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The affordable SMALL studio thread


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To add to that, quite a few venues now have modern digital mixers that can also be used as an interface. Add a laptop and a couple of video cameras, clean up the stage and you are good to go. Fine with me, I am more interested in collaborating in various places with some of the great friends/musicians I've met and been in bands with up here.

Very much this, if you live in the right place. Here's the success story of White Horse Black Mountain near Asheville NC, a venue that made this change at the start of the pandemic (they'd been planning some of it already but just took it a bit farther).

 

I've got the Rack thread and the Mic thread to share ideas with everybody on those topics. My goal here is to be able to set up a small, quick and dirty studio, get the music happening and record it. Once I get the larger, more cumbersome studio set up I can bring things there to mix down. For mobile, a set of headphones and maybe the one Mackie MR5 so everybody can listen when we are done, that's pretty much it.

 

Also good for spontaneous creativity at home base without firing up the whole she-bang.

 

I do this. My main studio often stays off for my radio shows, and I do everything with a very nice Yamaha AG06 portable mixer/interface. It does everything I need, sounds great, and I'm often amazed at the quality of the live music I can play on air with only six channels of input, when the limitations force me to focus hard.

 

Meanwhile, get some nice speakers. I've had and used decent monitors for a long time, they are well worth the initial investment and properly cared for should last for decades.

And this, yes, thanks, KP :thx:

 

One other thing if you have a little extra money or just a little more time to spend researching: get an interface, mixer, or separate box with a high-quality headphone output. It helps a lot to have a really good quality signal feeding your good phones, and even if you can't or don't want to spend the extra money, it's valuable to have a consistent way of hearing things in your phones, in fact perhaps more important than having super-high fussy quality.

Dr. Mike Metlay (PhD in nuclear physics, golly gosh) :D

Musician, Author, Editor, Educator, Impresario, Online Radio Guy, Cut-Rate Polymath, and Kindly Pedant

Editor-in-Chief, Bjooks ~ Author of SYNTH GEMS 1

 

clicky!:  more about me ~ my radio station (and my fam) ~ my local tribe ~ my day job ~ my bookmy music

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I can have fun with what I have now.

Often overlooked and a vital point in Kuru's original thread starter!

 

Good monitoring was one of the things that made my truck work. There wasn't the wide choice of monitors in the early 1980s that we have now. My first monitors were JBL 4311s. After reworking the truck (basically turned everything around so I was facing the back doors rather than the windshield) with the help of a good local designer, the late Neil Muncy, for the kind of music I work with, KEF 103.2s, a somewhat popular audiophile-ish speaker, made a good choice, and I'm still using them today.

KEF is an interesting brand. While they mainly aim at home studio listeners, a couple of their models actually give very good performance in small studios, with good accuracy and tons of clear detail. I tested and really liked the original LS50, but they are NOT cheap.

 

The audio quality of a $250 interface today is far above that of a couple of channels of console and analog tape (and later on digital tape).

This is vital to remember. In so many ways, the "cheap" gear we take for granted now is sonically superior (setting aside "vintage character" concerns) to stuff that cost ten times as much 20 years ago. My Yamaha AG06 can record and play back stereo 24/192 (assuming anyone needs it!) and has a fabulous headphone amp, and it's under $200.

Dr. Mike Metlay (PhD in nuclear physics, golly gosh) :D

Musician, Author, Editor, Educator, Impresario, Online Radio Guy, Cut-Rate Polymath, and Kindly Pedant

Editor-in-Chief, Bjooks ~ Author of SYNTH GEMS 1

 

clicky!:  more about me ~ my radio station (and my fam) ~ my local tribe ~ my day job ~ my bookmy music

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My Yamaha AG06 can record and play back stereo 24/192 (assuming anyone needs it!) and has a fabulous headphone amp, and it's under $200.

 

That's a nifty widget, I like it. I had no idea it existed, this is why threads are good - well, one reason.

 

I have a Yamaha MG 12/4 FX mixer that some kid was giving away on craigslist because he lost the power supply. $13 later, it works perfectly. Quite a bit bigger than your gem and no USB interface.

6 mic inputs though and 2 stereo Line In channels, 3 band eq and effects. It's pretty fun, mostly it sits. It would turn my 2 channel interface into a reasonable rig for recording 3 or so players.

 

I also have a Tascam DR40, which is tiny and has a couple of pretty great mics. 24 bit up to 96khz on SD card. I've thought I could use that too, all I need is a solid count off to line up tracks. That has a tripod mount so it's easy to position it and the mics can be set AB or XY. You can plug mics into as well, never tried it - yet. Which means I could run the mixer into it as well if I didn't feel like messing about with the laptop and DAW.

 

I've recorded a few open mic nights in a great sounding room and the results were pretty amazing for a small plastic box.

 

It's good to have options!!!

It took a chunk of my life to get here and I am still not sure where "here" is.
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One other thing if you have a little extra money or just a little more time to spend researching: get an interface, mixer, or separate box with a high-quality headphone output. It helps a lot to have a really good quality signal feeding your good phones, and even if you can't or don't want to spend the extra money, it's valuable to have a consistent way of hearing things in your phones, in fact perhaps more important than having super-high fussy quality.

