HELP ME!!! Looking to start a mini-studio

  • Thread starter Thread starter takeesha
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takeesha

New member
I'm a vocalist who dabbles a bit with the key board at times. I want to start mixing and recording my music and I don't have the slightest clue where to begin...

I want to use my computer and I need to know exactly where to start. Money is an option, but not that big a deal cause I want my tracks to sound right. No busted stuff here.

Not looking for anything fancy, but I do want a solid start with something that I can accomplish at home.

Any information that you have for me would be GREATLY APPRECIATED!!!!

thanks-
Kee
 
hi takeesha,
what sort of music do you want to record? what instruments will it involve?will you play them yourself or will you have a band playing "live" (recording all the instruments at once)?how much money do you have to spend?
answer these, and then we'll try to help you.:)
 
Hi Kee,

I think about the best advise for anyone first starting out (before you spend any money on equipment) would be to read everything on this website and others... plus read a few books on recording. Then after you start to get a grip about recording (and again, before you spend any money on equipment) go to all the music stores in your area and test drive all the recording type equipment. And above all, have fun... because the learning process NEVER stops. I wish you best my friend and good luck.
 
Hi takeesha, welcome to home recording. The first thing that jumped out at me is your desire to do things the right way...that's admirable. The best advice I can give you (aside from the comments already made) is to learn the art of recording from a simple start. The cassette 4 track is the fundamental beginner's first step in my opinion. Using a limited recording device to start teaches alot about signal path and geting the most out of four tracks. It really gives a beginner songwriter a better idea of what it takes a tune to "rock".

Eventually you may move on to computer or reel to reel but the basics learned from a couple years of four-tracking and studying cannot be substituted.

Just my thoughts, good luck.
 
Vocal=>Mic=>preamp=>soundcard=> sequencing software=> monitors

Keyboard=>preamp(if you want to)=> soundcard=> software=> monitors

With that map in mind, you can then decide what to get for each thing listsed there.

Mic=generally a large diaphrame condenser mic. Marshall Electronics, Studio Project, Audio technica...etc


Preamp=try search ART and MAudio(Midiman) stuff

Soundcard=Sound Blaster, M-Audio stuff, and so on

Software=Cakewalk, Sounic Foundry, Steingber, Digi Design...etc

Monitors= so many options but you can start with PC speakers or a home stereo.

This is a very basic setup, but will definitely get you going.
Good luck

AL
 
Hello Kee, you have asked a big question with a big answer.
I don't do computer based recording myself, so I don't have too much help there. You will need a soundcard, unless your PC used to belong to a recording engineer. Here is a basic list of stuff you need:
1. A new soundcard
2. A large diaphragm condenser mic or a top notch dynamic mic
3. A microphone preamplifier (preamp for short)
4. The best cables you can lay your hands on
5. A good boom stand
6.a good set of headphones, with an extension cable
7. a pair of near field monitor speakers, with stands.
8. sequencing software
9. outboard effects or plugins to accomplish the same, at least for reverbs.
10. a bunch of mover's carpet. Commercially produced acoustic partitions known as go-betweens (gobo's for short) would be better.
11. You may need a power conditioner depending on the quality of your electric power. If you can hear the local radio station coming out of your speakers, you'll know you need one.

Now comes the hard part. Every one of these items comes in dirt cheap, modestly priced, fairly pricey, and wicked expensive, and you get what you pay for. The quality of your sound will depend on how well you learn to use the equipment, but money *is* a factor. I'm a modestly priced guy, except for the instruments, which are in the wicked expensive category.

I'll leave the soundcard and the software/plugins to the computer recorders, because I don't do that, and don't know diddly about it.
While there are dozens of alternatives, I will make a few suggestions that I know will work:

Vocal mics-cheap-Studio Projects B1, Marshall MXLV67B
moderate-Studio Projects C1, Audio Technica 4033, Shure SM7B dynamic
pricey- Neumann TLM103, Rode NTK, B.L.U.E Dragonfly
wicked- Neumann U87, U47, B.L.U.E. Kiwi or Bottle

Preamps- cheap- M Audio Audiobuddy
moderate- Studio Projects VTB-1, M Audio DMP3
pricey- Grace Design 101, Joemeek twinQcs,FMR Audio RNP
wicked- anything that says Avalon, Neve, or Great River on it.

cables- monster, mogami, B.L.U.E. -good. HOSA- bad.

FX (effects) boxes I'm not as familiar with, but I've had good experiences with Lexicon and TC electronics units, both of which can be had across a spread of prices, from $250 and up.

Headphones- I'm a fan of Sennheiser HD280 Pro, personally. Just make sure you get a closed design that's comfortable. The less of the outside world you hear when you put them on, the better.

monitors- cheap-high end computer speakers or deskshelf monitors
moderate- M Audio SP5B, SP8B
pricey/wicked- I don't know enough to be helpful here. others on this board will know lots more.

Boom Stand- I like On Stage SB96 PLUS

Pop filter- a cheap item, but I like versatility, and the Sabrasom pop filter is very nice- available at "The Sound Room" on line. It will need its own straight mic stand.

