Anyone else into home studio recording? Tell me about your set-up and your resul!

Anyone else into home studio recording? Tell me about your set-up and your results...?

If you are a pro tools buff, it seems that your home recording setup could be plagued from the start. Pro Tools doesn't do too good with home setups. I started out with my home setup using the Lexicon Omega interface into a Toshiba laptop using Cubase LE. Despite the appearance, setting up a recording session though your computer is not as hard as it sounds, you just have to know where to go. The lexicon gave me a total of four digital ins for the six analog inputs it had on the back of the unit. This means that you could setup four digital tracks and record on them simultaneously in cubase. You could assign the 6 physical inputs on the back to which track you wanted it to record on in the computer. This is a good setup for recording yourself, or acoustic projects but it will not cut it if you are trying to record a live band. In this realization, I sold the lexicon and for $100.00 more bought the Presonus Firepod. The Firepod is the solution to all problems you could ever have when recording a band. It gives you 8 Digital inputs and 10 physical ins.(8 of them being microphone preamps with xlr and TRS input) In terms of microphones to buy when setting up a home studio, you need at least 8 mics for the drums (overhead mics,tom & kick mics, snare mic) and a decent Large diaphram condensor for Vocal recording. Usually, some of the mics you use to record drums (the SM57 or Sennhieser MD421) can be used for guitars! If you buy a kit for drum recording it is imperitive that get at least 1 sm57 for the snare drum and guitars! For the vocal condenser mic it could be anything. If you want quality, aim for mics over the $200.00 mark.


After the firepod you get into ADAT and Preamps and things that belong in a recording facility. The firepod is the best way to go and i had a great experience with it during the time that i had it. Also, its important to learn and use VST plugins with cubase, which can get quite expensive unless done correctly. Cubase comes with some decent plugins, but if there is a specific sound you want from something, trust me, theres a plugin for it that can make it sound exatly the way you want it. If you want to hear some recordings i have done with the fire pod hit the link at the bottom. I just upgraded, so i dont have it any more, but it was the best piece of gear i have ever bought and you can get them on craigslist for about $250.00 these days! Unless you buy new. See the link!

hope this helps,

-jeff