Show Us Your Inexpensive "Frankenstein" Mini-Studios.

[Mikeyd74]

Have you done "creative" things in order to achieve a fuctional home studio?
What have you used to build your own home studio in order to save money?

Let's see what you got and tell us how you use it!

My home studio is a sort of "frankenstein" studio setup. I have gotten very creative with the way I record due to the fact that I just don't have the cash to sink into more studio gear. I've been looking through the threads for more interesting ideas on utilizing equipment that I already have in order to incorporate it into my mini-studio and for equipment that serves multi-purposes.
To save money I've been using my drum machine as an A/B signal splitter in order to send my instruments to two different inputs. It has a single 1/4 input and stereo 1/4 outputs. This way I can record directly to my Zoom H4 and also run the signal into an amp and mic it up and run the mic back into my Zoom H4 at the same time. This comes in really handy when I record bass and guitar. I also use an old JVC receiver and speakers as my studio monitors which actually works very well.
I chose the Zoom H4 over a table top digital recorder to save money, this way I have some nice stereo mics for recording vocals, drums, or acoustic instruments and also have a functional digital 4-track recorder that includes studio effects and mic/amp simulators.
I also use an ancient Tascam Porta07 4-track as a mixer that runs into my computer. I was using Cakewalk's "Guitar Tracks" software which was a great inexpensive home recording programuntil I just got a new computer with Vista. Unfortunately Cakewalk doesn't work on Vista so 'm now hunting for another affordable program that supports Vista.
Most of my effects and processors were purchased from clearance sections or are off the floor demos that I got at drastic price drops.
Here's my "Frankenstein" mini-studio.

[bassbrad]

I got back into home recording 3 years ago by getting a Tascam DP01FX, last month I got a Tascam 2488 mk II. My stuff has been collected over the years and a lot of it has come from salvage jobs (desk, rack, eqs, Crown power amp), used gear and other things scrounged.

[fenderhutz]

No pics yet. Unfinished basement with band tapestry on the walls.

Topaz 12 channel mixer, Line 6 TonePort UX2, a few cheap drum mics, a Shure SM 57, Creative EMU 99 dollar sound card. That's it.

I got 150 in the mixer, 120 in the Line 6, drum mics were free, SM 57 was left at my house, EMU I bought new for 99 bucks.

www.tellhazelrun.com is what I recorded.

[EricF]

Inexpensive is relative. For a home studio crammed into a small corner of my condo, there's a fair amount of $/sq ft involved here, but compared to a decent setup for recording a full band, I haven't scratched the surface.

[Questor]

Nice looking setup there Eric. Do you record DI all the time? I'm guessing so since the plastic drawer organizers would rattle if you didn't.

I don't have any pics of my setup - mostly because I yell at my wife about how messy she is so I don't want any permanent record of the truth about my music gear being messy.

[JonathanD]

Originally Posted by Questor

Nice looking setup there Eric. Do you record DI all the time? I'm guessing so since the plastic drawer organizers would rattle if you didn't.

I don't have any pics of my setup - mostly because I yell at my wife about how messy she is so I don't want any permanent record of the truth about my music gear being messy.

Did you notice the MANY sound proofing panels?


Nice looking room eric.

[Questor]

Originally Posted by JonathanD

Did you notice the MANY sound proofing panels?


Nice looking room eric.

That wouldn't help, since the plastic drawers are just underneath them. If they were in another room I could see you making an argument for it.

[Bass Boy]

Originally Posted by JonathanD

Did you notice the MANY sound proofing panels?


Nice looking room eric.

Those are actually room treatments not sound proofing. (not trying to be a jerk but alot of people get the two confused)

[Mikeyd74]

I don't do much for sound proofing, I mostly record direct for simple demo projects. But lately I've been trying to record some real "quality" bass tracks and I've been sending my bass direct and mic'ing up my little Fender bass amp to add some live sounding bass.
I had a problem with room noise so I doubled up a blanket and comforter and threw it over the amp. It totally did the trick.

[projectMalamute]

This is pretty hillbilly. Improvised dead booth with 2 comforters, 3 sleeping bags, a futon mattress and some spare bass gear. Not for keeping the sound of the amp in but for keeping the sound of the cruddy room reflections, rattling radiator, etc, out. Works pretty good. For that extra low rent touch take notice of the electrical tape enhanced adapted mic clip.

[Mikeyd74]

That's awesome!!!
That's exactly the kind of stuff I was looking for when I started this thread!
Just a cool idea, build a "sound fort" lol!

[EricF]

Originally Posted by Questor

Nice looking setup there Eric. Do you record DI all the time? I'm guessing so since the plastic drawer organizers would rattle if you didn't.

For bass, yes I record DI - usually a split signal between two different DIs. For electric gee-tar, I usually record DI also, but will occasionally mic a small amp. Acoustic gee-tar is usually a split signal between mic and pickup. Drums and synths are MIDI-generated.

Originally Posted by Bass Boy

Those are actually room treatments not sound proofing. (not trying to be a jerk but alot of people get the two confused)

BassBoy is right. The panels (DIY-built) are for acoustic absorption rather than sound-PROOFING (meaning trying to eliminate sound from escaping). They are of the biggest benefit for mixing, but help with mic'd recording as well.

