Home Recording Studio Upgrating!

[Joao]

hi guys!

I need your help on an issue.

5 months ago i started to build my home studio to make some alternative music and i feel that now I need to invest my money and time in imperative stuff , but I do not know where to start.

My actual gear is:

Audiobox USB
akg perception 120 (mic)
fender acoustic guitar
2 classical guitars
yamaha electric guitar
15w guitar amplifier
electric guitar cigar box

so, i was searching on the internet and I saw that the best upgrade is microphones but i am not sure!

I do not have an midi controller or qualty studio monitors, I just mix in my headphones.

Can you guys give me some help here??

 

[Seidy]

Do you feel you are missing something? What headphones are you using?

I would look into dynamic mic (shure sm57, audix i5, heil pr20) or get the monitors (no clue about your budget, but don't look under 300€/pair. Take a look at Yamaha and KRK for example).

 

[Joao]

Do you feel you are missing something? What headphones are you using?

I would look into dynamic mic (shure sm57, audix i5, heil pr20) or get the monitors (no clue about your budget, but don't look under 300€/pair. Take a look at Yamaha and KRK for example).

missing more the monitors because i feel that i don't have that sound quality for my ears. my headphones are shitty - sennheiser hd 201.

I heard that studio monitors are faithful friends for years so I am supposed to spend that money as an investment, right?

 

[RAMI]

I heard that studio monitors are faithful friends for years so I am supposed to spend that money as an investment, right?

Good monitors are imperative, but they won't do you any good without a treated room. I'd firt spend my money on room treatment. As un-glamorous as room treatment sounds, it's probably the one most imprtant investment you'll make...AND it will cost you a whole lot less than "studio monitors" worth buying.

 

[ecc83]

I do agree that you need good monitors (there are some budget Adams that get a very good rep in a recent Sound on Sound review) .

WTGR I do not agree that sound treatment is vital or indeed even very possible because most of us have to work in small rooms that cannot be adequately "trapped" and leave room for kit and OP!

The best most of us can do is ensure that the monitors fire down the long axis of the room, (mine don't! Square room!) and are 38% of the room length from one wall (mine aren't, room's too small!) Fortunately the nearfield principle comes to our aid. I am deaf but Son seemed happy with his recordings.

Dave.

 

[RAMI]

I do not agree that sound treatment is vital or indeed even very possible because most of us have to work in small rooms that cannot be adequately "trapped" and leave room

Well, I disagree with that so much that I'm not even going to argue about it. Do we know the OP's room dimensions? Not that it matters, because to say a room is too small to trap doesn't make any sense to me.

 

[ecc83]

Well, I disagree with that so much that I'm not even going to argue about it. Do we know the OP's room dimensions? Not that it matters, because to say a room is too small to trap doesn't make any sense to me.

Not looking for an argument either but I would certainly not be the first person to suggest that very small rooms are an acoustical lost cause.

What DOES need to be clarified is the principle of nearfield monitoring.
Is it valid or have all those monitor manufacturers been selling us a crock of ****?

Dave.

 

[RAMI]

Not looking for an argument either but I would certainly not be the first person to suggest that very small rooms are an acoustical lost cause.

No, it's cool. We just disagree. I don't think a small room is a lost cause. It just needs relatively more trapping. But, since the OP didn't say anything about having a small room, I'm not going to assume that he does. So, I think room treatment is very relevant to this thread, or at the very least, worth mentioning.

 

[Joao]

No, it's cool. We just disagree. I don't think a small room is a lost cause. It just needs relatively more trapping. But, since the OP didn't say anything about having a small room, I'm not going to assume that he does. So, I think room treatment is very relevant to this thread, or at the very least, worth mentioning.

My room is a small room ( 10ft X 14 ft ). it's almost like a square ;s

 

[Joao]

This is my room !

 

[Chili]

My room is 10x10x10, almost a perfect cube and is nearly the worst disaster you can have for a studio. I have traps in the two back corners sitting atop two bookshelves, a cloud, absorbers at the first reflection points, two absorbers middle of the back wall, one absorber middle of the front wall and a corner super chunk at the ceiling to wall corner middle of the back wall.

Most of the absorbers are simply 2" OC703 panels. The corner bass traps have filler strips inside the voids.

I use 5" nearfields and bookshelf speakers with subs. It's not the best set up, but it works and I think my mixes are okay. For a small room, you need a lot of panels!!! Not a lost cause.

 

[Noah Nelson]

Monitors helped me improve the most because it has enabled me to hear all of my issues that i need to fix. With a pair of $200-300 monitors you will be able to hear music with an ear for extraction! Dont upgrade mics unless you are upgrading your room, why spend money on a mic that will only pick up a shitty sounding room? ..mixing on headphones is not the way to go!!!

 

[ecc83]

Monitors helped me improve the most because it has enabled me to hear all of my issues that i need to fix. With a pair of $200-300 monitors you will be able to hear music with an ear for extraction! Dont upgrade mics unless you are upgrading your room, why spend money on a mic that will only pick up a shitty sounding room? ..mixing on headphones is not the way to go!!!

Ah! Recording! Different ball game from monitoring entirely. "Our" 12x12x8.5ft room is okayish for the Tannoy nearfields with just a bit of pyramid foam behind them and at the mirror points but it is damned hard to get a decent voice recording in there. Fortunately son has the chops to record acoustic guitar at 6inches from an SM57! 'Lectrics are DI'ed into the ZED10.

Dave.