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This
is the second installment in a series
for overcoming the newbie blues
for setting up a home recording
studio. In this article we will
expand on prioritizing your studio
and getting the most bang for your
buck. |
In
the previous article I advised the new
player to first buy a computer and the
associated recording/sequencing software
as the heart of their new music studio.
Now that you have gotten your computer
and began to familiarize yourself with
its operation you are probably growing
a bit bored—what else do you need
to further build your studio up?
Actually,
it's not so much a question of what
you need, because by now you will have
noticed that you need about everything
under the sun, it's a matter of what
you should get first. In order to do
this you need to define exactly what
your studio is going to be used for,
your resources available, budget confinements,
and space to house your studio.
It
would be impossible for me to offer
universal advice that is applicable
in every case, however I believe that
I can help a new player clarify the
questions they should be asking themselves.
The
main point that I am advocating is PLANNING,
PLANNING and more PLANNING.
You should know long in advance exactly
what you need, what you can or will
pay, what order you are going to buy
it in, and so on. By having a good plan
and sticking to it you will alleviate
the cost and time waste of playing the
'gear recycling' game... as well as
the hassles of buying and selling equipment
every other week.
Here
are a few tips for planning your studio:
STUDIO
USE
The first thing you should
ask yourself is what is your
studio going to be used for primarily?
If your intentions are to record a lot
of live instruments such as mic'd guitars
and drums the biggest difficulty that
you will encounter (and it's a big one,
let me tell you) is the physical space
to house the instruments and the expense
and labor of creating a pleasing acoustic
space to record them in. Trust me, a
good fifty percent of the reason professional
drums sound good when recorded is due
to the room ambience they were recorded
in. This costs a lot of money.
Another
difficulty of recording live instruments
is purchasing quality microphones and
preamps. Monitoring can become an issue
in smaller project studios as well as
you will probably need multiple headphones
out to go to the performers. Don't skimp
on the headphones either; they should
be high fidelity and have no sound leakage
from the "cans" at all. Don't
understimate how sensitive a recording
studio can be as leakage from headphones
can easily end up on a track, especially
when recording vocals.
Knowing
what your studio is for is more
important than knowing how to
use it... at least in the initial
stages.
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If
your needs are modest, such as a drum
machine, a couple of synthesizers and
maybe a sampler, then worrying about
acoustics isn't as large of an issue
except when recording vocals. Instead
you should focus on getting the equipment
appropriate for your sounds. Research
what instruments produce your favorite
types of sounds and try to buy those.
Remember the rule of synths: one great
synth is worth ten good synths, and
one good synth is worth one hundred
bad synths. Whether or not a synth is
good or not depends on YOUR personal
tastes, regardless of what others say
(unless it is the Fizmo... j/k).
If
your intention is to have mainly a small
project studio you should generally
buy equipment of relatively equal quality.
It doesn't do you any good to have expensive
microphones if your preamp sucks and
vise-versa.
RESOURCES
AVAILABLE
One thing often overlooked by newbies
are the resources that they have already
available that they can put to use.
If you live near a medium sized college
chances are that they have a recording
studio that you may be able to use on
occasion, even if you have to sneak
in or 'get to know' somebody. If you
have the opportunity to gain any experience
in an actual recording studio, even
if it is just to observe, do so immediately.
You will learn more in a few days in
an actual studio than you ever will
reading about recording. Take note to
what the engineer does and what equipment
does what, what seems to be more useful
and so on. Before you know it you won't
need articles like this anymore.
Another
good resource are friends that are fellow
musicians. Ask to borrow a synth overnight
to record a track with, swap gear, have
them sit in on your sessions and sit
in on theirs. Make sure you trust them
with your equipment (obviously) if you
intend to do a temporary gear swap.
You can vastly expand your palette of
tones available for no cost.
This
is possibly the best advice: work
with other people. Try asking other
musicians to play in your sessions.
If you know a guitarist, but you can't
play, invite them down to record them
on your track. Let them know what you
want and see if it works out. It will
be fun for both parties and may result
in unforeseen creativity being stimulated;
who knows, you could end up collaborating
on a project. Offer your musical skills
to other people you know. Ask if someone
wants to mix or master your recordings—try
to get other people involved and involve
yourself with other musicians.
Resources
can be found all over the place: friends,
someone you meet at a club, other bands,
classmates. If you are constantly on
the prowl for new musical resources
you will find them. Personally, I'm
always on the lookout for new musical
resources and within short notice I
have access to probably fifteen synthesizers
other than my own, numerous bassists
and guitarists, acoustic guitars, studio
engineers, mixing engineers, recording
engineers and so on.
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Designing
a studio would be easy if you
had an unlimited budget.
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BUDGET
For music equipment everything is
relative to the amount of money you
have to spend on it. However, it is
becoming more and more possible to produce
quality recordings with cheaper equipment.
If your budget isn't impressive don't
despair; most of audio recording depends
on the user's skill and not the quality
of the equipment. Granted, don't expect
a professional sound on a low quality
analog four-track... but with a modern
computer recording set up it is very
possible to have a professional product.
