***The Official Home Recording Studio Thread***

Merlin5 said:
You're spot on about the Presonus. Having done my usual googling about interfaces with names like Tascam and Steinberg, Presonus gets top marks, Tascam is apparently not that great, and Steinberg is meant to be excellent but it's much more expensive. So the Presonus wins! :) Well, I only own one acoustic drumkit so I couldn't leave it up permanently due to gigs, but I'll get a second kit at some point.
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Solid drivers, Great DAW support and excellent Sound quality. :)
 
banja said:
Well, a band I recorded have decided to release the results as an EP, which came as a surprise as initially I thought it was just meant to be a rehearsal / demo recording. Was tracked live with no isolation at all, then just a couple of guitar overdubs and vocals done afterwards. I know if we could've multi-tracked properly the results would have been even better. Opinions welcomed.

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How much did you charge them for that EP?
 
banja said:
Ha, don't ask :) The intial recording took only a couple of hours. They got a good deal.

I had nothing else to do with the video, artwork, CD production etc.
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Its a decent sound. You did ok....:)

What the video lacks is ECU's of lead guitar parts as its looks fake and lacks soul....

Basically solos are happening but no fingers are movin!
 
Merlin5 said:
I have a question. Mostly directed at easyrider I guess. I'm pretty much ready to order the Presonus 1818 VSL and some mics. Really want the Audix DP7 but it's out of my price range, so I'm going for the Samson DK7.

But I need a dedicated computer for the interface and DAW software. I don't currently have my laptop and my desktop pc is too big and cumbersome to put next to the drumkit.

I've been looking at cheap laptops around £150, used or refurbished. Of course there isn't much at that price and they generally have processors such as Intel Pentium N4200
or Celeron N2840. Would basic CPUs like the Celeron be enough to run the Presonus and software? Also, would it matter if the laptop isn't USB 3.0? I believe the latest Presonus drivers upgrade it to USB 3.0.
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Don't worry about USB 3.0

But DO NOT BUY A CELERON

I would buy a refurb Dell or put a wanted add in MM

Don't buy new if funds are tight

i3 Gen 6 or 5 or i5 8GB Ram minimum mate :)
 
Merlin5 said:
The search is over! And wow, what a laptop I just bought tonight. i7, 16 GB ram, 256 SSD, discrete nvidia graphics card. Everything works beautifully and boots up in 18 seconds. It's pretty much like a new laptop. All this for £250! Only thing broken is cosmetic, part of the grill over the air vent on the side. Now I can go ahead and buy the Presonus which Bax have been reducing and reducing, and it's now down to £285.

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My Dell laptop is 7 years old and it was refurb. Still using it just upgraded to an SSD

where did you source the laptop?

Bargain price at BAX :D
 
Merlin5 said:
That's good to hear!

The DAW is going to be a steep learning curve for me. I'm wondering if you'd recommend any free plugins you might think I could/should use for things like compression, gate, reverb and general EQ, or will there be enough fx built into whatever DAW I use such as perhaps Cubase or whatever mixing suite comes with the Presonus?
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The Presonus comes with Studio One which is a solid DAW

All PreSonus interfaces come with PreSonus’ powerful, yet easy-to-use Studio One® 3 Artist recording and production software for Mac® and Windows®. Studio One 3 enables you to compose, record, and produce your masterpiece without getting distracted by the tools, thanks to a straightforward design, a powerful file browser with extensive use of drag-and-drop, in-depth editing, and an Arranger Track and Scratch Pads that let you experiment without losing previous work. It’s inherently Internet-savvy; comes with a wealth of effects plug-ins, virtual instruments, and loops; and can be expanded with Add-ons.

Moreover, Studio One integrates tightly with PreSonus interfaces, configuring automatically—no need to map inputs and outputs. You can even wirelessly transfer recordings from Capture for iPad to Studio One, so you can record anytime, anywhere and edit and mix later. And Studio One 3’s sound quality is, quite simply, unparalleled. These are just a few of the reasons that Studio One 3 is the new standard for DAWs. See what’s new in version 3.

Also comes with

Now includes Studio Magic Plug-in Suite.
This suite of plug-ins adds a wealth of fresh sounds and effects to Studio One. Cherry-picked from the first names in virtual instruments and effects, each plug-in brings a different flavor of practical magic to your songs. These plug-ins aren't gimmicky one-trick ponies — these are real-deal workhorses that you'll rely on for countless mixes.

If you want a great sound straight away with ease then look at MIXBUS

http://harrisonconsoles.lpages.co/specials/

A no brainer @ $39

It really easy to send groups of drum to Bus Tracks and has EQ and Compression right on each Channel just like the real Harrison Consoles.

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Merlin5 said:
Thanks easyrider! Well firstly, it's great that the Presonus software is so comprehensive and of course I'll try it all out. But I like that you said Mixbus can get me a great sound very easily, as I might struggle otherwise with my lack of experience in mixing.
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I have tried Pro tools, and Studio one, reaper and I now just use Mixbus,

Its cuts out the bloat and paradox of choice that can be overwhelming. When recording Acoustic Guitar I dont want faff...with drop down menus and pop up windows showing endless EQ choices.