 

One of the reasons I chose the Presonus Quantum (Thunderbolt 2 version) when I got a new interface was the 2 separate headphone amps with their own knobs. They were well reviewed and can drive any of my headphones way louder than I'll ever want and clear as a bell. I've done a few jams here with one other person, I just point out their headphone knob and they can adjust it however they want. Great for condo life!

 

The Steinberg headphone amp is super loud and has a feature I like very much. There is a blend knob for Input and Playback. You can easily have zero latency while clearly hearing the music and it's fast and easy to adjust the balance and then the volume. The Input is not nearly as loud as the playback, hence the extra headroom built in.

It took a chunk of my life to get here and I am still not sure where "here" is.
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My Yamaha AG06 can record and play back stereo 24/192 (assuming anyone needs it!) and has a fabulous headphone amp, and it's under $200.

 

That's a nifty widget, I like it. I had no idea it existed, this is why threads are good - well, one reason.

 

I have a Yamaha MG 12/4 FX mixer that some kid was giving away on craigslist because he lost the power supply. $13 later, it works perfectly. Quite a bit bigger than your gem and no USB interface.

6 mic inputs though and 2 stereo Line In channels, 3 band eq and effects. It's pretty fun, mostly it sits. It would turn my 2 channel interface into a reasonable rig for recording 3 or so players.

The MG mixers are a great value, actually, and would be nice to use for many applications where all you need is a little bit more than an AG06 in a lot more space.

 

I've been researching my needs for a future studio upgrade to get the number of inputs I need and the number of channels of computer I/O that I want, and the prospects are daunting. When nothing smaller and less expensive than an Allen & Heath Qu-Pac will do the job for you, it's time to rethink how you record. Your cheapest option, even if it doesn't always work, is to rethink your approach rather than replace your gear.

Dr. Mike Metlay (PhD in nuclear physics, golly gosh) :D

Musician, Author, Editor, Educator, Impresario, Online Radio Guy, Cut-Rate Polymath, and Kindly Pedant

Editor-in-Chief, Bjooks ~ Author of SYNTH GEMS 1

 

clicky!:  more about me ~ my radio station (and my fam) ~ my local tribe ~ my day job ~ my bookmy music

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How many channels do you need?

 

We have lots of options available to us, not all of them are in one single unit. Some primary units can process more inputs and the secondary units are not insanely expensive. That allows you to add as you go instead of throwing down for the whole she-bang at once. It also makes it easier to sell if you ever decide to do that.

 

There is more than one way to skin a cat and more than one cat that needs skinning. And yes, I get that it is X number of units times 2 because stereo.

It took a chunk of my life to get here and I am still not sure where "here" is.
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  • 2 weeks later...

Tonight I tried plugging the Steinberg into the Ankar 9 port powered USB hub and it worked

fine, even with Fishman Triple Play plugged in. The manual recommended plugging the

Steinberg directly into the computer but it works fine on the hub.

Time to see how everything really works and sounds. Generally speaking, all of my tracks

were too hot, almost to zero db. I turned them up hot to check noise levels and see how

everything holds up. It should work great turned to moderate levels, mixing that will be

easier.

Then I hooked up a microphone and a guitar cable and started goofing off in my DAW. Laid

a beat, added a bass track, then a vocal, electric guitar and Fishman Triple Play synth

track.

All working, super simple and easy to work quickly.

When I have the Input / DAW blend knob turned to include considerable Input (zero latency,

nice), you can always hear the microphone even though it won't record unless you assign

it's channel. I started to get used to it, easier to leave the mic volume set for recording.

This small rig will get used, it's easy to fire it up and go

It took a chunk of my life to get here and I am still not sure where "here" is.
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OK, I will attempt to bring this thread back to the stated purpose of the title. Mike R and

Nathanael_I are always interesting and welcome voices on our forum, I am always learning

from both of them and appreciate them sharing their wisdom, knowledge, and experience.

 

I don't want to put a damper on this interesting discussion so I've made a new thread just

for the topic above.

https://forums.musicplayer.com/ubbthreads.php/topics/3082507#Post3082507

 

We've gone way off the intention of this specific thread as stated in the title - The Affordable

SMALL Studio Thread.

Thanks so much, Kuru!

It took a chunk of my life to get here and I am still not sure where "here" is.
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This looks like an interesting mobile solution for recording out and about. It does 24bit at

96khz and will record all 8 tracks plus a stereo master track simultaneously.

 

https://www.sweetwater.com/store/de...c-mixer-and-audio-interface-with-effects

 

That, a laptop with a DAW and monitors/headphones and you have a complete studio set

up. Still need at least one microphone and 2 line cables. Plus instruments, ideas and talent.

The last 3 could be somebody else's, even if you have all 3 yourself.

It took a chunk of my life to get here and I am still not sure where "here" is.
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In the event that others are in similar situations to the one I have - considerable external noise and multi-unit living (which requires consideration for neighbors) I want to share something about using microphones in difficult circumstances.

