Ex thinks HE'S going to hell...

mccreadyisgod

I got the computer already, an Intel P4 3.0 GHz thru an Intel motherboard, with a 40 GB system drive, a 120 GB storage drive, 2 GB RAM, a CD-RW drive, a DVD-RW drive, dual-monitor outputs, and Windows XP Pro, all in a gorgeous 4U rackmount case (I call it "the case of death").

So today I went ahead and ordered the rest of the toys:

-DigiDesign 002R w/ProTools LE and the factory bundle (plug-ins galore)

-PreSonus DigiMAX 8-channel mic pre

-2 Rode NT1-A large-diaphram condenser mics

-Furman RP-8L power conditioner

They should be here around the end of the week. I still need to order the headphone amp and the monitors, but I did order 6 Audio-Technica headphones that looked sweet.

Total, as of right now: $4200.
Having my own recording studio: Priceless.

Some things, money can't buy. For everything else, there's a college kid with a Visa.

exhausted

how much to remix and master my sessions?

-per track
-i'm half serious.
-i'm all curious

mccreadyisgod

Oh, I almost forgot... I went ahead and placed my order via my wishlist, and it went through, and I went back to confirm my order and saw an 80 GB firewire external hard drive that I hadn't purchased. Price? Free! It's a bonus on the Digi 002!

I'm such a fuckin' geek.

exhausted

SATA drives or ultra ATAs?

now who's the geek?

mccreadyisgod

exhausted wrote:

how much to remix and master my sessions?

-per track
-i'm half serious.
-i'm all curious

Hell, I'll do an album's worth of mixing for $75, unless there's gobs of editing.

I have a friend who'll master it for you... it's not my thing... but he'd probably be around $50.

If you're more than half serious, let's talk.

mccreadyisgod

exhausted wrote:

SATA drives or ultra ATAs?

now who's the geek?

The internal drives are SATA drives...

I don't know what the freebie is.

I'm just pissed that ProTools won't play with RAID.

exhausted

only the internals would be SATA and that's good that they are. i've got a 160 and a 120. i need to bump the memory up to 2gig at some point though i've been good at 1.

i had one session at 32 tracks with a bunch of plug-ins that started to kack until i rearranged some reverbs on a dedicated bus. but it seriously was a shit load of plugins so i'm pretty happy for now.

exhausted

mccreadyisgod wrote:

Hell, I'll do an album's worth of mixing for $75, unless there's gobs of editing.

I have a friend who'll master it for you... it's not my thing... but he'd probably be around $50.

If you're more than half serious, let's talk.

there wouldn't be any editing. just EQ, levels, comp etc.

if i decide to actually make something into a CD, i'll let you know. right now, i'm still just doing the web thing which i can hack my way through myself.

mccreadyisgod

exhausted wrote:

i need to bump the memory up to 2gig at some point though i've been good at 1.

i had one session at 32 tracks with a bunch of plug-ins that started to kack until i rearranged some reverbs on a dedicated bus. but it seriously was a shit load of plugins so i'm pretty happy for now.

I've found that time-based plug-ins are the worst... you can EQ and compress and limit and expand until you're blue in the face, but if you wanna run some reverb or delay... get out the checkbook and shop for RAM...

I have an 800 MHz FSB, so that should help things as well. I hate bussing verb (unless it's drums or backing vocals).

exhausted

i tend to make a reverb bus for backing vocals and one for acoustic instruments.

mccreadyisgod

exhausted wrote:

there wouldn't be any editing. just EQ, levels, comp etc.

if i decide to actually make something into a CD, i'll let you know. right now, i'm still just doing the web thing which i can hack my way through myself.

Well, keep at it... before long, you might be good enough that I won't be able to help much. Although having outside ears do the mixing can be a great thing (Yankee Hotel Foxtrot - Wilco). Not that I'm claiming to be Jim O'Rourke...

The only problem I'd have is that you don't have acoustic drums...

Hey! I could get a drummer to track it for ya...

I love mixing drums.

mccreadyisgod

exhausted wrote:

i tend to make a reverb bus for backing vocals and one for acoustic instruments.

If I'm recording a drumset in a really dry room (or close-micing to record a band live) I'll bus the snare and toms thru a single 'verb, just to give the kit a nice, round, consistent sound.

Mostly, though, I prefer dry mixes. A bit of verb or delay to smooth out the vocals; a bit of verb to give an acoustic guitar, piano, mando, etc. some life; and the drums.

exhausted

mccreadyisgod wrote:

Well, keep at it... before long, you might be good enough that I won't be able to help much. Although having outside ears do the mixing can be a great thing (Yankee Hotel Foxtrot - Wilco). Not that I'm claiming to be Jim O'Rourke...

