Home studios for songwriters are pretty much the norm now, so this is pretty much a mute point.

Thanks for reaffirming that moving away from my old Tascam 488 was one of the best things I've ever done

quote:

Originally posted by Amateur Trash:
Mute this!
BTW, Guitardaze, it's moot.

Amateur Trash

My two cents is that home recording has helped me as a musician. I play better with others for having tracked all the instruments myself a few times. I understand better what sounds good together and what doesn't. I won't say that it hasn't distracted me from being a musician at times, but then again, it beats computer games...a previous, less creative distraction.

Karaoke is killing music! Kill the Karaoke machines! Burn the Karaoke CD's in a big pile. If Clear Channel can burn Dixie Chicks CD's, we can burn Karaoke CD's. The time for the revolution is now! We must gather our sledgehammers and our butane lighters and go forth to save the world, before it's too late!

quote:

Originally posted by GUITARDAZE:
Home studios for songwriters are pretty much the norm now, so this is pretty much a mute point.

I wonder if songwriters are generally more prolific than they were 10 years ago.

Not me!!! I spend most of my time rethinking how to demo songs that I have already demoed and playing with Pro Tools, mics, preamps, reading forum threads, anything but writing.

My peak writing years were ~ 1989 - 1992, when I didn't even have a 4-track to record on, but I co-wrote at least twice a week with friends, whether I felt like it or not. We wrote a lot of stuff that was disposable, but we also wrote some of the strongest songs I have ever had a part in over the 30+ years I have been writing. Some got picked up by Bluewater in Nashville............. maybe there's a lesson in here somewhere.......

bilco

Aaight,my 2 centavos.I'm "that guy",the one almost 50 played drums in garage bands,got hooked on recording(really just the lust for the pursuit of gear)and found the crossroad of wanting still more stuff...about $10k this year alone...and realizing that there is no returning to the starting point.What auction off hundreds of peices of gear just to recoup? That would be a full time job with no income!!!So I am left to continue on no matter what happens.I'm keeping all of my shit until I die-my kids can't wait to sell it! What else will I do into the retirement years?And just talk to the guys down the block with a $25K boat,mabe a motorhome or a 5th wheel that they themselves play with but a dozen times a year,and you won't feel so bad being stuck with all of your gear.

Goods points A320guy. I slightly resemble that remark

Quality vintage gear - or new highend equipment that will be vintage one day - isn't all that bad an investment. Shit, ask you neighbour what his boat is worth in a couple of years. Those things depreciate like computers

Now, the DAWs...well they're a different story obviously.

My kids are going to be surprised when they see the value of some of my gear once I'm gone.

quote:

Originally posted by Ronan Chris Murphy:

quote:

Originally posted by GUITARDAZE:
Home studios for songwriters are pretty much the norm now, so this is pretty much a mute point.

I wonder if songwriters are generally more prolific than they were 10 years ago.

Songwriters? I don't know...most writers I know have a USB connection and a couple of mics...

Wankers are definately more prolific, as now there is an outlet - You Tube

quote:

Wankers are definately more prolific, as now there is an outlet - You Tube

quote:

I wonder if songwriters are generally more prolific than they were 10 years ago.

Seems like home studios could really help good writers and maybe cause the mediocre writers to crank out more than their share of crap? Double-edged sword.

It should be easier just to sit down and get some things down, although lot's of people did that anyway with portable 4-tracks back in the day.

I guess it's also easier to use as an excuse to produce crap, too. Easy to be lazy (eh... doesn't cost me anything to leave it this way, etc.)

I was looking a while back at the Edirol portable field recorders (heard one in use at a club, I was shocked) just for the writing purpose, go back to simple - write and record on the portable. If it's any good, come back, arrange, lay it down.