This is for vocal mics, if you need vocals then you need to use a microphone. There are workarounds for almost everything else although some of them work better than others.

 

Time and again I've found that I need to be close to a mic to get a good signal to noise ratio. A true cardioid pattern is preferred, Omni and figure 8 are probably the worst patterns but hypercardioid and supercardioid mics can and do pick up sound sources that are behind the mic. It is also true that mic patterns change with frequency response, it is not unusual for some mics to be somewhere in between cardioid and omni in the bass frequencies.

 

Another thing to consider is proximity effect, getting close to a mic can boost the low frequency response to an unpleasant degree. This is what High Pass Filters (HPF) are intended to correct and some of them work better than others. Worst case, one could record "hot" - near zero at peaks - and use an EQ plugin to take care of excessive low frequency response.

 

I've found many times that large diaphragm condenser mics are very sensitive to the sounds and air gusts that our mouths make when we sing, so they are usually not a good choice for my signal to noise "trick".

Moving coil dynamic mics have given me the best results but small diaphragm condensers intended for live vocal use often work well too.

 

It's really simple - use a foam windscreen over the business end of the mic.

 

I've found with many mics that I can get right up on it and sing super close with the foam windscreen filtering out both sibilance and pops. It doesn't hurt to go in a bit at an angle, that reduces both of those things and proximity effect as well.

In keeping with this thread being for small, affordable studio rigs, I'm testing mics that come in under $200 new and often much less used. It's tempting to use my Shure KSM8, which has remarkable control over proximity and also an extremely accurate cardioid pattern so singing off axis sounds like singing straight in but with much less "mouth noise." They are not extravagantly expensive but they are not cheap either. And even though I got my Sennheiser MD421 used (and well beaten) at an absurd price, those don't quite price out correctly either.

 

Currently trying the Neat Worker Bee, I don't expect it to work well as a close in vocal mic. Then I will check out an EV PL95 and a Blue Encore 300 and see how they hold up. I know my Shure Beta 87a works well and used they are often well under $200. I want to try the 87c which is true cardioid instead of supercardioid. One of these days...

It took a chunk of my life to get here and I am still not sure where "here" is.
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In keeping with this thread being for small, affordable studio rigs, I'm testing mics that come in under $200 new and often much less used. . . .

 

Currently trying the Neat Worker Bee, I don't expect it to work well as a close in vocal mic. Then I will check out an EV PL95 and a Blue Encore 300 and see how they hold up. I know my Shure Beta 87a works well and used they are often well under $200. I want to try the 87c which is true cardioid instead of supercardioid. One of these days...

 

I was pleasantly surprised with the TZ Stellar X2 $200 largish capsule condenser mic. I don't really need any more mics, but I bought this one based on a glowing review from someone I trust. Figured that I could send it back in a month for a refund if it didn't do something useful that other mics don't, or if it was too much like other mics I already had, but, doggone, I kept it.

 

Not that I needed another U87, but, as a glittering generality, I'd say that it's about 90% of a U87 for less than 10% of the price. On my voice, it was barely distinguishable from the U87 I put next to it (neither one clearly sounded better), sounds excellent on acoustic guitar both from about 3 feet away and at the "neck meets the body fret" position up close. Sounds good on banjo, and would probably do well with a drum overhead because it can capture the room nicely if you let it.

 

What more can you want from a $200 mic, other than that it only cost $100? ;)

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This looks like an interesting mobile solution for recording out and about. It does 24bit at

96khz and will record all 8 tracks plus a stereo master track simultaneously.

 

"Sorry, we couldn't find that page."

 

So what is it, really?

 

You're right, it's gone!!! Try this link - https://www.musiciansfriend.com/pro-audio/presonus-studiolive-ar8c-8-channel-hybrid-digital-analog-performance-mixer/l71770000000000

 

Oops again!!!

It's a small version of the Presonus digital mixers with 4 mic pres and some stereo line ins. It records to SD cards so it can be all in one.

Sort of a DAW meets mixer hybrid thingie. Looks like fun and it's $500.

It took a chunk of my life to get here and I am still not sure where "here" is.
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In keeping with this thread being for small, affordable studio rigs, I'm testing mics that come in under $200 new and often much less used. . . .

 

Currently trying the Neat Worker Bee, I don't expect it to work well as a close in vocal mic. Then I will check out an EV PL95 and a Blue Encore 300 and see how they hold up. I know my Shure Beta 87a works well and used they are often well under $200. I want to try the 87c which is true cardioid instead of supercardioid. One of these days...

 

I was pleasantly surprised with the TZ Stellar X2 $200 largish capsule condenser mic. I don't really need any more mics, but I bought this one based on a glowing review from someone I trust. Figured that I could send it back in a month for a refund if it didn't do something useful that other mics don't, or if it was too much like other mics I already had, but, doggone, I kept it.

 

Not that I needed another U87, but, as a glittering generality, I'd say that it's about 90% of a U87 for less than 10% of the price. On my voice, it was barely distinguishable from the U87 I put next to it (neither one clearly sounded better), sounds excellent on acoustic guitar both from about 3 feet away and at the "neck meets the body fret" position up close. Sounds good on banjo, and would probably do well with a drum overhead because it can capture the room nicely if you let it.

