LeftyBassist.com

Many thanks, Marc. Frenchy chimed in with his 2 cents as well. My comments in response to yours:

1. Done. Easy fix to door rattling.

2. The monitors are equidistant and pointed directly at my ears when I roll the chair back to the corner of the floor mat. But I can possibly reconfigure to set it up the way you suggested. Problem is the keyboard tray under the desk is on the left side island of the desk, which means I'm restricted to either having the monitor in front of me on the left island or I can ignore the sliding keyboard tray altogether and put keyboard on top of the desk. (I thought about mounting it under the larger right island, but there's a metal fram "lip" under the desk preventing that). I thought about getting a second monitor anyway so having one under the window and leaving the current on in the corner won't look too dumb. I could also reposition the right speaker closer to the monitor to where the mixer is currently positioned. I'll figure something out.

3. As fate would have it, I may have the opportunity to rip up the carpet there, since the french drain is going to be dug on that wall and the carpet's being pulled up anyway. But here's my ignorant question: considering you're almost always attempting to eliminate quirky reflective sound anomalies why do studios construct the mixing room floor in a hard wood surface? I would have thought that the carpeting would be beneficial. And I'm assuming the floor mat I currently have isn't enough? Can I forgo the carpet removal and simply put a hard platform or other surface over the carpet?

4. Jealousy only lasts as long as it takes to discover your instruments floating around the room in 5" of water. ;^) Stick to the attic.

5. The trade off for having my own studio workspace (and the $$ spent and soon-to-be spent out of our account) was I had to be willing to share it with the rest of the family. Know of any good noise gates to eliminate screaming kids sounds?

I downloaded EQ Wizard and I'm going to test it out this week. I have the option of using a condenser mic or an SPL meter. Since I'm in need of a condenser anyway I might as well pick up something that can do the test and function as a reasonable vocal/guitar mic. The website recommends the Behringer ECM8000 as a cheap option, which can be had for under $60. Of course, I could always pick something up at Guitar Center, do the test, then return it.

There are issues with not having monitors (spkrs) in the correct listening position. There is a sweet-spot position where you need to sit in relation to your monitors so you avoid things like comb-filtering, phase cancellation (of which comb-filtering is one phenomenon), proper bass extention, good stereo imaging, etc. etc. where you have them now is the worst of all possible solutions IMHO.

The deal on the carpet is thus: Ideally you don't want to mix in a completly dead environment. the reason for having a hard reflective uniform surface extending under and past the mixing desk is to more accurately represent early reflections in the stereo image. Absorbent surfaces like carpeting suck up ror smear everb and delay, which will lead you to add more of those than is needed in the mix. You could probably get away with laying some 3/8th in (or thicker) plywood sheet instead of ripping things up. It certainly would be a cheap and easy experiment. And you could easily turf the plywood if it doesn't work out, or use it somewhere else.

I thought mics weren't returnable at GC?

There are only two noisegates I know of to keep kids quiet. Have mom take them out of the house for the day on a shopping trip. Or use duct tape. the second suggestion is non-DCFS approved tho! LOL

Okay gotcha on all counts. BTW, how's your UA LA-610MKII working out?

Waterproofers are coming Tuesday to rip up my floors/walls to install french drain, so I'm going to be out of commission for a few weeks. I'll reconfigure speakers and setup once walls are back in place. This will give me time to read up on various soundproofing and recording techniques, and those Recording Magazine articles have been great so far. Really learning a lot, and I like that they also stress that there are rules and then rules made to be broken once you get some knowledge to discover unique sounds. (i.e. place a mic behind the guitar amp and change the polarity of the recorded sound for killer tight bass response ). Very glad you suggested I join.

P.S. spotted a used matched pair of Rode NT5s for under $200. I might just pick them up so I can learn about proper mic placement anyway. I can always criss cross them closer in an X/Y pattern later if I want to replicate the NT4 route...I think. And I can use 1 as my flat response condenser with EQ Wizard tests. I also noticed they make a stereo version of the AT4050 now that gives you the option of using it either as a single/standard mono AT4050 or in stereo. Pretty cool. Anyone have any experience with them?

since coming back from NAMM I have been pressed into hard labor at work. Every week has been 60+ hours so far with no end in sight. As you might guess, that doesn't much time for playing with gear. I have plugged the MKII in and basically diddled with it for about 2 hours, using it as a DI for some basses and guitars.
All I can say for sure right now is that a little bit of that compression goes a loooong way! the pre is warmer than my Great River, but you'd expect that.
I have an NT4, but never used the NT5's. From what I understand their sonic signatures are very similar if not the same. I believe they both use the same capsule, dunno bout the electronics. The cool thing about the NT4 is the convenience of having them set up in XY configuration.
Dunno about the stereo 4050, but the mono 4050 is a great mic.

