Ive been drowning in worms since I started looking into recording. Thanks for all the info glitch, I really appreciate you and ben breaking it down for me.
I personally don't own any hardware compressor or EQs. I record alone, and it isn't very practical for me to handle all that on the front end along with performing. So I just get a solid signal, and use plug-ins for EQ, compression or effects after the fact. Having a hardware compressor and a hardware EQ when I'm engineering someone else is super fun, and I would absolutely invest in them were I doing that more, but 90% of the time I'm working alone.
Wow, i've been googling some of these preamps and compressors and some of them seem ridiculously expensive (to me anyway). Is the extra money spent always proportional to the sound quality or have you guys bought high-end hardware before and found its not much better than the basics? I plan to build up a proper recording set-up eventually, but for now i'm happy with just free-ware plugins
No, it's all super expensive stuff. I've built everything by buying one nice piece of equipment a year, instead of a lot of small things. And for me it's diminishing returns. Most of my gear, even now, is considered mid-level as far as quality. The jump from mid-level to high end has not seemed worth it to me. There are plenty of people that would argue with me here, but the jump from my KSM44 ($600) to a Neumann U87 ($3400) wasn't much, and certainly not worth the price difference. But that's just me. For some people it's night and day different and they'd call me an idiot. But saving for a good pre was totally worth it. And I for compressors and effects I stick to plug-ins.
For compressors, I use Blockfish and the one built into Cool Edit Pro the most. Both are free, and while neither are exactly fancy, I like them. But I'm not one to use compression very much. Mostly on drums and vocals. For EQ, the built in one for Cool Edit, and for Reverbs, again, Cool Edit, and a couple VSTs I will have to look up for you next time I'm in the shed.
It really depends. The case can be made for it not being worth the money over plugins, especially if you're more a musician than an audio engineer. There's something to be said for the hands on thing with real hardware though. Boys and their toys right?lol You really do get what you pay for when it comes to hardware. The profit margins are often surprisingly slim. For example, the carnhill (or original mariner) input and output transformers in a good Neve 1073 clone preamp cost at least a hundred bucks a piece. Then there's the board design, case manufacturing, testing, etc... So when you see a single channel Neve clone sell for $800, that's not much more than it actually costs them to make it. Cheaper gear requires cheaper parts, which requires compromises in quality. That being said, Ben is right about the Neumann U87 thing. There is some stuff that is expensive just because it's popular and vintage. The u87 was preferred more for voiceovers than anything since it's fairly bland and neutral sounding...but it's vintage! So everyone wants one for some reason... Now the u47 however,THAT is considered the holy grail of vocal mics! You'll never be able to afford one though. However, there are amazing sounding ones made these days for about 1/10th the price! One of my favs is the Advanced Audio CM-47SE. Costs just under $1000 and sounds pretty similar to a vintage u47. Vintage U47s sell for between $8000 and $15000 these days! My favourite low-budget option though is the KEL HM7U. I think it's $399. Sounds fantastic for vocals and guitar. Another expensive example is the original UREI 1176 compressor. Sells for around $6000 these days. Or you can build a clone with really high-end components that sounds almost identical, sometimes better (ie lower noise floor) for about $600. Honestly though, if you just want to make great music and don't plan to seriously get into audio engineering, you're better off sticking with plugins for compressors and equalizers and whatnot. Your wallet will thank you! Preamps are a different story though. You really, absolutely should buy one good preamp if you want your recordings to sound half-decent. Thankfully, there are plenty of great options under $1000 per channel.
Thanks for the information guys, although i'm not looking to buy and new hardware its nice to know if I ever need to. Also, to anyone reading this that's looking into buying a cheap preamp to get started (like I did); don't bother! I bought a cheap one (under £100) and after a little while the mic inputs just stopped working and even before that the drivers worked in a hit and miss kind of way.
Its pretty exciting to finally be recording my music and starting to hear what it sounds like with instrumentation beyond just me and my guitar, It takes forever though, a lot longer than I thought. After 8-9 hrs I had two useable guitar tracks and a floor tom and two vocal layers on a song a hair over 2 mins. probably gonna have to re-track everything because i've decided to have it connect to the next track on the album. Anyhow, the rough cut is pretty soft, my levels peak around -15db when I recorded, is this maybe a bit to low? I know I can turn up the master and also the individual volumes but will that effect audio quality? Also my musical partner has yet to finish his piano part but when he does should I invest in another condenser to have a stereo pair if i want an atmospheric sound or is it possible to get an ok representation from a single room mic?
Yeah, the really cheap pres are not worth it. They're just made from really cheap parts and usually have lots of issues. It's something you have to save for, but you really get your money's worth. More than any other recording gear, I'd say. And yeah, recording takes a lot of time. You get faster as you learn your gear, but I sometimes spend an entire day to get 2 sounds I like. You definitely have to like the process enough or you won't stick with it. I happen to love it. I really like having a stereo pair to work with, especially for piano and drums. So definitely worth it. As for volumes, it can all be boosted in post. Nothing to worry over.
cool, thanks. I will start thinking about my next mic then. I like the process as I like learning anything interesting and knew. I really like having breakthroughs with my daw, for instance figuring out how to name tracks took longer than it should have (required a double click and I am on a mac so it took me forever to figure it out). Also figuring out how to run effects or plugins or using the eq to make something sound more the way I want it to is rewarding. Just some times I cant get a take for assorted reasons be it dogs or my hands not cooperating also random walls i run into with my computer, cant wait to know my daw and gear well enough to know what I am doing before I do it.
You'll get there. In a couple months it'll all be second nature. And yeah, working in the shed, I have always dealt with tons of noise leaks and interruptions. Between the water pump, the traffic, people going on sidewalks, animals, etc, I'm used to getting interrupted a lot. I don't even notice anymore. It's funny what you get used to.
Anybody else use a bad computer mic and audacity? Possibly upgrading the computer mic soon, but that noise removal tool is absolutely wonderful.
Ah yes, I always return to nice, simple audacity when I'm frustrated by all my other things not working (like that stupid pre-amp I mentioned). There's nothing better than just being able to plug in a cheap webcam and use that Lo-fi!
I've always subscribed to a "use whatever you've got and make something cool out of it" mentality. Waiting around for better gear is a good way to never get anything done, and you'll learn things no matter what you use.
you are so right dude! for music-related stuff i use guitar pro (cause i am too dumb for an instrument ) and for recording i use steinberg wavelab. never got real "warm" with audacity somehow...
well I tried a bit guitar, but my fingers seem to be to fat and to "wooden" (couldn't find a better word). I played piano a while ago and seeing those ghost towns-stems I realy think about learning keyboard again...
You can get around physical problems usually. My fingers are really stubby, making piano and guitar hard in terms of reach. I just figure out ways around it. I think a lot of it is just persistence. It helps that I'm stubborn.
Hey Ben - was wondering the other day where you do most of your mixing and what kind of monitor setup do you use? Any room treatment? Thx....hope you had a nice Thanksgiving.
