I hate to ask, but....

  • Thread starter Thread starter elenore19
  • Start date Start date
elenore19

elenore19

Slowing becoming un-noob.
Is there anyone on this site that is willing to work with me to help me learn about 'the rack'. All the components to the rack and such and what they do, and what is a necessity for studios. All that stuff. Someone who is willing to answer all my annoying questions?


And if no one is willing to do that. I'm wondering what are essentials for a decent recording studio?


Thanks :)


-Elliot
 
well, people will probably point out that there is a "newbies" section if you're really new to this stuff, and also that you can use the search function to look up specific topics like "microphones," "preamps," "compressors," "eq," etc. Otherwise you have to pose questions to have them answered-- and I've seen a lot of very helpful folks on this board (be prepared for some teasing). Also as to "decent" rack or studio, I think that is a highly subjective measure and some people will think that decent is $1,000, others $10,000, and still other $1,000,000 worth of gear. If you give some parameters around budget and what the purpose of your studio/recording will be, I think you'll get much more helpful answers.
 
kojdogg said:
well, people will probably point out that there is a "newbies" section if you're really new to this stuff, and also that you can use the search function to look up specific topics like "microphones," "preamps," "compressors," "eq," etc. Otherwise you have to pose questions to have them answered-- and I've seen a lot of very helpful folks on this board (be prepared for some teasing). Also as to "decent" rack or studio, I think that is a highly subjective measure and some people will think that decent is $1,000, others $10,000, and still other $1,000,000 worth of gear. If you give some parameters around budget and what the purpose of your studio/recording will be, I think you'll get much more helpful answers.
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Alright thanks. Yeah sorry, I forgot about the Newbies section. I am building a studio in my backyard, which is almost complete. It will be used to record the band I'm in and local bands. I'm hoping to get the studio nice enough, and become schooled enough to maybe rent it out cheaply at first, then raise prices over some years. But yeah. I'll just keep building the rack bigger and bigger as my budget goes. I'm looking maybe between $1000-2000 if I have to give a figure.

Thanks. Sorry again for not posting this thread in newbies section.
 
here are some questions that can also help guide the answers you'll get:
do you have a decent computer-- what are the specs?
do you have any mics or other gear to start with?
if you're recording bands, how many tracks (parts) will you need to record at once. keep in mind that people generally use multiple mics (anywhere from 1-10+) on a drum kit-- each mics counts as a separate track.
what kind of acoustic space is your studio going to have? concrete w/ 90 angles generally is not good.
what will be the purpose of these recordings?
 
kojdogg said:
well, people will probably point out that there is a "newbies" section if you're really new to this stuff,
Click to expand...
didn't mean for that to sound harsh dude!
 
Here's a quickie primer........

By "The rack", you would be referring to a 19" rack mount cabinet, who's purpose is to house "outboard" equipment. Outboard refers to the fact that these items are not part of the desk (mixer) or the recorder. Outboard gear can be anything from effects processors to EQs, preamps, power amps, compressors, limiters, gates, midi routers, crossovers, power conditioners, etc.

The rackmount cabinet has a pair of vertical rails with a bunch of tapped holes, the spacing of which is consistant with the industry standard 19" so that outboard gear with rack mount ears can be bolted right in.

hope that helps.
 
Hate to get all "Gloom & Doom" on you... but...

You should have started your research BEFORE building your studio... It's the first... and most critical piece of your signal chain...

Plenty of sites for studio design and tips on the web... you may want to take a peek...
 
kojdogg said:
here are some questions that can also help guide the answers you'll get:
do you have a decent computer-- what are the specs?
do you have any mics or other gear to start with?
if you're recording bands, how many tracks (parts) will you need to record at once. keep in mind that people generally use multiple mics (anywhere from 1-10+) on a drum kit-- each mics counts as a separate track.
what kind of acoustic space is your studio going to have? concrete w/ 90 angles generally is not good.
what will be the purpose of these recordings?
Click to expand...
I think I have a decent comp. Man it's been a while since I've looked at my specs, ha.
Comp Specs AMD Athlon XP 3200+(not sure the ghz speed. it has been a while) 512mb of ram, I'm hoping to upgrade to 1 if not 2 gb of ram. 160gb hard drive, Geforce FX 5500 and umm.. Yeah, I think that's all really. One drive to burn discs with.

Edit: And oh yeah, I'll be using Cubase LE for a recording program. It comes with the Alesis mixer.
Gear to start withI have an ALesis 16 channel firewire mixer.(yes my comp has a firewire port) I have m-audio studiophile monitors with the sub included. Then I have a couple sm-57's and a vocal mic is on the way from a friend in town. I have cables for those and such. I'm looking into drum mics as well. Then I have all the amps and guitars and drums to be miced. Yeah, I'm not a COMPLETE noob, just a noob to what goes on the rack and such, or rather what the things in the rack do. I'm on a tight budget, that's what I don't have much, and yeah. I'm looking into more equipment, that's why I'm asking about this stuff. Umm...me and my dad built the studio, it's not concrete, it's not a square, we have an angled ceiling for acoustics, we've done research on the internet about that. It's nothing fancy, I'm not planning on doing many live recordings in there, but If the opportunity arises, I think it should work out decently. I have another mixer that we're using specifically for drum mics if we run out of tracks on the main mixer. Purpose of the recordings will be to make some albums for local bands. I won't make the cd's myself obviously, or master them. But yeah, just record. I think that answers your questions, thanks for the help :)

-Elliot

Robert D said:
Here's a quickie primer........

