Bedroom studio

briancarr82

Hey All,

I'm looking to setup a small home studio for recording demos on. Something relatively simple will do me perfect!!! I play in a band and write a lot of songs so it's basicall for recording demos.

Has anyone got any tips as to what software or hardware i will need. I have a windows 7 laptop, and anll the bands gear required for playing live.

Help is much appreciated !!!!!

the_barfly1

Hey man. I record demos with the band I'm in on a Pro Tools Mbox with just two input channels.
I use our live desk to do a mix on the drums (shure pg drum mics and a 57 on el snare'o, two bog standard Sennheiser E835 vocal mics as overheads) and output the L&R channels and add a bit of EQ and compression in Pro Tools to dickie it up a bit.
Then DI the bass guitar, use an SM57 and a large diaphragm condenser (6ft away) on guitars and the same condenser to do vocals, and the result aren't half bad like here http://soundcloud.com/dogstarshine/love-the-burn

Its all down to what gear you have already and how much you're willing to spend but it can be done cheap enough!

You should also ask this over in the Music Production forum for a few more suggestions

Malice

the_barfly1 wrote: »

You should also ask this over in the Music Production forum for a few more suggestions

I've moved this to the Music Production forum. Cross-forum posting is not allowed.

briancarr82

has anyone any experience with using the boss br 800

just been doing a bit of research online, looks pretty cool

the_barfly1

they're not too bad, used a br1200 for a while a few years ago until the guitarist plugged in the wrong power cable and fried the pcb, not bad kit if you're just looking for some home demo'ing...

roast

http://www.thomann.de/ie/focusrite_saffire_6_usb.htm

Excellent value for what you get. Quality interface with great pre-amps.
This combined with some nice monitors (KRK Rokits maybe) would be the start of an ideal home studio setup.

rcaz

briancarr82 wrote: »

Has anyone got any tips as to what software or hardware i will need. I have a windows 7 laptop, and anll the bands gear required for playing live.

You'll need an audio interface, that converts the audio signal to a digital one. Have a look at the kind of gear on sale here and you'll get a feel for prices and features. if you don't mind recording one track at a time with lots of overdubs you can get away pretty cheap - if you want to record a band playing all together, or a full acoustic drum kit (it's a lot of fun, but just know going in that it's REALLY difficult to get drum sounds in your gaff, unless you're really lucky to have a gaff that has a great-sounding, specially treated drum room...), look at 8-input interfaces. I have a PreSonus Firestudio Project, for the price it's really class.

For software, you're looking for a DAW (Digital Audio Workstation - handy acronym for googling ), you've got loads of choices. I reckon give REAPER a go, you can get an uncrippled unlimited 'trial' version for free download, or pay like €60 or whatever for a license for it. It's really good software, really powerful - a lot of really experienced pros will use it for all their stuff. I know The Flashbulb/Benn Jordan says it's his favourite DAW.

Then you'll need microphones and stands and cables and whatever else you need to actually pick up the sound. Mic choice is a big subject that I don't know much about, and it's very specific to what you're recording, so spend some time looking into that!

So if you get a microphone, an interface, and DAW, you're ready to get going with recording! The most important thing after that is patience and practice! But the MOST important thing is to have fun - people always get stressed or nervous or frustrated or whatever with this stuff - pfft, just make some ****ing deadly music!

travis1976

Hi Brian,
try Audacity, it's a free multitrack recording software. It's very handy for quick recording and editing. It supports multi format uploads and will export in mp3, ogg and wav, as well as others. Also you can use vsts with it. And best of all it's free....... You could get started with a crappy mic and a free download. or better still a usb interface. I've had a lot of fun with it before I bought my 8 track.

briancarr82

would i then use a software package with this interface?

roast

briancarr82 wrote: »

would i then use a software package with this interface?

Yes indeed.

Personally, I use Cubase AI4.

You could use whatever you want, and spend whatever you want, but I would highly recommend to try out Reaper which gives you a generous evaluation trial, and features that are worth far more than the $60 they charge. When it runs out of evaluation, you can also continue using it indefinitely with no restrictions to the features (bar a splash screen on startup) if you prefer.

briancarr82

http://www.thomann.de/ie/focusrite_saffire_6_usb_recording_bundle.htm

Would i be as well off go for the focusrite as a package/bundle or just buy them separate over a period of time?

spiderjazz

I've been building up gear recently for recording my own stuff at home, and I currently have a Focusrite Saffire 6 and Yamaha HS50m's. I use reaper as my daw, as the lads said there's an unlimited free trial, and it's pretty cheap to buy a license outright for it.

If you're planning on doing demo's for songwriting etc. it could be worth picking up something like ezdrummer. That would give you drums without having to worry about miking anything up.

For recording guitar/bass, there's load of option for software modellers, many of which are free.

briancarr82

cool serup spiderjazz,

was just looking and there's a focusrite saffire pro 24 going cheaper than the saffire 6 usb on ebay

Would i be aswell off go for that?

Whats the difference? Excude my ignorance peeps :-)

spiderjazz

You have more inputs and outputs on it, so it will let you record more stuff at the same time. It's firewire rather than USB as well, so make sure you have a firewire connection on your PC. If you can get it cheaper, then I can't see why you shouldn't get it over the saffire 6, just make sure you include delivery costs in your overall price, as well as duty if it applies.

briancarr82

Ended up going for the focusrite saffire usb 6 so am waiting for it to arrive....
I've downloaded reaper, has anyone any good sites for demos/tutorials on both the usb 6 and reaper?
Brand new to recording by myself and trying to get some good tips

mkegvn

Youtube is your friend!

briancarr82

hi,

i purchased the focusrite saffire 6 usb, has anyone got any idea where i could get some decent info for a beginner on this. Sure there's a user manual with it, but i've no idea what a a lot of the explained functionality means for all the little switches on the front panel. Can't find anything on youtube that explains the ins and outs of the unit