Replace or add what to improve overall sound quality

cincy_kid

cincy_kid

Active member
Hey all ~

Just wanted to post a question and get some advice. If you had my setup, what would be the piece of equipment you replace or add first to improve the quality of your recordings.

Here is my current setup:

Instrument(s): Taylor Acoustic/Electric guitar and Johnson JM60 Amp (for electric guitar)

Mic(s): Shure 57 to mic amp and Studio Projects B-1 condenser for vocals/acoustic guitar

- Mics go into snake
>> snake goes to M-Audio Tampa preamp
>> preamp out to M-Audio Delta 1010 sound card
>> soundcard hooked to old Dell desktop computer (p4 3.0 with HT, 1g RAM and a 250Gb Hard Drive)
>> Using Sony Acid Pro 7 for software

That's my recording chain and what I am most concerned about currently. I also have 2 outs going from the sound card to my little Behringer mixer that runs my KRK RP8's and/or MoreMe headphones when I am recording.

So what would improve my sound quality the most? A new condenser mic? a new preamp? new sound card? new computer? new software?

Keep everything and add some more units to the rack?

Looking for suggestions.

thanks!
 
There's nothing really wrong with the gear you have.
I'd avoid running your monitor signal through the behringer if possible, though.
Maybe you could send a pair of outs to the monitors, and a separate pair to the behringer for headphone mixes?

Looking at a mic upgrade might be a good starting point, but that depends how you feel about what you have.

Room treatment is probably the one thing that'll get mentioned over and over though, since you haven't mentioned it.

The big question is, what do you feel your recordings lack?
 
Once you're up to that level of equipment, the room is more important.

There's a REASON big studios spend million$ to build studios and its not just to look shiny....
 
sorry for my delayed reply!

Steenamaroo - good idea on the monitor thing, I will give it a try but dang those things sound good even through the mixer :) I was also thinkin a mic might be my next upgrade. The B-1 is great for the price but Im sure getting the next step or 2 up would be a big improvement. Also, I have room treatment already. You can see my current room/setup here: https://homerecording.com/bbs/gener...ing-display/home-studio-version-2-0-a-197282/

TimOBrien - thanks Tim, yes I have my room treatment done. Could it be better? I am sure it could be but I think my room treatment outclasses my actual gear so I am playing catch up :)

Any good suggestions for a good condenser vocal mic in the $300 - $500 price range?

thanks again!
 
cincy_kid said:
yes I have my room treatment done.
Click to expand...

Sticking up a few DIY absorbers and foam panels is not what I'm talking about.
At this end of the game we're just guessing and not spending the megabucks to get in
acoustic engineers with degrees and very expensive equipment in very large rooms.

As for your mics, yes stepping up from a $100 mic might help you a lot.
If you can get to a city with any music shop where you can audition them I suggest
you try as mic choice depends a lot on you and your voice.

As you can see here, there is a wide variety of vocal mics....
 
tbh, as steen said, i personally can't see anything wrong with your current setup and so it's really worth just trying to identify what you feel you're lacking :)

my 2p;

maybe an SDC or two - something like the Oktava MK012's are always outstanding for the price

maybe a new preamp - something different tonally from the tampa so you have more options. i've not ever used/heard the tampa so i can't easily suggest something that will sound different but the Focusrite ISA One and GAP Pre73 are both great little pres in the lower price bracket.

maybe a new LDC - again, something different from the Studio Projects B-1 tonally, or just something with multiple polar patterns. again, i've not used the Studio Projects B-1 so much suggestions are based more on multi patterned LDC's i like, but the Avantone CK7, sE Z3300a, Apex 460 are all great mics in the price range.

maybe a ribbon mic - purely so you've got one dynamic, one LDC, and then a ribbon for variety of sound. the Apex 205 is dirt cheap and, if you've not used ribbons before, it's a very nice "into to ribbons" kinda mic. If you have used ribbons before/want something perhaps more "classy" then the Cascade Fatheads are just gorgeous imo

maybe some more plugins - no suggestions as i don't know what you've got but more plugins always come in handy :)
 
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