My New Studio Build (perhaps overly detailed)

[silky smoove]

View attachment 3833609 I've got some homework.

Your instructor is wholly unqualified

 

[ekfritz]

Your instructor is wholly unqualified

And, both ironically and paradoxically, that's the one really necessary bit of knowledge that proves someone is actually qualified to teach!

(I say that as someone who's spent the last 20 years as a professor of Composition, Literature, and Creative Writing, so don't take that as a slam on teachers!)

I've watched the three videos currently released and really enjoyed seeing your process. This is obviously just a hobby for me (I've already revealed my day/night/weekend job!), but these kinds of things always help me better understand how all of this works... when it works!

 

[peterpalmieri]

Your instructor is wholly unqualified

Great job all around. It must have been a lot of work editing and mixing a video of you editing and mixing. You have really good ears in finding EQ points quickly and knowing how to work with them. Love the use of the softube plugins and your use of the hardware controller. The EQ boost on the bass really brought out the voice of the instrument with out having that second small condenser pointe at the fingerboard, love it.

I've watched a good amount of master classes and instructional videos on Logic and you seem to know your way around as much as anybody

 

[silky smoove]

Thanks! That song in particular has a very easy arrangement to mix. I can assure you that I'm not that fast with more complicated pieces, but it's appreciated all the same.

 

[Ulf_Hansson]

Great job all around. It must have been a lot of work editing and mixing a video of you editing and mixing.

Now we're waiting for the podcast where you explain how you edited and mixed the video of you editing and mixing a song.

 

[silky smoove]

Now we're waiting for the podcast where you explain how you edited and mixed the video of you editing and mixing a song.

Admittedly there was some voodoo to be done. My iPhone 11 Pro Max records audio at a sample rate of 48k, whereas Emily and Marina recorded that song at 44k. Any point where I was speaking and the audio was playing the two sound sources would drift. I manually cut my phone's audio to only play while I was speaking. It was a LOT of cuts. You can hear some audio phasing in longer playback and dialog sections if you listen closely.

Otherwise it was my phone on a desk stand recording audio and video while QuickTime was doing a screen recording with the audio running through an aggregate device of my little backup Presonus Studio 24c and Soundflower.

Do you ever initially think "well there wasn't anything to it" and then type it out only to think "oh... there actually was a lot to getting that setup to function properly" ? ...it just happened to me.

 

[TedH]

Completely random, non-sequitor question, but it proves I paid attention to the finer details of this almost 5yr, soon to be 182 page mega thread.

I'm doing some COVID-inspired online collaboration stuff, and tripped over the DIY vocal booth thing, which I could set up in my basement. Appreciating that mass matters because I read this entire thread, the entire @peterpalmieri studio thread, and bought the Gervais book, is there a useful way to add some mass to the PVC pipes (e.g., foam, or Roxul type) that I can do quickly and easily?

Or since it's a Home Depot DIY booth for a guy who's voice sucks and will never go pro, should I just double-bag it with some decent acoustic blankets to minimize the pipe vibrations and focus more attention on protecting the neighbors ears and avoiding the police coming due to noise ordinance violations?

Asking for a friend

 

[silky smoove]

is there a useful way to add some mass to the PVC pipes (e.g., foam, or Roxul type) that I can do quickly and easily?

Sand

I built some monitor stands at my old house using polyethylene pipe, a bunch of sand, pipe flanges and two pieces of white veneered MDF. It works great for adding mass, provided you can seal the base sufficiently that it won't end up leaking all over the place.

 

[silky smoove]

your looking to lower the noise coming from your waste lines? I used MLV. Mass loaded vinyl between the underside of my bathroom and the ceiling of my room.

I think he's talking about the PVC frame
of a DIY iso booth.

 

[peterpalmieri]

I think he's talking about the PVC frame
of a DIY iso booth.

Haha. Just watched the video link

 

[TedH]

Sand

I built some monitor stands at my old house using polyethylene pipe, a bunch of sand, pipe flanges and two pieces of white veneered MDF. It works great for adding mass, provided you can seal the base sufficiently that it won't end up leaking all over the place.

Cool, thanks for that. Let's see if I can avoid turning the basement into a beach.

 

[beans-on-toast]

Some high end speakers have sand in the base. An alternative that some use is concrete.

Bowers & Wilkins at Abbey Road

 

[silky smoove]

I finally took the time to figure out the 16A routing grid and mixer to allow for direct input monitoring and playback from the computer to happen simultaneously. It was just a matter of increasing the mixer inputs from 16 to 18. At 16 I had analog inputs 1-16 assigned and then couldn't figure out how to get the computer audio into the mixer. I missed the little field on the left that allows you to specify a number from 1-32 of mixer inputs. I added 17 and 18, then linked them as a stereo mixer channel. I then routed inputs 1-18 to Aux 1-2 which I then send to ADAT A1 (configured as Toslink to be compatible with my Audient Nero). With this setup I can have direct input monitoring of analog inputs 1-16 while also getting the computer audio. This means that if I have a session that's fully mixed but the singer decides they aren't happy with one line in a song and they MUST punch in to fix it, I can do it without concerns over latency from massive DSP usage, and because of the very well thought out mixer I can avoid level concerns between heavily DSP processed audio and unprocessed audio not allowing the performer to hear themselves. It's a very smart setup, but it takes some work to get your head wrapped around it.

As an ancillary bonus, the input monitoring DSP mixer sounds pretty nice. The EQ is very functional. The compressor sounds a little too aggressive for my taste, but for use in making a performer more audible it will probably work well. The reverb is shockingly nice. All of this is just for monitoring as I won't be printing any of this, but it's nice to know that if I get a metal drummer in and they absolutely need to hear their drums with that super scooped and aggressive metal "thing" I can give that to them in their cans. Or if a vocalist must have cacophonous reverb on their vocal while tracking it's easily achieved.

Definitely digging this setup. Now I just need the pandemic to be over so I can get people in here to track some tunes!

 

[silky smoove]

My Avantone Mixcubes are finally shipping out. They've been backordered for a long time. These are the last piece I need before doing the reorganization and consolidation of all my studio cabling. Very exciting in a very non-exciting sort of way. It'll be great to have four monitoring options at the touch of a button for checking mixes.

 

[beans-on-toast]

What make of cables are you liking? Does this include mic cables?

 

[silky smoove]

What make of cables are you liking? Does this include mic cables?

For me the sweet spot for both mic and patch cables is ProCo Excellines. They're good quality cables that are well built and use genuine Neutrik connectors for XLRs without being overly expensive. They're also handily color coded on the ends for length.

Nearly every cable in my studio is one of these except for these two 90-degree XLRs for my permanently installed room mics that were needed for Cable routing clearance purposes.

 

[beans-on-toast]

ProCo offers good quality products at an reasonable price.

In the past, I've bought bulk and made custom length cables with Mogami and Canare cable and Neutrik connectors. Nice results but it's way too much work spending long days with a soldering iron under magnifiers. These days, they come off the shelf.

 

[silky smoove]

My Avantone Mixcubes arrived. They're in retro cream finish. They're a little more yellow than I'd hoped, but I still think they'll look better than the black or red version.

 

[silky smoove]

Handy mic stand mounting!

 

[silky smoove]

This is all in disarray, but here's the rough setup. I need to shorten the legs on my computer monitor stand to get this all to fit, most notably on the left side where you'll notice the MixCube is tilted.