My home studio is killing my music! I started using a PreSonus Firebox earlier this year. I got it cheap from a guy off Craigslist. I was amazed at how well it worked with my system. I was able to get up and running with no troubles and use outboard preamps and AD converter with no hurdles. Months passed and my musician buddies, who are all mostly busy professional musicians, were getting the itch to do some playing. So, I decided to get a Firepod for the extra channels and get a live recording here at the house. The idea was to sit around in chairs and give everyone their own LDC to sing and play into. (This has worked great in the past) A few days prior to the jam, I installed and tested the Firepod. No problems. The night of the jam, everyone got here early. I was just finishing setting up the mics. Firing up the Firepod and laptop, I was dismayed to find the damn thing wasn't recording. I could monitor all my input, but there was no signal showing in my DAW, and nothing on the tracks I attempted to record. After an hour of troubleshooting I gave up. Thank God all the guys were glad to hang out, chat and eat soup beans and cornbread. So, we had our jam. It was magical, although I can't prove it in spite of a lot of wasted sweat and tears. At the end of the night, I just uninstalled the drivers and reinstalled the whole thing. Worked like a charm. I got one song down, but it was too late. We were playing tired and you could hear it.

Next scenario:

For a month now, my day job has had me running my hind end off...traveling and time away from the family. It is good to be busy, but man do I need some R&R. I have four days off (two left) this week. I've been dreaming of getting some recording done. I even wrote a song while driving back from a gig in Mississippi. Plus, there were some techniques I've been thinking real hard about trying. I spent the first day and a half getting my honey do-list out of the way. I've spent the second half of today troubleshooting the gosh blasted Firepod, because it is acting up again.

So here I am posting and venting frustration with my gear, and I've no recorded music to show for it.

I used to record a heck of a lot more when I had a Zoom multitrack (mrs1266). I just wasn't satisfied with the sound. It's hard for me to listen back to the stuff I did with that unit. I sat here this evening and conservatively estimated I have around $4575 in gear that I could just sell and start over with a quality standalone recorder. I'd even have money left over for a nice outboard preamp if I wanted to do that.

quote:

Originally posted by wretchasketch:
My home studio is killing my music! I started using a PreSonus Firebox earlier this year. I got it cheap from a guy off Craigslist. I was amazed at how well it worked with my system. I was able to get up and running with no troubles and use outboard preamps and AD converter with no hurdles. Months passed and my musician buddies, who are all mostly busy professional musicians, were getting the itch to do some playing. So, I decided to get a Firepod for the extra channels and get a live recording here at the house. The idea was to sit around in chairs and give everyone their own LDC to sing and play into. (This has worked great in the past) A few days prior to the jam, I installed and tested the Firepod. No problems. The night of the jam, everyone got here early. I was just finishing setting up the mics. Firing up the Firepod and laptop, I was dismayed to find the damn thing wasn't recording. I could monitor all my input, but there was no signal showing in my DAW, and nothing on the tracks I attempted to record. After an hour of troubleshooting I gave up. Thank God all the guys were glad to hang out, chat and eat soup beans and cornbread. So, we had our jam. It was magical, although I can't prove it in spite of a lot of wasted sweat and tears. At the end of the night, I just uninstalled the drivers and reinstalled the whole thing. Worked like a charm. I got one song down, but it was too late. We were playing tired and you could hear it.

Next scenario:

For a month now, my day job has had me running my hind end off...traveling and time away from the family. It is good to be busy, but man do I need some R&R. I have four days off (two left) this week. I've been dreaming of getting some recording done. I even wrote a song while driving back from a gig in Mississippi. Plus, there were some techniques I've been thinking real hard about trying. I spent the first day and a half getting my honey do-list out of the way. I've spent the second half of today troubleshooting the gosh blasted Firepod, because it is acting up again.

So here I am posting and venting frustration with my gear, and I've no recorded music to show for it.

I used to record a heck of a lot more when I had a Zoom multitrack (mrs1266). I just wasn't satisfied with the sound. It's hard for me to listen back to the stuff I did with that unit. I sat here this evening and conservatively estimated I have around $4575 in gear that I could just sell and start over with a quality standalone recorder. I'd even have money left over for a nice outboard preamp if I wanted to do that.

wretchasketch, I feel your pain.....

I rented a Firestudio for a week, returned it after 1 day.... never again.

I also have this week off after working way too many hours for about 3 months in a row to meet an impossible deadline. I am getting some recording done, mostly just experimenting to get the definitive tones that keep alluding me on electric and upright bass.

I am torn between the desire for simplicity when recording as a songwriter and the desire to record up to 10 tracks simultaneously for a live band recording.