 

What more can you want from a $200 mic, other than that it only cost $100? ;)

 

Thanks for that! I just about finished the latest copy of Tape Op and the review there for the Aston Element is really good. Another $200 mic that apparently sounds way better than it should. I like that we have affordable choices!

It took a chunk of my life to get here and I am still not sure where "here" is.
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First, a disclaimer: There's nothing wrong with spending some money on a microphone. You'll want at least one good one. I'm going with great "bang for the buck" choices more to encourage others to get started and to not be shy because they use an inexpensive microphone. Lots of great vocal tracks have been recorded with Shure SM57 and SM58 microphones. If that's what you have it shouldn't stop you from recording. OK, enough of that.

 

Tonight I decided to take some mics for a spin and choose one (or... two) and record a project. My current situation has temporarily forced a state of simplicity on my recording habits and I thought out of curiosity to see what I can get out of some mics that I like but didn't pay much for. To be honest, living in a noisy place (freeway is pretty close by), I tend to choose mics for what they DON"T do.

 

All testing was done up close to maximize the signal to noise ratio. All three of the mics in the test recorded clear vocal tracks that were very low noise. I used a foam windscreen on the EV PL95 and Blue Encore 300. The Sennhieser MD421 was too big for any foam windscreens I have laying around.

 

I mention a few posts above that cardioid pattern moving coil dynamic mics have turned out to work well here and so do small diaphragm condenser mics that are designed for vocal use. I narrowed down to 3 mics, looked up "Sold" prices on eBay and they all pass. I put an arbitrary upper limit of $200 on a mic purchase. I am NOT holding anybody to that, just trying to define what I am working with.

 

EV PL95 - this is a dedicated vocal mic from the 1980's. Somebody gave it to me but I've seen them on eBay for as low as $70 used. It was a "top of the consumer grade" vocal mic for EV back in the day. It cost a fair bit more than an SM58 but not a big deal. Well made in the USA. It's certainly not a "flat" frequency response. This mic compliments my voice and proximity effect up close is good, there is some bass response but it never got boomy.

 

Blue Encore 300. I was randomly surfing eBay one day and spotted this one, with tax and shipping it was $61. Plenty of them sold for well under $100. I used to have one of these and liked it but had problems with getting solid phantom power to the mic. Could have been the cord or the PA system, I didn't spend time messing with it. Here in the studio there are no problems of any kind. The same foam windscreen fits on this mic and pretty much eliminates sibilance and plosives. This mic sounds more EQ'ed to accentuate vocals, it complimented my voice in a more forward way than the EV did. It might not be the best choice for an all-rounder but very nice for recording vocals.

 

Sennheiser MD421. Mine is well beaten, was undoubtedly a drum mic for a vigorous player and took quite a few hits. I got it at a parking lot sale for a clearance price - post going out of business sale. I've seen them sold on eBay for under $200, enough examples to figure it's fine to add this one in. No foam windscreen but the metal bar across the front of the business end with the Sennheiser logo is a built in diffuser or "pencil trick" so plosives are pretty well controlled. Sibilance can be avoided by not aiming one's voice directly at the mic. Proximity is well controlled and if it wasn't there is a 5 way switch on the mic to reduce bass response. I left it in full frequency. The 421 gets pigeonholed as the ultimate tom mic for drums but is really good for just about anything. It would be a great choice for a mic if that's the budget you have and your environment is like mine. It doesn't pick up anything but my voice if I am close enough.

 

After some thought and a bit of simple addition, I decided to use both the EV and the Blue mics. Advantage over using the Sennheiser is that they do sound different so recording an acoustic guitar with one and singing with the other should mix pretty well. And the two together could be had used for under $200 so they qualify.

It took a chunk of my life to get here and I am still not sure where "here" is.
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The other decision I've made is that I'm going to track everything with headphones and use the Sennheiser HD280 Pro set that I have.

 

For now, my entire rig consists of:

 

2014 MacBook Pro

Waveform Pro 11 DAW

Plugins - will try to stick with free plugs and/or the set that comes with Mac OS.

27" LG monitor - Goodwill score for $30.

A LaCie 2 tb Thunderbolt 2 drive.

Steinberg UR22 MkII audio interface

K&M mic stand I bought in the 80's

EV PL95 mic

Blue Encore 300 mic

Sennheiser HD280 Pro headphones

Mic cable

Guitar cord

USB cable

 

That's it. A Billy G box would cost quite a bit less. You should try to get some good monitors. I have them but would have to move them around until my mold remediation project is done so they stay in the closet.

Time to start working on a song. Cheers, Kuru

It took a chunk of my life to get here and I am still not sure where "here" is.
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Moving my recent mixing discovery to the appropriate thread... doesn't really qualify as "affordable" in the sense of what Kuru's aiming for here, so off it goes!

