Home recording help needed.

[freedomfarm]

Joseph, thanks for your input.
I bought the MXL mic for personal use at a radio station. My BR-8 is an "older" one that uses zip disks, obviously it's digital. It has 1/4 inputs for mic's and guitars and RCA "line in" inputs. I have a mic cable that goes from "3 pin" to 1/4" and the mic doesn't work straight into the BR-8 that way (no phantom power). I realized I needed phantom power, so I ran to GC and bought that mixer so I could use the mic. Sounds like my whole setup is off kilter : /
Perhaps there's a better mic I could be using straight into the BR-8 . . . The only other mic I have is a Shure SM57 and I know that's not the answer. I am more than willing to buy the right mic that would skip the mixer/aggravation and give me that deep rich "stand out" presence.

[Fran Guidry]

Originally Posted by freedomfarm

...
I'll try again at levels well under what I have been doing and see how that goes, and see if it "jumps out" enough during the final mix.
Thanks again, Steve H

It would seem that tracking levels and playback volume should be simple, but there are a few reasons why they are not.

First, changes in volume translate through our hearing system as changes in tone, presence, weight, dynamics, intensity, etc. etc. So listening to the same track at different levels gives different impressions.

Second, our reference tracks are almost certainly commercially mastered, which today means they've been heavily post-processed to raise the average output level. Squashed, in other words. Even non-squashed stuff will have a significant bump beyond normal tracking level.

So when listening to a reference track, we need to turn our material up or the reference down so they're playing at the same level. Missing this issue can lead to a lot of headaches. One important idea to get from this - if you want to hear a track louder, turn up the playback volume rather than trying to capture a hotter track.

Fran

[Antipodean Ed]

Originally Posted by celticlofts

I found this good little website on home studio building.. lots of good information and tips ..

http://www.basic-home-recording-studio.com/

Thanks also from me - great tips for a beginner! Ed.

[flier]

Originally Posted by celticlofts

Hey guys i need a little advice here. Basically all i'm looking to do is record some acoustic stuff to my laptop and then add some lead or whatever on top. I'm guessing I need an interface between the guitar and the laptop and what software would you recommend i use to edit it? I'm not looking for anything of professional quality per se, but something that just does the job. Thanks.

I have a zoom H4N. I'm just a home hacker. This little machine is awesome. More than youll need. The onboard mics are pretty impressive for the price. plus its comes bundled with software
good luckd