Spend Money on Mics or Save for 'Real' Studio

[islandguitar]

Originally Posted by DoryDavis

Recording at home, then having it mixed and mastered is the best of both worlds. What little you might gain from the acoustics in a pro studio is well offset by convenience, and the economic advantage of recording at home (you can take as long as you like).
Use effects to record if you like, but don't record the effects. Put them just in your headphones. Decent mics plus common sense recording techinques plus of course your good playing will provide the mix/master studio the raw footage to make into something really special. imho

I have worked sending files of home recordings with a separate mix/master engineer and been very pleased.
One option:

www.mixandmastermysong.com

Matty is really excellent and responds quickly to questions. His turnaround time is also stellar. He's in California.

[rick-slo]

The main thing I have heard on before and after mastering solo guitar (at least online stuff) an increase in loudness. Not much else. Get the best recording going in.
Do some experimental post tweaking (mainly EQ and reverb) to see if you have something workable. If so, then, just maybe, send out the raw recording and see if
they can do better than you.

[rockabilly69]

Like others have said, a lot has to do with the room you record in at home. And you really don't know what you're going to get from recording in a "Pro" studio unless you actually do it. At very least you need to see if that pro has recorded the type of music that you are doing, and does he have the type of equipment/environment that will bring out the best in your playing. If it's a good place, and if you have your playing down, you could knock out quite a few songs in a short while, so the expense shouldn't be that much.

Buying high end microphones is a crap-shoot. You can go down a pretty expensive rabbit hole looking for the mics that work for you. But on the other hand, once you find what you like, you can record as many times as you like with them. You could also rent high end microphones to see if they work in your environment, either in your home, or in the hall you rent.

Funny, I went through exactly what you are going through now, and, I went so far to audition a lot of rooms to find a great natural sound for recording acoustic guitars. Now I rent a space in an historic building that sounds exactly like what I was looking for. I record a few other musicians once in a while to help pay the rent.

[Jack Orion]

Originally Posted by Ty Ford

Sounds fine, Jack.

I'm using Audio-Technica ATH-e70 in-ears on a late model MacBopok Pro right at the moment. The ATH-e70 are relatively new for me and (I think) are a little bright. What guitar? What strings? Mine's a 19870s D28s with mediums, so not quite so bright.

I don't know what your guitar sounds like "in person." It sounds more Taylor than Martin. I think you have a fine recording FOR YOUR PURPOSES.

Nice playing, nice piece.

Yes, you can get different "colors" with different recording setups. Yes, as mentioned, during mastering, I think someone could smooth the brightness, if indeed my ATH-e70 are not lying to me.

Well Done!

Regards,

Ty Ford

Hi Ty - the guitar is a Collings OM2hT with Daddario EJ16s - on this recording they were probably about 3 weeks old.

Originally Posted by rockabilly69

Like others have said, a lot has to do with the room you record in at home. And you really don't know what you're going to get from recording in a "Pro" studio unless you actually do it. At very least you need to see if that pro has recorded the type of music that you are doing, and does he have the type of equipment/environment that will bring out the best in your playing. If it's a good place, and if you have your playing down, you could knock out quite a few songs in a short while, so the expense shouldn't be that much.

Buying high end microphones is a crap-shoot. You can go down a pretty expensive rabbit hole looking for the mics that work for you. But on the other hand, once you find what you like, you can record as many times as you like with them. You could also rent high end microphones to see if they work in your environment, either in your home, or in the hall you rent.

Funny, I went through exactly what you are going through now, and, I went so far to audition a lot of rooms to find a great natural sound for recording acoustic guitars. Now I rent a space in an historic building that sounds exactly like what I was looking for. I record a few other musicians once in a while to help pay the rent.

That's a good idea re: renting a space - I'd really like to find somewhere that I could rent at a reasonable price in order to have a recording setup permanently set up as it's a faff having to set up and break down everytime I want to record something...

[Ty Ford]

Originally Posted by Jack Orion

Hi Ty - the guitar is a Collings OM2hT with Daddario EJ16s - on this recording they were probably about 3 weeks old.

light, medium?

[Jack Orion]

Originally Posted by Ty Ford

light, medium?

12-53, CGCFCD tuning

[rockabilly69]

Originally Posted by Jack Orion

That's a good idea re: renting a space - I'd really like to find somewhere that I could rent at a reasonable price in order to have a recording setup permanently set up as it's a faff having to set up and break down everytime I want to record something...

Here's the space I found right after moving in. What you can't see in the picture is that's a pretty big room, enough to record bands, and I have a few sound deadening panels that I move around to isolate instruments from each other. Most of all I can just walk in and push record when I'm in the mood. I always have microphones set up for me (covers on them when I'm not there), and templates set up in my computers DAW that make it really easy for me to get recording...