Gear For An Home Studio?

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Gear For A Home Studio?

I'm thinking of turning my basement into a home studio for personal recording...

I've selected these mics:2 mxl 990's

2 CO4's

MXL R144 ribbon mic

also a small mixer: This Behringer

and now the hard part

I need to add effects to a bass, guitars, vocals, a epiphone mandobird, acoustic guitar and acoustic ukele... (my genre is some weird post-hardcore metal-ish type.. hard to explain)

so i need to choose between the UX8 or the POD X3 Live

Which Should I pick?
MY budget is 800usd is +/- 100... Am i even on the right track?
 
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I am not really familiar with many of the prices you mentioned but I do have some experience with the 990's.

They are extremely mediocre at best.
I have used one for recording flute, tinwhistle and violin.
Mainly because the customer came in with it and asked to be recorded with it to evaluate how it sounds.
It disappeared shortly thereafter.
Perhaps I have just been doing this for so long I have become sort of snobbish about things but I would go with fewer things but better quality than go with a bunch of really mediocre gear.

i understand that everyone has to start somewhere, and terying to outfit an entire studio from scratch and provided enough equipment to record the whole band at once really involves a lot of money and equiment. But I have bought cheap, and regretted making the purchase soley based on cost.
Again, The ribbon sounds interesting, I would consider one myself,but keep in mind they will be very neutral, which may be what you want. The ribbon mics also need considerable preamping to get a sufficient recorded signal for vocals

The behringer is an ok start if you dont push the signal too high.
I would go with a M-audio DMP3 personally although it is only 2 channels.
for just the basics you could buy a SM58 type mic for both Vocals and guitar amps and you will always have some use for it. the acoustic instruments you could buy small diaphram mics from Naiant (http://www.naiant.com/studiostore.html) for peanuts and do much better than the 990's.

Getting together a setup for drums would be your biggest challenge if you think you are going to do that.
And to be honest, it would involve a lot more gear than you are looking at right now unless you were going to record straight to the computer a live stereo take .

Obviously this is my opinion and from a perspective of someone whohas been doing it for 17 years or so. I don't mean to imply it can't be done with the products you have chosen.

Looking at the 8 channel toneport I see it has 8 mic preamps...probably better than the mixer you are looking at...I would go with it which gives you the ability to track 8 channels at once, which opens the door for recording drums.
 
Thanks for the advice!

I don't need to worry about drum mics because the drummer bought these. (or, rather his dad did because his dad is a gigging local musician.)

Also, the singer has a blue blue robin? or some bird name lol mic that he uses for recording his stuff...

I need to worry about micing my amps because I am currently the guitarist and bassist... so we only do studio work right now.

Also becuase of the mediocrity of the 990's and the mixer should i get rid of those and buy a compressor and a good preamp?

And in regards to the ribbon being neutral that is exactly what i was looking for actually because I aim to add effects later I wanted to have a dry normal sound before the effects. How do ribbons pick up trumpets?
 
what are you recording onto?
Are you getting an interface to get audio into your computer?
Cause they pretty universally come with better preamps than that behringer thing.
And you probably don't need an outboard compressor unless you know exactly what it does and how to make it give you the sound you want.
And you can easily find better software compressors than that behringer thing for free.
This is all assuming you're working with a computer...
 
what are you recording onto?
Are you getting an interface to get audio into your computer?
Cause they pretty universally come with better preamps than that behringer thing.
And you probably don't need an outboard compressor unless you know exactly what it does and how to make it give you the sound you want.
And you can easily find better software compressors than that behringer thing for free.
This is all assuming you're working with a computer...

Yup i'm recording onto a computer probably a software such as sony sound forge. And yes the line 6 is an interface... i have done extensive research so i do understand what a compressor does, but thats in theory if i can implicate that knowledge into a solid mix is still uncertain of course. so are the behringer pieces unnecessary?

EDIT: do you need specs for the pc?
 
Ok, so It skimmed over the posts, so I will give my input. You have the right idea, but if I were you, i would get different gear. So this is what i think you should get. And again, this isn't the ONLY way, but Its just my opinion.

1) DAW (digital audio workstation). I would go with Reaper. It is only $60 and is a FANTASTIC program. Then you spend the money that you saved on some VSTs and some VSTIs (if you need em)

2) Audio interface. Im not really clear on how many tracks you will need. But if you are just going to need like 2 tracks at a time (vocals or a stereo pair for acoustic guitar and what not), look at the Presonus audiobox or Firebox. They have really good preamps and are just all around good. If you are doing drums, look at the presonus fire pod (I use and love presonus).

3) Mics. Get yourself a shure sm57 for electric guitar, and a Studio Projects b1 (large diaphragm condenser) for vocals (its a great mic, i own one). And If your budget allows, a matched stereo pair of small diaphragm condensers.

4) MONITORS! Dont overlook getting a good pair of monitors. Those will make or break you. Take time to research the shit out of them.

And thats what i think. Good luck :)
 
spend a little more money getting better mics so you won't waste money on the 990s and then regretting it.
If you have a crappy mic, the pre-amp won't shine like it should.
I would avoid the b-ringer pre-amp and go with Naiant as tmix mentioned. you can get it customize! handmade pre-amp!!

there's no doubt you're ready to record and make music but with a little more money and a lot of research, you will make better decisions and wiser investments.
 
With the amount of microphones you've listed and your musical genre selection (post rock), I can only assume you're going to be tracking live drums.


My recommendation to you is this: don't go cheap. Get the SM57's instead of the CO4's. Get a Mackie mixer instead of the Behringer. We can go on, but you probably get the point. You're just going to end up wanting to replace the low end gear down the road.