Not shown in the pic is a 4' wide x 6' high panel that sits at the right side of my rack. This essentially creates a cubicle and creates a more symetrical and appropriate space for mixing. The panel is also hinged in the middle and can be moved to create a make-shift vocal booth or amp isolation.

Here's another pic with the movable panel in place...

[Fnord Explorer]

What did you build your room treatments with, EricF? I'm planning on doing something similar with my room. . . .

These pictures are pretty old now (I'll have to take some new ones soon). I've since replaced the acoustic drumset with an electronic one (less space, more control), have a lot more pedals, and a second desk where I set up my keyboard and Macbook. Since I can move the Macbook around, I have set it up so I have "stations" for recording different instruments.





This room was built with the inner wall having about six inches of dead air before reaching the outer wall of the foundation. A lot less noise getting outside (or coming in) that way. The cabinets on the one side of the room are set up with wooden baffles inside of them so I can put a few amps in there and record with a decent amount of isolation and dead space. Another tip: A clothes closet works excellent as a dead space for recording a bass amp.

Regardless, I need to spruce up the walls and get rid of some of the "ring" that's in the room when recording guitars or vocals. Hence my interest in the room treatments.

[Questor]

The ring is probably the slap back echo from the walls. If I'm correct the reason for this is that the walls are parallel to each other so the sound bounces back and forth like ping pong balls.

This is why I frequently recommend using bookshelves to deaden sound. The book pages are loose so they trap the sound, prevent slap back echo (due to the distortion of the overall room shape), and make you look well-read besides.

[Questor]

Eric, is that Cubase?

[Fnord Explorer]

Originally Posted by Questor

The ring is probably the slap back echo from the walls. If I'm correct the reason for this is that the walls are parallel to each other so the sound bounces back and forth like ping pong balls.

This is why I frequently recommend using bookshelves to deaden sound. The book pages are loose so they trap the sound, prevent slap back echo (due to the distortion of the overall room shape), and make you look well-read besides.

Yeah, that's exactly what it is. I want to put up some treatments and give the room some more mojo. I was thinking of painting it victorian red or something and ragging on some texture, but several well-placed treatments would deaden the ring AND make it look less like a morgue.

[Mikeyd74]

Fnord Explorer, I used to have that same exact desk. I loved that desk because of all of the room above and below it. I could fit just about anything I needed on it or below it. Plus the little monitor hutch was the perfect size to hide my mixer away from dust and kept the cords neatly tucked away. When I moved I just didn't have enough room for it. When I get a bigger place I'm definitely gonna get me another one. Nice set up by the way.

[Fnord Explorer]

Originally Posted by Mikeyd74

Fnord Explorer, I used to have that same exact desk. I loved that desk because of all of the room above and below it. I could fit just about anything I needed on it or below it. Plus the little monitor hutch was the perfect size to hide my mixer away from dust and kept the cords neatly tucked away. When I moved I just didn't have enough room for it. When I get a bigger place I'm definitely gonna get me another one. Nice set up by the way.

Yeah, it's awesome studio desk. Now I can set up my Macbook on the desk and still see the upper monitor. When I bought the house the previous owners left it here because they didn't want to tear it apart. Win-win!

[tomvelsor]

my "home studio" is probobly more ghetto than everything else on here. believe it or not, i did lots of home recordings on a boss rc20XL. thats right, its a loop pedal. the quality was MUCH better than you would expect from this, but still overall it was of course not very professional sounding...if i knew how to post a sound clip i would..if i can even find the songs anymore.

i would go directly into the pedal for bass recordings

would use 2 mics (and sometimes only one) for drums - one area mic up top, and one bass drum mic.

never used a mic for a guitar track (not sure why?) i would always do guitar into pedals for distortion, reverb, ext, then into the looper.

if i have a song i did in itunes how can i post it to show off my $250 home studio?

[Fnord Explorer]

Originally Posted by tomvelsor

my "home studio" is probobly more ghetto than everything else on here. believe it or not, i did lots of home recordings on a boss rc20XL. thats right, its a loop pedal. the quality was MUCH better than you would expect from this, but still overall it was of course not very professional sounding...if i knew how to post a sound clip i would..if i can even find the songs anymore.

i would go directly into the pedal for bass recordings

would use 2 mics (and sometimes only one) for drums - one area mic up top, and one bass drum mic.

never used a mic for a guitar track (not sure why?) i would always do guitar into pedals for distortion, reverb, ext, then into the looper.

if i have a song i did in itunes how can i post it to show off my $250 home studio?

Hey man, I started out the same way. I recorded my first CD on an enclosed backporch I used to call "The Hotbox" with a bunch of ancient analog gear, cheap Radio Shack mics, and a lot of "ghetto" recording techniques (my favorite being loosening all the screws on an old snare stand and banging it on a linoleum floor rhythmically and quadruple tracking it so it sounded like a marching army):



Necessity is the mother of invention, after all. Sometimes the digital world makes us a little lazy, eh?