Home Recording's Dirty Little Secret

[dream1up]

personally, I use my macbook mic and garageband.

i'm actually too scared to do anything else. i keep wishing I had better feedback from my music, but it's going nowhere right now, so I'm just saving til I get a good audience before I jump into home studio recordings.

 

[solo2racr]

Home Recording's Dirty Little Secret??????


































Terramortim has to change his tighty whities every time he gets the mix right

































The dirty part is that he only has to do laundry once a month

 

[griffinxi]

I never expected to get anything *close* to commercial results.

I'm not an engineer. I don't know the "theory" of creating a good mix, really-- I've just picked up methods from trial and error and doing it. I record direct for the most part, using a PODxt and various guitars, and though the results would surely cause the ears of a studio master to bleed, I bet, I'm not sure I want to mire myself in attempting to achieve perfection. I find that the more I obsess over perfecting a method of recording and getting a magical mix, the less music I'm actually writing and playing. I mean, I'm always on the lookout for a piece of gear that will enhance the sound-- I bought an Antares AVP, for example, that was a godsend-- but I view the technology itself as a necessary evil; you can obsess over it to the point you're not even doing music anymore. You're just reading manuals and twisting knobs.

Which is not to say I don't sometimes do that. For hours.

 

[drbluezz]

i knew i would need the knowledge. i thought that if i could get the knowledge then i could do as well as the commercial stuff. the knowledge is coming but slowly. it will take a lifetime. but it's something i enjoy doing so i'm not disappointed regardless of my expectations.

My sentiments exactly. For me, it's serious and fun at the same time, and VERY addictive. I remember the first time I did sound on sound with a tape machine in the 70's...darn near had an organism!!


Tom

 

[gdh1]

I was in the studio a few months ago with a major label act, the producer and engineer were talking about how much the new Neve gear etc. was going to cost them. My question to them was why? I have been reading and hearing from producers about the significant decline in cd sales and large studio closures while at the same time sales of mp3's (iTunes) and illegal mp3 downloads are soaring. So if the majority of today's listeners are now schooled on the mp3 sound why spend all that $ on a system that very few listeners will appreciate. There was a lot of silence, bemoaning the state of the ind'y etc. but when we walked around the studio and looked outside ipods and earbuds were what the ppl. said they spent the majority of there time listening to.

 

[Bob Womack]

Why do men climb mountains? Why do men strive for excellence?

Bob

 

[XLR]

Why do men climb mountains? Why do men strive for excellence?

Sung to the tune of...

Some men climb a mountain,
Some men swim the sea,
Some men fly above the sky:
They are what they must be.

But, baby the rain must fall,
Baby, the wind must blow,
Wherever my heart leads me
Baby, I must go, baby I must go.

 

[DrewPeterson7]

I agree. One of my old bands used to record some tracks at one of those ~$35/hr studios. While it was nice, after I got my own gear, a couple of the musicians that were in that band with me prefer my studio sound, especially the sound of my drums.

Hmm. Missed GuitarRoss's original post, but his is an excellent one. I should try to hunt up a tape from my first band's first "professional" recording. It's been years since I've heard it, and this will be complicated by the fact I'll be comparing an 8 year old tape to CD quality mixes, but I'd be surprised if I'm not recording at least as well as the dude who tracked us at the local "pro" studio back then.

 

[Bob's Mods]

I was just in Somerville this morning. Had a great work out at the Bally's in Porter Square.

 

[Urmy]

help

hello all,

i've never done a post, or thread, or any kind of discussion thing before...i'm not even sure which i'm doing now, if it's thread, or post, or....whatever...i'm sorry if i'm in the wrong place, or breaching some kind of forum protocol...i'm just lost and have a question:

the reason i signed up and am writing this is I am looking for guidance with regard to my home studio set up...I have an E-MU1820, and Nuendo on my PC.

I am wondering if there is a way to incorporate a tube mic preamp into the mix. I've been using the xlr inputs on the E-MU, but they're a bit noisy, and not quite as dimensional as I would like...any ideas on what preamps are good...mostly i'll be recording a vocal and acc. guit. track....folky stuff. and then woodwinds like flutes...i found the PreSonus TubePre single channel....is that good? or do you know of anything that is great, that won't send me into debtors prison? cheers, urmy.

 

[Seafroggys]

I was told to stay away from the presonus tubepre. Any cheap preamps that advertise "OMG we have tubes!" generally suck from what I've heard.

Also, you should have spent more money on hardware and less on Nuendo.

 

[mattkw80]

I was in the studio a few months ago with a major label act, the producer and engineer were talking about how much the new Neve gear etc. was going to cost them. My question to them was why? I have been reading and hearing from producers about the significant decline in cd sales and large studio closures while at the same time sales of mp3's (iTunes) and illegal mp3 downloads are soaring. So if the majority of today's listeners are now schooled on the mp3 sound why spend all that $ on a system that very few listeners will appreciate. There was a lot of silence, bemoaning the state of the ind'y etc. but when we walked around the studio and looked outside ipods and earbuds were what the ppl. said they spent the majority of there time listening to.

From what I have heard though... the MP3 thing is mostly hurting Brittany Spears, Justin Timberlake type genre's.

