Making a Home Studio with 1000-2000 $$

[newjacksm]

Hey well, Im not sure what to spend my money on. I have little expirence with recording but understand basics. I dont weather to go with a laptop and record on there or get a Korg D1600Mkii. Im in a hardcore band and im really looking foward to making a home studio to record my band and record other bands.

Can some one please help me out and whats the best way to spend my 1000-2000 dollars on a home studio on recording equipment?

 

[Richard Monroe]

Yo NewJack! Reality check time. $2000 would barely cover the mics to do what you are talking about. I've got $1000-2000 and I want to build an Indy 500 race car. Where should I start? Can I use my cat for a pit crew? Well, don't despair either. There's a lot you can do, but you have to do less better, and begin learning the art. First, consider what you already have, and how you can use it. If you already have a computer, use it. Does it have to be portable? If it does, a standalone or a laptop makes sense. However, a laptop is more expensive than a desktop for the same thing, and they usually don't accept good soundcards. Lately, they've been making USB interfaces that work with laptops, such as the M-Audio mobilepre. If you have to buy that laptop as part of that $2000 budget, you already have major issues. Hell, I've got about $1000 in cables, and I can barely do what you are describing.
If I was on your path, I'd probably get an 8 tracker, a good mixing board, a bunch of cheap dynamics (you probably have them already) and a decent pair of amall diaphragm condensers, and go for live sound. Then you basically mix down to stereo as you are recording to whatever, a digital recorder, DAT, minidisc, laptop via mobilepre, etc. You can use the small diaphragms for drum overheads if you are mic'ing up the whole band, or use them as a stereo pair and record the whole band with 2 mics. If the band has a board and is already mic'd up, you can pull a stereo pair of tracks right off the board. To mic up everything and record discrete tracks of every instrument will simply take more money than you are talking about- a lot more.-Richie

 

[crankz1]

Lets hope you don't need to spend any money on room acoustics.

 

[kragbax]

As Richard says - consider you needs carefully, what you and/or your bandmates already own and can put to use (mics, cables, computers), and most of all don't despair! I'll add - read these boards, then read every other board on recording, then re-read them all again. TONS of useful information and wonderful people willing to share their thoughts, experiences, opinions.

If all you are looking to do is make decent sounding demo's you should be able to pull it off. Consider if you'll need to record the complete bands "live" or simply record parts individually.
Individually (meaning perhaps first you lay down the drums, then Bass/Guitar, then vocals, etc.) is probably the easiest method. Cheapest thing to do is pick up a digital all-in-one (Tascam / Korg digital 8+ track or something similar used off ebay). Grab a compressor, some mics, cables, etc. - mic the drums and let 'er rip. Amps can be mic'd individually or recorded direct via line outs or even instrument direct via Pod's, etc.
If you want to do bands complete - playing all at once - you'll need more mics (of course), and definitely a way to help keep sound from leaking between the various mics. And if your recorder doesn't have enough inputs, consider a cheap 12 channel mixer with decent mic pre's (perhaps a Mackie) and pre-mix everything before sending the outs to the recorder.

Or use your existing computer and spend your cash on an audio converter/sound card, inputs, software, etc.

Seems a lot of people confuse wanting to do home recordings with needing to invest $10k+ in order to "do it right". You can record on a $20 tape recorder if you want to. Won't sound good, but it's been done before

Fact is there are probably 50 different ways to do what you're asking, and do it relatively inexpensively. It comes down to your purpose and budget. Budget will limit your results to a point of course, but skill with your equipment can often outweigh someone else's 'Pro' studio gear if they don't know how to use it properly. Heck, the Beatles Sgt. Pepper was done on a freakin 4-track, wasn't it? May not be 'quality' recording by todays digital standards, but it still sounds good to me!

 

[bigwillz24]

ever thought about hitting up the band for more money?

i record hiphop and only need one mic to track the vocal stuff but the other gear i got such as cpu, mixer, keyboard, sound modules, mpc, etc cost a lot more than 2000 and im constantly adding stuff every time i get some extra cash. If some one told me to record a live band with my setup i would shit a brick. Imagine having to track every guitar, kick, snare, cymbal, bass, and whatever else your band uses one by one with 1 microphone. Heh the drummer would have one hell of a time

Ya it could be done its just gonna take a long ass time...

i'm no pro but with $2000 not counting in gear you may already have...

i'd buy bout 10 dynamic elcheapo mics

a 10/2 channel mixer,

10 mic cables & stands,

hmm right here im gonna be generous and say i got about $1250 left

a decent cpu and a sound card

now im broke

Hopefully the band will land a gig or two to get some more stuff for the studio

 

[bat63]

Instead of the D1600 I'd get this instead:

http://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/D1200mkII/

4 less tracks( and less inputs) but a heckuva lot more versatile than its older brother.

Seriously,investigate it!

 

[cracked lid]

I spent about $1500 to get my "studio" set up. Let me say that ebay is your friend. I bought nearly all my stuff online, and I got my monitors, preamp, soundcard, and mics off ebay, new, for significantly less than any storefront was offering. My cables, stands, headphones and other odds and ends I bought at guitar center and bargained on the price. All told I saved nearly $500 and was able to get better stuff than what I was planning on. I'm using my pc, but did have to buy a new soundcard and some mixing software (n-tracks). I'm happy with my setup. It's low end, but so are my recording, mixing skills and my goal isn't to produce professional results.

It can be done on a budget, but it takes time, effort and creativity.