studio setups

These forums have been extremely educational. I would like to ask those of you who may be like me in that your recording is mainly limited to a small mix of few instruments (keybds, vocals, guitar) what your home studio setup consists of. I have been using an older mixer, as I thought it would be logical, but the more I have been instructed via this forum, I wonder if it is really necessary to even have, perhaps I should just be utilizing preamps between my instruments and pc. Perhaps the mixer just complicates the signal? So, for you who are not necessarily in the career of sound recording but are the successful hobbyists. Please let me know your setups. I have so much to learn and this forum has been excellent!

Thanks!

Ken

I got into this as an off-shoot of doing live sound and recording at church. It was a way for me to 'practice' if you will, and it has turned into a very nice hobby.

When we started, I was just trying to get sound into the PC. I used a $5.00 mic from Walmart, a SoundBlaster card and regular computer speakers. As time went on, we slowly changed/upgraded as finances and learning would allow. First was the sound card, changing to a M-Audio 2496. Next came a small Behringer mixer, the Eurorack 802A (which they no longer make). After that it was two microphone upgrades; a Samson C01 condensor and a Shure SM58 (each one is under $100). Then came the monitors, Edirol MA-10D (about $150 IIRC). This is pretty much the setup we have now. We did recently get a M-Audio FastTrack USB interface for the laptop, so we can take it on vacation and have fun.

There are other things you will need as well. Cables, adapters, stands, etc. There is also the 'requirement' to get at least several books (and regular forum visitors know Scott Garrigus' Sonar series is a requirement). Then we added/upgraded instruments as well (our mandolin was upgraded for about $1500, plus an electric guitar, autoharp and soon a new dulcimer). Lastly, software is always a moving target. And we hope to upgrade computer hardware in the near future as well.

Don't think you need to get everything at once, or that you have to buy the most expensive thing out there. You can make decent recordings that your family and friends can enjoy. The main thing is for you to get enjoyment out of it. Remember, its music. Its supposed to be fun!

Ken,

I wouldn't trade my mixer for anything. Even though they have some pretty cool monitoring on sound cards these days, you can't beat the zero latency from a mixer IMO.
As your setup grows, you can still use it as your central routing device.

I use 2 firepods with my setup. I also have 2 eurekas that I'll use on bass and vocals. I certainly don't need anymore than that any time soon. I might want more, but I sure don't need it.

Erik

Keep em coming folks! Great help to me. LOL, Mandolinpicker, I actually also have the Eurorack802a! Seems to work for now. My question further on this regarding vocals...is the built in preamp in the mixer enough, or should I ad on a better pre for vocal coloring? all are welcome to respond. Also Mandolin, please see my question regarding setup since you have same mixer. Thanks!

Ken

ORIGINAL: kenmuzteach

Question for Mandolin picker

Yes sir, what can I help you with?

Yeah, i try to keep my home studio as simple as possible.

I mainly track guitars, bass, keys and vocals...all my drums are programmed.

Anyway, i too used to have a mixer but ended up getting rid of it because it was big and noisy...and eventually 12 of the 15 channels stopped working. Really the only reason i was using it was because i was tired of always connecting and disconnecting my instruments from my sound card. This way i was able to just leave everything plugged in. But now that i have my Presonus Firepod, (has 8 xlr inputs on the front) i can get the same result and skip the mixer all together. The Firepod also has many line outs, spidif, main outs for monitors and cue out for headphones...great little unit for the money!!

wow, what a nice setup you have. I'm just starting obviously and have wires everywhere! where can you get desk equip like that for specific home studio with limited space (bedroom)? Also, what means do you all suggest for drums for a non-drummer? I tried beatcraft but don't have the patience to mathematically figure everything out for each pattern, especially when I don't want to be boring. I'm not a fan of session drummer either for the same reason.

Thanks!

Thank you ken!

Yeah, the desk was $199 from Guitar Center over here in san diego, and the cool thing about it besides the 2x 4 rack space is the cable tray in the back. i used to have a huge freak'n spider web of cables and wires, but now theyre all nice and tucked in along the tray. =)

as far as drums go, i do all my drum programming with Drum Kit from hell 2. i use it as a soft synth insert and use the midi piano roll to draw in my hits. i used to use reasons redrum....i had that rewired to sonar, then moved to battery 2...then went back to redrum...then finally got dfh2 and never looked back. the drum samples are amazing!!!

ORIGINAL: dantesjuice

Thank you ken!

Yeah, the desk was $199 from Guitar Center over here in san diego, and the cool thing about it besides the 2x 4 rack space is the cable tray in the back. i used to have a huge freak'n spider web of cables and wires, but now theyre all nice and tucked in along the tray. =)

as far as drums go, i do all my drum programming with Drum Kit from hell 2. i use it as a soft synth insert and use the midi piano roll to draw in my hits. i used to use reasons redrum....i had that rewired to sonar, then moved to battery 2...then went back to redrum...then finally got dfh2 and never looked back. the drum samples are amazing!!!

+1 on DFH, great product and sounds. I also used to use Redrum to program my drums but with DFHS that is a thing of the past. You can use Sonar's PRV or just input the notes via your keyboard controller (whichever is better for you). HTH.

yeah man, i totally know how it is to be stuck with so many questions or being able to do the same thing 100 different ways and get the same end result.

if you really like the audio samples in your keyboard, then use them. for me, i track my drums first, then guitars, synth, then bass. when i track synth, i use the roland softsynth that comes with sonar, or the pentagon. but you can draw the midi hits in the piano roll, then assign midi out to your keyboards midi in, then use your audio out from your keyboard into your sound card. that way when the timeline moves over the hit, it will send the signal to your keyboard and your keyboard will send out the audio to your sound card into sonar.

anyway, as far as drums go. if you like the feel of using the keyboard, you can use your keyboard to trigger your drum samples as well. basicly once its set up, when you hit one of the keys, it will draw the hit in the piano roll. then when you play back, the midi hits will trigger your drum sampler...ie...dfh2, bfd, and so on.

Thanks so much! Do you use a compressor? If so, is it best before input (using hardware) or utilizing sonars after the recording?

ORIGINAL: kenmuzteach

Thanks so much! Do you use a compressor? If so, is it best before input (using hardware) or utilizing sonars after the recording?

Although you'll probably get a lot of answers (about a million, all different), that's really too broad a question to be answered directly. Kinda like asking, should I use a guitar and if so, is electric better or acoustic? Should I play an E chord or an A chord? It's all about horses for courses.

OTOH maybe the answer is 42...

I use a mixer for routing, pre-amps, mixing and control surface. The mixer is routed into a MOTU2408 mk3 via 3 TDIF cables so I get 16 buss out , 24 in at 48/24bit. I've used this set up for going on 2 years now and am very happy with it. Being an "old school" engineer who learned on analog tape (cassettes to 2") I prefer the hands on aspects afforded by this setup. It ain't perfect, but for perfection you can spend 50k-200K on a pro-tools icon rig. I do this for fun in my tiny 10X10 converted bedroom studio. I find it amazing the amount of power available for a few grand compared to when I started in 1979 with a Teac 3340 4 track.

ORIGINAL: dantesjuice

Yeah, i try to keep my home studio as simple as possible.


Yeah! I wish I could keep my desk that tidy! Man I have lyric scratchpads, chord scratchpads, manuals, even lottery tickets! Kudos to you Mr. Clean!