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Advice on Setting up a Recording Studio
The amount of info involved seems a bit overwhelming to an old fart like me.
Tried to ask questions on another forum and got zippo so figured I would try a different approach. Here's the background info: I’m an older guy who plays acoustic and electric guitar. Having just moved into a house, I have a dedicated practice room aka fledgling studio. It is climate controlled and the walls are insulated and the ‘clap in the corner’ test sounds pretty ‘dead’ and non-echo-ey to me. I assume this is a good sign. I’m getting old enough that I’m running out of vices, besides GAS, so I’d rather do it right the 1st time and be done. Cry once makes sense to me. GOALS: I want to make recordings for my granddaughter. I would like to be able to do the audio stuff for the videos I take with my digital SLR. Nothing fancy, just some basic stuff (I assume it’s basic) like add narration, background music or edit stuff. I would like to make quality recordings. So based on my ‘vast experience’ of reading stuff on the internet till my eyes bled for the last 2 weeks here are my questions. Feel free to laugh out loud if my ‘instant internet expert’ perspective is way off base. I have iRig stuff, and iPad and Garage Band. I’ve been told by someone with a week’s more experience than me, that upgrading now will better suit my long term goal of quality and ‘cry once’ on gear since I want to add the video soundtrack factor to the equation. Current nominees for gear are: 1. Audient Audio Interface iD22 2. Ultimate Support JS-MS70 Jam Stands Series Studio Monitor Stands 3. Studio monitors being considered are: a. KRK V8 G4 with Kevlar b. KRK RP8 c. Yamaha HS8S d. ADAM Audio A7X The reason I’m going with 8 inch versions is what I read that I won’t need a sub-woofer with 8 inch speakers. Remember the part where I said “based on my vast experience”? Well, feel free to laugh if that’s a silly reason for 8 inch speakers. Which software to use is a difficult choice. What I read indicated that ProTools was the industry standard and had a steep learning curve. I’m OK with that and the cost is not much, if any, of a factor. I don’t know if that is a smart move or not. Part of me says "screw it, stick with the iRig and Garage Band" and part of me does want to get a year down the road and starting over on new gear and new software because it's time to upgrade. Maybe trying to get gear to 'grow into' is dumb, or maybe it's a good idea. Obviously this is a question I'd like to discuss. Feel free to provide recommendations of who you think I should talk with. Thank you in advance for your help. Victor
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Victor Last edited by srick; 05-10-2019 at 11:53 AM. |
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You can budget hundreds to tens of thousands of dollars towards this and the quality of your recordings may vary widely at any price point.
Everyone has their biases about what to do mainly centered around what they have done and what they have bought. By the time you are done listening to all the varying opinions you may well be still lost as to what to do. However browse through the many threads on the topics of interest. Zero in on the people playing the same type of music you are interested in and whose results you like the look and sound of. See what you can pick up there.
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Derek Coombs Youtube -> Website -> Music -> Tabs Guitars by Mark Blanchard, Albert&Mueller, Paul Woolson, Collings, Composite Acoustics, and Derek Coombs "Reality is that which when you stop believing in it, doesn't go away." Woods hands pick by eye and ear
Made to one with pride and love To be that we hold so dear A voice from heavens above |
#3
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Spend money on these two things:
Room treatment - no amount of awesome gear can undo the sound of a bad room Monitors - you can't hear what you can't hear if your room is treated well and you have solid monitors then you will get an accurate picture of what it will sound like elsewhere |
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Mr. Womack - are you out there??
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"One small heart, and a great big soul that's driving" |
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Hello Victor,
I'm a semi-retired classical guitarist who has dabbled in home studio setups going back to the heyday of the Tascam 388 multi-track recorder. About 5 years ago I decided to take the home recording studio idea more seriously and now have a studio that meets my current needs. That said, there are many people on this forum with a GREAT DEAL MORE EXPERTISE than me! Hopefully they'll chime in shortly. So.....I don't want your money but will help as much as I can. The first step many here on the AGF will advise you to take is acoustically treating your recording space. Baffles, wall panels, ceiling panels, etc.. Here's a link to an old thread from this site that addresses the issue from a DIY perspective. https://www.acousticguitarforum.com/...d.php?t=251366 The next critical step is probably choosing a microphone or microphones. In my experience condenser mikes are the way to go but there are so many choices you might want to start with a budget to expedite the search. Your current nominees for audio interface and monitors looks good to me. I have a pair of Adam 7" monitors and they're ideal for my purposes. Having said that I rely as much on my headphones as I do on my monitors, especially during the recording phase. Like microphones the headphone selection is vast. So here again I decided on the budget first then choose the most highly rated set accessible at that price point where I live. Consequently I use Shure SRH 840 headphones most of the time. Perhaps the best advise I can offer at this point is that you should at least consider upgrading to a more fully featured DAW than GarageBand sooner rather than later. While GB does offer some editing options it's very limited compared to many other recording softwares like Logic Pro X which is the most logical step up from GB. At the very least you'll want a DAW that lets you use sends for time based effects (delay, reverb, chorus etc.). I'll follow along as this thread develops. Hope some of my comments are helpful. Good luck! Trevor |
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First step is room treatment. That perspective is VERY useful. I am obviously going to have to do some more research and re-read the linked thread several times. Sure is useful to know to get that taken care of before I start setting up gear. Much thanks for that info.