Dr. Mike Metlay (PhD in nuclear physics, golly gosh) :D

Musician, Author, Editor, Educator, Impresario, Online Radio Guy, Cut-Rate Polymath, and Kindly Pedant

Editor-in-Chief, Bjooks ~ Author of SYNTH GEMS 1

 

clicky!:  more about me ~ my radio station (and my fam) ~ my local tribe ~ my day job ~ my bookmy music

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Moving my recent mixing discovery to the appropriate thread... doesn't really qualify as "affordable" in the sense of what Kuru's aiming for here, so off it goes!

 

 

I saw your widget there and I can't fault it at all. No reason it can't be in both threads, there is certainly room for it here.

I've chosen a more bare bones approach due to circumstances that may soon be alleviated but now I'm curious.

While I may have more options, others may not. My first serious recordings were done on a 4 track cassette with very little gear. The unknown factor is imagination.

 

Also, note that I have not yet deployed the accumulation of instruments at my disposal. I'll be trying some "interesting" stuff there too but I will assume that most of us have at least one really nice thing that is our main axe.

 

Most of us accumulate and evolve over time. Consider my current rig to be a starting point, born in large measure by opportunity and subject to evolution, just like the real world.

 

This thread is about encouraging others to just jump in and work with what they have.

 

Gigs are gone for now. Live streaming is just not the same as holding court over a full dance floor in some juke joint. We have a paradigm shift and an opportunity to create new things.

Let's do it!

It took a chunk of my life to get here and I am still not sure where "here" is.
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Plugins, while you can record without them it's often nicer to have some. Mac OS comes with 37 plugins in AU format. I've not used all of them but I do like a couple of them quite a bit. AU New Pitch is a super simple and effective pitch shifter. You can shift by absurdly small intervals that you'll never hear or by 2 octaves up or down. The 31 band Graphic EQ is nice too. One of these days I'll try some of the other ones.

I've bought quite a few plugins, that can be a waiting game if you let it and pretty soon you realize that software companies do have scheduled events.

 

I've bot both Native Instruments Studio Drummer and IK Multimedia MODO Drum by waiting for sales. There are others but drum plugins are one of the things I like having since I can arrange drum parts for songs with good sounds and nobody is the wiser with headphones on. Some plugins sound so good they are easily worth the money, I love having IK Claivitube and Sonicouture Array Mbira, they both sound great and expand my options.

 

Free plugins. I have quite a few of them. I've tried more than I've kept. Some really nice offerings are seasonal or one/off and others are available all the time.

Most will require that you get an account. My "name" on here is from an email account I have for such things. I've got some of them registered under my "real" email account too and many are harmless.

 

What follows is some suggestions for free plugs. Download some, play around with them and see if you like them. I HIGHLY recommend getting an account on Metapop.com and competing in the remix competitions, it's a great way to learn mixing skills and you can really go out into the weeds with experiments.

 

Native Instruments has Kontakt Player, Reaktor Player, Komplete Kontrol always free and quite a few good quality sounds in those, plus you can get more sounds that can be hosted by these. The Soniccouture free plugins come to mind, really great sounding free plugins that can be hosted by Kontakt Player.

 

IK Multimedia has some CS (Custom Shop) editions of Amplitube, SampleTank, TRackS that are free and have some cool sounds but they download a slew of unauthorized plugins that you can demo and buy so they can get pretty cluttered.

 

Arturia has a great delay and Analog Lab Lite for free, good stuff.

 

Izotope has various freebies, fun toys.

 

Soniccouture has great sounding free plugins, 4 of them but sometimes they rotate them in and out so you might have to check in here and there to get all 4. I got lucky and got them all in one go.

 

You can surf the Interwebz and search for "Best Free Plugins" and find all sorts of stuff. Some of it is better than others, some of it is too much jumping through of hoops to be bothered.

 

And all of this stuff eats up hard drive space like there is no tomorrow - to say nothing of cluttering up your work space. I've made custom folders for types of plugins - Dynamics, EQ, Guitar, Synth, etc. and that does make life simpler.

It took a chunk of my life to get here and I am still not sure where "here" is.
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Disclaimer, I've tried/owned a few of these plugins. I know nothing about most of them.

https://thehomerecordings.com/best-free-vst-plugins-in-the-world/#0-best-free-synth-vst-plugins

 

 

I did bookmark this one, will go back and get one and see what it's like. An endorsement from Michael Brauer is pretty cool stuff.

https://www.softube.com/saturationknob

 

If you find a good one, please share!

It took a chunk of my life to get here and I am still not sure where "here" is.
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A primary reason I capitalized SMALL in the title is that a small setup can easily be mobilized.

 

Right. The audio quality of a $250 interface today is far above that of a couple of channels of console and analog tape (and later on digital tape). But to go along with good monitors, you also need good microphones - notice the trend here to electro-mechanical hardware rather than bits and graphic editing. While I do a fair percentage of my recording with a digital recorder and two KM84 mics, I'm not ready to give up the capability of recording a full band with multiple mics to multiple tracks, and mixing on a real console rather than with a computer. That's hard to do in today's market - both to buy and to sell.

 

Yes, the logistics of recording an ensemble can be more difficult than doing most of your work alone and or with an artist or maybe 2. My experience is that 2 if they jell can be great to work with. 5 piece plus the engineer? Yikes.

