Home Studio
Last night I tried to record in the home studio. Going direct should mean you can record anywhere - but I always seem to make things more complicated.
What I really want is to record a stereo signal out of my Boss GT-6B processor - 1 direct dry track - and a stereo ambient mic near the bass to pick up string noise.
The amibent mic idea is admitedly stolen from Michael Manring - but since I also do a fair amount of engineering and live performance recording at work - it's an idea that resonates with me on that level as well. I often mic instruments and blend the signal with their direct signals.
The main problem with the home studio is noise. My home studio is actually an extra bedroom - in front of the house. We live about 1/2 mile from highway 101 - during commute hours I get whats called around these parts as "poor mans ocean" ambience. The not so subtle white noise of traffic going 80 MPH.
Even at night it's there - in the background. Since the ambience I'm trying to capture is quite - the string clacking of a bass - the amount of noise that also gets picked up is huge relative to the signal I want.
So I tried a few things last nigt and made about 30 minutes of recordings which I'll bring into work and listen to in a proper monitoring environment. The problem listening in here is that you can't really tell how bad the room noise is when your listening back in the room with the exacty noise your're trying to hear.
I think I might be able to make it work. I have a large moving blanket put up over the window - the walls have acoustic foam on them to reduce the "ring" and I set up and array of guitar cases around the microphone to dampen the other noise in my room - the computer. I'll take a listen today and find out if it's worth all the trouble - and then post a pic.
Why bother with all this when I have access to an ProTools HD set-up at work?
Cuz it takes 40 minutes to get there.
It's work - not MY space.
I have yet to get a performance in there that I like depsite hours of trying. Same thing happened when I was working on the Bass Extremes entry. I ended up doing it at home.
More details later.
Comments
Yup, I'm all for recording at home - more time, less stress = better performances. Works for me. ;o)
Posted by: Steve | May 23, 2006 12:26 PM