The only problem I'd have is that you don't have acoustic drums...

Hey! I could get a drummer to track it for ya...

I love mixing drums.

in theory, i could get live drums tracked in. the click tracks and all that shit are there. i'd love to be able to do it. it's the only thing i'm missing and i have a hunch that it would take me way beyond the places i can get to by myself.

too bad i keep spendind money on stupid guitars instead of hiring a drummer for a while.

mccreadyisgod

exhausted wrote:

in theory, i could get live drums tracked in. the click tracks and all that shit are there. i'd love to be able to do it. it's the only thing i'm missing and i have a hunch that it would take me way beyond the places i can get to by myself.

too bad i keep spendind money on stupid guitars instead of hiring a drummer for a while.

Well, if you ever get interested... I know a drummer here that I'll be working with a lot in the next 5 months, he's REALLY FUCKING GOOD. Jazz-trained, can do a lot of cool stuff. I can talk to him, see if he'd be interested in laying stuff down on 8-12 songs, and what he'd want for his time. I could track it, mix down to mp3, transfer it to you, see if you like it, make changes...

Not the best way to do it, but it'd work.

Pacomc79

Nice set up MIG.

If you guys are serious I'd like to come sit in and watch, maybe add some backing vocals or guitar tracks. I need a vacation anyway, what could be more vacant than Montana?


I can play conga's and tambourine

mccreadyisgod

Pacomc79 wrote:

I need a vacation anyway, what could be more vacant than Montana?

I can play conga's and tambourine

Okay, Georgia boy...

I got a skin flute you can play right here...

All Those Yesterdays

I'd make sure and invest in a descent Tube pre amp, and even a tube condensor mic (search ebay, news ones cheap). I know the plug-ins in protools will have a tube pre-amp but trust me, get a good rack mount one. Run all the vocals thru it (I'd even run the bass thru it to be honest, and any clean guitars).

Don't get me wrong, protools is a great system. Digital recording is extremely handy, but it does seem to make bands get lazy, and instead of doing one solid track I see to much cutting and pasting (which I hate).

A friend of mine and I use protools, but its only for the final editing. We record every-thing on reel to reel then move it to pro-tools. Good luck!

mccreadyisgod

All Those Yesterdays wrote:

I'd make sure and invest in a descent Tube pre amp, and even a tube condensor mic (search ebay, news ones cheap). I know the plug-ins in protools will have a tube pre-amp but trust me, get a good rack mount one. Run all the vocals thru it (I'd even run the bass thru it to be honest, and any clean guitars).

Don't get me wrong, protools is a great system. Digital recording is extremely handy, but it does seem to make bands get lazy, and instead of doing one solid track I see to much cutting and pasting (which I hate).

A friend of mine and I use protools, but its only for the final editing. We record every-thing on reel to reel then move it to pro-tools. Good luck!

At some point, I'll be looking at some sort of tube pre. I have 16 inputs, but only 12 mic pres at the moment, so I have 4 more channels to get something for... so I was thinking about a good two-channel tube mic pre and a good two-channel FET mic pre (Neve-type).

But until I have a location that's mine to set up in, I probably will avoid super-high-quality mics. Too easy to damage in a less-professional setting. But I would like to get a good ribbon (RCA clone) and a good Neumann (U87, most likely), eventually. I'm also a huge fan of the AKG 414.

And I'm jealous... I would love to track to tape. But ProTools is an editor's best friend. And since I'm the engineer, I'll be saying whether we're gonna cut and paste, or do another take. I prefer to have a very organic performance, as well.

For the first album I'm recording, it's an ambient noise-rock band. They're going to have enough hiss and tube gear, I'm going to want all the cleanliness that digital can give me. But there are bands down the road that I'll want some more analog character and saturation on.

All Those Yesterdays

mccreadyisgod wrote:

At some point, I'll be looking at some sort of tube pre. I have 16 inputs, but only 12 mic pres at the moment, so I have 4 more channels to get something for... so I was thinking about a good two-channel tube mic pre and a good two-channel FET mic pre (Neve-type).

But until I have a location that's mine to set up in, I probably will avoid super-high-quality mics. Too easy to damage in a less-professional setting. But I would like to get a good ribbon (RCA clone) and a good Neumann (U87, most likely), eventually. I'm also a huge fan of the AKG 414.

And I'm jealous... I would love to track to tape. But ProTools is an editor's best friend. And since I'm the engineer, I'll be saying whether we're gonna cut and paste, or do another take. I prefer to have a very organic performance, as well.

