Setting up a Home Recording Studio

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frankb49

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I am in the process of setting up a home recording studio using a MAC 17 inch SuperDrive 1.33GHz G4 Powerbook Laptop. I am planning to use a Motif 8 synthesizer and Cubase SX 2.0. Does anyone have any comments or concerns regarding this combination? I will use the studio to produce demos for later mastering in a professional studio. I would like some input on the appropriate audio interface, earphones, and vocal mics to complete my studio. Would it be a good idea to purchase a mixer and drum machine for more flexibility? I am especially confused about different interfaces (i.e., Firewire, USB, Midi) and how I should connect the various components to one another using the interfaces. On a final note, should I partition the 80GB HD to separate the music files from programs / applications?

The bottom line is that I have been procrastinating for the longest time and I need your help to expedite this process.

Thanks again.
 
OK, stop procrastinating!


There, done MY part.
 
Start out just using the line input on your Mac, if your Powerbook has one, and the software of your choice. A very cheap and limited but nonetheless useful software option is GarageBand which comes with iLife. It only allows recording of one track (mono or stereo) at a time, but has some nice built-in FX and softsynths, and supports audio, MIDI, and loops. Great for the first-time home studio, and you can always upgrade to a better DAW if you need the features.

You'll need mike preamps, which you can get built into a little mixer like a Behringer UB802 ($60). (Don't go smaller than that, the 502 doesn't have phantom power.) Another option is an M-Audio "Audio Buddy" dual-preamp for $80. But I find it's handy to have a mixer in the studio (I have 5 because I buy 'em but never sell 'em, even the one I got in 1978. They all get used.)

You'd plug your synth and mike into the mixer, and plug the stereo outputs of the mixer into your Line In jack using a cable you can get at Radio Shack (1/8" stereo on one end, two RCA plugs on the other).

Are you only going to be recording yourself, or will you be recording other peoples' work, or will you have other folks sit in and do tracks for you?

My favorite starter mike is a Shure SM58 ($100) for vocals, or SM57 ($90) for instruments -- and you can use either for either. They're the same mike, but the 58 has a pop-filter (ball head) for vocals. More hit records have been made with these industry workhorses than probably all the others put together. However, many people prefer the sound of their voice or instruments using a condenser mike. Good examples of these include the Rode NT1-A (about $200) and Studio Projects B3 (about $165). These are on-line prices, but it makes sense to go to your local pro shop and try them out -- well worth the extra bucks to get the one that suits you.

Don't skimp on mike cables. The really cheap ones have bad "microphonics", meaning they add loud sounds to the signal when they bump against something, and pick up noise from the floor. Trust your pro shop for a normal decent cable, nothing fancy required.

Lots of folks spend hours discussing the subtleties in differences in sounds for different soundcards, preamps, mikes, and the lot. However, what I find is that the simplest decent equipment, like the above mentioned, is by far good enough to do very good work and learn the craft of recording and mixing using a digital studio. The experience and talent of the engineer make a lot more difference than the equipment, until you get pretty proficient. So, unless cost is no object, start out with simple but decent gear, and learn as you go. Find out what you are able to do with the simple stuff, and learn its limitations (while expanding your own limits). Once you've recorded at least a CD's worth of material with the simple gear, you'll have a better appreciation for what better gear has to offer, and you'll understand the tradeoffs better.

I don't recommend partitioning; all it will do is leave you less space to play with -- more constraints. Partitions are nice if you need to reload your OS but keep your data, though. It won't help the performance of a DAW, actually it's more likely to hurt it. Until you get into lots of tracks you shouldn't have a disk drive performance problem anyway, and if you do, you'd want to get an external firewire hard drive. But I've never needed one for my laptop.

The line inputs on your computer are limited to 16-bit recording. You can do just fine, but when you step up to 24-bit recording you'll understand the benefits, and in the meantime, while you're discussing the pros and cons of different interfaces, you'll be spending MORE time learning to arrange your songs for recording, recording, and mixing.

HTH :)
 
Budget decides all!!

There are so many options. It boils down to decisions factoring three main things. 1. what are you doing? 2. what can you afford now? What is the best product for YOU? If you haven't bought Cubase yet, you might want to consider Logic Express. Logic has some advantages over Cubase for Mac users. It's not a bad choice, but Apple now owns Logic and Cubase is more of a PC program. I've used it on Mac, but my next software purchase will be logic.

Your computer is great. It will do everything you need. How much audio are you using? How much midi? How many tracks at a time? Techno? Pop/rock type music? These all matter, when consider what to add.

For a laptop, firewire is best if you can afford it. Next comes usb. Last comes line-in. I don't use hard synths much, instead I use Reason. For techno, I start in Reason and move out from there as necessary. For songs that I compose on my guitar, I've been using Garageband and adding as necessary from other sources. I get good demo quality without having to play sound engineer. I'm happy with my Tascam US-122 for Audio, but I'd like it much less if I needed to record multiple tracks at once. My buddy has a Motu 828 and it kicks much ass.

--Sean
 
sbenak1@mac.com said:
There are so many options. It boils down to decisions factoring three main things. 1. what are you doing? 2. what can you afford now? What is the best product for YOU? If you haven't bought Cubase yet, you might want to consider Logic Express. Logic has some advantages over Cubase for Mac users. It's not a bad choice, but Apple now owns Logic and Cubase is more of a PC program. I've used it on Mac, but my next software purchase will be logic.

