How to start?

[CJ Mastering]

Why not start with some low end gear, but also get acoustical treatments.
Your budget dictates what you can buy. So if you can buy good gear, go for it. Because when you start learning and getting better, your going to upgrade anyways. Its very addictive.
Cj

[kiopo]

I agree with CJ (as usual!). From my experience, I think it's much better to invest in a few solid long-term investments than starting off small and constantly upgrading, but again it depends on how much you can afford. Simply because it is easier to expand your setup that way if you're not having to constantly upgrade every part of your chain. Plus, resale value on the higher end gear is likely to depreciate less.

[Bill@WelcomeHome]

Originally Posted by ~~~~

Hi

I am a songwriter and I want to make my home studio where I can record some vocals and instruments from which most ak.guitars and violins but what I wonder is whether to start with minimum low end gear or decent low end gear.

specifically between these two set of equipment

1.AT4033, RB500, saffire 14 pro, no room treatment, no monitors (basic speaker system ...

or

2, Gemini II, Royer 121, Steinberg 816x, Yamaha hs80,some expensive fx plugins, (good room treatment )....


thanks

Skipping your equipment list for a moment, because you did not pick it, at least, not from experience.

Everyone wants a studio, but what is it that you really need? What is the purpose of the recordings?

You can spend a gazillion bucks on all the best gear in the world and still not get good recordings, in part because you don't know how and in part because rooms converted from homes are not ideal recording spaces.

You can spend a few hundred dollars and get a very simple system from which you will either learn that such a setup is good enough, or you will get enough experience to make the right decisions about your upgrades.

And from that experience, maybe you'll decide that a mid-level list of some key pieces would be financially and practically very feasible.

I am a big fan of the idea that you buy once, buy right; but to do that you need to be experiences.

No matter what route you choose, I recommend room treatment.

[Wildebass]

Originally Posted by CJ Mastering

Why not start with some low end gear, but also get acoustical treatments.
Your budget dictates what you can buy. So if you can buy good gear, go for it. Because when you start learning and getting better, your going to upgrade anyways. Its very addictive.
Cj

Fully agree!!!

Get a great mic, a good interface and definitely invest in some acoustic treatment. Get decent monitors AND headphones if you can afford them.

As a songwriter, this should give you more than enough to work with.

If you want to make things really simple, I can give you a really good example.

I have a full blown studio at home, but for songwriting I only have one tool: Korg Sound on Sound | Sweetwater.com

My point is: it's not the gear, it's how you use it.

Good luck

[Lee Cardan]

Looking back, I wish I didn't buy a lot of things, mostly because of the loss I made when I sold them. I guess it's hard to know what you want, then again I guess that's half the fun. These days, if it's not what I want then I don't want it

I guess, you want some speakers, you want an interface, and you want some treatment (otherwise what's the point of trying to listen to something you can't hear?). and a few mics

I say, buy the best stuff you can possibly afford and don't buy more than you need. Buy the best darn speakers you can find, you'll never regret this and you'll hopefully not have to deal with an entire period of poor monitoring issues (they suck). It's not a matter of 'this is just for me so they don't need to be great', 'i'm just learning i'll buy a better pair later'. screw all that, get a great pair and get to know them from day one. A good interface very important too.. I've seen that steinberg you mention popping up a lot, seems to be good. Apogee Rosetta are meant to be great (don't be afraid to go second hand either)

That'd be pretty cool!

Mics are a little different, because there are so many mics around that'll give you great results if you work them right, and don't have to be particularly expensive at all. Research around here a bit and make a shortlist of the usual suspects - I suspect Oktavamod will keep popping up

sE Z5600A II typically is a better all rounder than the Gemini 2 btw

Ps, forget the plugins. Any sequencer will give you more than enough fx to work with to capture an idea and produce a result to some extent (I assume that's the whole purpose)


good luck! and have fun!

[Lee Cardan]

ps, the biggest thing that pissed me off about my low-end setups was lack of translation. I could get something sounding good but play it else where and it sounded like total trash

I'm over that hurdle and I"m better for it, and I can say it all comes down to monitoring and listening environment (treatment) - so sell you car if you need to but don't bother doing anything unless you're prepared to get those two right

[msl]

Buy used. Don't go mad buying loads of stuff at once.

Get a pair of monitors, the yamaha's are a good start.

Personally I would go for the Steinberg over the Saffire.



.

[Beefy]

Buy an sm57 use it for everything. Even use it for your interfacefuuck

[Chucho]

I would pay a local engineer guy for a few hours of his time to talk you through a few things.
There are an unbelievable number of variables in just some simple recordings. 100 Gslutz will tell you 100 ways of doing it.

Some sit down time with a local pro would be my advice.

[CJ Mastering]

If you buy me lunch, you can come sit in with me

[johnny nowhere]

Get a subscription to Recording magazine. Get a good pair of monitors, tame the room and back up in the signal chain toward the mic.

[Unclenny]

There's a lot of good advise in the above posts, but here is the bottom line........

..........buy what you can afford and start recording as soon as possible.

We'll all tell you how important room treatment is, but you won't know what you need to do for your room until you get into a system and start to learn how to track and listen.

I am also a songwriter. I started with the best LDC microphone I could afford, a basic interface and some good headphones. Soon thereafter I got some decent monitors. Then I was able to hear the deficiencies in my tracking/listening environment and take steps to improve it.

That was ten years or so ago and I'm still having some serious fun.

[johnny nowhere]

Yep, I agree. And can't believe that I left out the phones, because I did the same thing.