Need to know EVERYTHING

  • Thread starter Thread starter JohanGoode995
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Ok I know this may not help you neccesarily but it may help some people answer some questions.

First thing I think of is what are you expecting to do with all this new equipment? Are you thinking you will get "super" recordings right after you open the box?

Thing is, at this point right now is where people who decide to DIY make lots of mistakes. If you dont know what the "technical jargon" means then I think now is the wrong time to start purchasing equipment you dont know how to operate. Being told whats "good" or "best" for a price range will do nothing for you. My suggestion, read more!! Understand that the money you pay for that studio is paying for the experience of the engineer (obviously a little of the equipment). Its not something you will get overnight or hell over-year.

Whats the saying around here? Something to the sort of, you can spend a million dollars on equipment but knowing how to use it properly is priceless? I think you may be in way over your head right now. Just food for thought?
 
Cubase is indeed a DAW you may very well get a lite version of cubase with certain interfaces i got Cubase 4 LE about a year and ahalf ago when i bought my alesis multimix usb 8, which i will regret buying possibly untill i die, if you had alot of money for an interface id recommend saffire pro 40 its great simple as that, firewire connections though, buy sm57s (microphone) too great for guitar amps snare drums, harsh vocals for metal/hardcore etc

recording drums id say would be the biggest let down for someone who hasnt got any experiance, you have to be aware of phase issues between microphones, drums may sound really bad in an untreated room too unfortuneatly, if you have the ability to do drums in an open quiet space outdoors do that, before a small untreated room, (beware of wind) seems a bit unorthodox but small untrreated rooms suck for drums so by taking it outside how much worse can it get?

i would personally program drums or record and then sample replace each drum but if your hellbent on recording it then this video is genius, very good technique with small amount of mics, though the room is treated, im guna stop rambling
 
stealth_prod said:
First thing I think of is what are you expecting to do with all this new equipment? Are you thinking you will get "super" recordings right after you open the box?
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I know the recordings we get wont sound great, but if we dont start, when will we. My drummer has great experience with and knowledge of recording programs. the only problem was that when we would go to record, all of the equipment was already set up, so we never got any insight on how to set up the equipment.

dont worry, we know what were doing when it comes to recording, just not what equipment is being used. I appreciate your concern
 
JohanGoode995 said:
we know what were doing when it comes to recording,
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no offence but that cant be true, there is alot more to recording than pointing a mic at something and hope for the best, its not a gun:laughings:

but seriously if at the age of 15 you know what your doing when it comes to recording, you must understand, standing waves comb filtering, phase issues between mics, etc etc, im not trying to be a dick, just saying that everyone started the same theres no shame in it and get reading on everything you can SOON
 
nialldoran said:
recording drums id say would be the biggest let down for someone who hasnt got any experiance, you have to be aware of phase issues between microphones, drums may sound really bad in an untreated room too unfortuneatly
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please, ramble all you want. its very helpful

im going to assume by an "untreated room" you mean with no acoustics, no soundproofing, ect. were going to try to soundproof the room so we get very little echo, as close to none as we can get. but im aware of the drum quality.
 
nialldoran said:
no offence but that cant be true, there is alot more to recording than pointing a mic at something and hope for the best, its not a gun:laughings:

but seriously if at the age of 15 you know what your doing when it comes to recording, you must understand, standing waves comb filtering, phase issues between mics, etc etc, im not trying to be a dick, just saying that everyone started the same theres no shame in it and get reading on everything you can SOON
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if you arent trying to be a dick, then your failing :)

i dont know if you read the rest of the thread, we have access to a studio already at my drummer's dad's school, the only problem is we cant go there very often. in order to make a more efficient recording process, we are going to try to build a studio at my house. so even though i may not understand all of the technical terms your throwing at me, i assure you, one of us knows what they are doing.
 
no i did read the whole thread i just find it difficult to think that one of you know what you are doing if you are on a forum asking for advice, im not trying to be dick, really,was just my two cents

the technical terms i was throwing at you were just examples, phase is the most important off the bat, especially if recording live drums, i am genuinely just trying to help,
 
nialldoran said:
no i did read the whole thread i just find it difficult to think that one of you know what you are doing if you are on a forum asking for advice
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Thats precisely it. I am on a forum, not we are on a forum. Im the one that is building the studio simply because i have the revenue and the space for a studio. however, my band will be recording, and my drummer knows what to do. i just havent had a chance to talk to him about any of this.
 
Johan, I would take it as people trying to save you (and your band) a boat load of money and time. Believe me I respect trying to do it yourself. I think you are missing the information you need to do this effectly. If the tweakheadz stuff was to technical then your not ready to throw money at equipment.

Honestly why dont you go to your friends dad and ask him?

And dont go into room treatment and isolation like it is a easy task. Its probably one of the hardest, expensive, and rewarding things you can do. I say this because a live room should never be "completely dead." You will learn as you go BUT do as much reading as you can to prevent from buying things that are not needed. Its your money though, so I bid you good luck.
 
stealth_prod said:
Honestly why dont you go to your friends dad and ask him?
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honesty, i do appreaciate everybody's advice, but did i not just say i havent had a chance to talk to my drummer yet? trust me, im not trying to do this on my own. i dont need to know anything about the actual process of recording because my drummer can do that all.

