Basic Setup

with industry Pro, Nick Batzdorf

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AudiniAudio
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Re: Basic Setup

Post by AudiniAudio » Thu May 13, 2021 4:33 am

Hey Ted,
hope to do a little bit of everything. Although, I can't really see myself being good at country. It usually requires a vocalist with a real twang but maybe my fake country vocal imitation can pull it off. Not sure. My heart is where the money aint. Jazz Fusion, and obscure World Music. I did place a piece for Southeast Asian style gamelan in a sound library which got picked up right away but I've never been paid for it. Every time I try to straighten it out with BMI it doesn't work and no one is able to help me. I think I need a different PRO.

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Re: Basic Setup

Post by Ted » Thu May 13, 2021 6:15 am

AudiniAudio wrote:
Thu May 13, 2021 4:33 am
Hey Ted,
hope to do a little bit of everything. Although, I can't really see myself being good at country. It usually requires a vocalist with a real twang but maybe my fake country vocal imitation can pull it off. Not sure. My heart is where the money aint. Jazz Fusion, and obscure World Music. I did place a piece for Southeast Asian style gamelan in a sound library which got picked up right away but I've never been paid for it. Every time I try to straighten it out with BMI it doesn't work and no one is able to help me. I think I need a different PRO.
Jazz Fusion is cool. I'm a guitar shredder at heart. I don't recall a Taxi listing ever asking for Al DiMeola or Frank Gambale type tracks but maybe one day. :)

As for country vocals-- I just have the feeling that because the bar is so high, it's not even worth it to try country (for someone like me, who isn't really into country)-- but then again, my brother started writing a country song and I helped him with the concept and title and what he's got is really great and original. Neither of us have a country voice, but I looked on Fiverr and found several great country vocalists for hire if we want to cut a demo. That's something to keep in mind. Lots of fantastic vocalists of every genre on there.

If you're looking to do obscure world music, then that might be a good reason to invest in something like NI's Komplete because they have several different ethnic music packs (Middle Eastern, India, Cuba, Gamelan, etc) And also that might be enough of a reason to join Taxi's Dispatch-- because often the listings in Dispatch are more obscure and tend to be things like World Music.

As to the PRO stuff, I have BMI but I'm not that experienced with the scenario you describe. Maybe someone else can help you out there.

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Re: Basic Setup

Post by AudiniAudio » Thu May 13, 2021 6:56 pm

Hi again Ted,
Frank Gambale did some Allan Holdsworth type stuff that was just amazing. I've used Fivrr for other stuff but never to find musicians. Hadn't thought of that. Good idea.

It looks like we're going with the NI Komplete. I'm actually based in Indonesia. It's the wild west out here. My neighbors crank up their soundsystem and blast it though the valley every evening so I'm looking to construct a studio space that can keep the noise out. I'm wondering if anyone has ever tried to make an unattached studio facing similar problems. I was thinking of building the walls from stone cemented together and using glass block to let light in instead of thin window glass even if double paned. It's obviously gonna be a while before I'm up and running.

The bandwidth and signal are not good here so all the constant demands the software might have for downloading and updates is not gonna fly. Hackers and malware are another issue. It's best to set the recording gear up then NEVER access the internet again. Flashdrives also denied. Only wav files and mp3s come out. Nothing goes in.

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Re: Basic Setup

Post by lesmac » Thu May 13, 2021 7:40 pm

My neighbors crank up their soundsystem and blast it though the valley every evening so I'm looking to construct a studio space that can keep the noise out. I'm wondering if anyone has ever tried to make an unattached studio facing similar problems.
Yep! Done that.

First question to ask yourself is do you really need it? As in how much acoustic recording will you be doing?
If you are not recording vocals and instruments with LDCs a lot then mix on headphones when the neighbours are rocking out. Get a noise restoration suite like Ozone RX7 or a Waves product and record some noise before and/or after each take.

The trouble with reducing sound transmission is that you stop sounds getting out. AKA room modes. :evil:

If you are staying for the long haul and you want to build a nice studio space then go for it. You need to build the largest room you can with heaps of mass, decoupling, non parallel walls, diffusion and absorption for internal room treatment. Don't forget about breathing, you will need some ducting to help with the air replenishment. Opening a door works pretty well too as long as you remember before falling asleep! :lol: All expensive and time consuming but do-able if you have the will. Of course while you are doing that you are not making music.

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Re: Basic Setup

Post by AudiniAudio » Fri May 14, 2021 8:11 pm

Room modes would certainly be annoying. Good thing about building with stone by hand is I can make the walls as thick as I want, any shape, angle, or curvature. perhaps a truncated pyramid is a good shape with variable floor depth in each room or an angled ceiling.

But space is an issue so instead of building the largest I can, here's a different question. How small can I reasonably get away with having a room isolating the computer fan from the room with the microphone for example? I imagine the computer can go in a closet.

Here in Indonesia on some houses (our house) the windows have no glass; just wooden shutters which close with a dowel. And above all the doors and windows is an opening letting all sound in. I supposed we could close it all up but it's there for a reason. It keeps the house cool by allowing breezes to blow through.

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Re: Basic Setup

Post by AudiniAudio » Sat May 15, 2021 1:07 am

So once a studio space gets squared away, a functional studio is in order. Please let me know if I'm in the ballpark or completely deluded for making broadcast quality recordings with this plan. Will be looking for used items not new hence the used prices quoted here. Recycling BABY!

I think we're looking at;

Sound treatment $500

Studio Rack;
Channel Strip with preamp, eq, compressor, and limiter for $200.
Rackmounted effects processor for $300.
Rackmounted sampler $300.
Rackmounted Synth Sound Module $450.
Rackmounted Interface $150.

Midi Controller;
Keyboard/Midi Controller $200.

The Brains;
6 channel mixer $450.
Workstation DAW $300
Laptop $400
Native Instruments Komplete 13 $1,599.

Mics;
SM58s (2) $138
AT 4033 $399.

"Guitars;"
Fender Guitar $770.
P Bass $649.
Taylor Steel String Gtr $749.
Classical $499.

Amps;
Guitar Amp $795.
Keyboard Amp $200.

Basically, just under $10,000 not including a desk, a chair, a rack, and stands.
Last edited by AudiniAudio on Sat May 15, 2021 2:19 am, edited 1 time in total.

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Re: Basic Setup

Post by AudiniAudio » Sat May 15, 2021 1:19 am

Here's another problem I had before when I bought a laptop.

All these articles say what laptops are best for home recording or cheap laptops for home recording. Then, you choose one, it arrives, you look up how to optimize the computer for recording purposes but it turns out you're not actually able to find how to do half of the recommendations for optimization on the @#%ing computer. Perhaps because Microsoft or whoever is trying to hide all the things from you that you are trying to do because then they can't upload crap to spy on you, run updates in the background you don't want, disable all the useless apps, etc...

So the question is, which of these new computers they recommend for home recording can ACTUALLY be optimized for home recording without going to 3 different forums to figure it out and trying 5 different ways for each thing that's completely invisible or has been made impossible. Something intuitively easy would be worth any price they're asking.

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