Ask Dave - Home Recording Question Archive

5: category = Studio Setup
Name = Calvin

Question = Hello! How are you? I wanted to ask you how to setup my home
studio.. like what else do i need, and how do i hook it up? I have the following equipment already:
1. Keyboard- Yamaha Motif
2. Mixer- Behringer 1622FX Pro Mixer w/ Mic Pre Amps
3. Condenser Mic- Oktava MK319
4. Computer- Gateway 500SE ( 80G HD, 256MB Ram, 1.8MhZ Pentium 4
Processor, Win XP, CD-RW,)
5. Software- Sonar 3 Producer
6. Monitors- Event TR5

I would like to know what else i need o buy, and how to hook up the equip. correctly...

I havent yet purchased a pro sound card.. i was thinking about the Delta 44 Please get back to me... Thanks for your help :)

You first need to define exactly what you want to accomplish with your recording system.  You have basically enough gear to get started.  You should be able to use your computer's onboard sound card to do some basic stuff as long as you have the right cable connections, but aside from being lower quality, it can present some common problems of non-proaudio sound cards (latency being the biggest one)  You should be able to get around the latency issues by using your mixer, but as I mentioned before you need to specify what you intend to record first.  If you want to record drums you're obviosly going to need more mics.  With your computer sound card you can record 2 seperate sources at once.  With drums this would probably just be the best stereo mix you can get (but you limit yourself by sub mixing the drums)  There's always going to be something better than you can buy so it's really important to define exactly what you want to be able to do and exactly how much you have to get what you need.  I think most people start without any kind of plan and end up buying things they don't really need which will end up costing more money.  (There's always ebay to sell useless gear if you do)  Personally, that is one of the areas I feel very strongly about---If a piece of gear is not working for me, it's NOT working for me and I get rid of it. 

 

The delta 44 looks like a decent setup.  4 channels is the minimum I would use for drums---Kick, Snare, and 2 overheads.  Don't think that toms are more important than overheads.  With good mic placement and a decent drummer you won't NEED mics on your toms (that is unless you have the extra channels for it)  If you have the money for a recording sound card now, I wouldn't even waste your time with the computer sound card.  If you want more detailed advice, email me a description of what you plan to do with your system.

6: category = Select a Category
Name = Tory

question = Whats Best Condenser Mic for the cheapest price

I'll assume you're looking for a decent condenser for mainly vocals.  My choice would probably be anything from Studio Projects.  The B1 starts somewhere around $80 bucks.  I wouldn't try to spend any less than that and any other condenser mic for $80 is probably not worth buying.  I have a Studio Projects C1 and it's a very high quality mic at about $200.  Another good buy is the Marshall v67(g) but be careful about venturing into any of the other mics from them because a lot of their mics are really hit or miss.  I have a Marshall 603 (small diaphram condenser---for Overheads/Acoustic Guitars/Other Musical instruments) and I really like that as well.

 

Also don't under estimate the power of the good ol' Shure SM57.  It's not going to give you the intricate detail of a condenser, but it's extremely versatile.  It can offer character in a rock mix that no condenser can, and at around $80 it's cheap.  You wouldn't believe how many big records use it for vocals.  Remember it's also the mic of choice for snare drum, guitar amps and many other things you'll need to record

 

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