Help me set up my studio! Please? pos...

Help me set up my studio! Please?

Posted on Jan 16, 2009 03:43 pm
joemillermusic
Member Since: Dec 19, 2008

Okay, so I am a newbie at home recording and I need some good advice on how to set up my studio so I can start making some good recordings! First of all, here is a list of the equipment I have:

Mics:
MXL 4000
MXL 992
MXL 993 (2)
MXL 603s
Shure SM57
Shure SM58

M-Audio Studiophile AV-40 Moniters
M-Audio MobilePre USB Audio Interface
Behringer Xenyx1832FX Mixer
Behringer U-Control UCA200 Audio Interface
Audio Technica ATH-M45 Studio Headphones

Apple Powerbook G4 1.5 GHz PowerPC
Garageband DAW

Okay, so there it is. Now, let me just explain extactly the type of recordings I want to do:

I am a singer/songwriter who is trying to record some nice recordings of some acoustic songs (vocals, acoustic guitar, and maybe some hand percussion [djembe]).

Here is how I would like things to work:

I am all by myself here with no other help as far as an engineer goes. I would like to do multiple type of recording... Maybe record each instrument separately and also do some songs where I record both guitar and vocals at the same time.

Can anyone maybe walk me through a good set up and maybe how to do it? Also, is there a better DAW out there than garageband that might be free or very cheap and easy to use?

Please help me out here. I need you!

Thanks a lot,
Joe

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n1ck
student with too much free time!
Member
Since: Apr 17, 2006

Jan 17, 2009 05:31 am

Hi Joe!

There are quite a few free softwares out there...I havent used any apart from Kristal, but thats very basic.

You've got a good selection of mics, my advice would be to set them all up....record some guitar, and see which sound best! I tend to use small condensor mics for the guitar, as while playing more delicately the players breathing can be quite loud!

I am assuming that you've got all the electronics set up?

Its really a case of playing around and finding what's right for you. Just keep trying different things...different parts of the room (you want to try and avoid getting the whrr of the computer in any of the recordings)....mic up different bits of the guitar and experiment with the different sounds you get.....

Vocals is always a difficult one to get right....again i just played around with gain, and the EQ untill I was happy with the sound...Havent touched the settings since, cos I know i'll never fid them again!

Do you have an electro-accoustic? Plugging that straight into the mixer is a good way to get started on songs where the sound of the guitar isn't that critical.

Hope thats some help....reading back I'm not sure I said anything usefull, but oh well!

Noize2u
Czar of Midi
Administrator
Since: Apr 04, 2002

Jan 17, 2009 04:01 pm

First I'll ask, do you have the audio interface hooked up and ready to go? Preferably the M-Audio one. The Behringer UCA is pretty much not even worth plugging in. Al, do you have your monitor's set up and ready to run as well?

Second, GarageBand is a perfect place to start. Many use it as it is easy and straight forward to use. It will do everything you need without any trouble at all.