For the first album I'm recording, it's an ambient noise-rock band. They're going to have enough hiss and tube gear, I'm going to want all the cleanliness that digital can give me. But there are bands down the road that I'll want some more analog character and saturation on.

Fantastic, just keep an eye on ebay for good deals on new mics! Its well worth it, and don't be one of those well heck everyone uses Shure SM-57's and 58's, so I will to. There are many many many durable and great sounding mics out there!!!!!

FYI if you ever consider getting a reel to reel, you can usually find good tascam 1inch ones on ebay. I know I know I know, its not 2", but trust me its good enough!!!! we have two. One for upstairs and one for downstairs, and if we had to we'd midi sync them and have 46 tracks. But I'm not the type for the 30 guitar track stuff.

mccreadyisgod

All Those Yesterdays wrote:

Fantastic, just keep an eye on ebay for good deals on new mics! Its well worth it, and don't be one of those well heck everyone uses Shure SM-57's and 58's, so I will to. There are many many many durable and great sounding mics out there!!!!!

FYI if you ever consider getting a reel to reel, you can usually find good tascam 1inch ones on ebay. I know I know I know, its not 2", but trust me its good enough!!!! we have two. One for upstairs and one for downstairs, and if we had to we'd midi sync them and have 46 tracks. But I'm not the type for the 30 guitar track stuff.

Well, as far as it goes, I've already developed my mic preferences to a large degree. But it's more important to know what mic does what in certain applications. For instance, I prefer the sound of an SM57 on a snare drum, and will go to it 95% of the time. However, there are certain types of music and/or certain snare drums where another mic will yield better results.

As far as tape, I would probably rather look for a good 1" 8-track. Then I could use it for select instruments, and get a good fat tone without a lot of fidelity loss. But it would almost always be just a stage in an otherwise-ProTools rig. I'd also be interested in a 1/2" 2-track mastering recorder. The inherent problem, though, is that tape is hard to get, expensive, and takes time and know-how to maintain. It's something I'll look into when I have the ability and finances, but it's not amazingly practical for me right now.

One project I'll be recording within the next 4 months is a solo singer-songwriter, just guitar and vocals and some textural elements (minor percussion, electric guitar, backing vox, harmonica). I'm going to record him in ProTools and then get regular cassette tapes and dump the masters to cassette, then back to ProTools and finally to CD. I'll be a nice, easy way to get an analog feel to the recording. And cassettes will work fine, just get hi-bias 30-minute tapes and put the track right in the middle of the tape. I have access to a great old Tascam cassette recorder, so I think it'll be a nice element to the record.

All Those Yesterdays

mccreadyisgod wrote:

Well, as far as it goes, I've already developed my mic preferences to a large degree. But it's more important to know what mic does what in certain applications. For instance, I prefer the sound of an SM57 on a snare drum, and will go to it 95% of the time. However, there are certain types of music and/or certain snare drums where another mic will yield better results.

As far as tape, I would probably rather look for a good 1" 8-track. Then I could use it for select instruments, and get a good fat tone without a lot of fidelity loss. But it would almost always be just a stage in an otherwise-ProTools rig. I'd also be interested in a 1/2" 2-track mastering recorder. The inherent problem, though, is that tape is hard to get, expensive, and takes time and know-how to maintain. It's something I'll look into when I have the ability and finances, but it's not amazingly practical for me right now.

One project I'll be recording within the next 4 months is a solo singer-songwriter, just guitar and vocals and some textural elements (minor percussion, electric guitar, backing vox, harmonica). I'm going to record him in ProTools and then get regular cassette tapes and dump the masters to cassette, then back to ProTools and finally to CD. I'll be a nice, easy way to get an analog feel to the recording. And cassettes will work fine, just get hi-bias 30-minute tapes and put the track right in the middle of the tape. I have access to a great old Tascam cassette recorder, so I think it'll be a nice element to the record.

8 track is a good idea, but from my experience it won't be enough. If I had the choice I'd make sure I can record the drums on the tape, and 8 tracks just isn't enough. 2 mics on the snare, and 2 overheads then one each on the hi hat, ride, kick and on each tom (unless you only use 1 tom). Snares sound way to thin with just a single mic off the top.

I two had the fear of was it worth going to tape due to the expense and finding tapes, but to find out after using this stuff for two years now, tapes are still produced, yeah have a price to it, but with a little ebay shopping you can find groups of 5 or 10 new tapes for extremely low prices. Instead of $60-70 a tape, we are talking $10 a tape or so. Its all worth.

I'm sure you product will be awesome, and I wish you luck.