I am a chicken with its head cut off!

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nym15rc

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Alright everybody, I need some advice here...I have around say 12 songs written out fully...i've been working on them for the past year, and now that they are all done, I don't know what to do with them. I've contemplated putting acoustic performances of them on youtube, but I think what I really want to do is record them...but the only things I have to my name are a guitar, amp, rockband microphone, laptop, and audacity. What I am basically asking is, what is the foundation that I need to get a quality recording, i've done some looking around, i've seen mixers and mics, and this and that, but when it comes down to it, I have no fucking idea what i'm doing, so if anyone could help, that would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks!!!
 
nym15rc said:
what is the foundation that I need to get a quality recording?.............I have no fucking idea what i'm doing.
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Hi and welcome!!
I'm not trying to be a smartarse, but knowing what you're doing is the foundation as far as i'm concerned.

It always sounds like such a downer, but seriously....home recording will not be cheap, fast or good.

Be prepared to be $10,000 down in three years time with a cd that sucks....

Having said that, that's the fun of it for some of us, so if you're up for that, stick around and read as much as you can. :)

If you're not, honestly, a local studio is the way forward.


Hope that helps.
 
Read this thread

The read this thread too.

You don't need to spend $10000 or even $1000 to get started.

You will need:
1) A decent microphone
2) A DAW (recording software). Audacity is usable, but consider Reaper - it's free to try out.
3) An audio interface - this converts the analog signal to digital. Your USB mic does that, but cheaply, with less quality. There's a huge range of possible interfaces, depending on your budget and how many channels/tracks you will want to record at one time.
4) Headphones and monitors. Theoretically, you can start without monitors, but to get a decent mix, you will need them.
5) Time and patience - you won't learn to do this in an hour or a day or a week.
 
mjbphotos said:
Read this thread

The read this thread too.

You don't need to spend $10000 or even $1000 to get started.

You will need:
1) A decent microphone
2) A DAW (recording software). Audacity is usable, but consider Reaper - it's free to try out.
3) An audio interface - this converts the analog signal to digital. Your USB mic does that, but cheaply, with less quality. There's a huge range of possible interfaces, depending on your budget and how many channels/tracks you will want to record at one time.
4) Headphones and monitors. Theoretically, you can start without monitors, but to get a decent mix, you will need them.
5) Time and patience - you won't learn to do this in an hour or a day or a week.
Click to expand...
^^^^^ this ^^^^^^^

be prepared though ..... the biggest part of home recording is 'learning' and that consists of a lot of reading ..... then recording ..... realizing that sucks and doing it again a different way.
IF you're thinking these songs are chart-gold then a pro studio is the way to go but if you just wanna record then there's LOTS of gear out there and lots of ways to get going for a hell of a lot cheaper than 10,000.
If you want to use your laptop then download Reaper for a recording program. Everyone seems to like it and you can just use the free version as long as you want.
Get a decent mic (that's an entire subject right there) and a decent interface.

Do NOT spend 10,000. It'll be a waste because you don't know enough to know what you want.

Have fun!
 
All i meant was if you're getting into this to gain a good demo recording.....Don't.

If you're getting into it for a love of recording, or just to make a 'memory' of your material.....go mental :)
 
While I agree with some that to "get started" you don't need a lot...but to get a "good quality recording" you will need more than what simply gets you started.

I think the point some are making is that if you rush into a major purchase right off, you might buy stuff that is wrong for you or even decide that recording isn't your calling, but at the same time, buying up in nickle-n-dime fashion is also wasteful and time consuming as you try to figure out what's wrong with the recording quality.

There's a LOT that can be learned about recording before you spend any money, you just have to consider your goals and then find people who are on the same path and learn from their process and setup. Armed with the right info, it is possible to go out and make a somewhat "major" gear purchase which will both get you started and give you good quality recordings...though in either case, you also have to gain some experience.
Sometimes it's a good learning experience working with a limited setup...but the truth is that can and also will be frustrating because you are not able to get the sound quality you want.

Back about 30 years ago I piddled around with a small, inexpensive 4-track tape setup. Had a lot of fun, but everything sounded like it was done on a small, inexpensive 4-track setup. I then put that aside for several years and considered my recording goals. I got some funds, went out and dropped about $30k in one purchase.
(Mind you...this was just prior to the home digital explosion, so shit was not as cheap as it is today. Just my analog console and 16-track tape deck sucked up about half of that amount.)
Anyway...the point is that what Steenamaroo said, is correct, and you might as well start saving $$$ if you plan on doing this more seriously otherwise you will end up staying in that "getting started" mode for a long time.

There's a great back page article in this month's Tape Op magazine about the misconceptions of home recording that so many people seem to have (I can't link to it since it's the current issue).... it's called "The Big Misconception".
Read it.
 
