of an interface.

Messy? Yes and will take you some time to work out the logistics but this is always the case when peeps want a function(s) outside of those a piece of kit was designed for. Interfaces are incredibly cheap for what they do and do brilliantly. Mixers too have really good speccs and cost nanties. Neither device can 'do it all' and I don't know if a 'one box solution' exists, might do but it will cost you in excess of half a bag and take you a month to learn to drive it.

Oh! Jusfort, look at the Rode RodeCaster Pro.

Dave.
Click to expand...
I love mixers--twiddling knobs, pushing faders up and down, etc. I use it almost exclusively for monitoring, but with the RayDat interface I could use it as the input source, and for mixdown. But I don't. The virtual mixer in the DAW is easier, quicker, and far more versitile. Of course. The outboard digital input/output sources--24 track's worth--are all wired up to go where I want them to, a cable in and out of the bay away. It took some doing/experimenting/failing before I got it to where it is now, but that was part of the fun.
 
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