But it sounds so good!!!!!

It took a chunk of my life to get here and I am still not sure where "here" is.
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Disclaimer, I've tried/owned a few of these plugins. I know nothing about most of them.

https://thehomerecordings.com/best-free-vst-plugins-in-the-world/#0-best-free-synth-vst-plugins

 

 

I did bookmark this one, will go back and get one and see what it's like. An endorsement from Michael Brauer is pretty cool stuff.

https://www.softube.com/saturationknob

 

If you find a good one, please share!

Without going into a ton of detail, I have used and can vouch for the good quality of the following:

 

Audjoo Helix (wait, it's FREE now? And they're still supporting it? That's freaking awesome!)

 

u-he Triple Cheese, Podolski, Protoverb, and (especially) Zebralette -- basically if it's u-he and it's free, just GET it

 

u-he has also done stripped-down synth versions for external music magazines and websites, including Beatzille, BazilleCM, ZebraCM, and TyrellN6. I haven't used these but I'd imagine they're probably also great.

 

Spitfire Audio LABS (oh my gosh the best value in sampling anywhere so much fun so many good sounds so easy to use constantly expanding library BIG UPS!)

 

Audio Damage Rough Rider and FuzzPlus3 are a lot of fun... gateway drugs into this affordable and amazing line of plug-ins (I can't live without Eos 2 on iOS)

 

Valhalla Freq Echo and Valhalla SuperMassive -- buy everything ValhallaDSP makes, just do it, they're unbeatable plug-ins, every one of them, and while these are more weird/effecty, they're still uber cool.

 

Polyverse Wider: if it's the laptop version of the iOS app by Infected Mushroom (the UI and logo look identical), then it should be awesome

 

Wave Arts Tube Saturator Vintage: everything by Wave Arts is great, so I feel safe recommending this. (MasterVerb rev4 was my go-to reverb for years and years and years and)

 

Softube Saturation Knob is easy to use and sounds nice

 

Hope that helps,

 

mike

Dr. Mike Metlay (PhD in nuclear physics, golly gosh) :D

Musician, Author, Editor, Educator, Impresario, Online Radio Guy, Cut-Rate Polymath, and Kindly Pedant

Editor-in-Chief, Bjooks ~ Author of SYNTH GEMS 1

 

clicky!:  more about me ~ my radio station (and my fam) ~ my local tribe ~ my day job ~ my bookmy music

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Thanks Dr Mike!

I can vouch for the U-he plugins, I have Zebralette and Tyrell-something and they are both great.

I have Valhalla Supermassive, most excellent.

 

My "buy everythihng they make" winner would probably be Eventide. I've got Physion and Micro-Pitch and both are favorites. I LOVE their concept of plugin interface, so easy to use.

 

Gonna go get the Softtube Saturation and see what it's good for, I'm considering that various flavors of distortion could very well substitute for not owning any spendy "character" mic pres and such if you run them on parallel duplicate tracks and just sort of sneak them in. I have an evil plan to record some analog variations on that theme going in on the tracks too.

It took a chunk of my life to get here and I am still not sure where "here" is.
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Tonight I recorded some scratch tracks of a song I'm arranging (one of my own). I found a cool groove in MODO Drums that fit the song, dialed in the tempo (this must be done second after choosing a groove).

I used the Blue Encore 300 tonight, I think I'll switch to the EV PL95 for vocals.

Vocal, acoustic guitar, electric guitar, bass - plus a groove loop It defines locations in the song so you can track tight bits.

 

I always flesh it out, listen and improve the arrangement, this is my process for now. I expect to arrange in my head at some point and just jump in.

 

Tonight I realized there is another piece of crucial equipment. I'd almost say you should get it first. You are going to need it. A high quality power conditioner with noise suppression/elimination is essential. I have a Furman in my rack, it made a huge difference but I forgot how much until I tried to do something without it. Get one.

 

Polluted AC power will pollute the sound of everything you have or do, this includes monitors. My power supply is polluted. For now I can make progress with putting the track together. I've got drums to arrange, guitars and bass, backup vocals and a final lead vocal track that all need to be quantified. Soon the mold remediation will be done I hope.

 

Meanwhile, I am enjoying getting back to a more basis rig. Working with minimal gear has been a good thing to revisit. We can obtain results with just a few things that we know how to use well.

It took a chunk of my life to get here and I am still not sure where "here" is.
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  • 2 weeks later...

Since my last post, I've been tracking a fair amount and learning a great deal. I've now checked another round of inexpensive and available microphones. I've been working on doing as much as possible ITB (In The Box).

It is one way to eliminate external noise, you do have to be aware of internal noise and seek out ways to reduce or eliminate it. Don't get too close to the computer or monitor, that usually helps.

 

Until we have sockets in our foreheads, we will have to record vocals and all purely acoustic instruments using microphones. I'm just using a microphone for vocals and I've improved my techniques as follows. I'm now putting a foam windscreen on the mic, tilting it at a 45 degree angle and singing close and off center, below the front of the mic and at an angle - I stand and sing straight but the mic is tilted.