If I was in your position and know what I know now, here is what I would buy:

1) Alesis Multimix 8 USB 2.0 - $250 (Comes with Cubase LE 4)
2) MXL 2010 - $140
3) Shure Sm57 - $50
4) KRK Rokit 6 - $360
5) Good Headphones (Shure SRH440 or Sennheiser 280) $99

$900 investment for a great start into recording. Depending on your needs you might want a different interface, Presonus makes some good stuff. Mics are pretty subjective too but I have the MXL 2010 and it works good for me.

This doesn't mean you should buy this stuff - but it's a pretty good starting place and enough to get you well on your way.
 
miroslav said:
Back about 30 years ago I piddled around with a small, inexpensive 4-track tape setup. Had a lot of fun, but everything sounded like it was done on a small, inexpensive 4-track setup. .
Click to expand...
the cheap gear is only PART of why it sounded that way. The other part is that you didn't know as much as you do now.
I've been recording for around 40 years now and about 15 years ago a friend had one of those Fostex X-15 4 track cassette rigs he wasn't using anymore and just for the hell of it I did some recording that included mutiple pings.
Don't know why ..... I had my big rig but I was just screwing around.
Usually ending up with about 10-12 tracks per song which is a lot with one of those things.
Yes it was a cheap 4 track set-up ....... possibly even cheaper than yours since that X15 was about as dinky as they come. And I got decent results out of it.
There's not a chance in the world that you would listen to any of those and notice that it was done on a cheapo 4 track cassette recorder.
Because I knew what I was doing.
If you had to use the same rig today you'd experience the same ...... knowledge is the most important part. Gear is a distant second.
 
miroslav said:
While I agree with some that to "get started" you don't need a lot...but to get a "good quality recording" you will need more than what simply gets you started.

I think the point some are making is that if you rush into a major purchase right off, you might buy stuff that is wrong for you or even decide that recording isn't your calling, but at the same time, buying up in nickle-n-dime fashion is also wasteful and time consuming as you try to figure out what's wrong with the recording quality.

There's a LOT that can be learned about recording before you spend any money, you just have to consider your goals and then find people who are on the same path and learn from their process and setup. Armed with the right info, it is possible to go out and make a somewhat "major" gear purchase which will both get you started and give you good quality recordings...though in either case, you also have to gain some experience.
Sometimes it's a good learning experience working with a limited setup...but the truth is that can and also will be frustrating because you are not able to get the sound quality you want.

Back about 30 years ago I piddled around with a small, inexpensive 4-track tape setup. Had a lot of fun, but everything sounded like it was done on a small, inexpensive 4-track setup. I then put that aside for several years and considered my recording goals. I got some funds, went out and dropped about $30k in one purchase.
(Mind you...this was just prior to the home digital explosion, so shit was not as cheap as it is today. Just my analog console and 16-track tape deck sucked up about half of that amount.)
Anyway...the point is that what Steenamaroo said, is correct, and you might as well start saving $$$ if you plan on doing this more seriously otherwise you will end up staying in that "getting started" mode for a long time.

There's a great back page article in this month's Tape Op magazine about the misconceptions of home recording that so many people seem to have (I can't link to it since it's the current issue).... it's called "The Big Misconception".
Read it.
Click to expand...




That was a great article! Larry sure can spin a yarn.
 
Lt. Bob said:
the cheap gear is only PART of why it sounded that way. The other part is that you didn't know as much as you do now.
I've been recording for around 40 years now and about 15 years ago a friend had one of those Fostex X-15 4 track cassette rigs he wasn't using anymore and just for the hell of it I did some recording that included mutiple pings.
Don't know why ..... I had my big rig but I was just screwing around.
Usually ending up with about 10-12 tracks per song which is a lot with one of those things.
Yes it was a cheap 4 track set-up ....... possibly even cheaper than yours since that X15 was about as dinky as they come. And I got decent results out of it.
There's not a chance in the world that you would listen to any of those and notice that it was done on a cheapo 4 track cassette recorder.
Because I knew what I was doing.
If you had to use the same rig today you'd experience the same ...... knowledge is the most important part. Gear is a distant second.
Click to expand...

I was about to say. Some decent commercial albums were made on 4-tracks.
 
Lt. Bob said:
...... knowledge is the most important part. Gear is a distant second.
Click to expand...

That's always been the "blue pill" of many home recordists! They sleep easier at night after taking it. :D ;)

I do agree with you that without knowledge, great gear matters not...but that doesn't really flip around and equate to so-so gear works as long as you know what you are doing with it.
A crappy, cheap, noisy mic or preamp is still a crappy, cheap, noisy mic or preamp...even if you are Chris Lord-Alge.
A crude DAW app with poor quality algorithms doesn't "improve" with YOUR experience.
A shitty studio space with all kinds of acoustic issues doesn't change just 'cuz a pro walks in...and the reality is that most pros would not walk in or limit themselves with cheap/crappy "starter gear" just 'cuz they know how to use it.

