Basic Setup

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AudiniAudio
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Basic Setup

Post by AudiniAudio » Tue May 11, 2021 4:26 pm

I did a search for posts on basic gear. Although I kind of know what I should have, what do you all think is the minimum required gear for submitting to listings with broadcast ready recordings.

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Re: Basic Setup

Post by AudiniAudio » Tue May 11, 2021 8:18 pm

For example; what kind of computer, which software, sound libraries.

I used to have Cubase 5 and Kontakt4. I was told my samples bundle didn't have piano samples good enough for broadcast quality so I should have bought Oracle because of their good classical library. But Cubase isn't on version 5 anymore. Kontakt isn't on 4 anymore either and maybe there's something better now. Oracle has probably gone the way of the Dodo bird. I read everything in Studio Buddy so I know which mics I need for different instruments but if I wanted a couple of mics I could get away with without getting so many specific mics for specific instruments what would a couple of good all around mics be in your opinion?

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Re: Basic Setup

Post by AudiniAudio » Tue May 11, 2021 8:22 pm

How to optimize my recording space without hiring a contractor expert in recording studio design to keep sound of cars and birds out. How many sound treatment panels occupying what percentage of each wall and their optimal placement to control reflections? Cheap way to do bass traps in the corners?

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Re: Basic Setup

Post by AudiniAudio » Tue May 11, 2021 8:30 pm

Another example, I used to have Line6's Pod Farm2. What's good currently now that I want to get back into recording?

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Re: Basic Setup

Post by cosmicdolphin » Wed May 12, 2021 12:13 am

Nothing wrong with using a 10yr old DAW until they fall over and are unsupported, for that reason I'd update if you can - I'm sure there will many great enhancements to Cubase or you can get Cakewalk for free now if you are willing to learn a new DAW which is updated every few months and has just about every feature going as long as you are a PC user.

Any reasonably modern PC or Mac should suffice but again it depends on what genre you make and how many tracks , virtual instruments FX etc you want to use.

With Kontakt we moved to version 6 in 2019 so you won't be able to run any newer libraries unless you're up to date and there's a lot of good ones , some of which are staples of production music depending on which genre you use.

For room treatment read this : https://mixedbymarcmozart.com/2014/11/0 ... tto-style/

I will leave the guitar stuff to the guitar headz.

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Re: Basic Setup

Post by Ted » Wed May 12, 2021 6:16 am

cosmicdolphin wrote:
Wed May 12, 2021 12:13 am
I will leave the guitar stuff to the guitar headz.

Up until last year I was using only the stock guitar plugin sounds in Logic X but I kept having issues with some phantom noise-- I couldn't diagnose what was going on, but when I started using 3rd party guitar amp sim plugins, the problem vanished.

The two main guitar amp sims that I reach for are Native Instruments' Guitar Rig 6 Pro and IK Multimedia's Amplitube 5 Max.

Overall, I prefer Amplitube 5 for most guitar tones. The gui/ signal chain flow where you grab pieces of gear (pedals/heads/cabs/etc) and drag them into a chain is very easy to use. I feel like I'm a millionaire stepping into my own private gear dojo when I plug into Amplitube 5. It has licensed Fenders, Mesa/Boogies/Marshalls/Oranges, etc. Amazing bang for the buck-- and 5 is a huge step up over the previous version 4 in sound quality. If you're looking for a complete suite of samples/plugins you might consider NI's "Komplete" but I also recommend IK's "Total Studio 3 Max"-- which comes with Amplitube 5, SampleTank, TRacks, Mixbox, etc.

I use NI's Guitar Rig 6 Pro mostly when I need a guitar tone with an unconventional quality with a lot of special effects, like some kind of deep ambient sound. The regular guitar tone presets are good too.

Aside from those two "meat and potatoes" amp sims, I do own and use Neural DSP products and they are more limited than Amplitube/Guitar Rig in terms of versatility (and they can get expensive) but my god, do they sound amazing. I own the Nolly-- which I use mostly for high gain sounds and the Cory Wong-- which has some of the best clean tones you can get in an amp sim. I've just been trying out their new Soldano SLO-100 emulation and it's mindblowingly great-- I will have to buy this one. You can get free 14 day trials on all of their plugins. A few times a year they'll have a half-off sale and I'd wait til then and load up.

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Re: Basic Setup

Post by AudiniAudio » Wed May 12, 2021 4:26 pm

Thanks Cosmic Dolphin and Ted for your replies. I'll have a look at Native's Komplete and Total Studio 3 Max to start. Looking at the room treatment link now.

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Re: Basic Setup

Post by AudiniAudio » Wed May 12, 2021 4:39 pm

So what about them microphones?

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Re: Basic Setup

Post by AudiniAudio » Wed May 12, 2021 5:15 pm

Headphones and nearfields?

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Re: Basic Setup

Post by Ted » Wed May 12, 2021 6:24 pm

AudiniAudio wrote:
Wed May 12, 2021 4:26 pm
Thanks Cosmic Dolphin and Ted for your replies. I'll have a look at Native's Komplete and Total Studio 3 Max to start.
Just gotta add that these might be on the pricey side depending on what you already have/what you need and what you're looking to spend-- and they're not the only things out there, they're just two that I like. The stock stuff that came with my DAW (Logic X) was good enough to get at least one library deal. I ended up getting both of these first by buying a couple of pieces of hardware (in the case of NI-- an interface and a MIDI keyboard) and software (in the case of IK) and those purchases allowed me to get savings on upgrades when I bought the bigger bundles. I think in June or July, Native Instruments runs a once-a-year deep discount sale on Komplete. So that would be a good time to make a buy if you wanted to go that route. IK is usually running good deals where you can pick up a few things-- or a "max" item and then qualify for a "maxgrade" offer on a bigger bundle. If I don't see a deal for what I want, I usually wait til the price is right.

I admit it though, I've gone a bit overboard in buying and using plugins this past year-- probably to the detriment of my mixes as Dolphin can attest. haha. So I'm going back to basics. He recommended a book called "Mixing Secrets for the Small Studio" by Mike Senior. I ordered it and should be getting it tomorrow.

https://www.amazon.com/Mixing-Secrets-S ... b_title_bk

As far as monitors go, I only got my first pair last year-- the Kali LP-6. Good entry level monitors. My headphones are BeyerDynamic DT770 Pro. Basic closed design-- not the best for mixing but I like them for tracking. Mine are beat to hell. I have an assortment of dynamic mics (SM58 clones) and an AT4033 condenser.

What types of music do you make/plan to make?

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