Quai34
Junior Member
I didi that, 2 computers. One, Mac 21" where the instruments are, in a corner of my keys and in front of the drums kit. Then, a Mac Mini 16G upstairs, in the den, for mixing...Just a transfer of file and done.
Home Recording Setup - Gut Check my Plan Please
- Thread starter River19
- Start date
River19
Senior Member
For me? Nah, I'm good for now. Tracks sound great "as is" with no issues with the room sound whatsoever.
dcrigger
PRO DRUMMER
Partially.
I bought a handful of panels from GIK - basically their combo absorption/diffuser panels (I forget what they are called) - but the lion's share of stuff (the super stacks in the corners, the "horizontal" super stacks that cover all of the wall/ceiling "corners", plus 7 other regular absorption panels) I rolled my own.
Where GIK was the hugest asset - and I can't recommend this enough - is their FREE acoustic design consultation. You send dimensions, rough drawing, a list of any material you already have and what else will be in the room - and your golfer the room, etc - It's all quite easy, they have an online form. And the advice was absolutely stunning!
I had an initially plan - got back great info. Kind of got delayed - then followed up with a modified plan and again, received excellent feedback. Of course, for anything you're lacking, they recommend their stuff - but were also totally supportive of every thing I was doing myself.
I've put together a number of drum room/studios over the years - and this one, with GIK's advice, turned out the best sounding of any of them.
DutchDrummersDreams
Platinum Member
This is my current setup, after 27 years of drums in the attic of my parents house.
Its a heavy (625kg) Esmono (www.esmono.nl) sound proof cabin, with higher ceiling, floating floor, and added acoustic paint. A luxury to have in neighbourhoods like this.
As Chris mentioned, don’t go for cheap cables and stands. I invested a lot in those from the start (tasker cables with neutrik connetors and k&m stands) and still pluck the fruits from that.
Also start slow and add/replace overtime in quality in terms of mics/interfaces/space etc.
Your plan is a proper start.
Its a heavy (625kg) Esmono (www.esmono.nl) sound proof cabin, with higher ceiling, floating floor, and added acoustic paint. A luxury to have in neighbourhoods like this.
As Chris mentioned, don’t go for cheap cables and stands. I invested a lot in those from the start (tasker cables with neutrik connetors and k&m stands) and still pluck the fruits from that.
Also start slow and add/replace overtime in quality in terms of mics/interfaces/space etc.
Your plan is a proper start.
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River19
Senior Member
Looks nice.
My plan was from this time one year ago, it has been implemented with good results. I recently began upgrading to some outboard tube preamps and signal processing units for giggles.
That original setup has been very productive so far. I did not cheap out on cables and stands.........
Moejo
Senior Member
Looks good. I would expect some weird phasing going on between the overheads with the different ceiling heights. You may want to build yourself a "cloud" for the higher ceiling and reduce some of the reflections that will be coming off there.
cbphoto
Diamond Member
Commitment!
River19
Senior Member
Solid "watch out" there.
Honestly, with 100+ tracks done here so far, I have the place dialed pretty well and don't have any weird phasing or odd echos etc. going on. It is somewhat a room within a room to begin with which is nice.
I am looking forward to running some of the mics through the tube preamps, not expecting a miracle and frankly the existing sound quality is great and fairly punchy, just curious as what other options and flexibility will open up with the outboard gear and then minimize the "in the box" processing for certain tracks. The nice thing is all my tracks have been somewhat old school in the sense that I focus my effort on a great raw drum sound prior to any EQ, compression etc. Then if the artist/songwriter etc. want something punchier or "more of this, less of that" then we can maximize the impact in the box with plugins. But if you start with a poop drum sound and mix to begin with that is a huge handicap and frankly, after 40 years, getting a good drum sound and performance is kinda the thing I should know how to do at this point......
DutchDrummersDreams
Platinum Member
Thats how I work too.
A solid, dry, editable drum sound for the engineer/producer to work with.
I just recently started looking into plugins to widen my knowledge.
River19
Senior Member
Since I went with the full version of Studio One Pro, it was a bit overwhelming with the options for plugins but their Presonus Sphere support membership, community, and tutorial videos were awesome and still are a great resource for me. By experimenting with plugins for compression, gating and EQ I was able to better understand what it was doing to my sound without any commitment in outboard gear. But now that I started collecting some outboard signal processing gear I have a much better idea what I would like and how I would like to use it.
One thing I have really enjoyed is spending time with the detailed EQ in the box and seeing exactly what the "sound" of my drums looks like. I noticed a significant difference in the EQ profile of my Walnut kick vs. my Birch kick. The amount of low end from the walnut kick was visibly different than the birch. I also like seeing the same subtle profile differences between my snares.
