Home Studio

[Thrash Drummer]

I know it has been covered, but I'm still slightly confused. I want exellent sount quality using audacity. This is the equipment I have picked out (+ 1 more sm57 cus my bro needs 1 for his guitar)
http://www.zzounds.com/item--SHUDMK5752 toms snare and bass
2 Shure PG 81s ambients
http://www.presonus.com/firepod.html

I'm pretty confident that the sm57's are good, but I dont know about the rest. I also thought that there were cheaper yet still good ambient mics out there for around $70..I forget what they are called but they are silver.

As far as the firepod goes, I'm pretty confused. I need one w/ at least 7 mic imputs.


Note to admin: Because this is just equipment I thought it would be alright to make it a different thread. If you want me to paste it in the recording thread thats fine.

[Mediocrefunkybeat]

Consider something else other than those Shure PG81's. Something like a pair of Rode NT5 or AKG C-1000's would hold you in much better stead with regards to overhead microphones. as for the SM57's, they'll do for the toms and snare, and the bass will be fine with the Shure. Audacity is a good bit of software, especially considering that it's free. It should be able to handle all the inputs. If you want really good control of the editing, I would say be willing to fork out for Cubase or Sonar (or equivalents) but Audacity will do fine for now. The problem is, you seem to be entering this based solely on the gear and not on the environment. Getting a good recording environment is not cheap, and it does take a fair bit of treatment for most rooms to sound acceptable for recording. I know for a fact that if I were to start recording my drums regularly in my room, I'd have to be on the blower to Auralex to get a load of foam, because my room is NOT good for recording drums, neither are most rooms.

Learning basic principles of recording would also be a good start. Start with all the equipment you want, and even if you have a decent room, if you don't know what you're doing, it'll end up sounding terrible.

[Thrash Drummer]

I was thinking about making an isolation room with mobile plywood walls, and attaching rugs or towles to the inside to deaden the sound. Is a rug good enough to kill the excess sound? Foam is just so expensive..

[ermghoti]

Go to homerecording.com, and do a bunch of reading. You have to register (free) to read about half the fora.

[Oldie]

I agre with Medio, get a pair of NT5 for overhead mics. I'm very happy with mine.

Here is a link to an article on recording drums:
http://www.blaxploitation.com/drums/glynJohnsMethod.pdf

/Oldie

[Thrash Drummer]

Im heading down to chuck levins on monday to check out some stuff. Thanks for the imput, it makes my shopping a lot easier.

[Thrash Drummer]

I just got some shure mics and they are very quiet and make a fuzzy background noise. Do I need a firepod to fic this? Is a firepod basically a preamp? Im running the line right into my comp.

[Mediocrefunkybeat]

Yes. You'll need a preamp. The FirePod has 8 preamps, for 8 different microphone inputs. Line inputs are at a different level to microphone inputs. Microphone inputs have a much lower signal than line inputs.

[hawk9290]

Get the Firepod, I think it even comes with Cubase LE, which will be helpful. Running any mics into your computer for serious recording just through the mic and line in ports is pretty futile, you really do need a firewire or usb interface to get the job done (the Firepod is great for this, can't beat it really).