New to Recording!

[kristilyn]

Hello!

My name is Kristilyn and I am about to enter the world of home recording. Yikes! I have one CD out right now and it was recorded in a home studio and it was a lot of fun. Other than that, my only experience has been recording my music through a karaoke machine. Fun.

So, I've decided to bite the bullet. My boyfriend and I just moved to an acreage about 6 months ago and there are so many bedrooms, that I thought I would convert one into a studio. It's been 3 years since my first CD came out and I have been aching to record again. A friend of mine told me he paid $14,000 for his CD that's coming out soon and I think that's a little extravagent.

A friend of mine in the states does all of her recording at home and I've loved everything she's put out, so I figured I could learn. ANYWAY, I've ordered Reason 3.0, Cubase SL, and an M-Audio Fast Track Pro. I have a PC which is brand new (I'm not biting the bullet to buy a Mac ... I don't have that much money!) and an empty bedroom to put everything in. And I have a Yamaha P-140 keyboard which is only a few months old.

Does anyone have any advice for building a recording studio? I'm sure I'll need other things, such as cables and headphones, but I'm really new to all of this. So any help would be appreciated!

Thanks!

Kristilyn

 

[kristilyn]

I should probably mention that I'm a piano player, so pretty much everything will be done on the computer. The only live thing will be vocals ... at least for now. I figure that's enough for me to learn at this time. I'm ambitious but not crazy!



-K

 

[Dumby]

Just piano and vocals? Do you have nice keyboard? what other instuments do you have already that you would want to record?

 

[Dumby]

Never mind you do...Going direct and experimenting with that will probably be your best route for piano... As for vocals, do some searches in the mic forum and what mics might be good for you and ROOM TREATMENT! Vocal booths, small budget solutions, big budget plans.
Also check out the studio building and display forum, there's lots of useful info in there.Good luck!

 

[boogieman481]

Post the keyboard you have, the specs of your computer, and any other equipment you have. That will let people on here know what direction to send you next.

 

[bubbagump]

I will echo the room treatment suggetion. Check out http://www.ethanwiner.com/acoustics.html I also wrote a "how to treat your room on the cheap" article a few months back you can find at this link.



As for piano... one thing you can do to make your life a lot easier is invest in a good sample library or VSTi. It will save you the headache of micing a lot of instruments and give you excellent quality (assuming you get something decent).

 

[kristilyn]

Let's see, I'm not a technical person with computers (i.e. specs?), but I'll try my best. I have a Dell Dimension computer, I'm getting a new drive for it (was recommended to get a 200GB drive with 7200RPM) and a CD/DVD burner. I also have a Yamaha P-140 keyboard (complete with stand and Yorkville 100W amp). I have an APEX microphone (not sure what number it is ... it's more for live playing than anything else) with a boom stand. I'm just waiting for my M-Audio Fast Track Pro to come in, and I've also ordered Reason 3.0 and Cubase SL, which I'll be picking up today.

The only other instrument that I would be recording that would need to be mic'd are the vocals. Everything else I'd like to run through the computer. I really like the idea of experimenting with sound and taking my time to find a sound that reflects my music. It's kind of more in the area of Terami Hirsch or Charlotte Martin's music (if you've ever heard of them). Experimenting is key.

I have 3 bedrooms to choose from (and there's the basement, but there's a weird smell down there), and I've read that rectangular is better, but all the rooms are pretty much square. I don't have anyone working with me, so setup is also questionable. Someone mentioned vocals and vocal booths, but that seems like a lot of work when I'll be pressing all the buttons myself ... my boyfriend's good friend is a framer, so if I wanted to make the closet into a vocal booth, that could work.

I'm really wondering about sound in the room, and what I should be cautious of ... I've also never used these programs before, so I'm hoping that it won't be too difficult to figure out.

And that should be it! Feel free to ask more questions ... I'd like to know what I'm talking about, so sorry if I sound a little off.

-K

 

[kristilyn]

I will echo the room treatment suggetion. Check out http://www.ethanwiner.com/acoustics.html I also wrote a "how to treat your room on the cheap" article a few months back you can find at this link.



