# Home Recording Tips From a Music Production College Student



## Jordan Chin (Jan 17, 2010)

Hey, 

So I know a lot of people visiting this forum are looking into home recording. So I decided to open a thread where I will give tips and answer questions that get asked about home recording. I am in college now for music production and I have recording many bands in the past few years and seen/experienced my fair share of home rigs. 

To start off I will list my suggestion starter rig.

*Rig 1: Basic Guitar Recording DI (Direct Input)*
Ok so you want to record by plugging the guitar into your computer directly. How you will do this is with an audio interface. Good starting audio interface is M-Audio’s Fast Track Pro. It has two inputs each works with both XLR input and ¼ inch. (this is important to have incase you decide to update later so you do not waste money.
http://www.m-audio.com/products/en_us/FastTrackPro.html

You will need a decent music-editing program. 
*If you have windows*
I would suggest Cubase LE to start if you are willing to put up a few bucks, if not Audacity is decent free software. 
*If you have mac*
Then I would use GarageBand to start.

*Rig 2: Basic Guitar Recording With an Amp*
Yet again I would go with the Audio interface I mentioned in Rig 1. The Fast Track Pro.

For a mic, you will be able to afford industry standard. Which is a Shure Sm-57. This is a standard instrument mic, which is cheap around $110 Canadian new. This mic is very cheap however all of the world’s biggest studios have at least a few of these kicking around and still use them.
http://www.shure.com/proaudio/products/wiredmicrophones/us_pro_sm57-lc_content

When you are micing your amp, I am going to suggest experimenting with were you put the microphone around the speaker. Try micing it in at least two positions, both on center and off center. 

On center is where the mic is placed facing the middle of the speaker. 

Off center is where the mic is placed facing straight at the cab but to the side of the speaker.

Try both these placements and more too find what you like. It changes a lot with your tone in recording.

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More tips will be coming soon but I'll start off with this. If anyone has a specific rig they have questions about of if they want suggestions for low budget good rigs for certain projects I will be more than happy to help.


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## Guest (Jan 17, 2010)

Jordan, thanks for the tip. Where are you studying? I didn't know there where music production courses in Ottawa. That's the kind of thing I'd love to take a class or two in.

I'd love to hear what you think about panning and the use of reverb in your mixes. Are you an extreme panner advocate? And how do you use reverb to put things to the back in a mix? Do you tend to mix reverbs or stick one reverb and buss everything to it, but at different levels?


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## Jordan Chin (Jan 17, 2010)

Defiantly, Algonquin College has an amazing program, only accepts 50 people. There is also an option for TARA (The Audio Recording Academy) which gives a college diploma. And finally The Recording Connection program at Blue Bear Sound. Those are the best options in Ottawa to look for. 

I like using panning to give it a real sound, aka having maybe one guitar only to one side. But I think it shouldn't be used too much anymore because too many people are sharing headphones, (one in each ear on a bus etc.) I use Cubase 5 reverb. It sounds nice, reverb should always be used after the mixing is done, never before. 

As for mixing reverbs that is good to do near the end of the mixing process if you do that and do it with caution. It requires a lot of CPU usage and will make your computer run very slow. So unless you are picky about different reverb settings then bussing everything to one reverb would be better.


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## jcayer (Mar 25, 2007)

Very interesting thread, just on time  

I started to get interested in recording last month. When you feel that the time as come to talk about it, I would be interested in learning to use EQ 'wisely'... 

Thanks !!!


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## Jordan Chin (Jan 17, 2010)

Well its important to know how it all works, but also you should be using real reference monitors when EQing a song. For now, all I can really suggest for you is to get a pair of decent reference monitors, and take the time to experiment. Some of the best producers in the world learned by experimenting and a lot of them developed signature sounds, or trademarks that people get to know them by because of a mistake that sounded good.


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## Jordan Chin (Jan 17, 2010)

Well its important to know how it all works, but also you should be using real reference monitors when EQing a song. For now, all I can really suggest for you is to get a pair of decent reference monitors, and take the time to experiment. Some of the best producers in the world learned by experimenting and a lot of them developed signature sounds, or trademarks that people get to know them by because of a mistake that sounded good.


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## jcayer (Mar 25, 2007)

Jordan Chin said:


> Well its important to know how it all works, but also you should be using real reference monitors when EQing a song. For now, all I can really suggest for you is to get a pair of decent reference monitors, and take the time to experiment. Some of the best producers in the world learned by experimenting and a lot of them developed signature sounds, or trademarks that people get to know them by because of a mistake that sounded good.


Monitors are on my list. Do you have any suggestion of models. Under $400 for example.


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## Jordan Chin (Jan 17, 2010)

ok ,well if you are pressed for money Fostex PM0.4 - Compact Powered Desktop Monitors. They have high quality sound, but they do not go as loud as the others do. They go for 200$ for a pair at long & mcquade. If you are willing to pay a bit more, KRK RP-5 G2 Powered Monitor. They go for 195.99 each at long & mcquade. So it will be 400 in total. They are very good speakers, great for starting out.


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## jcayer (Mar 25, 2007)

Jordan Chin said:


> ok ,well if you are pressed for money Fostex PM0.4 - Compact Powered Desktop Monitors. They have high quality sound, but they do not go as loud as the others do. They go for 200$ for a pair at long & mcquade. If you are willing to pay a bit more, KRK RP-5 G2 Powered Monitor. They go for 195.99 each at long & mcquade. So it will be 400 in total. They are very good speakers, great for starting out.


Cool !!!

The KRK's were on my list


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## Jordan Chin (Jan 17, 2010)

Very nice speakers if I do say so myself lol. What are you using software/hardware wise aside from that?


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## jcayer (Mar 25, 2007)

I'm using Reaper for the software and I plug my guitar either in my Line6 Studio UX2 or PodXT.
It fills my needs and it's just a hobby


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## hollowbody (Jan 15, 2008)

I'm cool with the recording part of the process, I've got some really nice sounds out of what I do. What I don't really "get" yet is mixing. I have a hell of a time playing with levels/panning/EQ and I can't seem to get a finished, professional sound. Any help at all with that is HUGELY appreciated.


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## Jordan Chin (Jan 17, 2010)

hollowbody, what I can offer with the little bit I am hearing now. So you are going to need to look into compression. How it works, what does what etc. Also Equalization (or EQing) and tutorials on both of those. 

After the mixing stage is done, your track shouldn't get a professional sound. It will have a very close sound, because then you are getting into mastering. Mastering is an art which is very hard to learn. The most noticable difference between something mastered and non mastered is the volume. A non mastered track is still very quiet. In mastering there is more compression done, and more EQing done as well. 

I would look those up, look into it a bit and then I will answer what I can as you go along.


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## 55 Jr (May 3, 2006)

Hey Jordan! Great thread! What are your thoughts on the lower priced firewire interface units? I picked up a MacBook Pro. I see there are some choices in the 300-500$ range. 

Best regards,

Brian


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## Peter (Mar 25, 2008)

Hey Jordan,

Great thread! I've got an SM57 and an M-Audio Black Box (a bit older than the one you mentioned in the OP I think) that I'm using to record guitar through my Blues Jr.

I've got some really really great sounds out of it.

My question for you (before I look up compression because thats my next step) is just how bad of a recording program is Audacity? What exactly am I missing out on by using it? I am a perfectionist with my tones/sounds, so when I record something I don't really want to change it's sound with plugins/etc.

Thanks in advance!!


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