Laptop Studio for Small Group Acoustic Music

dervishmusic · 15th December 2006

Greetings to all on this excellent forum. I have been lurking for a week or so and have learned a lot, thanks to all of you. But, finally, I've decided to jump in and see what advice you might offer me directly.
I am a double bass player and I play solo and small group acoustic music: jazz, Hungarian/Romanian, Klezmer, Appalachian, Flamenco, New Orleans, Cajun, Zydeco etc etc. Usually the groups I play with are sonically traditional, recording straight to mic, often in the same room. I also have a great desire to record a number of solo bass pieces. I would also like the option of recording a small group together, say, five instruments at once.
I recently purchased a Macbook Pro with the intel 2.33 ghz processor, 2G Ram, 160G drive with the intent of making a small, somewhat portable, home studio. I have very little experience on this end of the recording progress, and for the sake of this post, let's say none. I have been saving up for an interface, software and mics. Originally I thought I would go with the Motu Traveler with DP but, the more I read, the more I wonder if this is the best choice for my application. Pro tools looks very appealing to me as well. I also will be needing some mics and I would like to start with my bass mics. I have looked into Neumann U87 (alittle out of range), Gefell 930 and the Pearlman MT1.
So, big question I know, what should I get and why? Any thoughts, advice or experience would be very welcome. I have included my myspace url below to give you a better idea of the music I play.

Here it is:http://www.myspace.com/jasonsypher

Thanks,
Jason

Devina · 19th January 2007

http://www.woodwormmusic.com/

nice place for a studio

robd · 22nd January 2007

This will probably not be a popular reply here, but here goes. If you want to do the whole multiple micing/mixing mastering thing, that is great, but if you are also playing in the band at the same time, setting up and running all that stuff can be a pain. In my experience, if the group is good, you can often get a perfectly good recording of acoustic music by just putting one or two room mics in a nice room (doesn't have to be in a studio, some old victorian houses have high cielinged huge living/dining rooms that have great acoustics.) Then you can just do a few osund checks and move people around the room and closer or further from the mics to get teh balance right, and record. This does rely, however, on everyone being good enough to get it right without overdubs or an inordinate number of takes.

my $.02

(being a gear addict, I might well not take my own advice now, but I have gotten good resluts this waay in the past. Also, I think it is a lot easier to get a great vibe and a lot of energy on a recording that is done live, in a room, without overdubs, than on one where everyone is playing to a click track one at a time isolated from the other musicians.)

On a more practical note, this would allow you to spend your money on one or two nice mics instead of a lot of lesser mics. Also, IMHO, the mackie 400f has better pres than the motus. OTOH, it doesn't run off bus power like the traveler does.

15th December 2006	#1
dervishmusic Gear Head Joined: Dec 2006 Location: Brooklyn Posts: 50 Thread Starter	Laptop Studio for Small Group Acoustic Music Greetings to all on this excellent forum. I have been lurking for a week or so and have learned a lot, thanks to all of you. But, finally, I've decided to jump in and see what advice you might offer me directly. I am a double bass player and I play solo and small group acoustic music: jazz, Hungarian/Romanian, Klezmer, Appalachian, Flamenco, New Orleans, Cajun, Zydeco etc etc. Usually the groups I play with are sonically traditional, recording straight to mic, often in the same room. I also have a great desire to record a number of solo bass pieces. I would also like the option of recording a small group together, say, five instruments at once. I recently purchased a Macbook Pro with the intel 2.33 ghz processor, 2G Ram, 160G drive with the intent of making a small, somewhat portable, home studio. I have very little experience on this end of the recording progress, and for the sake of this post, let's say none. I have been saving up for an interface, software and mics. Originally I thought I would go with the Motu Traveler with DP but, the more I read, the more I wonder if this is the best choice for my application. Pro tools looks very appealing to me as well. I also will be needing some mics and I would like to start with my bass mics. I have looked into Neumann U87 (alittle out of range), Gefell 930 and the Pearlman MT1. So, big question I know, what should I get and why? Any thoughts, advice or experience would be very welcome. I have included my myspace url below to give you a better idea of the music I play. Here it is:http://www.myspace.com/jasonsypher Thanks, Jason

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19th January 2007	#2
Devina Gear nut Joined: Jan 2007 Posts: 99	http://www.woodwormmusic.com/ nice place for a studio

22nd January 2007	#3
robd Lives for gear Joined: Oct 2005 Posts: 799	This will probably not be a popular reply here, but here goes. If you want to do the whole multiple micing/mixing mastering thing, that is great, but if you are also playing in the band at the same time, setting up and running all that stuff can be a pain. In my experience, if the group is good, you can often get a perfectly good recording of acoustic music by just putting one or two room mics in a nice room (doesn't have to be in a studio, some old victorian houses have high cielinged huge living/dining rooms that have great acoustics.) Then you can just do a few osund checks and move people around the room and closer or further from the mics to get teh balance right, and record. This does rely, however, on everyone being good enough to get it right without overdubs or an inordinate number of takes. my $.02 (being a gear addict, I might well not take my own advice now, but I have gotten good resluts this waay in the past. Also, I think it is a lot easier to get a great vibe and a lot of energy on a recording that is done live, in a room, without overdubs, than on one where everyone is playing to a click track one at a time isolated from the other musicians.) On a more practical note, this would allow you to spend your money on one or two nice mics instead of a lot of lesser mics. Also, IMHO, the mackie 400f has better pres than the motus. OTOH, it doesn't run off bus power like the traveler does.