The
biggest thing that budget will determine
for you is how much stuff you will own
that you don't really use. Truth is
in most large personal studios (or professional)
a majority of the gear goes unused for
most sessions. Buy things that you are
going to use, and avoid gimmicky equipment
that has a limited use.
One
way you can save money is to buy used
gear. Another is to cut down on the
amount of synthesizers or other instruments
that you have. Honestly, do you really
need to own five guitars? Or nine synthesizers?
Or have two samplers? However, if you
are going to limit the number of instruments
in your setup to save money I recommend
buying versatile and powerful synths.
Remember the saying: "I'm
not rich enough to buy cheap"...
well it applies to your instruments
as well. Just remember that a single
musical instrument that sounds good
and inspires you will replace many others,
and will ultimately save you money.
Precisely
what your setup needs depends on your
tastes, but the basics that you will
need to record include:
-Computer:
plus associated recording/sequencing
hardware
-Audio inputs and outputs
-Monitoring subsystem: speakers
and mixer
-Instruments: real or virtual
(software)
-MIDI control unit (for synth
geeks)
-Microphone (optional: for vocals
or other instruments
Focus
on obtaining these essentials first.
Consider everything else, such as fancy
effects, limited but interesting synthesizers,
and so on until after you have created
your basic setup and became familiar
with it.
SPACE
AVAILABLE
Be realistic with the amount of
physical space you can dedicate to your
studio. You do NOT want to have
to set up and tear down your equipment
every time that you use it. Try to get
the largest space possible, with the
best ventilation possible, that is as
quiet as possible, and as convenient
as possible for everyone that you live
with. Try to chose a space that will
make it comfortable to set your equipment
up with enough room to get behind it
to reconfigure cables and connections.
Likewise, consider the location of your
monitor speakers—is there a good
place to put them for optimal sound?
If
you intend on recording quality vocals
creating some type of dead space is
a must. Try to improvise a vocal booth
using a small closet that has been treated
with audio foam; at worst, try to have
a corner that you can hang blankets
from to isolate the sound as best as
possible.
In
general one of the things that seperates
a good studio from a great studio is
the quality and amount of space available.
Right now my studio is of ample size
but the windows and doors are sort of
in my way; in fact, I'm completely blocking
the door to the upstairs attic with
a stack of synths... very inconvenient
when we have to go up there, but the
best I could do. Try to spot and work
around your limitations in the space
you are going to be working in. Build
or buy studio furniture that houses
your computer, instruments, monitors
and has space for later improvement.
You can make a small space very effective
if you plan it out correctly.
WHAT
YOU DON'T NEED
Most of this article I've been telling
you what you need, now I'm going to
switch gears and tell you what you don't
need. If you have followed the advice
of the first
article you will have obtained
a computer as the basis of your studio.
By using a computer and software you
can effectively have the following capabilities:
recording, sequencing, effects (as plug-ins),
sampling and a wide degree of percussion
and synthesizer instruments. This is
a hugely powerful array of capacity
with just a computer and eliminates
the need for a number of things.
A
lot of musical equipment considered
indespensible a decade ago is
easily duplicated in software.
Do yourself a favor and skip it
for now.
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The
very first thing that you don't need
and should avoid are fancy effects processors
and multi-effects units. You have plug-ins
and software effects that are non-destructive.
This can wait until much later. Even
important recording effects like EQ
and compressing can take a backseat
for a few months until you have gotten
your bearings a bit better.
You
don't really need a sampler, there are
many software options out there that
offer equal performance at a pittance
of the price. Consequently, you don't
really need a ROMPLER synthesizer type
either, as a well-equipped sample library
will have all of the bread and butter
sounds you need.
You
don't need hugely powerful and large
studio monitors. Near and mid-field
monitors work fine and are the standards
that most professionals use. Stick with
something small and precise rather than
go for something that looks and sounds
impressive.
You
don't need 24 channels and 8 auxilary
busses worth of mixer. Find a good sounding,
quiet mixer with about 16 channels and
try to find one used. Both Allen &
Heath and Mackie make quality mixers
that have excellent preamps on many
of the models... and these preamps will
dramatically effect the sound quality
of your music, especially vocals.
If
you get a mixer equipped with a good
preamp you won't need to buy one for
your vocal lines. Don't worry about
a good preamp until after you've decked
your studio out with more instruments
and effects, then get a preamp.
Don't
bother to spend hundreds of dollars
soundproofing your room, it will have
very little effect. Later on, when you've
gotten everything else, you can take
the time to do this. However, study
the subject as you don't have to cover
every inch of ceiling or wall space
to improve the sound of a room. Much
of this relies on proper speaker placement
anyways; and it is a lot cheaper to
move your speakers than it is to buy
a room's worth of Auralex foam.
Don't
buy a ton of synthesizers or other instruments.
Buy a few good (read: expensive) synthesizers
that produce the types of sounds you
want. If you play guitar buy a versatile
guitar that can produce a wide range
of tones as well as an amp that is equally
versatile.
By
carefully planning out your studio based
on your needs and expectations you can
build up a quality studio for less money
and less time. Know what you want and
what you can afford and make sure to
make each purchase count.
Until
the next time,
James Meeker