Good luck with the repair work!

Well in my downtime I did manage to get an RME Babyface for a decent discount. It's shipping this week.

Thinking about the benefits of a stereo mic as you've mentioned, I've been reading about the Avantone CK-40. Really interesting versatile concept, with the top capsule that can rotate 180 degrees so you can use it in X/Y, Blumlein, and M-S configurations (yeah, I've getting the lingo down now. ). I read some guys on Gearslutz raving about them.

Update: French drain is done now and I've got 2ft. of drywall removed all around the perimeter of my basement. I was told not to roll the carpet back in place for at least 2 weeks, and not to start the drywall for a month! Thereafter, the drywall repair, curing, and painting's gonna take another 3-4 weeks. All told, my little studio endeavor's out of commission at least until April!

In the meantime, I did get the Babyface and have been experimenting with it and the TotalMix software. Very impressive stuff! I also have a Miktek CV4 condenser arriving sometime later today (Couldn't help it, got a great price on it) that should satisfy my versatile condenser needs...for now. That's all I can spend now until my tax return comes in or I sell off some gear, but I've made a few decisions regarding future purchases after auditioning some gear and speaking to knowledgeable folks like yourselves and Sweetwater reps. So here's my short list for now once I've done the room analysis and determined what I'll need to soundproof:

- Great River me-1nv preamp. I wish I could have a 2 channel preamp, but they're out of my budget. I did seriously consider a lunchbox setup, but I can't wrap my head around paying over $400 just for the chassis and I don't think I'll need more than 2-3 outboard devices to get going overall. (He says with foot en route to mouth).
- DBX 160a compressor (might need 2 of these). Or 1 DBX and 1 FMR RNC.
- Radial Reamp (Might be a cool way to re-record different guitar cabs/settings)
- High quality cables (of course)
- High quality boom stand and a couple of shorties. (Looking at the Ultimate Support AC-125)
- Maybe a stereo mic (Avantone CK40 or AT4050st) or a couple of pencil condensers. I'll see how far I get with what I have to record with now for acoustic guitar and see if there's a need. Reading about M-S recording techniques so not having a matched pair is not the end of the world. I like the idea behind the AT4050st because, at worst, it's still a mono AT4050 which can always come in handy. These are not cheap, however, but I saw a used one go for $599 recently on ebay.

I'm wondering if it's worth it to buy this el cheapo AT Studio pack just to have extra large/small diaphragm condensers lying around. Like most ATs, it seems you can hit them with a ton of dbs before distortion. Two packs would be under $200 (on ebay) for 4 mics and they get pretty decent reviews:

http://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/AT2041sp

Miktek CV4 arrived yesterday. 9 polar patterns, tube condenser. Fiddled with it last night through the Babyface into Logic and through some rough reverb/compression on it. Oh-My-God. I'm blown away by this mic, especially for the price. I I first found out about these via Gearslutz, but also found some very impressive live samples via my new favorite YouTube channel, Music Fog:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B3lUfUWt69c

Reminds a little of Natalie Merchant's last solo album. I'm usually not big on "Americana", but I honestly haven't heard one artist on this channel so far that didn't impress me in some form or other and these artists cover broader ground than that. The recordings, IMO, are some of the best live recordings I've ever herd on YouTube.

if you like the CV4 now, just wait until you hear it through a GR me pre

When you start looking at cables, consider making your own if you're handy. You'll save a ton of money. My personal two faves are Gepco X line (XB201M) and Canare L46ES. TheCanare is warmer/rounder than the Gepco, and has outstanding RFI rejection due to the star-quad coil configuration. Buy either in bulk and attach the connector of your choice.

Of course you can always break the bank and start using VanDen Hull cables, but for that kind of money, I'd rather buy a new car LOL.

PJ, I eventually installed some 48x24 4" Acoustimac bass traps in my room and I must say it really tightens the sound for mixing as well suppressing wall reflexions when recording. I am finishing my solo album using a lot of acoustic instruments and it sounds great. (I am more a singer songwriter than a bass player) It also looks cool with the suede fabric. You can see some of the panels behind me on the video I posted in Sound and Clips.

