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qowenp 23 June 2011

Hello

As the title says, I'm moving into a new house with a few friends in a couple of months and I would love to be able to convert the basement into a small, basic recording studio. I would like to be able to use some vintage audio equipment to do some decent quality recording.

The room is of a decent size, roughly 5metres x 6metres or so, and is quite soundproofed.

We are students, and so will be working to quite a low budget but I'm open to suggestions. In terms of equipment, I would like to work with more vintage equipment as I love analog. I already own a relatively rare Meazzi Factotum Echomatic PA-304 - built into a custom case with an old 1960s valve power amplifier. It sounds great, both with vocals and guitar, and is in perfect working order. I am also currently sourcing a decent stereo 4 or 8 track reel to reel.

I am looking for advice of bits of equipment I can pick up, where from, how to get the best sound setup etc. Also, in terms of acoustic treatment I could do with some pointers, as this room is literally a concrete shell at the minute.

I am not looking for professional standards, that's what we pay for at a studio, I am looking for quick, accessible recording space to experiment with my band.

Thanks

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Ripeart Fri, 06/24/2011 - 00:32

qowenp, post: 373218 wrote: .... Also, in terms of acoustic treatment I could do with some pointers, as this room is literally a concrete shell at the minute

I was relieved that you said this in your post. I'm glad that you realize that acoustic treatment is important. In my and many others opinions, in fact I might call it an absolute, acoustic treatment is one of the first steps to getting a halfway decent sound. Or at least one you have some control over.

I read that your not after professional standards so what you might want to look into is movable screens or partitions that are acoustically treated or wrapped. You'll want to tame the reflections in that concrete echo chamber and really put some elbow grease into controlling the lows. In fact tame the lows first. It's relatively easy to tame the mids and highs.

Man sound is bouncing all around that basement - and the first thing you need to do is get a stranglehold on it for no matter what vintage gear you use if you do not treat it, it's gonna have one sound.... Like a concrete basement.

Then you can get some 'vintage' monitors and go from there.

qowenp Fri, 06/24/2011 - 02:36

Thanks for that reply. I was looking at these bass traps:
[[url=http://[/URL]="http://cgi.ebay.co…"]2 Acoustic Foam Sound Treatment Bass Traps AFBT02 | eBay UK[/]="http://cgi.ebay.co…"]2 Acoustic Foam Sound Treatment Bass Traps AFBT02 | eBay UK[/]

Think they'd do the trick? Also, given it's a small basement, how many would you recommend?

If you could point me in the direction of some decent vintage monitors, without spending too much, that'd be great.

EDIT: OK So I've been looking at some cheap 8-track recorders, as oppose to reel-to-reel, the Tascam Porta series caught my eye, particularly the Porta 05 (as it is a higher tape speed). I have also seen a Korg D8 (Digital/Analogue) 8 Track recorder. Does anyone know how these two would fare for a beginner?
Thanks

Guitarfreak Fri, 06/24/2011 - 20:53

qowenp, post: 373258 wrote: Thanks for that reply. I was looking at these bass traps:
[[url=http://[/URL]="http://cgi.ebay.co…"]2 Acoustic Foam Sound Treatment Bass Traps AFBT02 | eBay UK[/]="http://cgi.ebay.co…"]2 Acoustic Foam Sound Treatment Bass Traps AFBT02 | eBay UK[/]

Think they'd do the trick? Also, given it's a small basement, how many would you recommend?

Bass Traps usually go in corners, so that would make 4 (or however many corners there are in the room if it's not rectangular). For walls and flat things you want to look into absorption material/diffusers.

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