Topic: Home studio recording on a mild budget????

[Evil Taper]

Hey, I know this isn't the kind of thing normally discussed here but I'm wondering what people think is good home recording gear.

Say you have $1500 to spend MAX and you have nothing yet purchased besides your instruments, what would you buy?

Things to consider are:

Vocal Mic
Drum Mics
Mixing Board
Signal Processing

[Evil Taper]

That's not a recording setup though, just a recording device.  I don't know that I'd opt for a mag reel though...althoughhhhhh 70s recordings sound better than any other studio recordings in history.

[jnorman34]

i think you should start by deciding which platform you want to work with.  generally, studio work requires a lot of capability in terms of flawless punching in and out, editing capacity, the ability to build tempo maps, easy, logical control of effects, panning, volume, eq, etc.   many people these days of course use DAWs, which can be quite powerful, though to set up an easy to use DAW involves much more than just a computer - you need a control surface that often costs more than the computer.  as well as a high-quality interface - mic pres and converters - that also can cost a LOT of money, as most of the little interfaces do not include studio quality preamps.  there are some stand-alone boxes that are worth considering such as the roland VS-2480 and 2400 and others, yamaha and akai.  those can get you a long way there with nothing but a good external preamp (actually the pres in the new 2480 are quite an improvement over the earlier versions, and are useable on all but the most critical acoustic applications.)   you can pick up a good used VS1880 or so for just a few hundred bucks these days that gives you very nice effects, good control surface, okay EQ, and ease of use.  a small external mixer like a mackie can provide all the routing you  need for monitoring, additional gear like a CD player to AB your work, etc, without ever being part of the signal chain.

the other primary thing to consider is the space where you will be recording.  this is likely the single most important aspect of the final result of your work - a poor space will really hinder you in acheviing pro results, and is a hard beast to conquer.   a good place to start for a vocal mic might be the rode NTK tube mic or AT4050 (i sold my neumann TLM103s when i got a pair of NTKs), though there are lots of decent choices these days.  i am big on simple drum micing setups - i like a 4-mic arrangment with a D112 on kick, sm57 on snare and an ORTF pair of OHs - any good pair of SD condernsers will usually work here, though some hyped mics can give you too much cymbal sizzle - eith go with flatter mics, or keep them well off axis.   

[wbrisette]

I'm just going to toss this in. When looking at LD mics for vocals or instrumentation on a budget, don't forget about AudioTechnica. The right AT Mics can sound leagues better than a lot of the Chinese knock-offs. In many cases you might be better served picking up some AT 3030 mics and spending a couple of hundred dollars than spending $100 or so for less expensive and inferior mics.

Wayne

[heath]

Definite truth in that!!  I can't tell you how many times I've pulled the 4033 from the closet, and I've NEVER been unhappy with it! 

definitely chek out this thread for multitrack discussion!   

http://taperssection.com/index.php?topic=36201.msg480748#msg480748

[Patrick]

Firepod (firewire interface, 8 channels, 0 latency, 24 bit, sweeeet) - ~$800?


An Apple computer, which comes with the new version of Garage Band - ~$1300

That'll get you going nicely.

[Evil Taper]

What about garage sound?

[Evil Taper]

Well really I'm just putting together some thoughts for my next move.  I'm gonna try to set asside at least 1000 for some new home audio shit.  Here's what will be in the studio:

Electric and acoustic guitars and amps
Epiphone thunderbird electric bass, ashbury fretless bass and amps
Roland JX-8P Analog Synthesizer
Roland MC-505 Groovebox
Gemini XL500II Turntables and Behringer DJX-700 Mixer
5 piece drum kit with 6 cymbals
PC

So I guess I just really need a mixing board and a set of studio mics.

[Patrick]

and a kick ass sound card, and a firewire interface, and a clean power amp for you monitors, and a pair of sonically flat studio monitors, and sound isolation foam, and oxygen free gold connector monster or equivalent cabling, and some outboard processors, and some headphone amps, and....

in closing, ymmv, but that's alot more than $1000

making a half decent home studio is much more intricate than running mic in to your PC, or even using a Sound Blaster sound card... Believe me I have tried just about every home recording studio technique there is.  You get what you pay for.

[heath]

and oxygen free gold connector monster or equivalent cabling,

f monster.  they are scumbags.  most studios I know that run monster are pulling it out at their own expense out of pocket because of their shenanigans.  That company is garbage with all their frivolous lawsuits...  I will never buy another monster cable again, and I urge you all to do the same.

h

[phrazelle]

with the mild budget thing, you should just get a studio in a box type thing.  i would hold back on the board slightly to obtain better mics.  you can run a akg c1000 into the 1/8" mic input on a laptop and it will sound better than a nady cm-88 through a phat p/a. 

i used to own a vm-3100 pro from roland, and it did any and everything i would want a board to do.  it even came with logicRPC and i think i paid like 900 for the package new.  you could get it off of ebay for a lot cheaper. 

bottom line in a home/professional studio is, just like live taping, if you want it to sound really good, dont cheap out on the mics.(now that ive said that, ignore my signature  )

[Evil Taper]

I've run the MXL 990 into a Behringer Tube Pre and liked the sound for the money.  For vocals it gets the job done and costs little.  The drum mics are what will kill me though.

[phrazelle]

I've run the MXL 990 into a Behringer Tube Pre and liked the sound for the money.  For vocals it gets the job done and costs little.  The drum mics are what will kill me though.

the previous setup i was using was mxl 993(mono) -> behringer mic100 -> da20 mkII

it wasnt bad, but it could have been a lot better.  i am impressed with the dual mxl 993's -> wmod ua-5 -> pmd-670 though.  granted, i would like better mics, but like you said, for the $$ they arent bad.