First off, I realize there are any number of home recording gear threads here and elsewhere and I’ve browsed some of them. I’m posting another in the hopes of getting some specific advice around what I might keep doing and what I might do better moving forward when it comes to my very basic home recordings.
First, the gear. For the last six years or so, I’ve been using an Apogee Mic 96k into GarageBand on a 5th-gen iPad. In cases where I want electric tones, which I’ve done sparingly (even more sparingly than my infrequent recordings in general), I’ve been using a first-gen Apogee Jam. I use a set of Audio Technica ATH-M50x for tracking and mixing. I do most of that on the iPad but will sometimes go to the Mac to play with fading in/out tracks. That’s it — that’s my recording setup!
Second, location/environment. I don’t have a dedicated recording space. I’ve recorded in bedrooms, bathrooms, closets, hallways, rooms at work or church, et cetera — one of the things I like about the minimal setup is how portable it is.
I recorded
an album this way, and I’ve used it to record a handful of
Christmas songs each year since as well (some are just quick recordings with my kids, others are less-quick-but-still-quick multi-track takes I’ve done myself). These all sound pretty good all things considered, but as I start thinking about doing another full set of recordings for an album sometime this year, I’m wondering if I should add to or outright replace my existing setup.
One idea is to simply add another Apogee Mic to the setup, maybe even just track down another lightly used or refurbished 96k version like the one I have. This would allow me to, when desired, use the two mics together in GarageBand on Mac as an “aggregate device.”
Another idea is similar to the above setup but with an upgrade of all devices. Go with two new Apogee Mic units — I think it’s the Mic+ and the HypeMic that are the latest — and a new Jam+ so that I’m future-prooofing just a little bit and getting the best available sound quality, as well as the headphone out option for monitoring.
Or I could continue to use my current setup as-is for quick recordings, but move to a more pro and permanent type of setup for recordings I want to spend more time with. This would mean investing in a couple XLR microphones and an interface and perhaps graduating to Logic Pro in terms of software.
There are a few paths to take with that last option in terms of what to go with. Part of me says I could go with a lower-cost pair of mics like Audio Technica 2020/2021 or similar, and a basic interface like Focusrite, or part of me says I might as well start investing in some higher-end microphones and going with an interface from Apogee or Universal Audio.
I guess the final option is to keep going with my current setup.
Or maybe the actual final option is to invest in studio time or with a friend or two that have better gear and better audio engineering skills.
I’m not really in a position where I can dedicate physical space exclusively to practicing and recording — at least in terms of big sound-proofing panels and stuff like that — so that’s a factor for the foreseeable future. Also a temporary factor is the fact that we’re all one big happy family 24/7 thanks to a global plague, so kids are either making noise when they’re awake, or I’m needing to be cautious about making noise when they’re not!
Thoughts? Advice? Suggestions? Curious what your collective wisdom and experience would recommend here or how you might approach this in my shoes.
Thanks!