"Ghetto" recording studio

anonymous 27 June 2007

I just decided to start recording my own jams at my house. I have a 0404 emu sound card. I also have a Behringer802 mixer. I go through a Behringerv-amp2 with my guitars/basses to get a good sound then into the mixer which goes into the sound card. I have an electric drum kit which goes into the mixer into the sound card, same for my mic. If you have any helpful suggestions to make my studio better without spending much money please tell me. Oh yeah, i also use Sony vegas, and i have Sony acid. Not sure what acid does, can you tell me? I know i'm a "noob" or begginer to this stuff, so please help me. Also i was told the best way to record vox in my rather small room is to go into a corner with matresses closing the vocalist in. Tell me if that IS the best way without spengin money. Thanks for helping :)

-SalamiChrist

Comments

whats mics do you use? thats a pretty important aspect. all i

EricIndecisive Thu, 06/28/2007 - 13:07

whats mics do you use? thats a pretty important aspect. all i have right now is the behringer 502 mixer and an sm57, but if you work with it, you can still get a pretty decent sound. if youre just starting out though you probably wont hear a lot of things you will a year from now. a condenser will get you much better vocals but you need to supply phantom power.

as for the recording process...

for the amps most people put a dynamic about parallel to the speaker, real up close. so pretty much a 45 degree angle an inch away.

salamichrist wrote: Oh yeah, i also use sony vegas, and i have s

Cucco Thu, 06/28/2007 - 13:15

salamichrist wrote: Oh yeah, i also use sony vegas, and i have sony acid. Not sure what acid does, can you tell me?

Hey Salamichrist-

Welcome to RO. You are definitely coming to the right place.

One thing I'd point out - if you own software which you are unsure of its purpose, that's usually a red flag that you don't "own" the software - rather you "borrowed" the software (not legal).

I may be wrong since Acid isn't exactly expensive software, but more often than not, when someone has very little money to work with and then they name 4-5 hundred dollars worth of software, it's a pretty good sign....

What I would advise would be to pick up a free software package (Audacity, etc.) and work with it until you can save up some money for some good software.

Also, you're right to not want to spend a lot more money to get better sounds. Try working the heck out of what you have in every way possible. Try to avoid using plug-ins to "correct" sounds and do your darndest to get the best sound you can going into the computer to begin with. The moment you tinker with an EQ setting or compressor setting to get a "better" sound is the moment of failure.

When you know the limitations of your hardware, you have graduated and you will now be ready to purchase bigger and better. The knowledge that you will have gained in the process will all but point you to the exact hardware (or software) that you need.

Good luck and Cheers!

Jeremy