I do agree that when starting out, one shouldn't rush out and just buy up a ton of expensive gear and then figure out what to do with it...but the notion that it's always better to start of cheap-n-crappy doesn't really help anyone's goals. If anything, many home recordists waste a lot of time and money doing the nickle-n-dime bump-up...a new up-scale mic here, maybe a new high-end pre at some point a couple of years later...and 10 years down the road, they are still working their way up toward a decent setup.
I use to not understand why some people just went out and dropped a lot of cash on gear just to do an album...then they sold it off ('cuz they couldn't afford to keep it)...but I get it now.
Gear is NOT a "distant second" in the studio...it works hand-in-hand with your knowledge. Better gear makes a big difference, IMHO.
 
moresound said:
That was a great article! Larry sure can spin a yarn.
Click to expand...

Had it been the April issue I would have thought it a "yarn"...but he hits home for real with his rant.


diggy_dude said:
I was about to say. Some decent commercial albums were made on 4-tracks.
Click to expand...

Oh...you mean the ones done by those four mop-tops and that guy Sir George-something....in that home basement studio known as "Abbey Road". :D
 
miroslav said:
Gear is NOT a "distant second" in the studio...it works hand-in-hand with your knowledge. Better gear makes a big difference, IMHO.
Click to expand...
better gear makes A difference .... not always big. If I gave a crap I could pull up dozens of things that I have done with cheap gear that sound as good as anything anyone of these boards have done regardless of the cost of their gear. But it would take hours to do and I seriously don't care what anyone thinks or how they choose to record so it's simply not worth a day of my time.

Better is better ....... there's no denying it.
But George Martin at his peak could have gooten better results with cheap gear than any of us could get with the very very best there is.

It's much like guitars ....... I can play on a Squire and make it sound great thru say, a Bugera. But I see lots of guys here state unequivocably that there's no way to make that cheap stuff sound good. They're wrong ........
Sight unseen there's simply no way you'd be able to tell and the same is true of cheaper recording gear. Sure ....... somthing that's horrid is gonna sound bad but halfway decent budget gear can do just fine.
Especially for the homerecordist. There's not a single one of us here that's ever gonna have chart topping success with any of their recordings and that's true whether you spend 1000 dollars or 100,000.
It's silly, IMO, for someone just starting out to spend too much right off the bat. There's basics they have to have but the pre-amp I use most 'cause it's sitting right there, is a DBX Mini-Pre. About like a 30 dollar Art. Not a chance in the world that you would EVER hear anything I've done with it and comment on how it sounds like a cheap pre.
Even the cheaper gear we have now does a better job in the hands of s beginner than what was available to us 40 years ago. That can be hard to remember sometimes but 30-40 years ago there was essentially NO gear for the home recordist.
 
miroslav said:
Oh...you mean the ones done by those four mop-tops and that guy Sir George-something....in that home basement studio known as "Abbey Road". :D
Click to expand...

Yeah, those fools. And that dolt from New Jersey. What were they thinking?
 
Just makes you wounder.

Yet they all had great teachers!
 
Lt. Bob said:
better gear makes A difference .... not always big.

...........


It's illy, IMO, for someone just starting out to spend too much right off the bat. Even the cheaper gear we have now does a better job in the hands of s beginner than what was available to us 40 years ago. That can be hard to remember sometimes but 30-40 years ago there was essentially NO gear for the home recordist.
Click to expand...

It depends on the gear in question.
Something like a higher-end mic or pre can make a HUGE difference, whereas a $100 mic cable might not, so I get what you are saying, and I don't suggest people just take out a loan and drop a lot of $$$ on high-end gear...
...but the reality is that if someone is planning to really get into it (big question) and they have the knack/talent for it (BIGGER QUESTION), then most WILL and DO end up "buying-up" because they WILL be dissatisfied with low-budget gear.
Of course, some people should just stay with the low-budget "home" setups and keep it nothing more than a personal hobby.

I think that understanding these differences is actully good for newbs and they should know that if they really want to get into serious recording it IS going to cost more than a few hundered dollars...period.

We all think our stuff sounds good...until we put it up against a high-end commercial release. I'm not saying everyone here on Home Rec is aiming for that, and some people can get really good quality on simple setups...but there's a lot of factors that go into all of that. It's not just "knowledge VS gear".
Most of the stuff on YouTube and MySpace etc....sounds like it was done at home in someone's bedroom or basement.

Oh...why don't you "give a crap" about your music?
Heck...put some stuff up if you got good stuff. :)
 
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