As for piano... one thing you can do to make your life a lot easier is invest in a good sample library or VSTi. It will save you the headache of micing a lot of instruments and give you excellent quality (assuming you get something decent).

I've actually heard that Reason is really good with samples ... I don't plan on micing anything other than the voice (at least right now). There is a synthesizer I want, but that's already over $3,000 and I'm spending close to $5,000 right now, so it's best I save that for when I have more money.

-K

 

[bubbagump]

If your main focus is recording... I would get a good weighted action controller. This will be much much less than $3000 and then you will a lot of money left over for samples and VSTis. Samples and VSTis tend to have superior quality to a keyboard in that you can cram a lot more stuff onto a hard drive than you can into a piece of hardware. Reason is okay, but it is not a sample specific tool. I personally like many of the VSTis out that are specialized for the specific instrument at hand. Look at something like Ivory as an example of what I am talking about.

 

[boogieman481]

A vocal booth would be great for your situation if you can pull it off. If you are running EVERYTHING directly into the computer except vocals, and you have a vocal both to record your singing in, then you will only need the rest of the room for mixing and mastering (unless someone else is doing it).

 

[guitarboi89]

okay, i do not believe that you need reason. I think the money would be better spent on a good vsti piano (a software piano controller by your keyboard) then a good weighted controller keyboard.
I would then reccomend trying out some condensor microphones to see which suit your voice and get one.
Oh and dont forget some good monitors (speakers). And i agree with room treatment, but i dont feel an isolation booth is totally neccesary

 

[kristilyn]

Can I ask why you don't think Reason is a good program for me?

-K

 

[nokcah]

I suggest using 2 hard drives. If on a budget use your current hard drive for the operating system and software and grab a second drive for storage/work. Look into the newer 16mb cache Seagates. They also come with a 5 year warranty and you can purchase them as oem thru a place such as newegg. This will save you money usually over buying retail locally. 1GB of ram is a good starting place and should be fine for your application (depending on your final setup).

 

[guitarboi89]

i just find it fairly limited, goood for cheesy house music but not really release quality. I just think the money would be better spent on a good sounding piano soft synth.
Check here out:
http://www.tweakheadz.com/guide.htm
A bit of it may be irrelevant but mostly its all good stuff

 

[kristilyn]

I just purchased a new drive ... 200GBs actually. And a friend told me I should archive onto DVDs, so I installed a DVD writer as well ...

Now, Reason ... I'll admit that I am new to all of this, but I was recommended Reason by 2 people, one of them being a singer I really like, Terami Hirsch, who has used it for her last few recordings. And I think they sound really good. I guess it really depends how you use it. I mean, couldn't anything create cheesy house music if you really wanted it to?

Anyway, I've already bought it and it's opened and registered! I'm just waiting to get my computer back and for my M-Audio to come in and then I can actually start playing ...

And I'll let you know what I think of Reason since I've never used it before ... maybe if I actually make something good I'll post the link to it.



-K

 

[boogieman481]

I have found that the software doesn't make that much of sound quality difference as long as its a program made to record with. The software difference will come with the digital effects that are on the program. Some of them will sound really cheesy and some may sound good.

 

[kristilyn]

Of course if you're going for cheesy ...

I should put out a mock album ... you know, where people are like, 'Oh my god ... what the hell is this??'

LOL.

-K

 

[OhSh1rt]

And really if the software has cheasy plugins you can just buy some better ones, or better yet outboard effects.

Reason is a little steep at $400 and I think Cubase should be able to handle all of your MIDI and vocal recording and the $400 may have been better spent on VSTi's/samples.

Don't forget to buy good monitors/treat your room for the best mixes.

-jeffrey

 

[Supercreep]

You're on the right track. I recommend reading Harvey Gerst's excellent thread stickied in the mic forum. Welcome aboard!!

 

[guitarboi89]

im not completely hating reason, its great fun
See what you get from it, play with the settings DONT go straight to the presets. I cant wait to hear the mock album..
Welcome to the board (i forgot that before!)