The CEO of CDBABY said something to the tune of "Independant Sales are up"

I for one, still buy CD's that I really like. (And very rarely vinyl).

I don't feel that I 'own' a copy of that album, until I've got the CD in my hand.

 

[Seafroggys]

Yeah the "pop" genre (Spears, Timberlake, etc.) is usually pirated because the CD is worthless....a few good songs (I admit some of Justin's songs are pretty good) but lots of filler.

An LP with lots of good songs probably won't be pirated too much.

 

[Riffmaster]

I had a Tascam 488 8 track tape recorder about 16 years ago and I am shocked at the quality I get off my modest setup now- Line 6 Toneport-Sony Acid 6 Pro and Izotope Ozone. Home recording has come a long way.

 

[Bob's Mods]

I'm getting fabulous results these days after much trial and error. One of the biggest thing I do to get a commercial studio sound is add a touch of widener. UpStereo from QuikQack is my favorite. Its a freeby too. The other is a pro quality reverb. I bought Wizooverb for 90 bucks back when they were being blown out. What a deal. I love Wizooverb. Its a convolution type. Although I have a small bedroom I work in, Wizooverb makes it sound like a quality recording room. Without these two touches, the mixes sound a bit flat and dull no matter how well they are mixed. Add a touch of widener and Wizooverb and its a whole new ball game. It that dramatic of a leap from dry home recording to high end sound with just these two.

Bob

 

[Todzilla]

I had recorded fairly extensively in professional studios and had no illusions as to my ability to duplicate those results.

That said, I always suspected, and have long since confirmed, that technique and know-how is far more important than equipment.

The more I work on it, the better my equipment sounds.

 

[MikeTheSurfer]

Well, I was an absolute musical genius. I had huge hits in my head and simply needed a way to record them.

Long story short: Through years of playing and recording (on the ultra-cheap), I've learned that I'm not a musical genius at all.

In fact, I quite suck at making music. I'm better than some, worse than most. That's just the way it is. If the best musician/home-engineer is a TEN, and a kid with a tape recorder and an out-of-tune guitar is a one or two, I'll call myself a four, maybe a five....maybe.


But, to me it's always been about the song. If a song is good it will shine through a crappy recording process. I firmly believe that.


If you don't have a good song, the best studio in the world can't do anything for you other than take your money and stroke your ego.


On the other hand, if you have a great song, even a decent recording job will do it justice.



Talent trumps technology any day of the week.

 

[Lightningboy007]

You make the magic

I started recording as a kid using my friends dad's reel to reel. We went from that to my Tascam 244 I bought in the 80's. The tape hiss was the only thing that really made our recordings sound off. It was always the performance that got you past the hiss. I guess I am from the old school days of trading tapes of shows, as long as you could clearly hear the band, you got past the hiss and the drunk guy screaming "Sugar Mags" after every break.

I now use a Peavey PV14 board with a USB out to a laptop. I use CEP 2.1 and have found it to be excellent. I might try to get pro-tools one day, but for now, life is good.

Anything I record today is far better sounding than the days of two mics and the reel to reel.

It's having the wisdom of where it has all evolved from. I have recorded in one of NYC's top commercial studios. After seeing and using what they had I quickly understood that you get what you pay for when it comes to professional recorded material. Todays home studio gear allows us to get a small taste of what we could sound like if we had a lot of cash to spend.

 

[recording 101]

I approach my recording the same way I have approached my guitar playing and just about everything in my life. Life (and recording) is a learning journey. I can and do, learn something from any and everyone. Though I initially built my studio to just record myself and help out young Musicians with their first attempt at a demo or CD, as my abilities have increased and the equipment has improved and as my mastering skills are growing , so are my projects and goals. I have a Loooong way to go before I rival the big boys and I am not concerned how long it takes me to get there or if I ever do. If I can turn out a product that pleases the person that is helping me pay off some of the equipment it takes to do the project, I feel like I have achieved my goal. "A Good Product for a Reasonable Price." A forum like this is the perfect place to prove that there is always something new to learn from someone.

 

[recording 101]

hello all,

i've never done a post, or thread, or any kind of discussion thing before...i'm not even sure which i'm doing now, if it's thread, or post, or....whatever...i'm sorry if i'm in the wrong place, or breaching some kind of forum protocol...i'm just lost and have a question:

the reason i signed up and am writing this is I am looking for guidance with regard to my home studio set up...I have an E-MU1820, and Nuendo on my PC.

I am wondering if there is a way to incorporate a tube mic preamp into the mix. I've been using the xlr inputs on the E-MU, but they're a bit noisy, and not quite as dimensional as I would like...any ideas on what preamps are good...mostly i'll be recording a vocal and acc. guit. track....folky stuff. and then woodwinds like flutes...i found the PreSonus TubePre single channel....is that good? or do you know of anything that is great, that won't send me into debtors prison? cheers, urmy.

Just my 2 cents...there is probably nothing wrong with your pres. You need a great mic... if you have a good(doesn't really need to be great $200 to $500) I think you'll see a big difference. The cheap tubes mic pres are just that.....cheap. I have found that a really good mic can even make a difference with a set of cheaper mic pres. They are using the tube thing to sell a cheap pre..that's all....this is just my opinion...don't know what kind of mics you are using.