By "The rack", you would be referring to a 19" rack mount cabinet, who's purpose is to house "outboard" equipment. Outboard refers to the fact that these items are not part of the desk (mixer) or the recorder. Outboard gear can be anything from effects processors to EQs, preamps, power amps, compressors, limiters, gates, midi routers, crossovers, power conditioners, etc.

The rackmount cabinet has a pair of vertical rails with a bunch of tapped holes, the spacing of which is consistant with the industry standard 19" so that outboard gear with rack mount ears can be bolted right in.

hope that helps.
Click to expand...
Alright, thanks man. Is it an easy thing to make your own rack? My dad is a carpenter so he knows what he's doing.Yeah, I know about what kind of stuff goes on the rack a little, but what I really need help with is what all the stuff does, and which equipment makes the biggest difference.

-Elliot


MOFO Pro said:
Hate to get all "Gloom & Doom" on you... but...

You should have started your research BEFORE building your studio... It's the first... and most critical piece of your signal chain...

Plenty of sites for studio design and tips on the web... you may want to take a peek...
Click to expand...
We have researched all sorts of stuff on the building itself. We are almost done with it and right now the sound absolutely dies when in there. It's awesome :D I know how it seems, but yeah, I'm just wondering about equipment. Thanks for the help though :)

-Elliot
 
elenore19 said:
We are almost done with it and right now the sound absolutely dies when in there.
Click to expand...
The room is completely dead? That's not a studio, it's a rehearsal space that you will use to record as well.
 
MadAudio said:
The room is completely dead? That's not a studio, it's a rehearsal space that you will use to record as well.
Click to expand...
Alright, sorry. I guess it's a rehearsal space that I will use to record as well. Thanks for the input

-Elliot
 
Can you post pics of your space? Maybe it can be salvaged sonically speaking?? :cool:

War
 
elenore19 said:
Is it an easy thing to make your own rack? My dad is a carpenter so he knows what he's doing.Yeah, I know about what kind of stuff goes on the rack a little, but what I really need help with is what all the stuff does, and which equipment makes the biggest difference.

-Elliot
Click to expand...

Easy as pie, but you should try to find pre-drilled and tapped rails first, then build the cabinet to fit them into.

What all that equipment does no one is going to sit and type out for you, that would take all day. Use the search function here, and use google. And don't deaden your room, all you do is absorb all the highs, while the lows are un-affected, thereby skewing the frequency response of the room, your recordings, and your mixes. Read up on room acoustics, absorption, difusion, and bass traps.
 
the rack isnt really definitley needed. theres plugins.

well, racks house my amps, a compressor, interface and some preamps. you dont really need outboard eq, compressor/limiter etc.
 
elenore19 said:
Alright, sorry. I guess it's a rehearsal space that I will use to record as well. Thanks for the input

-Elliot
Click to expand...

When I built my second studio, I had several rooms, but my largest was about 40 x 50. I was so paranoid about that room, I dropped the ceiling to 7ft, dropped ceiling baffles, filed and covered the walls, carpet on a mondo pad......in short I absolutely killed that room. :(

But, I found that several dry erase boards in various placement schemes could really liven that room up...and it was a pretty cost effective way of managing the acoustics in there.
 
Robert D said:
Easy as pie, but you should try to find pre-drilled and tapped rails first, then build the cabinet to fit them into.

What all that equipment does no one is going to sit and type out for you, that would take all day. Use the search function here, and use google. And don't deaden your room, all you do is absorb all the highs, while the lows are un-affected, thereby skewing the frequency response of the room, your recordings, and your mixes. Read up on room acoustics, absorption, difusion, and bass traps.
Click to expand...
Alright. So if I'm allowed some questions, that'd be sweet :D

So If the room was a dead room, and I planned on recording one track at a time, how bad would the dead room make the sound? The room isn't very big, and we don't have siding on the walls yet. We're getting sheet rock tomorrow to put up. So yeah, any advice is great, thanks a bunch :)
 
btw...

there's a whole ask bruce forum over at gear slutz now
 
orksnork said:
btw...

there's a whole ask bruce forum over at gear slutz now
Click to expand...


There's also going to be an "Ask Chessrock" forum here at Homerecording. Or at least there should be, by gosh. My rates are up to $100 per answer these days, so I'm not cheap.


.
 
chessrock said:
There's also going to be an "Ask Chessrock" forum here at Homerecording. Or at least there should be, by gosh. My rates are up to $100 per answer these days, so I'm not cheap.


.
Click to expand...

do those rates include a hand job? :D
 
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