Just Starting

[scrooooge]

hi everyone, i need to know what pieces of equipment to buy to set up my own recording studio. and what the piece of equipment,that u plug ur mics and ur instruments are called. see i want to plug my guitar, keyboard and mics into the same piece of equipment. is this possible? anyway what is this equipment called and what are some good ones to buy

ty in advance, scrooooge

 

[Treeline]

First place I'd look is the main site right here and go reading through the articles. Second is to use the search function here on the BBS and search terms like "mixer" "XLR" "tracking" "Korg" "Mackie" "Fostex" and the like. Then go to one of the big booksellers and pick up any recording magazines you encounter. Finally, there's a book you should get that is a primer on recording called The Musician's Guide to Home Recording; a click on the link will tell you where to get it. That'll keep you busy for a while. It's a pretty steep learning curve, but when you start getting a handle on the basics it's a lot of fun.

 

[mawtangent]

Home Studio / Mixers

You should read up on mixers...that is what allows you to take various signals/sounds (from different instruments) and ultimately funnel all those sounds into a mono or stereo output signal(s). Mixers are used in live performances and recording. Mixers can come in the form of hardware (a mixing board) or exist within a computer program. Usually mixers are "built into" or include within stand alone cassette and digital multi-tracks. A mixer can be quite simple (only being able to set volume levels on a couple of instruments) or very elaborate (having inputs for many instruments, giving ability to pan and add effects to each instrument, etc.). A live band can plug into a PA system (which is basically a mixer and speakers) and have the same mix come out of all of the speakers. A mixer is the heart of a recording studio. You should consider what recording method you wish to use (for example: cassette multi-track, stand-alone digital multi-track or computer) (and issues like how many instruments you want to record at once) and that will help you determine what kind of mixer you will use.

I suggest you consider how much difficulty you are willing to face (are you a technophobe or a computer-geek type) and how much you are willing to spend. I have enjoyed using a Yamaha MT-50 4-track cassette for many years now. They used to sell for over $400, but now sell for less than $100 on ebay. I work out a song sequece for bass, drums, etc. on my keyboard and record that onto one track...then I use the other tracks for vocals and guitar. I then mix that down to cassette and recently I have been mixing it down into my computer using a program called Cakewalk Pyro 2004 (which allows me to ultimately burn the song to CD) I'm sure most people on this site are doing their music in a lot more hi-tech way but the simplicity of using a cassette multitrack has allowed me to conscentrate on the song and not the complexity of the recording process. Of course digital is clearer than using cassette tape, but I find the sound very satisfying (especially since I don't bounce tracks). But I have recently desired to have more than 4 tracks...I got a modern computer and am experimenting with using a program called Powertracks Pro to record into the computer in the same manner as a multitrack (I'm only planning on recording a track at a time)...I have plugged my keyboard and microphone into my MT-50 which I have plugged into the line-in of my computer (in this way using the MT-50 as a mixer...a microphone, especially, usually has to have its signal boosted before it can be recorded properly)...

If you go the computer route I'm sure others could help you from here (there is a board dedicated to computer recording within this site)

If you buy a cassette or digital stand alone multi-track it should have the mixer built in.

And you can buy hardware mixing board (one not incorporated into a milti-track recorder) to incorporate into a system for live performance or recording.

Hope this is helpful.

 

[Richard Monroe]

Yo Scrooge! Welcome to the board! So far what I can say is- insufficient data, dude. What kind of studio you build has to do with several major considerations:

1. What kind of room or rooms do you have to work in?
2. What kind of music do you play?
3. What equipment do you already own?
4. What do you intend to do with the recordings?
5. How many people/instruments do you want to record, and do you need to record them simultaneously?
6. What kind of money can you throw at it, and over what period of time?
7. Do you need to be able to move this rig for remote location recording?

There are many people trying to build a home studio on a budget that wouldn't even cover the cables of a major studio. Any answer somebody gives you without the answers to the above questions will only be so useful.
I can tell you right now where to hire the architects and engineers to design a really nice studio for say, $500,000, but that information may not be useful to you. I can also tell you how to set up a basic recording rig for about $600, but if you are looking for professional results, that information may not be useful to you either. So tell us what you have, including mics, cables, amps, instruments, computers, everything. Then tell us what you want to record, and what you want to do with the recordings. There's a big difference between simple recording for your own enjoyment, a promotional demo, and a commercial release.
There are also a lot of things you probably haven't even thought of- power conditioners, shock mounts, room conditioning, headphone distribution, reference monitors. You've been warned- this can be one wicked expensive hobby.-Richie