Maybe you won't have as many mic's to start off, but what you have will last you in the long run...
 
OK.
In answer to your question - yes, the Behringer pieces are unnecessary. That means the compressor, the preamp and the mixer. Your interface and DAW will do everything the preamp and mixer will do, and I'd wager do it better than either of those Berhringers.
Read on for my reasoning on ditching the compressor:
With compression and tracking/mixing on a computer, you just don't need outboard compressors unless you're going for character pieces like:
http://www.americanmusical.com/Item...0HAMS0000&utm_source=froogle&utm_medium=feed&
or
http://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/TLA50/

These sorts of compressors add their own (generally pleasing and musically desirable) character to the sound. That behringer will not do that. It will, at best, compress relatively cleanly (ie, without adding anything to the sound), and at worst add some sort of extra noise (based on the cost of the unit, it was manufactured with low quality parts and so there's most likely gonna be some ugliness added to the signal because that's just the way audio works...I ought to be able to give better reasoning but there it is) that you don't want in there.

There are lots of free vst compressors that do exactly what you would hope that Behringer would do, without having to add an extra piece of low quality gear to your signal chain.
Reaper, for example, which is free to try and cheap to buy, comes with an excellent compressor, Reacomp. Clean, plenty of really precise controls - once you learn it, it does exactly what you want and nothing else.

The other issue with using an outboard compressor in a digital system is that, if you compress on the way in, you're stuck with what you did.
Now, this is totally worth it if you
a) know exactly what you want the compressor to do to the sound before recording (which is something it generally takes years of practice for audio engineers to be able to do quickly, efficiently and correctly)
and
b) have a character piece like those I pointed out above.

Otherwise, there's just no point in compressing on the way in.
Using a plugin in the box leaves the option open for you to change your mind down the road during the mixing process.
The only reasons I could see for getting that behringer compressor are either if you are recording to a format where plugins aren't an option (ie analog or an ADAT/Hard disk recorder or something along those lines) and you absolutely need some compression and can't afford anything better or you're working live sound and absolutely need some compression and can't afford anything better.
All that being said, as you're looking at interfaces, are you planning on just recording your parts, or will you be recording the whole band (drummer included)?
If you're doing drums, you'll likely want something along the lines of that line 6. I haven't used it, but it's got eight preamps, so you're good to go (at least for a start).
Bear in mind that that Shure drum micing kit doesn't come with anything to capture cymbals and/or room sound. It only covers close mics on the kick, snare and two toms.
However, if your singer has a high quality mic from Blue, then boom, you got at least one overhead/room mic that'll work pretty well for you.
I might recommend scrapping all the mics you had initially listed and spending that money on one higher quality ldc or a higher quality pair of sdcs.
That (or those) in combination with the shure drum mic kit and your singer's mic should put you in the perfect position to be capable of recording drums, amps, vocals and any acoustic instrument you can think of.

Sorry for the length, just felt like typing for a while.:D
 
I"m assuming you've offered to store the drummer's mic set for him? I mean, with all those drums to lug around and store, he really doesn't need to be bothered with another item does he? Nudge, nudge, wink, wink...

Seriously, that kit has three SM57 mics in it, those will do almost everything you want to do, and do it well.

If you're determined to get some low-cost LDCs and SDCs, I can recommend a deal I got lately. Musician's Friend is offering a free MXL 603S with the purchase of a 992. That's a hundred bucks for two mics. Not quite as cheap as the EVs you've listed, but I'm pretty sure the MXLs sound tons better. I just used mine last night to record some acoustic guitar, acoustic bass and vocals. Quite honestly, they sound much better than you'd expect for the very modest price. Sure, they're not on a par with high end mics, but I'll take them over an SM57 or 58 any day for vocals and acoustic instruments.
 
Bear in mind that that Shure drum micing kit doesn't come with anything to capture cymbals and/or room sound. It only covers close mics on the kick, snare and two toms.

Of course, if you feel experimental, you can use the dynamics as overheads. They don't have to be condensers.
"It's all valid".
 
absolutely, and I've used them as overheads before, but if he's gonna spend more money on mics I figure I'll try and talk him out of 5 crappy ones and into one high quality one that'll remain useful as he get better at recording.
 
absolutely, and I've used them as overheads before, but if he's gonna spend more money on mics I figure I'll try and talk him out of 5 crappy ones and into one high quality one that'll remain useful as he get better at recording.

Ok quality over quantity.. so since i have access to some sm57s should i just get one blue bluebird and that line six tone port ux8 and reaper for like 860? that skunds good to me...
 
Depends, do you really like the sound of that bluebird?
There are arguments to be made for having a (close to) matching stereo pair, but you could also get a different mic with a different character to give you some options when you're tracking acoustic instruments.
I haven't used the bluebird, but my experience with the blue mics I have used was that they were a little bright. Not overly so, but it might help to have a different tonal option.
 
Depends, do you really like the sound of that bluebird?
There are arguments to be made for having a (close to) matching stereo pair, but you could also get a different mic with a different character to give you some options when you're tracking acoustic instruments.
I haven't used the bluebird, but my experience with the blue mics I have used was that they were a little bright. Not overly so, but it might help to have a different tonal option.

yeah are there any matched pairs within 300 maybe some mxls? i just know the bluebird cause my friend uses it for vocals idk how good it would pick up instruments
 
You can't even get off the ground without monitors. Hold off on the mics until you can throw at least $700 to your monitoring chain.

You can get off the ground much easier if you build some bass traps. Think about that as well.
 
yeah is there any place i can hear these mics before i buy them? or should i base it all off of reccomendation

Well that all depends ...where are you from? I see that you have no location in your bio.



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