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I Don't Love the Ocean, I Love the Coast

12/18/2008 7:59:44 PM
Is anyone else a Co-writer with themselves?

7/3/2008 11:50:48 AM
Home Recording Software/Equipment

6/17/2008 8:02:09 PM
What do you think about Murder

7/3/2008 11:50:48 AM

Home Recording Software/Equipment
This may have been posted before, but I was curious,how many of you record your songs at home and those who do, what software/hardware you use.

I use Sonar Home Studio 6 XL with an M-Audio Delta 1010LT audio card, 10 inputs and 10 outs, 1 in/out is midi and 1 in/out is digital. I mostly use a Shure SM58 mic for vocals, and have been going direct on the guitar, but have started mic it and recording both the direct and mic and mixing the two. I just bought a cheap MXL 990 condenser mic, but haven't used it until I can find a quite enough place to record.

Anyway, I'm more curious than anything, and was wonder if I should switch over to Pro-Tools before upgrading anymore in the Cake Walk line, in case I ever want to send anything to a real studio.

7/3/2008 12:02:59 PM

Hi Dean,

While I have not personally used Sonar, I have used M Audio hardware in the past and find it to be great quality. I'm not certain but I think the 1010 is compatible with Protools M Powered.
I personally use Protools for both my studio rig and my mobile recording rig and love it. In my opinion, it is the closest 'feeling' to a physical tape machine and mixing desk and is very intuitive and powerful. The main reason I switched to Protools (I was using Cubase) was for industry compatibility and I haven't looked back :-)

Everything on my SuperPuss page was recorded with Protools and the recordings on my new SuperPuss Music & Image record label IAC page were also made with Protools.

I can relate to your situation with the noise though. I have a pair of Rode NT2a studio condensers and a gorgeous AKG C414 EB (with the highly saught after CK12 brass capsule) but I live on a major highway!!!!
Needless to say, I am looking at moving soon!

SuperPuss
SuperPuss video

7/3/2008 12:16:43 PM

Hi again Dean,

Just wanted to comment on how much I'm enjoying your music. You've written some very heartfelt songs with a great emotional connection. Very cool stuff :-)

SuperPuss
SuperPuss video

7/3/2008 12:17:10 PM

BEWARE: GEAR LUST!
;)

Hi, Dean - I use a Roland VS2480CD, which is a stand-alone 24-track unit with a hardrive. I started off just using that and maxing out it's onboard effects cards (four stereo cards, can be used as 8 mono effects through inserting or aux sends) and over the course of years I've upgraded mics (from Shure SM57s and 58s to things like AKG C414 and Coles 4038) and research and add some outboard gear (such as Universal Audio LA610 channel strip and various pieces from www.dwfearn.com).

The outboard gear makes a big difference (to my ear) and I am feeling hobbled on collaborations by having a unit that does NOT transfer data easily or well with computers. That was absolutely NOT on my radar at first, because I started off planning to work alone. So you are indeed wise to address that question.

Rock on,
Hugh

7/3/2008 2:34:59 PM

Hey!
Sticky Pistil recorded our first CD on a Roland VS880. We also had this shcheme going where we would search online for Good eals on high end mic pres and outboard compression and we'd buy them on a credit card and then post them for sale the next day. In this way we'd get to use an expensive piece of gear for a week or so before we sold it and we almost always were able to pay the credit card off right away! It's kind of like renting I guess....

My desktop studio now is LOGIC 8, an M Audio fire wire 410, a Korg AM800r, and Edirol midi controller and a pair of M Audio moniters.
a few decent mics...
I like LOGIC 8 so much because it's the best in Sequencing and in Audio Recording all in one environment.
I used to use Reason rewired to Pro Tools, but I think LOGIC kicks it's ass!!!

7/4/2008 9:46:47 AM

Thanks SuperPuss. I'm trying and I think the more I write the better I get, but sometimes I kind of get down on myself, so I appreciate the encouragement.

I've just started listening to your stuff. I really like "Outside Everything". I did a Google search and found a comment on another site by someone who said that was the only one they didn't like, but so far that's my favorite.

I'm starting to learn that as I play for different groups of people, what one group doesn't care for another group seems to love.

7/4/2008 10:33:50 AM

Hi there

Roland 2480 DVD
Sonar 4 Producer Edition
Yamaha Motif 8
Joe Meek Mic
Ibanez acoustic electric guitar
Washburn acoustic guitar
71 Fender Jazz bass
A ton of perc instruments
Other cool odds and ends

Steve

7/9/2008 11:48:09 AM

Hey Hugh,

I finally got around to checking out www.dwfearns.com. Wow!!! That tube EQ costs more than my car. Do you have a nice studio to put all that expense equipment in?