Here are my conclusions:

If I weren't so far down the DAW (PT LE) road, I would get a Korg D888 (preamps are apparently just so so) to record the band live; for bigger bucks and supposedly great preamps, I would get the AKAI DSP24. The HDRs are probably way more stable than the laptop DAW route and it is ONE box to carry, plus mics and cords. Then just dump the wave files into your DAW software.

But, I don't really want to learn a new recording interface's ins and outs though. It is hard enough just to remember what I do at work, kids birthdays and all of the other stuff that seems to slip away more every year.

For a songwriting sketchpad and to capture living room jams, I am tempted to get the Zoom H2 though...... Mid/Side recording and the interface looks like a set of traditional analog tape transport buttons.

Since I am married to Pro Tools LE:

For songwriting and track by track overdubs:

I love my Mbox1. Folks can say what they will, the preamps are good enough for me; even recording my Pbass straight in results in a decent bass track. Two SM81s in X/Y going into the builtin Focusrite preamps sounds good on my Martin. An SM7b into the preamp on my vocal sounds pretty good, although the gain is not optimal. The combination of the Mbox with my G4 ibook is really stable and I can build up ~ 9 or 10 tracks with an aux reverb plugin before it starts to give me buffer underrun error messages. My desert island recording rig would be the ibook, Mbox, the SM7b and an SM81. I think I can do anything I need to do with that basic setup.

For recording the band live:

I found a floor model demo Digi002 Rack at a GC in another town over the phone. I recorded the band live a few Fridays ago and it worked fine, but...... I had to haul the ibook, Rack box with the Digi002r and Behringer ADA8000, power strips, surge protectors, plus the assorted mics, cables and direct boxes. That Korg D888 really starts looking appealing after about the 3rd trip out to the truck to bring in another load........

I like the preamps in the Digi002 okay, but I don't have engineer ears....... I also have an RNP, but although it sounds different, I'd just as soon stick with the simplicity of using the builtin preamps and bring in the Behringer ADA8000 mic pres through ADAT to record the drums.

I am in the process of moving my whole studio from the 11' X 11' X 8' spare bedroom into our living room with a 12' vaulted ceiling. I am going to experiment with recording both bluegrass instrumentation versions of my songs, as well as the versions with a trap set, Pbass, e guitar and keys. Live except for the vocals maybe.....


Bottom Line:

You have posted some great sounding recordings here, I think mostly done with a pair of AKG 414s. Those recordings sound better than anything I have done yet. Maybe just keep it simple with what you already know works well, MiniMe and the 2 414s?......

If you are going to keep going down the DAW road, I recommend Mac if you are on Windows. I could always get Windows to work eventually, but the Macs I have work for me without having to do much of anything to the basic setup of the OS.

I recommend PT LE and one of the interfaces it comes with, but be warned that there is a horror story for every success story on the DUC forum. I can't explain it; I have been using it since I got PT Free. Every version has worked for me, even on the Win 98SE platform. Well, PT Free was a little glitchy...........


PS If Tascam still made an analog cassette Portastudio that had 8 mic preamps in and could record all 8 channels simultaneously and had 8 line outs.......

Anything other than a stereo recording has to be mixed. It sounds like neither one of us really has much time to mix........ I am envying your 2 AKG 414 setup. Maybe you could find a deal on a good old Revox or Tascam 1/2 Track. THAT would make some great sounding recordings I bet.

bilco

quote:

Originally posted by bilco:
You have posted some great sounding recordings here, I think mostly done with a pair of AKG 414s. Those recordings sound better than anything I have done yet....

I am envying your 2 AKG 414 setup.

I definitely agree. I've been recording on and off for 10 years, and I've never gotten acoustic instruments to sound as good as you have, wretch. If the only thing you ever produce are live recordings using those two mics, I think you can be proud.

I understand the topic and the statement "home studios are killing music", but if I zoom out and take a look at my entire musical career, I just don't find that to be true - at least in my case.

For me, everthing musical comes and goes in cycles. I'll go off on a songwriting kick for a year and throw together a ton of songs. Then, I'll get really into my electric guitar playing and devote myself to that for a long time. Then it'll be a few months of cello, then preamps and mics, then piano, then mixing and monitors, then drums.... on and on. It could be said that each phase is "killing" or taking away from those other phases, but it seems that they all build on each other to construct the all around musician/producer/songwriter/engineer/arranger/all-around-musical-person that I am. Every piece adds a little something to all the others, and each piece wouldn't be what it is without the influence of the other pieces.

