Skip to main content

well i was thinking of persuing a dream, and getting myself into music.

I want to record lines and get the best quality possible, but i dont want to go to my local studio and pay their hourly rate of 100 dollars.

I was considering building a booth at least 6' x 6' tall and at least 7' tall. I also want a window, of course a door, and possibly, a ventilation system of some kind. I have already purchased hsf acoustics bass traps. I also have some 2.5'' thick eggcrate foam.

for the equipment part of this equation, i already have a very good mxl condensor mic, and a really good computer with enough juice to put all of this together.

For right now, i have lined my closet up with 2.5'' thick egg crate foam( on ebay it said it was for sound deadening, but weird because it came in a box that said "memory foam sleep topper")

I also hooked up the condenser through to my computer using an XLR to 1/4'' rca jack, which goes into my computer through an I/O box that came with my soundblaster audigy2 zs platinum pro sound card.

The stuff i recorded with this stuff is alright, but I'm looking to get a better understanding of its pontential.

. .

So my question is:

1. What would i need to build a booth of that size and what would i need to make it as sound proof and give me the best quality?

2. Is the equipment that I'm using good enough or should i upgrade some things?

THX for the feed back

Comments

anonymous Wed, 09/07/2005 - 14:44

Welcome to the world of recording! Here are my tips:

1.Stop buying equipment and gear until you have a better understanding of what is needed to get even marginal results.

2.Explore and study the Acoustics Forum here at RO.

3.Explore and study the Vocal Booth Forum here and RO.

4.Explore and study the Home Project Studio Forum here at RO.

5.Explore and study the Budget Gear Forum here at RO.

Every beginner question you could possibly conceive has been asked and answered in these forums.

Stop spending money on stuff that will never work and instead spend time studying to find out what does work and what sort of budget you are going to need to get to the final goal of having the proper tools assembled to build your music dreams.

I cannot stress this enough.

Good luck! 8-)

Reggie Thu, 09/08/2005 - 07:46

Do not use the Audigy as a mic preamp. Get a decent preamp (M-audio DMP3 or better) and run out of that into the Audigy LINE IN. An adapter will probably be necessary. Doing this alone will help things quite a bit. Getting a better soundcard/interface will help this and other things too.

Don't worry too much about your booth, just try your sleeping foam and maybe some heavy blankets and see how you like the sound in there. I really think using the Audigy as a preamp is hurting you the most. It can can sound OK if you just feed it line-level signals from outboard pres, but I helped a friend set up one of those Audigy's and going in through the mic input just destroys everything.

JoeH Thu, 09/08/2005 - 11:58

I want to save a bundle on lazik surgery, so I'm thinking of doing it myself. Anyone have an ideas on going about this?

Oh, and I don't want to spend a lot of $$$ on a REAL haircut, so I'm going to start shaving it all off in the mirror, myself. Should work FINE, I think! :twisted:

Ok, ok...that's harsh. But what troubles me is the concept that you're doing this to save $. (Trust me, in the long run, you won't, not by a long shot).

People who charge $100 per hr in a real studiol are there for a reason, and chances are they've spent a good chunk of their careers learning their craft and having everything ready for anyone who walks in off the street who wants to record anything they want, at the drop of a dime, and away you go. Want mics? Preamps? Cables, headphones, multitracks? Sofa? Vending machines? Phone lines? Drumset? Backline amp? Studio? Iso booth? CD copies instantly?

Come on, please be realistic about this. If you want to create music on your own, in your own space, WELCOME ABOARD, but please don't for one minute think you're about to embark on the "Free ride" of your life. Nothing could be farther than the truth here. There are closets full of junk and abandoned gear all over the planet from people who THOUGHT they could do it themselves, and ran out of gas, from either falling off the learning curve neede to get it right, or the inability to really stick to what it takes to create a great home or semi-public project studio. It's NOT for pussies, man.

It's great to see you taking the plunge, and I do hope you'll poke around all the message boards here (plan on several days, at LEAST) to glean some jewels here, from the tons of sand available to you on this forum alone.

Good luck, and hope you find what you need to get going!

anonymous Thu, 09/08/2005 - 12:58

Re: new 2 forum, hopin to get feedback on my recording quest

MPhouthong wrote: 1. What would i need to build a booth of that size and what would i need to make it as sound proof and give me the best quality?

2. Is the equipment that im using good enough or should i upgrade some things?

1. a lot of money and labor, at least to make it work right

2. drop maybe a few thousand and you have an amature home studio.

start cheap, dirt cheap, and build up. i dont mean buy CRAP gear, i mean start simple. i started with just a single input (crap, but for the price it works), a single mic (nady 10$), a drum machine, guitar/bass, and garageband.

already had everything from personally screwing around (except the preamp, which was 30$ imic).

i upgraded my mic to something that will last me the long run, shure 57 beta. even though ill buy tons of mics, there will always be a use for it.

i upgraded to logic express 7, which i can upgrade to pro and not lose much money on my initial investment.

and after a year im STILL using that setup. when i get a job and cash coming in for gear i am getting a motu 828mkii. i will only be using maybe 2 inputs at a time, but they are far higher quality inputs than my current pre, and in the long run i will have sufficient inputs for anything. after that i would prefer a mixer, but that isnt going to happen (would be 10k for a mixer that suits my needs), so i will probably start going with a couple pres, a couple hardware compressors. also work on getting a couple more mics for versatility, one of which will likely be a condinser. as well as finding a good metal drum sample library to buy (anyone know of one thatll work on mac/logic 7?).

and after all that i still will be far behind a REAL studio, but at least ive built up skill through all this time. even with such a small studio, if youve got the skill, you can make far better results than someone who hardly knows anything and bought 100k worth of equipment. add to your gear as you grow in experience and can afford it. itll be a few years at LEAST before you will be able to produce a decent CD.

an internship will help a lot also. if theres a college where you can take some classes they might help as well.

but IMO, it sounds like you are going the wrong way about this. it doesnt sound like you know for sure what you are doing.