Home recording Set up

[ubermensch]

Originally Posted by mrlizard

its possible you could be distorting the mic, what SPL's can the capsule handle, it'll be written in the manual. if you're recording into the computer with no compressor, the temptation is to keep the level high so it sounds ok. Keep the level as low as you can get away with, the highest peak should be around -2 or a little lower to be on the safe side.

Cheers man.

I don't have a copy of the manual, it's not even my condenser, it's Fritz's (he'll be wanting it back now). I've had a scour of the web for an online manual, but no dice.

I dunno if it is the mic, having thought about it. I usually have to resort to turning down the pre's gain to a stupidly low level and then compress the hell out of it so that it's at least audible in Nuendo. I mean, it doesn't clip when the gain's turned down that low. It's obviously different depending on the sound source.

The problem is that when the preamp gain goes way down, it tends to take a little life out of the end product, no matter the quality of the source itself.

[mrlizard]

Originally Posted by Thee Alex

I have just checked and I have the FastTrack USB M-Audio thing. It's simple but does a very good job IMO (certainly not amateur or 'demo' sounding).

by who's standards? A/B'd it with a decent pre? I'm sure you can get decent results with it if you try hard, but there is a big difference between that and pro gear, regardless of whether you hear it or not. Other people certainly do, and they are not all engineers. So lets not lower the standards for your sake

There's only one pre i know of you can get for under 800 quid that doesn't sound amateur, the FMR audio RNP. Makes 57's sound fantastic too.

Theres alot more to recording than 'brighter is better'

[mrlizard]

Originally Posted by ubermensch

Cheers man.



The problem is that when the preamp gain goes way down, it tends to take a little life out of the end product, no matter the quality of the source itself.

yeah, it will sound rubbish with the gain that low, if you're recording at 16 bit, which you are because the interface doesn't do 24 bit. Because of the dynamic range of the vocal you are probably only using 8 bits, maybe less. That'll sound pretty disgusting.

This is where compressing to tape (computer) comes in handy, with a nice compressor, the compression doesn't have to be audible at all, just levels out the peaks nicely. This won't work if you use a software compressor afterwards because the damage has already been done.

Yet another reason why these things are crap, you're in a situation with a dynamic singer, you can't teach the singer vocal technique in the time you've got, oh well it's gonna sound mince because its got no insert point for a compressor. I don't consider that to be very professional.

[I_got_a_mohawk]

My setup isnt overly impressive, but i think its ok

PC:

P4 "Prescott" 3.2 Ghz processor
1.5 Gb DDR400 RAM
74 Gb WD "Raptor" HDD
200 Gb Maxtor HDD
250 Gb Maxtor HDD

Specific Recording Gear:

Presonus Firepod (they are now called the FP10).
Its a fairly good Firewire interface, the mic-pres are pretty good. Its a 10 channel interface. 8 combo XLR/Jack inputs on the front with MIDI and SPDIF on the back.

Presonus Eureka.
Very tweakable ultra clean preamp. Very discreet EQ and compressor. Side-chain hi-pass on compressor.

M-Audio Tampa.
Warmer sounding than the presonus, not as tweakable. No EQ. Compressor can be descreet or give that overly compressed squashed sound if wanted. (The Tampa can run higher, essentially limiting ratios)

Tech21 BDDI.
Great preamp for recording bass


Software:
Cubase 4
IK Multimedia - AmpliTube 2
IK Multimedia - Ampeg SVX
Native Instruments - GuitarRig 2
Toontrack - EZ Drummer
+ Various VST Reverb, EQ, Compressors and Enhancers

[scottyboy]

Originally Posted by mrlizard

the m-audio pre's are gash for anything serious, for demo's, field recording or stuff thats deliberately meant to sound a bit pish they'd be ok. The sm57 is only a versatile mic through the right pre i find. Although if it were a choice between a cheapo condensor with a crazy harsh hyped top end, shitty off-axis response and behringer written on it, i'd take the 57 any day.

yeah. i wouldn't be doing anything serious

[mrlizard]

Originally Posted by scottyboy

yeah. i wouldn't be doing anything serious

then it'll probably do you just fine, only thing you might have problems with is really dynamic source sounds, because there is no way of compressing on the way in with it.

[humndislocation]

Guys, don't argue. These threads often have lots of useful info in them, but then they get ruined when people start arguing about what gear is good, and what isn't, etc.

If you want to argue about it, do it in bollocks or another thread or something.

[njw]

but its informative, and fact.

I feel that it's important that people understand the difference between amateur and professional. Whilst Thee Alex's recordings may be to his taste, they don't quite sound like Alanis Morisette do they...

[stuartmaxwell]

this is the kind of thread where some valued input from toneKING is needed

no offence to robin of course. toneKING just has a way with words

[humndislocation]

Originally Posted by Clogs

but its informative, and fact.

I feel that it's important that people understand the difference between amateur and professional. Whilst Thee Alex's recordings may be to his taste, they don't quite sound like Alanis Morisette do they...

There's nothing wrong with people arguing about technical stuff, it's just when the personal insults start to come out that the quality of the thread takes a nosedive, and I'd rather avoid that, because this thread is interesting.

So "no you are wrong because of x, y and z" is fine, "no you're wrong, and you're an arrogant tosser" isn't, because it'll just end in yet another interesting thread degrading into a typical UGS argument about nothing.

[mrlizard]

Originally Posted by humndislocation

Guys, don't argue. These threads often have lots of useful info in them, but then they get ruined when people start arguing about what gear is good, and what isn't, etc.

If you want to argue about it, do it in bollocks or another thread or something.

Whats the point in a home recording forum if you can't discuss the pro's and con's of gear?

if thats the law around here i'm offski, byeeee.

p.s the ignorance post was relevant to the conversation, put it back there if you could.

[humndislocation]

Originally Posted by mrlizard

Whats the point in a home recording forum if you can't discuss the pro's and con's of gear?

if thats the law around here i'm offski, byeeee.

p.s the ignorance post was relevant to the conversation, put it back there if you could.

I guess I wasn't very clear, that's not what I was trying to get at, at all. By all means discuss the pros and cons of gear, by all means tell people they're wrong if they're wrong, just don't get involved in personal attacks.

The reason I deleted those posts, because I could see exactly how this thread was going to turn out, and I'd rather not see yet another interesting thread devolve into UGS shit flinging. I thought the best way to defuse the personal attacks was to delete the whole argument to keep things on topic, to either side getting pissed off at the posts I didn't delete, and starting the argument up again.

Regardless of whether someone is actually ignorant or arrogant, and whether or not it's relevant, nothing's going to be solved by calling them that in this thread, because what will happen, is that they'll get defensive, and what could have been an interesting thread, will turn into generic UGS flamewar thread #345354, i.e. 5 pages of "u r a fag" "no u r the one who is a fag fuk u".

That's all I'm asking.

[mrlizard]

Where do you think your recordings need improvement alex? are they all perfect?