concinnity//mark marina

:: rss feed ::

3.1.2008 . The personal studio

After several years, I've finally got around to re-visiting one of my life long passions. Recording and song-writing. Over time, I have forsaken music. I don't know if it's the process of aging or just general apathy, the weight of the world, etc., but I kind of gave up music several years ago. Even came close to selling all of my gear. Now, as Catherine Zeta Jones would aptly put it in High Fidelity, I think I am "going through one of those things". Introspection of a different sort than usual. Wondering what happened to the me that used to spend most of his free time hidden away in a dark, smoky room programming or recording music that no one was to hear. Somehow I began to miss those days. Well, I miss being a creative being and actually doing something with my free time. So, I dug out and dusted off my music equipment. Actually, scratch that, I bought a bunch of new equipment also. It was time to build a modest little home recording studio, where I could prove to myself I could still do something meaningful (to me, at least) So here is my current setup that I am using to record. As of this very moment, I have put the finishing touches on song #3 (barring a bit of EQ work on the final mixes) I couldn't be happier. 'Tis amazing. I wake up earlier. I am more vibrant. Nervous ticks sans caffeine. High on life type shit.

So where to begin. First things fucking last. I needed a real soundcard. Actually, let me step back. I am on a budget with this. There is no real chance of any kind of future here, this is pure personal stimulation. As such, it is not something I am alloted a huge budget for. This probably ranks just above my video game budget in our ledger. Fair enough, just means I have to be diligent with my purchases. So, just bear this in mind as I describe my personal studio. This is the best I could afford...

My first purchase was a full duplex audio recording card. After reading reviews and such, I decided to go with the relatively affordable M-Audio Delta 66 for a few reasons. First, it has 4 in/out mono KLRs, with a breakout box, which has huge for me. I didn't want to struggle with moving things to plug in cords. Also, it posted decent latency results from the reviews (I am getting 6 ms, with up to 16 tracks of digital audio) which is all I need. I use the card for recording and monitoring (through Cubase), and it plays well with my current PC configuration. I still leave my onboard Realtek enabled for all normal day to day output. So far, I can't be more pleased. There is very low noise (for my purposes) and I have had no real problems.

For multi-tracking I use Cubase, which has been my tool of choice ever since I began doing digital recording. With this I have a set of DirectX plugin effects, and for individual wav editing I use Wavelab. Again, habit, as Steinberg offered a package back in the early days and now I am hooked. As for drums, I use Reason and it's nice complement of midi puppeted digital effects, of which I use a new M-Audio MIDI keyboard/controller for the synth parts. Seeing a pattern? M-Audio makes all the cheap consumer grade recording hardware.

Next, I purchased a condenser mic and a cheap preamp to complement vocal recording. Actually, for most vocal recordings. I still have a Shure SM58 for the louder parts that I connect to a digitech overdrive pedal in some of the "fuzzy" vocals parts. Otherwise, I am happy with the straight vocal sound and a bit of software reverb and delay. On the guitar front, I bought a Line6 POD, which is a brilliant little cabinet simulator/preamp all in one. This is revolutionary to me. I nice, consistent, reproducable sound that doesn't require infinite miking and line checks every time I want to record. Again, for the home recording guitarist, these direct line solutions are revolutionary.

And, I think thats about it. Some smallish guitar tweaks, new strings, and blankets propped up to dampen sound (I converted the closet into a vocal booth) and I am on my way to the next cd recording....