Dean

7/9/2008 12:25:09 PM

According to my partner, co-conspirator, engineer and producer, Satch, these days the recording software is not nearly as important as the input devices one uses - so, recording with an excellent microphone through a good quality preamp is much more relevant than whether one uses Sonar, ProTools, Cakewalk or any other DAW!

7/9/2008 2:28:40 PM

as far as fidelity goes I think that's totally true, your inputs and your final summing is where it happens with vocals and miced instruments.
I use a lot of software instruments though and a lot of direct guitars just because of my space constraints and lack of Mics.
but If I have something serious to do I go to the studio and use SSL inputs and the Dangers2Bus summing amp.
At home I don't really care, this is a hobbyist studio, a desktop thing that's more about creating and writing and trying ideas than getting a marketable product.

as far as a groovy, creative environment goes Logic is more of a musical instrument than a recording platform..or rather it's both.
It's made this whole thing twice as fun for me because there's so many things you can try...

s.,

7/9/2008 3:40:57 PM ---- Updated 7/9/2008 3:43:00 PM

I have had loads of gear over the years and the piece i loved the most is my Revox A77 Stereo reel to reel no computer or hi tech gear has ever matched the sound that made at 15 ips just something so musical about it plus it was real labour of love to make a full blown song with it add at least 10 times the amount of time spent on making a track compared by todays standards composing the same track

http://www.reeltoreel.de/worldwide/A77.htm

7/10/2008 1:15:02 AM

I can dig that too Paul - I started out recording on a Teac 4-track reel-to-reel back in the days... :)

I guess as far as recording these days goes, it's pretty much "horses for courses" - there are so many amazing options out there for us lucky people!

We have a few really good mics (an Audio Technica 4040, an Akai solid tube, a pair of Oktavas and a few more) and some great mic-pre's (my fave is the Avalon 737, it's beautiful)... and we record straight to our Mac using ProTools and a Digidesign interface. We have three UAD cards in the Mac, and have a pile of fabulous plug-ins for processing (I love the Neve channels and the Fairchild compressor and the Cambridge eq), so we really can do good mixes!

But whatever system you use, the front end of your recording is the input devices you use - and the better they are, the more chance you have of making a magic recording!

7/11/2008 1:15:46 PM

I'm gonna kick in at this point and say that even though I run a recording studio and mastering suite, and work in another studio also.......

all that gear is a waste of time really!!!!!

That's right, don't waste your hard earned cash. Take a listen to some recordings from the fifties, sixties and even early seventies. Thea actual recording quality is pretty poor, but the writing and performance qualities still shine through. you really need to concentrate your efforts into writing great songs, and then performing them well. If you do that, then any recording setup will yield great results compared to a shitty song, played badly on great gear!

If your songs ever get to the stage where production really matters, then you'll end up in a high end studio anyway, with a pro engineer, and the last thing you'll be thinking about is which microphone, preamp or workstation to use!

Just my opinion, but one that I know is shared across the board in the music industry, including the recording department!

7/11/2008 1:45:54 PM ---- Updated 7/11/2008 1:47:09 PM

Hi, Dean - I record at home - the EQ is way expensive, and I don't own one (lol) - it would be on my shopping list if I ever became commercially successful in any way though. I'm really pleased with the results I've been getting with the gear I do have. The gear is expensive because it features an amazing build quality - high end components and hand-wired/assembled in the USA (read no "slave labor") and in my personal experience it yields far greater sonic detail than the built-in components on my Roland recording unit.

Everyone will have their own opinion about the value and performance of different gear - I would agree that the only thing that matters is the end result, now how you get there. I was banging my head against a sonic wall for years and I finally started learning a bit about outboard gear and then was able to experiment with some, and it made a wonderful difference to my ear - got me where I wanted to go. I like to share the story a bit in case there's somebody in a similar situation who can't quite figure out why they're not satisfied with the quality of their recordings.

Temperamentally I'd rather own the gear forever and be able to use it any time than to essentially "rent" it by going to a studio. I can see how other folks who aren't as interested in the recording process or who don't enjoy the technical part of it all would benefit from the occasional paid studio time. I had been a bit disappointed by my few forays into "real" studios too - partly because the stress of the time/expense ratio had a negative effect on me - so I came to feel the only way I'd ever be REALLY pleased with my own recordings would be to keep at it and do it myself, on my own schedule and terms...and keep trying to improve and improve and improve...
:)
H

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