This has just about eliminated plosives and reduced sibilance to a non-issue. There is some loss of treble but most mics are bright enough that losing some of the highs actually improves the sound, especially if you are close. The angle prevents any puffs of air from hitting the diaphragm straight on. Unlike a condenser mic, I can't hear that creepy sound of the saliva shifting as the tongue moves off of the surfaces of your inner mouth. Yuck!

 

I'm considering a Stedman pop filter, the metal grid is angled to deflect puffs of air downward and away from directly hitting the center of the mic. The sound still travels through the screen. Since this is the Affordable thread, I'll stick with foam windscreens for now. My current favorite microphone for my voice is an EV ND767a I got brand new when Guitar Center was blowing them out for $50. I didn't care for it as a live vocal mic but I've changed my technique and it sounds very nice now for recording. I did order a large foam windscreen so I can re-test my Peavey 520i (don't laugh, it's a sleeper!) and my Heil PR-40 - both large diaphragm moving coil dynamic mics. The new windscreen should fit over the top of most "studio" condenser mics too. $17 shipped, that's affordable.

 

In addition to refining my mic techniques, I've been working on getting a better bass tone straight into the DI on the interface, no goodies or widgets. I'm using a Peavey Fury bass, mid 80's "handcrafted in the USA" model. It was not expensive when I bought it but I see these are going up. Get a Squier P-Bass with stickers on it, those are very nice basses for the money and pop up fairly often on craigslist. 4 things have combined to improve the tone of the bass. Since I got it cheap, I spent a few bucks on a used set of EMG Pa bass pickups and installed them myself. Those are quieter and have a fuller response than the usual stock pickups. If you hate active pickups you could find a used set of Seymour Duncan or DiMarzio at a reasonable price on Flea Bay. It's not a must, you can always use an EQ plugin. I changed the strings to D'Addario Ground Wound in the Extra Heavy gauge. These are too heavy for me to like them tuned to pitch but they easily tune down a step and a half and play great that way. Once you get some of your natural oils on the strings they sound big but with enough of an edge to provide definition.

I'm only rolling the tone control off slightly. The third thing I did is a variation of Carol Kaye's playbook. I cut a piece of foam so that I could position it under the strings near the bridge - see the attached photo. This cleans up the tone and allows you to pluck closer to the end of the neck, where the happy, round tones are sitting. You don't need to keep your picking hand close to the bridge to mute the strings. 4 is that I tried quite a few picks and settled on a D'Addario thin pick, a red one. This provides a clearer tone than fingers. With the strings tuned to C# F# B E I can move up 3 frets and play everything the way I always did, minus using certain open strings.

It seemed easy and it makes it more like playing a short scale bass but with extra notes down lower.

 

I do toss a plugin or two on vocals and bass. My current go-to is Master Mix - https://www.tracktion.com/products/master-mix

It's $70 now but a great sounding and endlessly versatile plugin that offers EQ and Compression options that can sound great on individual tracks and/or on your output tracks. If you don't go overboard it can be used on both without getting bloated. The preset list is extensive and provides good starting points for just about anything you would record. There is a 30 day free trial too, you could just record everything and then demo the plugin for mix down.

Or use anything else you like, I've no affiliation and got it included in a bundle somewhere along the way.

 

I recorded some nice acoustic guitar parts direct in but this can be an "interesting" thing to try. Honestly, most of the under saddle pickups installed in acoustic guitars don't sound good recorded direct and many of them do not sound good period. I hated the L.R. Baggs Element that came installed in my Rainsong - sorry Mr. Baggs but it was very uneven and harsh and the guitar sounded much better acoustically without that mushy bit of shielded transducer in between the saddle and the top. Gone and good riddance!

 

I have a K&K Pro Mini under soundboard pickup system installed in my guitar, I'm a guitar tech and installed it myself. With installation you are probably looking at $200 so it's not something you would do to an inexpensive guitar. Any reasonably good mic will work, 6" out and aimed at the 12 fret or 6" out placed at the bottom edge of the guitar and aimed at the bridge - either or both will provide a reasonable and instantly identifiable acoustic guitar sound.

 

I just checked and Sweetwater still has the Neat Worker Bee mics for $90. I got a pair a while back and they are very good for recording acoustic guitar. Again, no affiliation.

I found that using a thinner pick can also make a big difference in improving the acoustic guitar tone. I also use fingers and nails on acoustic guitars and that sounds good too.

 

Last but not least for this post - I plugged my Parts-O-Caster Tele straight into the DI. That may take some getting used to if you like to play with some overdrive or distortion (I do!). Unless I am ripping a solo, I find a thinner pick provides a better sound there too. I usually use the neck pickup or both, I almost never use the bridge pickup. If that's your tone, go for it. I got a track I liked enough to keep for now (it will probably get replaced) so I dropped an Amplitube Fender 57 Pro Tweed amp on it and followed that up with Izotope's free Vocal Doubler plugin to give it some width. That was a good sound for the song, the variations are endless and there are lots of good sounding FREE guitar amp sims out there so search, test and see what you end up with! Cheers, Kuru

It took a chunk of my life to get here and I am still not sure where "here" is.
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  • 3 weeks later...

