Hello everyone!
I am a student here at Lessonface and would like to know if any teachers and fellow learners had tips for making a professional-sounding recording at home for the first time. I already have good recording equipment (audio interface, dynamic and condenser microphones) and a few different DAWs to experiment with.
Would anyone like to weigh in on:
1. The best space to record in and is soundproofing necessary;
2. Any tricks for getting the ideal mic placement;
3. Pointers for good DAW recording settings;
4. And anything you wish you'd known when first starting out?
I would sincerely appreciate any input! Thank you, Sierra
Hello Sierra,
I can give you some insights based on my experience.
1)The larger the space the better. You want as much separation as you can get between walls, floor, and ceiling. Sounds reflect on them, and those reflections get picked up by mics giving you a coloration that takes away from the pure sound of the instrument. That's where sound treatment comes in. Sound treatment panels absorb the sound and keeps them from reflecting. Sound proofing on the other hand is for keeping sounds leaving or entering the space in which you record. Neither are essential depending on your goals.
2)The mic placement depends entirely on the instrument you're recording, the mic you're using, and the sound you're going for. Can you share more details?
3)Again, this depends a lot on your hardware, OS, and DAW of choice. Do you own a computer and DAW already? If so, which ones?
4)When I started I wish I would've known how much easier and straightforward it is to record with Apple than Windows. I spent some many years struggling to get stuff done with Apple, and when I tried Apple I just couldn't believe how much easier it was.
Hi Juan, thank you so much for your advice! I really appreciate it.
Here's a little extra information on my current recording setup...
The instruments I want to record include a folk harp, violin, voice, electric guitar, wooden flute, and assorted shakers and hand drums. I have two MXL condenser mics and a Shure dynamic which XLR connections to my audio interface, a PreSonus Audio Box 96 USB. I confess, I am running Windows 11! My current DAWs are Ableton Live Lite 11 (I've spent the most time there lately) and StudioOne Artist 5.
When I have experimented recording my harp, I used a stereo set-up with my two condenser mics, one at bass, the other at treble. It worked well except for some unintended reverb. Am I too close to the strings or soundboard?
Thanks, Sierra
That sounds like a really good setup. You have really good equipment.
Reverb is nothing more than the sound reflecting from the surfaces around you, into the mics. When you pluck the harp the sound wave hits the mic, but it also continues to travel around the room. It bounces off the walls, ceiling, floor, etc and it comes back -at a later time- to your mic.
If you want less reverb place yourself as far away from surfaces as possible. Record in the biggest room available, place yourself in the middle. The other option is to treat your surfaces and stuff with acoustic panels
Thank you, JJ! I appreciate all the help and advice, Sierra
Sierra do you coach lessons
I'm interested in lessons
Hi Shelly,
Thank you for the compliment, but I am just a student here and don't currently offer lessons. What lessons are you interested in taking? Lessonface does offer instructors who teach audio recording, as I have taken a few sessions in that area. If you have any questions, please share them and I'd be happy to answer or give any input I can!
I believe I heard you at the Open Mic and I really admired your singer/songwriter skills! Sierra
Hi! Wishing you the best on your journey into home recording. I have experience recording at home and in studios. To start you need to think what sound do you want and what instrument are you recording.
To make it easy let’s say you sing and play guitar (to record drums for example is a bit more challenging) and want to record each as clean as possible. If you only want the pure and true sound you will want to limit as many reverberations as possible (isolation) and of course any outside/atmospheric noise (car’s barking dogs etc.). While concurrently building our studio complete with the green glue and 3 layer sheet rock we recorded my wife’s vocals and guitar for her new album using a booth we constructed out of blankets and tapestries hung over a custom PVC frame, which is collapsible, and very cheap to make! So sound isolation and soundproofing depend on what sound you want, and your environment. Recording an album in an old cathedral or Pompei would be amazing for the atmosphere, but maybe not so nice hearing dogs barking and the traffic from your neighborhood from inside the apartment. Cheap sound isolation options are possible!
In terms of mic placement: I would suggest doing your research with the wonderful worldwide web because there are many
factors to consider depending on the instrument, sound you want, type of mic. I would recommend always recording with as many options as possible. For examples: acoustic guitar DI + a good condenser can mix beautifully. Or an SM57 close to the cone of an amps speaker and another good condenser a few inches in front of the cab.
In terms of DAW I suggest start with whatever one you are most comfortable with. One thing to note that in general it’s best to have a -18 to -10dB max of gain when recording most instruments and voice. I’d learn the punch in and punch out skill as soon as you can, and any other necessary keyboard shortcuts to make your life easier. (Record, save, undo, redo etc.)
Lastly and most importantly experiment until you get the sound you want! There are better and worse ways to do things, however, overall the finished product is to sound good! No one cares if your mic was placed a few inches farther away than a book or Google said if it sounds good.
One advice i have is to use the internet to your advantage and get comfortable with your DAW and shortcuts. You put the time in now and you will thank yourself down the road! Also, take breaks when you get frustrated, and know that sometimes even a DAW does unexplainable things!
Best of luck!!!
Hi!
Thank you so much for your very informative and helpful reply! It is most appreciated and I look forward to putting it into practice.
If you felt comfortable sharing a bit more about how you built an inexpensive home recording booth, it would be welcome!
Thanks again! Sierra
Hi, of course! It's quite simple. Basically using 8 "corner PVC fittings" (is one thing they're called), and the appropriate size of PVC pipe to connect. Measure out what size you want height and depth and cut 8 pieces for the base and top and then 4 longer ones to height. We made ours big enough to use as a standing vocal booth, and even a shorter set of the height PVC pipes to shrink down to amp size. Rectangular shape for vocal booth and almost a cube for amp. We have a pretty silent area where we have our home so didn't need much more than thick blankets (think moving blankets, or good winter blankets) to hang all around and a rug for the floor. Depending on outside noise you may need more. I'll attach photos of the pvc fitting you'd need and an example of how it looks built (more or less). We used size 1 1/2 inch.