Your computer is great. It will do everything you need. How much audio are you using? How much midi? How many tracks at a time? Techno? Pop/rock type music? These all matter, when consider what to add.

For a laptop, firewire is best if you can afford it. Next comes usb. Last comes line-in. I don't use hard synths much, instead I use Reason. For techno, I start in Reason and move out from there as necessary. For songs that I compose on my guitar, I've been using Garageband and adding as necessary from other sources. I get good demo quality without having to play sound engineer. I'm happy with my Tascam US-122 for Audio, but I'd like it much less if I needed to record multiple tracks at once. My buddy has a Motu 828 and it kicks much ass.

--Sean

Man, how do you come up with this stuff? Cubase more of a PC program???? FYI, Steinberg developed software for the Atari ST computers and Mac's early on. They only developed software for the Intel platform when Windows 95/98 were released.

Logic is the most non-intuitive, window crazy DAW app out there. If anything, I would stay away from it now that its owned by Apple. It also is a terrible MIDI tracker - Sonar and Cubase both do a better job in that department.

Frankb49, I hop you realize there is no real support for the Motif on Macs. Yamaha has been unwilling to port the bundled software to the Mac platform.
 
I use ableton Live, version 4 will is going to rock hard. http://www.ableton.com I have a the 1.25ghz/15.2" PB with a Tascam US-224, I run software synths from a B&W G3 400 (Absynth, Minimoog V, iPiano and symplesynth through a Radium 61. I Like Digital Performer 4 as DAW software, (ask anyone who is making a living as a songwriter that uses Mac and most will say they use DP4), and eventually I will add either a MOTU 828 mkII or a Tascam FW1884. I would love to have a Motif, Mac issues aside, they are awesome synths! As far as the harddrive goes I would suggest an eternal firewire drive, Mine is a 120gb IBM that spins at 7200 rpm. This is important because your internal drive only runs at 4200 rpm, this is too slow for quality recordings if you are using lots of tracks and effects. All my studio programs are on this external drive.
 
jeffrydada said:
Your internal drive only runs at 4200 rpm, this is too slow for quality recordings if you are using lots of tracks and effects. All my studio programs are on this external drive.

I've run over 20 tracks (playback) on a 4200 RPM drive with no trouble using n-Track. The number of FX is related to CPU usage, not drive speed.

If you record lots of tracks at once, while also playing back a full mix, then you might need a faster drive.

A faster drive is nice but it's not a necessity for most small home studios, especially if you're not a drummer or recording a live band (where you may need to record lots of tracks at a time, while monitoring lots of tracks.)
 
learjeff said:
I've run over 20 tracks (playback) on a 4200 RPM drive with no trouble using n-Track. The number of FX is related to CPU usage, not drive speed.

If you record lots of tracks at once, while also playing back a full mix, then you might need a faster drive.

A faster drive is nice but it's not a necessity for most small home studios, especially if you're not a drummer or recording a live band (where you may need to record lots of tracks at a time, while monitoring lots of tracks.)

Exactly!

I use my laptop for DV video capture over Firewire. I have yet to encounter dropped frames because my 5,400rpm HD wasn't fast enough. DV eats up much more bandwidth than your average 20 track audio project uses.
 
frankb49 said:
I will use the studio to produce demos for later mastering in a professional studio. I would like some input on the appropriate audio interface, earphones, and vocal mics to complete my studio.

You will be wasting money taking demos to mastering studios. What people usually submit to a mastering engineer is product that sounds as good as possible in tracking and mixing. Therefore, if you still want to eventually have your material mastered, you need to make it sound as good as possible in your home studio, and you won't know how good your material sounds unless you hear them through nearfield monitors. Tannoy and Yorkville make excellent monitors at the lowest possible price. You will want to use monitors to hear how your instruments sound before hitting the record button. And you will want to make judgements of the sound in the context of the entire mix, again through monitors. Never use headphones for making these decisions or any decisions during the mixing process. Use headphones when you are recording the instrument and focusing on the performance, but not when making any sonic decision.

You will also be much better off getting a dedicated preamp for recording all your instruments, both mike and line. This is because low budget mixers, especially Behringer, do not have good sounding preamps. Your money would be better spent on a dedicated tube preamp, even the ART Tube MP. Playing your instrument through the preamp and having the preamp go straight into the soundcard, will guarantee the cleanest signal.
 
brzilian said:
Man, how do you come up with this stuff? Cubase more of a PC program???? FYI, Steinberg developed software for the Atari ST computers and Mac's early on. They only developed software for the Intel platform when Windows 95/98 were released.

Logic is the most non-intuitive, window crazy DAW app out there. If anything, I would stay away from it now that its owned by Apple. It also is a terrible MIDI tracker - Sonar and Cubase both do a better job in that department.

Frankb49, I hop you realize there is no real support for the Motif on Macs. Yamaha has been unwilling to port the bundled software to the Mac platform.

What do you mean exactly when you say "Yamaha has been unwilling to port the bundled software to the Mac platform"?

If I can't use my Motif 8 with the Mac notebook, I need to reconsider this whole project.

My main concern is recording my own voice and using the Yamaha synthesizer to create all the other instruments / sounds that I need. If the bundled software (whatever that means) is not ported, it appears that I may be in big trouble with this setup. Please explain!!!
 
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