
d0082
New member
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
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