A couple tracks I have done had a LOT of other instrument saturation in certain frequencies and knowing what snares sat where in the EQ spectrum allowed me to choose the right gear and tuning to ensure my snare and kick "sat" in the mix and wasn't fighting with the other tracks to be heard while allowing the other parts to have the "space" they need.
Fun stuff.
cbphoto
Diamond Member
Sidechains are an excellent tool. I've used iZotope's Suite and FabFilter's Suite and the ability to affect other channels is well-designed in both packages.
River19
Senior Member
I am going to explore some side chain techniques for giggles......always fun learning.
Today I enjoyed the challenge of trying to find space in a wall of sound similar to a Smashing Pumpkins track........the raw drum track sounded great......new Tube preamps are up and running (what a difference on the Overheads).......but of course the classic challenge of integration with everything else in the mix. In hindsight I chose the wrong snare.......I might recut the track with the N&C alloy to cut through the mix a bit better. Needed to do a little EQ work to focus the kick attack especially when moving from monitors (with excellent low end) to mixing for small format speakers (ie. MacBook and iPhone).......needed a little help at 7K and a low cut filter at the extreme low end.
River19
Senior Member
Since SuperGobi and company added short mp3s to the allowable file extensions might as well see if it works.....
Quick snippet from a track the other day.
Raw sample with no EQ just Mics>Preamps>Interface w/no effects
View attachment Raw Sample No EQ - 02.mp3
Light EQ applied......added a little more focus and punch to the kick and hit the OHs and Room with some Low Cut filters and gated the 2 toms
View attachment EQ'd Sample.mp3
Quick snippet from a track the other day.
Raw sample with no EQ just Mics>Preamps>Interface w/no effects
View attachment Raw Sample No EQ - 02.mp3
Light EQ applied......added a little more focus and punch to the kick and hit the OHs and Room with some Low Cut filters and gated the 2 toms
View attachment EQ'd Sample.mp3
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River19
Senior Member
Full circle to kinda close the loop here going from planning the studio to the first public single I recorded in it that I posted in the "Your Playing" section as well:
After building out my home studio last year I crossed paths with a guitarist I played with 30+ years ago in High School and we started collaborating remotely on a song of his that evolved into a completed project he just released this morning. Nothing flashy on the song from a playing perspective, just solid sounds and hopefully serving the song well.
We iterated a bunch as the song developed and I'm impressed with the complete musician Rich has become as he played everything other than drums on this. Solid, guitarist, bass, keys, vocals, great songwriting and arranging as well as engineering and mixing. Mastering was outsourced to a specialist. I've done a number of projects (100+) since the studio buildout but I don't control the rights to those and at least on this one I have a little more freedom to post etc.
"Guest" - Rich Brewer
After building out my home studio last year I crossed paths with a guitarist I played with 30+ years ago in High School and we started collaborating remotely on a song of his that evolved into a completed project he just released this morning. Nothing flashy on the song from a playing perspective, just solid sounds and hopefully serving the song well.
We iterated a bunch as the song developed and I'm impressed with the complete musician Rich has become as he played everything other than drums on this. Solid, guitarist, bass, keys, vocals, great songwriting and arranging as well as engineering and mixing. Mastering was outsourced to a specialist. I've done a number of projects (100+) since the studio buildout but I don't control the rights to those and at least on this one I have a little more freedom to post etc.
"Guest" - Rich Brewer
green glass drum
Well-known Member
I love that backrest adjustment on that "First Chair" drum seat. OP-you are getting great advise here. RAM up all the way....yep.
green glass drum
Well-known Member
You sir........ have persevered and are now doing it. I know this because you figured out the turn on order.
I had to look this up: "Soup to nuts" is an American English idiom that conveys the meaning of "from beginning to end", derived from the description of a full course dinner.
OK......time for some nuts. Great job man.
I had to look this up: "Soup to nuts" is an American English idiom that conveys the meaning of "from beginning to end", derived from the description of a full course dinner.
OK......time for some nuts. Great job man.
River19
Senior Member
Another update to continue to bring this full circle.........as I posted in the "Your Playing" section the album I have been working on for a few months was released today on all platforms and all the drum tracks were recorded with the setup birthed and discussed in this thread over the past couple years. With minor tweaks to the recording setup everything else is basically as discussed here.
Below are some selections that I think represent the sounds I was able to get and my drumming in general.
Below are some selections that I think represent the sounds I was able to get and my drumming in general.
cbphoto
Diamond Member
Downloaded.