#1661484 - 03/02/04 12:10 AM
The Recording Challenge!!!!
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mjmclane
Senior Member
Registered: 02/17/02
Posts: 125
Loc: Tulsa,OK,UNITED STATES
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I am in the throws of putting together a home, er a, project, er a, whatever studio. I'm intrigued by questions I see on forums about "What's the best [fill in the blank]". I am particularly interested in Phil's bang-for-the-buck pledge and I for one am concerned that many of us amateurs get equipment crazy and spend a lotta bucks on equipment and don't really learn how to use it. I haven't though out the details so I'll just throw it out for discussion and see where it goes. I would like to see a truly good engineer do a session (electric and acoustic guitars, bass, drums, vocals) using only very basic stuff. Maybe a sound treated bedroom, Mackie mixer for preamps,an SM57 (maybe throw in an under $500 condenser mic), basic soundcard (Audiophile 2496), DAW software with basic FX plugs, etc, etc, etc. I think we'd be astounded at how good basic equipment can sound and encouraged by what we can do with less.
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#1661485 - 03/02/04 04:19 AM
Re: The Recording Challenge!!!!
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Matt.Hepworth
MP Hall of Fame Member
Registered: 03/13/01
Posts: 2972
Loc: Riverdale, UT
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Much truth to your statements, I'd say.
_________________________
No matter how good something is, there will always be someone blasting away on a forum somewhere about how much they hate it.
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#1661486 - 03/02/04 04:08 PM
Re: The Recording Challenge!!!!
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KenElevenShadows
MP Hall of Fame Member
Registered: 12/20/00
Posts: 8586
Loc: Los Angeles,CA,UNITED STATES
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I've had really good engineers help out with recordings in my very modest studio, back when it was even more, er, modest. Yes, absolutely, wonderful things can be done! With lower-budget equipment, you often have to work much harder at achieving certain sounds or learn to work within limitations, but absolutely, amazing sounds can be done with not very much equipment.
I get a really good sound in my studio now, especially considering that it's not really all that acoustically treated, partially because I have pretty good equipment (not great, but pretty good). I record in a living room, after all, so there's only so much that can be done with rolling up acoustic phone and putting it in corners and blankets and gobos and so forth. It still sounds good, though, and one shouldn't get too hung up on stuff like that. Do the best you can and move forward.
But what I am actually getting at is even though I've got great mics and so forth, one of the vocal sounds that people keep emailing me about was the very first recording of mine that appeared on a CD, back in 1990. For this song, I recorded an operatically-trained female on a $15 SM 57 that I purchased at a garage sale through the stock microphone preamps of my Akai MG1214. These are by far the WORST MIC PREAMPS I have ever used. In yet, it's a beautiful recording. You simply can't get too hung up on what you don't have. Just use what you have, be creative, and keep moving forward.
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#1661487 - 03/02/04 04:30 PM
Re: The Recording Challenge!!!!
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Bill@Welcome Home Studios
MP Hall of Fame Member
Registered: 08/23/03
Posts: 7343
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In all of the equipment hype, and the snobbery and reverse snobbery that exists on line, the real issue is what is missing.
Do you know what you are doing?
Now, IF you do know what you are doing, what tools do you choose?
This is the only discipline where I regularly see people suggest that we should hobble our craftsmen by insisting that they use the cheapest, crummiest tools that we can provide, just because they seem to be able to do a good job with them. If this is true, why not give them the best tools available, and let them shine?
I'm old school, and I'll make music with whatever you put in front of me. I'll do the best job that I can. But better tools make the job easier and allow me to get better results. Period.
Bill
_________________________
"...it's easier than hitting the kids, and almost as much fun..."
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#1661488 - 03/02/04 04:33 PM
Re: The Recording Challenge!!!!
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RobT
Platinum Member
Registered: 02/01/01
Posts: 1720
Loc: Charlotte,NC,UNITED STATES
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Good comment Ken/Eleven Shadows.
I think musicians suffer from the same gear lust syndrone (GAS). It ain't always the gear. Its one of the reasons I like TapeOp magazine. They really seem to encourage using the gear you have to make the best music you can. Good songs are always the place to start.
_________________________
RobT
Famous Musical Quotes: "I would rather play Chiquita Banana and have my swimming pool than play Bach and starve" - Xavier Cugat
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#1661489 - 03/02/04 10:11 PM
Re: The Recording Challenge!!!!
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KenElevenShadows
MP Hall of Fame Member
Registered: 12/20/00
Posts: 8586
Loc: Los Angeles,CA,UNITED STATES
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Originally posted by RobT:
Good comment Ken/Eleven Shadows.
I think musicians suffer from the same gear lust syndrone (GAS). It ain't always the gear. Its one of the reasons I like TapeOp magazine. They really seem to encourage using the gear you have to make the best music you can. Good songs are always the place to start.
I feel it's also important to build a rapport with the equipment that you are working with. I want to know it well, no its quirks and strong points and be able to really work the equipment really well. I can't do that if I'm constantly upgrading, buying new equipment, and having tons of software on my computer. I want to get straight to creating, not tinkering.
I have a good, strong signal chain anyway. If I can't make a good recording with Lawson mics and other nice mics, FMR RNPs and Peavey VMP2s, Apogee converters, an analog multitrack machine and Pro Tools, it ain't really gonna sound better if I start learning Nuendo or whatever anyway, is it?
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