i just need to know the right equipment to buy
 
stevieb said:
You've got a finite amount of money to spend. Treating the room is going to eat up a LOT of money and time. Buying gear that you have free access won't be cheap, either. If you post a list of gear that's in the band room, some of us may be able to tell you if it's likely to be good enough, or should be passed over in favor of something else. You could then make most efficient use of both your time and money. If you wanted to, you could leave your gear in the band room/school studio, so the drummer's dad could use it, too- everybody wins.
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Im sorry, i didnt see this post until now

truth is,our homerecordings wont be any better quality. but the school is a good half an hour away, and we can only go on days where my drummers
dad is available, which isnt often. a home studio would allow us to
a) work on recordings much more often
b) give each recording much more time and effort
 
stevieb said:
You've got a finite amount of money to spend. Treating the room is going to eat up a LOT of money and time...
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I've recorded in lots of rooms that had no room treatment that sounded fine. Study Pomplamoose's videos - they have near zero room treatment and their recordings are beyond excellent. I personally think that this whole room treatment thing is way overemphasized. If the room sucks then you make some changes. Changes that often cost nothing. When you tight mic, the room has almost nothing to do with anything.

nialldoran said:
no offence but that cant be true, there is alot more to recording than pointing a mic at something and hope for the best, its not a gun:laughings:

but seriously if at the age of 15 you know what your doing when it comes to recording, you must understand, standing waves comb filtering, phase issues between mics, etc etc, im not trying to be a dick, just saying that everyone started the same theres no shame in it and get reading on everything you can SOON
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I totally disagree. At 15 I think the best thing is to just start recording. You can't break anything. Paul McCartney recorded his best song: "Maybe I'm Amazed" by himself at home and I'll bet he didn't know shit about standing waves etc...

Just start recording, it's actually very, very easy. Much easier than learning songs or how to play a musical instrument. You can get decent results the first day. What kind of results did you get the first day you got a guitar? The recordings I did with friends in 1970 came out great and we didn't know shit about shit.

But to get real good, like anything will take a lifetime. And at the end, you'll find you're back in the same place you started, and see it all for the first time.

If you have musical ears, you can do anything. If the performance and song are great, the rest will follow pretty naturally. It's fun and easy!
 
dintymoore said:
I totally disagree. At 15 I think the best thing is to just start recording. You can't break anything.
...
Just start recording, it's actually very, very easy. Much easier than learning songs or how to play a musical instrument. You can get decent results the first day. What kind of results did you get the first day you got a guitar?
...
The recordings I did with friends in 1970 came out great and we didn't know shit about shit.
...
If you have musical ears, you can do anything. If the performance and song are great, the rest will follow pretty naturally. It's fun and easy!
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although i appreciate the support, i doubt my recordings will turn out nearly as good as you make them sound
 
i dont need to know anything about the actual process of recording because my drummer can do that all.
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Well im sorry but if your drummer can do that all then you need to be talking to him first. Asking what the "best" equipment to buy on a forum before you even know what you really need is not going to get you anywhere. Talk to the dad and get an idea of how the things work and figure wiether or not you need to go that route.

And understand that everyday here, there are 20 "newb" posts on what the best equipment to buy is. So instead of trying to spoon feed everyone, the idea of research is thrown out so you know what your getting into. Try and read the tweakheadz more and understand what the equipment does so you can understand if you need it or dont. Thats the point, if you dont know what a piece of gear does, how do you know you need it? Because some people on a forum tell you to?

You need an interface!! What kind of interface and how many ins/outs is on you.

You need monitors!! AV-30s are closely compared to PC speakers aka not so hot.

You may want to look at something like Maudio Project mix. Mixer/controller/interface all wrapped into one. (Never used it before so cant tell you quality)

Room treatment....uh ya im def not the one to give any suggestions on that.

Take a deeper look into what you need, how your going to record, your budget, and what you want to achieve. The answers will start to reveal themselves.
 
JohanGoode995 said:
although i appreciate the support, i doubt my recordings will turn out nearly as good as you make them sound
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They don't have to be that good. Just do one, and then another and unless your unlike everybody I've ever known, you'll improve! Half the fun is getting there. You don't have to be any good to have fun and learn.

I've worked with some very good musicians, some of the very best in the world, and even they, at times, suck. Everybody sucks is what I've realized. But that doesn't mean you can't work at it and eventually get good results.

It might take you 10 - 20 years to get really even half decent at recording. But that's fine really. That doesn't mean you can't have fun right from the start. What I've found is that the feel of the music really doesn't change. Even though I get better results now (I'm 53) and have great tools, when I listen recordings of me and my friends when I was 15 it really isn't that different. All the technical shit, in the end, means diddly. It's 100% about feel and what I did at 10 was as valid as what I do today.

So I say fuckin' go for it! :)
 
All I would add is that you'll do yourself no harm having a read through a few past threads here and Tweakheadz and any online bits you may come across.
It is important to have some idea of your options (I think Nialldoran & Stealth_prod gave some useful advice on that score) but I think it's equally important that you learn as you go and just have fun and joy recording. All the big deal touring will soon rear it's head ! People differ on this but I tend to go with my own experience ~ when I started out, I just wanted to write songs, record them and get some sleep. That they sound like shit now is neither here nor there. This is a progressive journey and at 15 you've got nearly a lifetime ahead of you to learn 'the terms'.
 
EVERYONE QUIET PLEASE !

OK...

Now.

The contraction of "you are" is "you're" not "your".


That is all.

Thank you :)
 
JohanGoode995 said:
....the place where we pay to record may just be a shed coated with egg crates on the inside, but id bet the equipment he has in there is worth a couple thousand dollars.....
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*facepalm*

Seriously, you need to talk to your drummer and/or his dad. If they're so smart they should be able to tell you exactly what you need. And you'd be better off taking their expert advice over a bunch of random yahoo's on the internet. Show your drummer the tweakheadz page, maybe it'll spark some questions or considerations that wouldn't have otherwise been thought of. You do not want holes in your knowledge base when you're putting a new home-studio shopping list together, you're gonna waste hundreds if not thousands of dollars.

BTW, Cubase is an AWESOME DAW, I like it better than protools. Even the free LE versions that come with the interfaces are plenty functional.
 
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