My mold remediation is nearly complete, they've done the sheet rock and the first coat of spackle and fabric tape. No later than next week the wall should be painted and completely finished.

I've added 3 plugins - Amplitube Custom Shop (free) had an offer for a free Soldano amp so I got that. Haven't tried it yet but it should be fun.

 

Plugin Alliance has a sale until March 3rd at midnight. They did 3 phases and I got in on 2 of them. I got a Shadow Hills Mastering Compressor and a Lindell 80 console. Would have been $550 total but two cents short of $60 for both plugins.

Those will be nice to mix with.

 

Sweetwater tells me the Aston Element I ordered should ship around the 10th or so. At $200 its a fringe item for an affordable studio. If it lives up to the reviews it could become a favorite, I really like the sound of dynamic microphones.

 

I'm just about done tracking a tune I wrote. Arranging the MIDI drums is next, then a mix down and a re-do of the vocals. I'm pleased with the results of keeping things simple.

Hopefully I'll get to set up the rest of my gear soon, I will no longer have such an affordable studio but I'll keep posting here as I learn more about fun stuff that is cost effective and sounds great.

It took a chunk of my life to get here and I am still not sure where "here" is.
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  • 2 weeks later...

The "Real World" has required some attention, I haven't gotten as much done as I planned. With the mold remediation finally done on Friday, I've started setting up my somewhat larger, somewhat more costly studio again. It's been sitting stacked up in the spare bedroom for too long.

 

The good news is that I've had some distance from the song I was working on and I've simplified the arrangement in my head. I'll be re-tracking some things using just the gear I've mentioned above, just for this thread. Hopefully I get to this sooner rather than later.

 

In the meantime, are any of you out there (1,154 views on this thread to date so I know somebody is looking) working in a small, affordable studio or planning to put one together? I posted this thread so we can all share, starting is the most important thing and learning will never end.

 

I know it can be intimidating when there are plenty of people on here who've invested the time and the money already and have really excellent studios. I think that's awesome and they've all been very helpful, I am grateful.

I've also learned a good number of interesting things just by not being afraid to be wrong, in fact I will often say the wrong thing intentionally, there is no quicker way to get somebody to spill the beans.

 

Please join in and tell your stories, we can all learn and grow together. Cheers, Kuru

It took a chunk of my life to get here and I am still not sure where "here" is.
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Measure!

 

Make sure that the things you're planning to set up (or buy) will fit in the space you have and will work properly in the space you have. When I was putting my remote truck together and shopping for monitors (this was in the late 1970s when we didn't have as many choices as we have today), the plan was to soffit-mount the monitors. This meant that the position of the soffit wall and angle had to be right for the mix position, which had to be right to fit into the truck. My first choice for monitors (at the time anyway), because of their depth, would have required moving everything too close to the cab of the truck, so I chose an alternate monitor that would fit in the space that I had originally drawn out. They turned out to be just fine (I'm still using them in my "lab" control room that replaced the truck), and had I reworked the drawings so that I could fit in the deeper monitors, I probably wouldn't have been happy with the ergonomics and the acoustic calculations probably wouldn't have come out as good as the original plan.

 

And I was just reminded of this on a different scale last week. Now that the sound quality of home-produced music is getting better (some of it really is) I thought that I'd upgrade the cheap interface I've been using with my "office" computer, since that's where I listen to most of that music. I was planning to but a TASCAM US-2x2HR, but at the time I was ready to do the deed, they were out of stock everywhere. For $40 more than the 2x2, they had the US-4x4HR which had 4 mic inputs and two pairs of outputs, things I thought might be useful some time and some where, so I bought one. When I tried to do what I thought would be a simple swap of cables, I discovered that the 4x4 was enough wider than the 2x2 (which was only 1/2" wider than what it would be replacing) so that I'd have to rearrange the whole desk in order to not have some of the controls or inputs hidden behind something. After some soul searching (and TASCAM getting re-stocked) I decided to exchange it for what I had originally chosen for fit and function.

 

And don't forget cables, where they'll go, and how they'll get there. We've had some discussions about this here before, but it can't be repeated too many time (well, it can but hasn't yet).

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^^^ Thanks Mike!!! ^^^ Solid advice from one of MPN's "been there, done that" members.

 

Measuring is an essential step, not measuring may work or it may not. Ending up with something that is too large is one result.

 

Then there's the other side, making something that isn't long enough - cables come to mind but I'm sure there are others.

Long ago, I was apprenticing with my dad doing finish carpentry. I was having trouble with a project and dad said "Cut it off twice and it's still too short?"

It took a chunk of my life to get here and I am still not sure where "here" is.
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I was having trouble with a project and dad said "Cut it off twice and it's still too short?"

 

Your dad said that? I heard that from a machinist in the Naval Oceanographic Office prototype shop when I worked there in the late '60s. It's still one of my favorite expressions. A lot of people picked it up from me, but your dad probably wasn't one of them. Small world, again.

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