An old thread resurrected! Thanks for reminding me I started this.

Glad to hear the bass traps are working out. I'm filing this in my notes for future reference. (FYI, I'm not seeing your latest video. Link?)

Update for anyone who cares: Acoustic treatment's still along way off for me, unfortunately, as I had to wait a month for the french drain cement to dry and I'm now knee-deep in rebuilding the wall that was cut away by the crew who did the french drain. They basically saw away and remove 2-1/2 feet of wall, studs and all, in order to dig up the cement floor to install the drain, so I basically was left with half a wall and half the studs left dangling. They did a crappy job cutting a straight line across too, so I was left with gaps when I reinstalled the bottom half of the sheetrock. I had to re-install footing and re-marry the studs to the floor. Now I've just installed greenboard drywall and put the first coat of setting compound in the joints and sanded the first round. yesterday. More compound/sanding/compound/paper, etc. to follow this week, but my hope is to paint next week and begin acoustic treatment soon thereafter.

In the meantime, I did manage to buy a couple of Golden Age Pre 73s, a Neve Portico 5017, Cascade X-15 stereo mic (really great cheap stereo mic, BTW), and an Ultimate Support boom stand.

Well it seem your project is coming along, I can't wait to hear your recordings man!

By the way, what a heck is a "french drain"? And shouldn't this be called a "liberty drain" anyway?

Here is my link

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WIOzXPQlXt0&feature=youtu.be

You can see some of the yellow 48x24 4" bass traps and one green corner trap (I should have done everything yellow)

. How about a "freedom drain"? Nevermind. Sounds like a euphemism for some porn term.

Nice. That's literally a bedroom studio you've got there. So what does the sleigh bed do for your overall sound? Instant Christmas tunes?

I just recorded a leperchaum choir, they were standing on the bed singing christmas tunes...I just can not find the picture I took to show you...

Long time no update!

Latest: the basement's done (hooray!) and I'm ready to acoustically treat it and take some acoustic readings. (bought a Behringer ECM8000 mic and downloaded EQ Wizard). Some revised basement images and diagrams can be found here:

http://s1250.photobucket.com/albums/hh524/neurofeed/Basement%20Studio%20Project/

I took Marc's advice amd repositioned the speakers to face the same opposite back wall now, and also put them on Ultimate Support stands off the desk. Much better already! Better clarity and less ear fatigue I've noticed. The rooms have been modified slightly to give me more overall space, though I still have a lack of corner space thanks to three 72" standing cabinets and a refrigerator. So I don't know how I'm going to go about treating the corners with bass traps. (I could mount them to the side of the cabinets, if that's recommended). I sent the room specs off to Auralex for a free room analysis, and they got back to me with recommendations. (Marc, I sent you the PDFs). Frenchie, if you're interested in seeing them, let me know.

Yes, I'd like to see that. Due to the configuration of your room I wonder if you should not have one of those ceiling suspended panels. I am curious to see what they suggest. Anyhow, little acoustic treatment do help a lot. I really like what my bass traps did. Even when playing bass the sound feels clear and tight. When recording a voice with a microphone it comes out dry cutting the flutering echo. It is a good investment.

Yes, Auralex did suggest hanging 1' x 1' x 2" panels over the desk on the ceiling. Since my ceiling is only 79" at it's highest point, however, I'm reluctant to drop the ceiling down any further elsewhere in the room, but I could live with it in the workstation area.

Anyway, I'm PM'ing you now, as I can't post PDFs here.

Thanks guys!

for a mouth watering drool-fest of primo recording gear and a tour of a great new facility, watch the 1st video on ths page.

http://www.vintageking.com/vkla.html

note how they treated the back wall of the listening room. that is something i had not seen before.

Here is a great free resource for all you aspiring engineers. Been readin this mag on and off for the last few years.

http://www.tapeop.com

So that's the secret to a pro recording: 25,000 pounds of sand! I guess it's off to Toys R Us to purchase play sand now. Can't wait to pump it into my walls, only to accidentally puncture my sheetrock with a mic stand and find myself buried alive!

BTW, check this video out. Amazing demo displaying before and after results of installing various acoustic treatment, IMO:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cp56A6TcL1E

The before sample almost sounds too reverby for that room. I wonder where his mic is placed.