The point about monitors makes sense. Seems obvious once someone else says it. I am now much more comfortable about why it is worth it to buy really good monitors from the get go. I appreciate the time and effort put forth to help me work this out. Your input is very helpful. Thank you. Keep it coming.
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Victor |
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plus the family will appreciate not having to hear your recordings while you are tweaking the sound of them. My preferred headphone is the Grado 225e.
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Derek Coombs Youtube -> Website -> Music -> Tabs Guitars by Mark Blanchard, Albert&Mueller, Paul Woolson, Collings, Composite Acoustics, and Derek Coombs "Reality is that which when you stop believing in it, doesn't go away." Woods hands pick by eye and ear
Made to one with pride and love To be that we hold so dear A voice from heavens above |
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Whether you need stands depends upon the size of the monitors, the size of the room, and how you plan to layout your gear. Quote:
But here's the thing about monitors... they're a very personal choice. And no matter what monitors you choose, you'll have to learn them. By that I mean you'll have to listen to things you mix on the monitors in other places to uncover how your monitors are lying to your ears. For example, an untreated room tends to have a bit of bass rumble going on. You might mix something in your room and it sounds fine, then listen in your car and it sounds thin because all that bass buildup you're hearing in your room isn't present in the car. And speaking of bass, if all you're recording is acoustic guitar, there's no real need for a subwoofer. The lowest note on the acoustic guitar is about 83Hz. Even the 5" Yamahas will be enough to hear that. If you went with a quality pair of smaller nearfield monitors, you could put them on your mixing desk and use something like the Isoacoustic stands instead of the monitor stands on your list. Quote:
A bit more information would help. As I said earlier, knowing your room dimensions would help, as would having some idea about how you're going to lay out your gear (in a corner, middle of the room, up against a wall, etc). Also, we know what your short terms goals but what are your long term goals? What would you like to eventually be able to produce other than memories for your granddaughter?
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Jim 2023 Iris ND-200 maple/adi 2017 Circle Strings 00 bastogne walnut/sinker redwood 2015 Circle Strings Parlor shedua/western red cedar 2009 Bamburg JSB Signature Baritone macassar ebony/carpathian spruce 2004 Taylor XXX-RS indian rosewood/sitka spruce 1988 Martin D-16 mahogany/sitka spruce along with some electrics, zouks, dulcimers, and banjos. YouTube |
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Jim 2023 Iris ND-200 maple/adi 2017 Circle Strings 00 bastogne walnut/sinker redwood 2015 Circle Strings Parlor shedua/western red cedar 2009 Bamburg JSB Signature Baritone macassar ebony/carpathian spruce 2004 Taylor XXX-RS indian rosewood/sitka spruce 1988 Martin D-16 mahogany/sitka spruce along with some electrics, zouks, dulcimers, and banjos. YouTube |
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Some have mentioned it but I want to reiterate it
You can have loads of great gear and it will not sound as good as, say a Zoom recorder in a great sounding room. here’s a web site that could educate you. You don’t have to spend loads of money on the room but you should put aside some for the basics https://realtraps.com/ Edit....in regards to DAWs...all have some bit of a learning curve, especially if you are new to digital recording. so it might be worth taking online lessons for what ever DAW you choose. I been using calkwalk Sonar for years and it’s now free. But once again there is a bit of a leaning curve if you don’t have any experience setting it up
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David Webber Round-Body Furch D32-LM MJ Franks Lagacy OM Rainsong H-WS1000N2T Stonebridge OM33-SR DB Stonebridge D22-SRA Tacoma Papoose Voyage Air VAD-2 1980 Fender Strat A few Partscaster Strats MIC 60s Classic Vib Strat |
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To reiterate what everyone else has been saying, treating your room some will be the best first step. I am glad I listened to this advice. You can make your own traps or purchase them. I have a combination of both. Real Traps is a great source and I have been pleased doing some business with GIK Acoustics. Getting your room right will go a long way to letting you record with minimal processing afterwards.
This is what my room sounds like now. I made this little demo trying out a particular mic configuration and also to see how the most recent treatment made my room sound. There is no extra processing other than than low and high pass filtering at 100hz and 15k. I wasn’t concerned in this with getting the playing and singing “right”. I was more interested in the sound. https://drive.google.com/file/d/1eUD...w?usp=drivesdk The people here are very friendly and helpful. They will also tell you if something needs improvement but usually can say why and how as well.
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‘97 Taylor 555 12 string ‘17 Martin HD 28 ‘19 Martin CEO 9 ‘20 Gibson 1960 Hummingbird reissue ‘16 Gibson Hummingbird Avant Guard (gigging guitar) Note to self: Never play a guitar you aren’t willing to buy. Last edited by gwlee7; 05-10-2019 at 05:58 PM. |
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Oh here is a picture of some of my homemade bass traps. In the sound clip I posted there are “tuned” soffits in the corners that I purchased from GIK. I haven’t taken a picture since I added them.
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‘97 Taylor 555 12 string ‘17 Martin HD 28 ‘19 Martin CEO 9 ‘20 Gibson 1960 Hummingbird reissue ‘16 Gibson Hummingbird Avant Guard (gigging guitar) Note to self: Never play a guitar you aren’t willing to buy. |