Most times, I enjoy the process of fiddling with gear and software, even when I start feeling like it's "getting in the way" of the music. I can (usually) step back and see it's all part of the bigger musical picture. So perhaps, wretch, your gear frustration is contributing to the musician you are/are becoming.

Then again, if the gear is only serving to piss you off and you feel like it's a waste of your time, dump everything but the 414s and an HD recorder and rock out.

....well, maybe keep a preamp or two..... and some monitors...... and maybe a nice compressor...... oh, and you can't get rid of............

quote:

Then again, if the gear is only serving to piss you off and you feel like it's a waste of your time, dump everything but the 414s and an HD recorder and rock out.

Hey, Walker and Bilco,
Thanks for the compliments on my recordings. Really, the only gear that is frustrating me right now is my interface. As far as preamps and effects, I have several "swiss army knife" type pieces that I haven't even begun to learn how to use to their potential. I'm not really frustrated with them, but I have recently considered sacrificing them in order to get a more dependable multitracking system. I just figured out what the problem with the Firepod was, so, I'm settling back down now to give my setup some more thought. I was sure ready to kick it all to the curb yesterday. I don't really enjoy fiddling with gear, but there are sounds I want to achieve and know I have to fiddle with gear to get it!

best,
Tracy

Well, Hello everyone, this is my first post. Now regarding the issue. In my case I'm interested in recording all instruments and producing everything myself, so that's the reason for the home studio in my case. If I had a rehearsed band I'd get into a studio, though.

quote:

Wankers are definately more prolific, as now there is an outlet - You Tube

quote:

Originally posted by judgeadgg:
Well, Hello everyone, this is my first post. Now regarding the issue. In my case I'm interested in recording all instruments and producing everything myself, so that's the reason for the home studio in my case. If I had a rehearsed band I'd get into a studio, though.

judgeadgg, how much recording experience do you have? What kind of music are you doing? Because, in your case, it might even be that a stronger argument could be made that you should concentrate on performance and production, and leave the engineering and studio gear to someone else.

If you're doing dance music, and can mostly work in the box, I'd say you might be a good candidate for setting up your own studio. But if you're recording more classic/real instruments, especially drums, I'd say hiring out a studio would be the way to go. Recording drums gets into a whole new level of not only engineering, but also the amount of gear to pull it off well.

My 2¢.

Hi there. I did post on the music appreciation forum though I did not get any comments xD.

My experience recording is relatively small, though I consider myself a fast learner.

If youre still interested in commenting my work the following link has samples of unmixed "recordings" thanks.

http://www.myspace.com/judgexp

Well, I took Ronan and several other people's advice for those of us who are songwriters first. I just ordered a Sony PCM-D50 flash recorder. Point/Shoot/Scoot. I sold my RNP and I am thinking hard about letting go of the Digi 002 Rack and lots of other stuff. I am just so burned out on the track at a time overdub, punch in, analyze to death which mic/preamp sounds best, edit, mix, remix, hate all my mixes syndrome. Not to mention going down the rabbit hole of Melodyne for pitch correction, moving drum beats here and there. It is exhausting and not something I have any kind of passion for when I think about it.

I think from now on I am going to capture song demos with the Flash recorder, and record more elaborate versions with the same machine and a couple of buddies, straight to 2 track, warts and all. At least I won't edit the excitement out of the performances. If I do want to overdub again, I can always sketch out the tempo and rough track arrangements on the Mbox, then if I want to record a finished product for a CD, I will take the Mbox tracks to a real studio with a real engineer along with real musicians and a producer of some sort, import the Mbox tracks as scratch tracks to play along with and let a pro do the real recording. After 5 years of throwing money at gear, the lightbulb flickers dimly on....... Oh, I see, I am NOT an engineer.

Back to the basics for my boys!!
bilco

Good for you, bilco. I wish I had the balls to decide what I need, what I don't need, and figure out what I'm good at and leave the rest of it the heck alone.