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Building Your Home Recording Studio

Building Your Home Recording Studio. How Anyone Can Create Professional Sounding Audio. Ken Theriot Home Brew Audio. Pro Audio. What does it take to get professional sounding audio ?. Expensive microphones and interfaces?. Go to a commercial recording studio?.

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Building Your Home Recording Studio

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  1. Building Your Home Recording Studio How Anyone Can Create Professional Sounding Audio Ken Theriot Home Brew Audio www.homebrewaudio.com

  2. Pro Audio What does it take to get professional sounding audio? Expensive microphones and interfaces? Go to a commercial recording studio? You’re not alone. Most folks do. www.homebrewaudio.com

  3. Knowledge Trumps Gear Less than $100 www.homebrewaudio.com

  4. Important….. • Good audio is not guaranteed Just because you bought a Neumann and Pro Tools HD www.homebrewaudio.com

  5. Regardless of your set-up… If you know what you're doing, you can get decent audio from the cheapest gear. I will give you 4 tips for doing this! But lack of knowledge causes lots of folks to produce crappy audio even with expensive gear! Disclaimer: Better quality gear can and does sound better than a plastic PC mic www.homebrewaudio.com

  6. Knowledge Trumps Gear If you know what you're doing…. It is possible to produce better audio with a plastic PC mic than someone with no experience using a set-up costing... • Wait for it …100 times more! www.homebrewaudio.com

  7. Knowledge Trumps Gear How do I know that? $5 vs $500 mic shootout vs www.homebrewaudio.com www.homebrewaudio.com

  8. The Home Recording Studio What are the basics of recording a voice on a computer-based studio? A microphone captures the sound The sound is converted to ones and zeros (digital audio) by a soundcard/interface. A recording program reads the digital audio, allowing you to edit, save, etc. In a world… www.homebrewaudio.com

  9. The Two Home Recording Studio Configurations • A microphone plugged directly into a computer, either via the sound card or a USB port • A microphone plugged into an interface 3-pin (XLR) cablecomputer Plus there’s mobile www.homebrewaudio.com

  10. How Do We Improve Quality? No matter what kind of gear we use… • Fight the noise first • Prevent as much getting recorded as possible • Use a cardioid microphone (tip #1) • Get close to the microphone (tip #2) • Then fight it again • Record as loud as possible without clipping (tip #3) • “Crowds out” a lot of system noise • And again • Use noise reduction tools to reduce the noise that got recorded (inevitable) (tip #4) www.homebrewaudio.com

  11. Prevent The Noise • In a perfect world, you would have a great recording space where the room sound actually compliments the signal. • These types of spaces are rare. • The second best option is to have a vocal isolation booth treated with materials designed to prevent absorb echoes, allowing you to record only the signal. • Difficult to do right • Expensive www.homebrewaudio.com

  12. Vocal Booths and Other Acoustic Treatment PrimacousticFlexibooth $450 AuralexMaxWall- $999 ClearsonicIsoPac - $1,100 PrimacousticVoxguard $90 Harlan Hogan PortaBooth $349 sE Electronics Reflexion Filter $299 www.homebrewaudio.com

  13. Preventing Noise On a Budget • We’re recording in bedrooms with lots of parallel surfaces echo-y sound. • Very common in even the best looking videos • Problem is worse in “talking-head” videos signal noise www.homebrewaudio.com

  14. Preventing Noise On a Budget Deal With Room Noise 1st • Use a mic with a cardioid pickup pattern • Mouth close to the mic • ~4 inches or so Note: Talk into the correct side of a side-address mic! www.homebrewaudio.com

  15. Crowd Out The Noise • Record as loud as possible without clipping This is not good If you try to turn this up, you’ll be turning up the noise along with it! Aim for this Won’t have to turn this up much, if at all. MUCH better quality. Do this with gain control on interface and/or input level in software mixer www.homebrewaudio.com

  16. Reduce Recorded Noise • Some noise will always be recorded, especially with cheaper mics and converters • Use Noise Reduction in audio software www.homebrewaudio.com

  17. Best Audio/Cheapest Gear Just doing those 3 things Using a cardioid mic Getting close to the mic Reducing/removing noise after it is recorded Is how a $5 mic ended up sounding better than the $500 mic setup www.homebrewaudio.com

  18. The Interface • Now we can address step #2 of recording basics, "sound is converted to ones and zeros (digital audio) by a soundcard/interface.“ • Why is the $5 mic into a sound card not ideal? • Small cheap micis inaccurate • Integrated sound card is cheap and noisy • So the best 1st step is… www.homebrewaudio.com

  19. Avoid The On-Board Sound Card The fastest and least expensive way to do this is: Use a USB Microphone • Built-In converters are better • Avoid noisy motherboard www.homebrewaudio.com

  20. USB Mics • Small USB mics still subject to accuracy limitations • Must work very hard to get “pro” audio, though it is still possible • I highly recommend the large USB Mics • Much easier to reach “pro” level audio Large diaphragm condenser Samson C01 $80 Samson Q1 $49 Blue Yeti $100 www.homebrewaudio.com

  21. Studio Configuration #1 www.homebrewaudio.com

  22. Studio Configuration #2 www.homebrewaudio.com

  23. Mics for Studio Configuration #2 2 main types of (non-USB) microphone Shure SM-58 dynamic microphone • Dynamic • Condenser Rode NT2-A Large Diaphragm Condenser Microphone Best for recording $399 www.homebrewaudio.com

  24. Mics for Studio Configuration #2 Audio Technica AT2020 $65 Audio Technica AT2035 $149 Neumann U87 ai $3,600 Neumann TLM 102 $700 Blue Yeti Pro $229 www.homebrewaudio.com

  25. Interface for Configuration #2 M-Audio Fast Track C600 M-Audio Fast Track Pro $342 $150 CentranceMicPort Pro $150 These attach to a computer via USB Phantom power for condenser mics www.homebrewaudio.com

  26. Audio Software Reaper www.homebrewaudio.com

  27. The Software • Pros • Free • Can do basic editing • Can do (sort of) multi-track • Cons • Not intuitive/hard to use • Noise Reduction is poor • Pros • Professional software • Can do just about anything • “Fair Pricing” Scheme!! • Cons • Almost too awesome! • Might be “too much car” Reaper $60 or $225 www.homebrewaudio.com

  28. The Accessories Desk Boom Stand Swivels and articulates $70-$100 Mic Stands Basic Desktop Stand $15 Basic Boom Stand $25 Shock Mount $25 www.homebrewaudio.com

  29. The Accessories Standard MicCable 3-pin “XLR” $25 Cables USB Cable www.homebrewaudio.com

  30. Headphones & Speakers Headphones Sennheiser HD 280 • Closed-back • Encircle the ears • Could get by with mp3“earbuds” if you had to • Monitor headphones when ready $99 Speakers Alesis M1Actives • Computer speakers OK to start • Monitor speakers when ready $199 www.homebrewaudio.com

  31. Pop Filter/Pop Screen You need one – period. www.homebrewaudio.com

  32. Mixer Don’t Need One Moving on www.homebrewaudio.com

  33. Basic Home Studio Options - Review Option 1 ~$159 Option 2 ~$315 www.homebrewaudio.com

  34. Mobile Options iRigMic $45 iRig PRE $40 Apogee MiC $199 Zoom H2 $110 www.homebrewaudio.com

  35. The Newbies Guide to Audio recording awesomeness • Tutorials • Articles • Tips • Resources Turn Your Computer Into a Pro Recording Studio www.homebrewaudio.com www.homebrewaudio.com

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