I can just EQ straight on the mixer in mixbus and it sounds amazing.

Then you have Tape saturation on the busses..It really is the bees knees :D
 
Merlin5 said:
So from what you're saying, a pretty much complete beginner such as myself would find Mixbus has a much easier learning curve than other DAWS such as Studio One, Cubase, etc. I watched a couple of videos of Mixbus on youtube. It looks nice but no less bewildering to me than any other DAW! :p But I get what you're saying that it has less things to confuse the user. PS. I have no idea what tape saturation is/does, lol.
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You'll get an amazing drum sound very quickly with mixbus and that presonus...

Tape saturation adds warm of analogue tape mulitracks of the past.

Mixbus is a revelation ...it's ace :)

Get a couple of Ribbon TBone RB 500s as overheads and get ready to get moist :p
 
Merlin5 said:
Well I'll at least play around with Studio One and Studio Magic to begin with since I'll already have it, before I buy Mixbus. I can get myself familiar with the way it works and see what I come up with. Then no doubt I'll be running here asking for help :p

Heh nah, those ribbons look sweet but are too expensive for me considering I need to spread my budget for the interface, cables, mic stand and mics. :)

But I'm considering two options. Buy the Samson 7 mic kit which includes a pair of C02 overhead condensers for maybe about £120 (I've got my eye on an auction listing),

or,

these t-bone DC 1000 mics for £77

https://m.thomann.de/gb/t-bone_dc_1...Nn0rJFXRN6X0alDEuSIM7jRs2WDObqXhoCTPgQAvD_BwE

and a pair of Samson C02 separately for £79. I've got kick and snare mics sorted already so only need tom and overhead mics. Just wondering which tom mics might sound better out of the Samson Q toms and the t-bone dc 1000?
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How many tom mics do you need ?
 
Merlin5 said:
I'll have a look into those, thanks. I've seen an ad for a complete set of Audix mics, the DP7, for only £600 and he's taking offers. But still out of my range if he took £500. I've asked him if he'd split it and sell me just the D4 and both D2s for £200. Probably won't but worth asking :D. Audix are really the only mics I want. They're just so damn expensive.
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Always get the best mics you can afford. The audix are great tom mics :)
 
robfosters said:
I bought an audio interface from Merlin5. Device is working fine, but on my PC, I have 2 USB 3.0 ports, but it only likes one of them! The first one I used it kept dropping out all the time. Would stay on for about 5 minutes then completely disappear, didnt even get the USB disconnecting sound. Tried the port next to it and it works fantastically, so there is nowt wrong with the interface at all.

All of my drivers are up to date, so was wondering if anyone had any ideas on what could be wrong with that port? The board is 5 years old.
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Could be a number of things....Power fluctuations getting to the port...Wear and tear of the port itself. Have you got the port settings to never turn off to save power option in device manager?
 
ShortWarning said:
Recorded some tracks for a band I know. 80's styleee.

Any constructive criticism/feedback welcome!

https://soundcloud.com/projectmay/by-the-hour/s-qMTQZ
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The drums are lost imo. To much mid range Guitar and no definition in the bass guitar and drums. :)

I've been using the grey compressor lately in my eleven rack and its changed the way I view guitar. I have for years been just turning it up...when in fact the gray compressor means I have so much punch but have to to turn the output down.

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Merlin5 said:
I now have a Presonus, delivered from netherlands. :) Got it from bax at a great price of £280.

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:D
 
Merlin5 said:
easyrider, if I can pick your brain. I've yet register the interface and download the software, I'll do that today.

What's the best way to set an individual gain pot on the 1818? Turn it all the way to max, hit a drum and reduce it until there's no clipping and then reduce a bit more to allow headroom? Should the main output volume knob be set to unity and is that 12 o'clock? And the seven rows/pairs of indicator lights on the right, should they only be hitting as high as 3rd row down from the top to avoid clipping?
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Pretty much yes mate, Even if the input signal is slightly lower it doesn't really matter as you can always raise it in the mix. :)
 
banja said:
I would not recommend as a habit starting with gain at max, then coming down. That can be a recipe for some horrendous surprises, ear damage and eqpt failure! Start at zero and go up. It's standard gain staging procedure.
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Yeah that's what I meant I sort of skim read it....usually about 2/3rds up before it hits the red to avoid clipping.

Merlin5 said:
And the seven rows/pairs of indicator lights on the right, should they only be hitting as high as 3rd row down from the top to avoid clipping?
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Best practice is to start with the gain down and move up. Apologies for any confusion.

My point was don't be obsessed with getting the input signal just hitting the red...as long as it's fairly hot you'll be ok in you daw...

My interface has a cool auto sens feature....enable it on any inputs , play the drums and the levels are automatically set.
 
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