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Jumping into home recording with both feet

drummer5359

drummer5359

Jan 10, 2011
4,675
4,582
Pittsburgh PA USA
#1
I've done my share of recording in "real" studios and I've also had situations where someone has brought their computer into my home rehearsal studio, plugged into my board and recorded here. Up to now I've resisted joining the home recording revolution myself. I'm pretty busy with various bands and having the capability to do this myself has become overwhelmingly tempting.

So...

The good news is that I own a semi-decent board, a Presonus studiolive 16.4.2., a Presonus HP60 six channel headphone amp, lots of microphones (mostly Shure Beta 58s, Beta 57s, SM57s AKG D112s...), a couple of Countryman DI boxes and a well stocked music store worth of Drums, basses, guitars and amplification.

I'm figuring on buying a used or possibly new laptop (at least to start) to use as the platform for my DAW. I'm leaning toward a laptop as it would be nice to make this as portable as possible.

I'm not sure how far to go with the computer itself and I have yet to decide what recording software that I want to use.

I know that down the road I'll likely buy some good condenser mics, outboard preamps and the like. For now I just need to get started.

Suggestions?
 
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#2
Check out this Guide: Invalid Link Removed
It's pretty long, but covers A LOT of topics.
I'm no home recorder myself, but am strongly considering it. From what I've researched so far, room treatment & monitoring is very important. Maybe you already have that in your home rehearsal studio...
The most important item missing from your list, would be the audio interface. If I'm not mistaken the StudioLive board should feature a comparable functionality.
 
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#4
I think the first step in the process is accurately assessing what the intent of the recording space will be.
Just for recording, and mixing elsewhere?
Recording and mixing in the same space?
Can the space be modified if need be?
To what level can it be modified? (i.e. tearing down drywall, hanging proper treatment, etc.)
What's the budget for this endeavor?

From that point you can start looking at the more nitty gritty stuff.
 
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#5
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#7
You should be very skeptical about articles and books about sound recording and production. We live in the world where everybody wants to sell something. Vendors want to sell equipment. Authors want to sell books. People want easy answers for complicated questions and easy solutions for complicated problems.

For example, this is the studio which isn't suitable for music production but they don't do it so it isn't a problem. They make sync translations for movies, etc. But you should understand that professional music production costs far more than it.



Yes, I know that you think about home recording, not professional studio building. But I've seen books and videos where authors said that you can achieve professional results for couple of dollars in any space. Or commercial which said that very this 500$ device is solution for every problem. And it just isn't true. So if you understand it there won't be disappoints in the future.
 
#8
I also recommend the recording revolution. Graham is doing a "record a song for $300 (everything but the computer) right now using only 1 mic. It's very insightful and inspiring for the bedroom recording individuals . He's a very positive fellow and gives great insights. His 5 minutes to a better mix tutorials on YouTube gave me a bunch of knowledge I never would have gained on my own.
 
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