Next thing to get / upgrade?

[d0082]

Hi guys,

I was hoping to get some advice on what you'd recommend as the next, most value-additive, thing to add to my very amateur home studio in order to maximize the improvement in recording/production quality per dollar spent. Here's what I currently have:

Pro Tools 8.0
Windows 7 64bit
MBox 2 Factory
Pair of KRK Rokit 5 speakers
AutoTune Evo and Melodyne Editor 2
EZ Drummer
Pod Farm
Rode NT1A
Shure SM57
Pop filter
Tripod mic stand (w/ telescoping boom)
M-Audio 49e midi keyboard
Fender Strat (and a crappy Peavey 112 amp; I've just been recording w/ Pod Farm) and Seagull Acoustic guitar
Home-built PC w/ AMD Phenom II X6 1100T 3.3GHz, 8GB RAM, dedicated internal HDD

Note that the songs I write tend to be piano- and/or guitar-driven, and I record my own vocals. I'm not a great singer, hence the AutoTune and Melodyne purchases. I say this partly in case there's anything you guys can recommend specifically to help my vocal rec sound (besides "voice lessons", as I'm taking them, though I don't expect miracles).

Speaking of that, this is a good place to mention that I'm also a bit confused by what I've read on the whole mic preamp thing. I currently do NOT have a mic preamp, but instead just use phantom power on the mbox2 with the Rode mic (don't really use the Shure mic much anymore- it was my first mic purchase a long time ago)... I seem to get a pretty strong signal even from 9in-12in away, with knob at about 65% of max on the mbox. I do use a good amount of EQ within Pro Tools, though, to get rid of the rather muddy sound. Would a preamp help the vocal rec quality considerably, or just slightly, if at all?

Finally, fyi, the room I record in is less than ideal (I'm in a small 1bdrm apt; recording room is my kitchen & living room combo, so fairly large, wood floors, vaulted ceiling), so I've considered getting one of those simple, foldable (clamshell) sound dampeners to keep the sound dry. I tried a makeshift blanket "tent" over my head/mic and it wasn't very feasible in practice.


Bottom Line:
So, if I had, say, $500-1000 to spend on some new item(s) toward the home studio (or, more voice lessons... only half kidding), what would you guys recommend as the best marginal use of those dollars?

Thanks

 

[mjbphotos]

Sound treatment and a better interface. Then stop worrying about gear and just keep recording, mixing and learning.

 

[Steenamaroo]

I currently do NOT have a mic preamp, but instead just use phantom power on the mbox2 with the Rode mic

Yeah you do.
The mbox has mic preamplifiers built in.
It's probably fair to say any interface with XLR inputs has a mic preamp behind each one.

Phantom power is an optional extra that will allow you to use condenser microphones and certain active mics, but it doesn't do any amplifying.

Spend your money on treating the room. You'll crap when you hear the difference.

 

[ecc83]

Sound treatment and a better interface. Then stop worrying about gear and just keep recording, mixing and learning.

Yup^ "Fairly large space with a vaulted ceiling"...Lucky sod.
Wooden floor, so few rugs to chuck around when you want dry and stack them out of the way for sparkle? Tis said that acoustic guitar "likes" a hard floor?

There are two aspects to sound treatment. A good monitoring envoirenment, bass trapping and all that swaddlin'. Then, getting a good recording space and that is not all about sucking all the life out of a room with rockwool, especially if it is a decent volume.

But get a plan/draw up the rooms and post it for perusal by the experts!

Dave.

 

[d0082]

Thanks a lot for the good advice and recommendations, guys.

mjb- definitely appreciate the need to just keep recording and mixing to learn... One question, though- by a "better interface", do you mean something different than the mbox2, something additional like workstation input, or something else entirely?

steenamaroo- thanks for explaining something so concisely that had been confusing me for a while now.

ecc (and steenamaroo)- I attached an image of my layout and what I'm working with right now (very simplified)... basically, my computer and desk are in front of the fireplace (red box), and my mic is the green dot. I try to sing in the direction of the blue arrow to minimize direct sound reflection off of that wall. Anyway, given that, any specific recommendations of how I could improve or what I could do to help w/ vocal recording in this space?

Thanks again for the good advice.