I'm Making a Home Studio What should I get?
I'm trying to get a nice little home studio going but don't want to spend a ton of money but want it to sound better than just going straight into Cakewalk. I saw a post by 0Dannyboy of a shot of his home studio and am trying to get something like that going on.
I'm using Cakewalk Home Studio 2002 with a GNX3. My sound card on the computer (PC) is just a cheap sound blaster and the line in doesn't work for some reason so I've been using mic in and it's really noisy. Also I have EuroRack MX602A mixer - cheap little 2 channel deal.
I'm just using bass presets on the GNX3 with my 6 string guitar - sounds ok. My speakers that I listen to the finished products on are Boston Acoustics Digital BA735 2 speakers and a sub and after they are turned up over halfway they crackle and make the sound muddy.
Any suggestions and help will be very appreciated! Thanks in advance. You can check out the sounds I'm getting now from the link in my signature below and maybe that will get a better idea of what I need to get.
I'm using Cakewalk Home Studio 2002 with a GNX3. My sound card on the computer (PC) is just a cheap sound blaster and the line in doesn't work for some reason so I've been using mic in and it's really noisy. Also I have EuroRack MX602A mixer - cheap little 2 channel deal.
I'm just using bass presets on the GNX3 with my 6 string guitar - sounds ok. My speakers that I listen to the finished products on are Boston Acoustics Digital BA735 2 speakers and a sub and after they are turned up over halfway they crackle and make the sound muddy.
Any suggestions and help will be very appreciated! Thanks in advance. You can check out the sounds I'm getting now from the link in my signature below and maybe that will get a better idea of what I need to get.
Comments
Sonar
BBE Sonic Maximizer
An EQ plug-in
A multi-band compressor plug-in
Studio Monitors
Condenser mics for acoustics and vocals.
A good soundcard.
Maybe a convolution reverb plug-in.
Midi controller.
Cakewalk Dimension Pro synth software.
EZDrummer software.
If you're considering upgrading, you will want to have a mixer with subgroups and an audio interface with inputs to match. For example, I recently acquired a Presonus Firepod that I use as my primary audio interface. I also got a Behringer SL3242.
This mixer has four subgroups (on balanced connections), two aux sends and two fx sends (all four unbalanced) - this provides me with 8 busses. The Firepod has 8 line inputs, so each bus output is connected to a channel on the Firepod. The mixer also has 4 stereo inputs - those are fed by the 8 analog outputs of the firepod (to channels 25-32). I route all my recording tracks to whatever bus I need, including Master for monitoring.
Behringer's main outs on TRS go to the monitors; main outs on the XLR go to the Eon pair I have. The monitor is actually the Presonus HP4, which has line-outs to go to my near-field monitors, at the same time providing 4 headphone outputs.
Additionally, the Firepod has a digital input. I use this for additional channels in, although in practice this has yet to be necessary. My Korg D1600 (from my early digital recording days) has a digital output - so that's four more XLR and two more TRS inputs, as well as the Korg's drum machine and CD input. This is submixed to inputs 9 and 10 on the Firepod, available only through the digital inputs.
This kind of setup, while reflecting the frugality of my home studio, is very versatile. I never have to unplug anything - only plug in my recording sources. This might be more than you're looking for, but should give you an idea of what kind of expansibility to consider.
I like the idea iliace has with the mixer going into my GNX but not sure which goes into the computer doing it this way - the mixer or the GNX? Or can it only be done one way. I'm a real newb when it comes to recording and the equipment.
I went and checked out all the stuff ACWild wrote and it looks awesome as well.
If anyone wants to hook me up with some cool stuff (just went through a bogus divorce and the music is the only thing keeping me sane) please email me:
brian@expertdesign.cc
I also have a lot of cool stuff in return.
Thanks again!
Sonar Studio/Producer etc
EMU0404 card, EMU1212M card, or Presonus, Focusrite Firewire units.
Focusrite Saffire would also serve as the sound card, plus it has its own internal based plugin and hardware efx. This means less CPU resources are required.
MIDI controller
RAM for your PC.
Another option is Stand-alone- VS 2000cd, DX32 , AW24 etc
These are hard disc recorders with all the essentials including mastering tool kits. There are even cheaper Zoom and Boss units that would yield very very good results as well. Some include a GUI for video monitor and mouse (VS2000cd) which makes the machine work just like any DAW with the exception of it's all hardware. No software required and no latency issues, etc. It's really wysiwyg..
0dannyboy's :roll:
:twisted: -Whackenwood Garage Studio- :twisted:
1 Mackie DFX6 mixer -199.00
1 Mbox recording interface . (USB) 299.00 comes with Protools
1 BBE sonic maximizer (to make my cheap stuff sound better) 150.00
1 pair studio monitors Behringer 230A - 269.00
1 Toshiba Laptop. 899.00
1 Digitech GNX 3 guitar workstation 299.00
1 Digitech Vx400 vocal workstation 249.00
1 BX1 Behringer condenser Mic - for vocals 99.00
1 Boss DR-3 Drum machine 169.00
I have a PA I intergated into the mix for live practises and ok I keep adding as I go along ( I just picked up a headphone amp and a Tubepre and hope to upgrade to the firewire version of my Mbox next year)..but thats just extras. and once you start you will always be trying to upgrade this and that but thats half the fun. but I digress thats my guts of the recording system I put together for cheap. I mix that with a few decent ideas and a lot of fun and you get a home (garage) studio. Oh yea its portable too. I can take my GNX3 and Mbox and laptop to friends and record wherever. So hope that helps fuel your Ideas about putting together your own version.
:oops: I did not get this all at once either. :roll: I know most of the stuff is pretty cheap but I am not made of disposable cash
so plug you guitar into your GNX
the GNX into the mixer
your mixer into your BBE
your bbe into your Mbox
your mbox into your computer
your speakers into the back of the Mbox and
TADA your good to go. :twisted: RAWKON!
Just my 2 cents . :roll:
1.) Figure out how to use the usb ports to record your guitar.
2.) Try out some demo vst audio fx like eq, compressors, bbe .. etc, to liven up the recordings and make that thick chorus distored lead blend better.
The fist thing I'm going to do is get some speakers like odannyboy but the cheaper ones for like $129. Then I'm going for an mbox for the soundcard would like to go firewire but will just go USB for now because of the price - also included with a lot of the soundcards I see on eBay is a lot of cool software like compressors and sonic maximizers. Then it will be a few months before I buy anything else - just a little at a time. I saw in this months Guitar World if you buy Sonar it comes with the mbox with some cool software also, so I might check into that.
I wish I could hit the super lotto and just go into GC and buy the top of the line stuff! I'm sure everyone on these boards would love that!
Thanks for all your posts - very helpfull!!!!!