Power conditioner- Furman PM-8

Where to get it all? On line- try 8th street.com, Macmidimusic.com, and Sam ash.com. Brick and mortar? Depends on where you live, but prepare mentally to be jerked around by an incompetent who does not respect you. You might get lucky and get a kind, helpful pro, but as they say, you got to kiss a lot of frogs before you meet the handsome prince.
Here's my best advice- Don't buy immediately. I took 8 months spec'ing the gear for my home studio before I bought, and it paid off big-time. I don't own a single useless piece of gear that I hate, and I haven't sold many things that I bought. Check my web site at www.bardwire.com and click on the pictures off the project page. This will give you an idea what a $10,000 or so studio with $5000 in guitars looks like. Then go to the Studio Building and display forum on this board and see how bad some of the posters here blow my little studio away.
Spook around on this board for a few months, and you will get twice as much studio for your money. In general, just to do the simple stuff you want to do- keyboard and 1 vocal, I'd think it goes like this.- Cheap- close to $1,000. Moderate-$2,000 pricey-$4,000 wicked-$8,000. Hope this advice helps. Once you get over the sticker price, you'll relize that you will have more fun with this than any used car you ever bought, and if you don't like it, you'll get more of your money back selling it than that used car.-Richie
 
if money is not much of an object you should conider actually recording in a real studio. even if you drop money on the choicest gear you aren't going to know how in the hell to use it and it will take you years to learn how to use it properly. reminds me of the consulting job i had a few weeks ago. a bunch of middle-aged wealthy jackasses thought they relive their glory days and try to became instant engineers and record themselves an album. they bought neumann mics, protools/hd1, avalon pre's etc. and it all sounded like shit. recording in a garage with no tons of reverb and flutter echos and freakin' phase problems like crazy with bad mic placement. i'm shure the gain structure was quite impeccable too. i told them it would have cost them less and would have been way faster just to have me do it in a professional studio. i told them i would gladly take their gear off their hands and do it for them, hope they go for it. you will be in the same boat. leave it to professionals. hobbies are fun, but i wouldn't recomend destroying your music like that.
 
Wes- Tey're a matched pair of Oktava MC012's and a pair of Behrenger ECM8000's-Richie
 
Sweetnubs - I actually got suckered into recording with a jackass much like the one in your story, protools and focusrite. Turns out the guy didnt know how to mic drums, so he triggered them. Vocals were done with some small diaphragm nuemann. Couldnt mic a guitar amp, so he used some bass di box with a foot switch on it, it was really a stompbox with an xlr out basically, direct guitar with line 6 ampfarm. Plus his entire 20x8 control wass padded with acoustic foam and everytime two walls met there was a bass trap. I was wowed at the time by his genelec monitors and "brand new totally digital techniques."

But thats hardly a reason to ditch the idea of a project studio, I think the guy is trying to start a hobby, not record an album for less.
 
Well, instead, I think I'll relive my glory days and track a serious project album at home. Yes, it will be mixed and mastered by pros, and I've included a tracking engineer as a consultant at every step of the operation, from room conditioning to overdubs. I'm sorry to say I'll have to do it with all the substandard prosumer equipment that sweetnubs hates, and with any luck, he'll hate my album, too, which will suit me just fine.
It will be a 2 year process, from my first purchase, and will set me back the price of a good new car. If all goes well, I'll get the fine retro sound of a garage band with a clue, and the quality of the guide tracks is improving with practice, trial, and error. I could track this puppy in a nice pro srudio, and produce a mediocre live studio album. In the end, I would own nothing, and I would learn nothing. Instead, I'm having the most fun I've had in 30 years, and I'm learning a whole new skill set. Boy there's nothing like 37 takes to put the calluses back on your fingers!
But this was about Takeesha, and judging by the name, I'm guessing she's not a guy (forgive me if I'm wrong). There are a lot more people here who will tell you what you *can* do, than the ones like Sweetnubs, who will be happy to tell you what you *can't* do, in his generally worthless opinion. Can you produce a professional quality recording with cheap equipment the first time out? No. That's something you can't do. Can you learn to produce usable tracks in a modest home studio with practice? Yes. It will then take the help of people with good ears and expensive gear to turn those tracks into a finished project, if that's something you even want to do.
Many people are just happy to produce an acceptable record of their music for their own enjoyment. I'm happy to say that the professional engineers I'm working with don't think I'm an asshole with an overactive fantasy life, and believe I'm producing tracks which will result in a successful commercial project, on a rather small scale. I believe that the fan clubs of at least 2 of my associates will agree. Am I taking the business of people like Sweetnubs away? I certainly hope so, because I'd much rather live and die in obscurity than have anybody as arrogant and egotistical as he is get within a mile of my music. Don't give up, Takeesha, post back and tell us what you're thinking. Most of us are there for you, and will take the time to answer your questions, if we can.-Richie
 
heck ya, Framingham! We don't need those naysayers!

a little disappointed Kee kinda fell off after asking such a loaded question. I guess it comes with the territory....

As for Sweetnubs, I'm amazed you feel the need to continue pushing this philosophy around these forums. This is a fucking learning forum. If you need more clients, advertise (someplace other than here, logically) and back it up with examples showcasing the differences between us hacks and your polished products. That's what a real businessman would do.

As for me, yeah, I'm no professional but control freak musicians need to have their hand in everything. :D

No one here assumes we will learn it all overnight but, speaking for myself, I am in this for the long haul. I believe we all understand it takes time to learn to properly engineer. We'll all either get better or we won't over time. Part of the fun here is doing it yourself. Not letting snotty recording school brats tell us to let the pros handle it. :rolleyes:

stone
 
If you go to www.studiocovers.com they have a list of recording
websites, many with excellent information.

One of the best websites to learn from is
www.sospubs.co.uk AKA Sound On Sound Magazine.
If you use the "search" icon you can look up many fine recording
articles on applications and equipment.

Best of luck on your recordings,
Chris
 
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