Should I even bother investing in higher end mics...

[smiling_cynic]

... if I don't have a proper, acoustically treated room?

I'm doing all of my recording/mixing in my basement right now. It's a big open family room type space with furniture, a TV, exercise equipment, carpet, crusty white stuff ceiling, etc, etc. I can snap a pic if someone's willing to help me rearrange.

But back to my original question - I'm thinking high end mics might not be such a good idea just now, since I'll just be emphasizing my room's flaws? That's what I've read anyhow, but it always helps to hear from those who know. Thanks!

[Kiwiburger]

Depends if you want to record music or not. The whole thing about mics is that they all sound different, and price isn't the important factor. Sometimes, a particular singer will find that out of an huge vastly expensive mic cupboard, bulging with Neumanns and AKG vintage tube mics - the mic that works best on his/her voice is a cheap dynamic mic.

So yes - you could definatlely buy a high end mic, and be very unhappy with it - regardless of your acoustics.

Acoustics can be changed with some carefully placed foam. Got a mattress?

What you really need is a high quality mic preamp, high quality a/d and d/a converters, high quality monitors - before you even start evaluating mics.

[warhead]

I gotta ask: how does it sound in there? You say "proper" etc but does it sound bad or good?

I would definitely spend time getting your room's sound together first, if it sounds bad.

War

[DontLetMeDrown]

Originally Posted by smiling_cynic

... if I don't have a proper, acoustically treated room?

I'm doing all of my recording/mixing in my basement right now. It's a big open family room type space with furniture, a TV, exercise equipment, carpet, crusty white stuff ceiling, etc, etc. I can snap a pic if someone's willing to help me rearrange.

But back to my original question - I'm thinking high end mics might not be such a good idea just now, since I'll just be emphasizing my room's flaws? That's what I've read anyhow, but it always helps to hear from those who know. Thanks!

Stop and think about what you are saying. Does your room sound that bad? Are you willing to make all your instruments/voices sound crappy to avoid recording the sound of your room? Buy some good mics and invest in some blankets.

[tINY]

Mics make a bigger difference in recording quaility than pre-amps and converters unless you have absolute crap. Also, decent mics last a long time and you'll keep them long after mom kicks you out of the basement.....

But. you don't have to spend a fortune on mics to get good ones.

Cleaning up the acoustics in the room may help, but a large basement with a fair amount of furniture may not be that bad.



-tINY

[smiling_cynic]

Originally Posted by warhead

I gotta ask: how does it sound in there? You say "proper" etc but does it sound bad or good?

I would definitely spend time getting your room's sound together first, if it sounds bad.

War

Hey thanks dudes, I've done a ton of thinking about this.

So certain areas of the room definitely sound better than others, but I'm ashamed to admit that I haven't really done enough experimenting to really nail the sweet spots (this is my cue to get off the computer and head downstairs). Part of me wants to remain ignorant about these matters, hoping that new mics will solve all of my problems... I'm also worried about having to spend money on acoustic treatment, and if that's the case, I'd probably go for mics just because they're more fun to shop for. But - that being said, I should probably stop thinking of my room as a limitation just because it's not a pro studio, and should work on actually understanding the behavior of my room.

So here's how I see it:

Good mics + good understanding of room > Okay mics + good understanding of room > Good mics + no understanding of room.

Basically, if I get good mics I'm going to be sure to know how to use them!

Thank you for the peace of mind.

[joelpatterson]

If "bad room" means unwanted acoustic artifacts and weird echoes and weird woofinesses, you can drape blankets up and deaden all this stuff. In my experience, a $60 Chinese condenser through a nice pre will always sound better than a $300 mic through the pres on a Mackie mixer, to cite a horrid example.

"Good rooms" that aren't 30 feet floor to ceiling and made out of stone or marble are probably pretty rare. You might just want to try to record as dry as you can get, and do the fancy stuff with reverbs and eq.

Just a snapshot from here in the trenches...

[petsematary]

I agree with the acoustics crowd. Bad room will sound crap no matter the mics/pres/converters. You needn't treat the whole room - why not create a small hut-like area within the room in which you can record?

[sleepwalker]

I gotta disagree with a lot of what you're saying here. Without going too much into particulars.

Get some common and versitile dynamic mics. SM57, SM7, RE20, etc. If you have Mackie VLZ pres or better, you're fine for now.

Invest is some nice mic stands, and use this gear until you feel comfortable. This should take a few years.

Mattresses aren't going to do much but make your room stink.

Get really nice headphones and use a home stereo for monitoring. Check your mixes on as many different playback systems as you can, especially cars.

Finally, the above advice is only meant for someone doing this for themself as a hobby. If you're thinking of doing this for money, then a good monitoring environment is something to think about. THen the room makes a difference, then.. Oh wait, now you're in debt 25k.

Originally Posted by Kiwiburger

Depends if you want to record music or not. The whole thing about mics is that they all sound different, and price isn't the important factor. Sometimes, a particular singer will find that out of an huge vastly expensive mic cupboard, bulging with Neumanns and AKG vintage tube mics - the mic that works best on his/her voice is a cheap dynamic mic.

So yes - you could definatlely buy a high end mic, and be very unhappy with it - regardless of your acoustics.

Acoustics can be changed with some carefully placed foam. Got a mattress?

What you really need is a high quality mic preamp, high quality a/d and d/a converters, high quality monitors - before you even start evaluating mics.

[David@MVS]

Originally Posted by smiling_cynic

... if I don't have a proper, acoustically treated room?

I'm doing all of my recording/mixing in my basement right now. It's a big open family room type space with furniture, a TV, exercise equipment, carpet, crusty white stuff ceiling, etc, etc. I can snap a pic if someone's willing to help me rearrange.

But back to my original question - I'm thinking high end mics might not be such a good idea just now, since I'll just be emphasizing my room's flaws? That's what I've read anyhow, but it always helps to hear from those who know. Thanks!

Many times the "family" room with all it furniture and bookcases makes a fairly "uniform" sounding room. All that stuff can actually help (glass cases not withstanding)...sometimes....

How do your recordings sound now? If you are happy with the general sound then you are happy with the general sound. Rooms (in the home) can always use treatment...but if it isnt bad, I wouldnt worry too much. There are types of mic/techniques that can minimize a poor sounding room (hyper cardiod/close-micing).

I would invest in decent monitoring first. You need to know what you need.


Good luck,
David