Which One Piece Of Kit Would Improve My Setup?

[Sunfighter]

Hearing some of the demos on this site have made me realise how amateurish my mixes sound. I'd like to improve my setup but I can't spend that much (what's new?). I'd really appreciate your advice on where my signal chain can be improved. (I mainly record guitar based songs, with drums, bass, vocals and the odd bit of keyboard).

This is my gear

Laptop 1gb RAM - running Cubase SX

Reason 2

Native Instruments Battery 2 drum software

m-Audio Fire Audiophile

Really cruddy mic (which I am replacing anyway)

Alesis Quadraverb GT

Cheap and nasty but functional bass

Yamaha DTXpress electronic drumkit.

Several guitars - mainly an acoustic with a snap-on pickup

I don't have a mixing desk.

I think the problem might be this - to get a decent level in for my guitars and vocals I have to use the Quadraverb GT as a preamp. This definitely adds noise at the recording stage. Is this possibly the first thing to fix?

Is it worth investing in any additional software for cubase?

I'd really appreciate some help on this. I'm getting to the point where I'd really like to kick on a bit and get a bit more serious but I need to sort my gear out first.

Thanks for reading.

[FinnArild]

I would suggest - in the following order:

- Reference Monitors

- Either a soundcard with preamp, mixer with preamps or a preamp.

- Upgrade that microphone

After that it is up to your preferences for recording - I would consider something that would give you more possibilities - like the Roland VG99 for example - though expensive, it would give you plenty of sound capabilities that you otherwise would need a keyboard/synth to deliver.

[tgrover]

Hearing some of the demos on this site have made me realise how amateurish my mixes sound. I'd like to improve my setup but I can't spend that much (what's new?). I'd really appreciate your advice on where my signal chain can be improved. (I mainly record guitar based songs, with drums, bass, vocals and the odd bit of keyboard).

This is my gear

Laptop 1gb RAM - running Cubase SX

Reason 2

Native Instruments Battery 2 drum software

m-Audio Fire Audiophile

Really cruddy mic (which I am replacing anyway)

Alesis Quadraverb GT

Cheap and nasty but functional bass

Yamaha DTXpress electronic drumkit.

Several guitars - mainly an acoustic with a snap-on pickup

I don't have a mixing desk.

I think the problem might be this - to get a decent level in for my guitars and vocals I have to use the Quadraverb GT as a preamp. This definitely adds noise at the recording stage. Is this possibly the first thing to fix?

Is it worth investing in any additional software for cubase?

I'd really appreciate some help on this. I'm getting to the point where I'd really like to kick on a bit and get a bit more serious but I need to sort my gear out first.

Thanks for reading.

i would lose the quadraverb gt. i went from that to a pod xt to guitar wavs3. So if you went to either of these you would be able to record guitar and bass pretty well.

Fairly cheap drum software you could upgrade to ezdrummer. which is just awesome.

And if you are getting a new mic you would then a have a pretty good setup. Once you can record well then you move on to how do i mix well and thats when you could think of reference monitors and room treatment etc

[Sunfighter]

Thanks to you both for your replies. I'd forgotten about monitors actually, I really must get some.

FinnArild - a preamp is now top of my list along with a new mic.

tgrover, what is guitar wavs3? I'm having trouble googling it.

Thanks.

[tgrover]

Thanks to you both for your replies. I'd forgotten about monitors actually, I really must get some.

FinnArild - a preamp is now top of my list along with a new mic.

tgrover, what is guitar wavs3? I'm having trouble googling it.

Thanks.

http://www.waves.com/content.aspx?id=93 this software is the nuts. It puts the effect on after the recorded signal. So you can change the guitar sound after recording the part. Best bit of software i have used plus has loads of bass presets to so two in one.

Just throw in a link to the best pre i have used for the money.

http://www.gear4music.com/JoeMeek_ThreeQ_P...Bi0mZL_AyDfv5AR

[FinnArild]

I put the monitors on top, since I think this is the one thing that will improve your mixes the most.

As for compressor, eq and limiter - check these:

http://www.kjaerhusaudio.com/classic-series.php

Excellent plugins - I have run 16 of the compressors there at once without much problem.

You usually don't get much more paying for them, actually. I disagree with Steve on the three critical components and say those are: A decent microphone, preamp/soundcard and reference monitors.

[FinnArild]

I should probably try out some decent eq's myself - I always use the channel eq in Cubase.

[FinnArild]

Let me know if you find any really good ones. My favorite one to use at the end of the chain is this one:

http://www.crysonic.com/spectraq.html

You can't get the slice and dice of a 31 band (which I also use, depending on the circumstance), but it has a number of really good features built in. Each of the ten bands has a harmonic enhancer so that you can emphasize harmonics in specific frequencies. It also has a couple of phase switches for the really deep lows, and it has a built in limiter.

That looks exactly like something I need - and with the current state of the dollar it won't cost me much more than 500 NOK.

I don't really need more advanced stuff at this stage, since I plan do mixing and mastering elsewhere anyway - but it's nice to have a decent sounding demo both for my album work and for my other songwriting and production work.

[FinnArild]

Hm - looking at the Crysonic website I see they have a sale going on all of those plugins - have you tried more of them? In which case - what do you think about them? I am particularly interested in the master limiter, the compressor - but also the other plugins like bass-maximizer and saturators.

[Sunfighter]

You didn't list much in the way of software, but there are three critical components that every studio needs: a good EQ, a good brick wall limiter, and a good compressor. You can easily drop 500 bucks just in those three components. But you'll notice a huge difference.

In terms of preference, try and get the EQ and the compressor first. There are a couple of good free 31 band EQ plug-ins, but you usually get what you pay for. I know that Cubase has a fairly decent 4-band channel EQ, but you need more bands on the final stage.

Thanks for all the replies.

I've read the messages relating to software plugins, and to be honest I didn't understand lots of it. The only plugins/eq I use are the existing stuff in Cubase SX. I wouldn't a limiter if I fell over it. Do you know of anywhere that help me undertsand what effects/plugins there are and why I should be using them.

I'm really keen to improve my gear but I also want to improve my understanding of the home studio. I had hoped to buy "Cubase Sx/Sl: Mixing and Mastering" by Anderton/Deinhardt but it seems to be out of print. Can anyone recommend a good book for somone to imrpove their understanding: like EQ, effects, mixing etc. Most of the Cubase books I've seen seem to be aimed at the complete beginner.

Thanks.

[Steve]

Can anyone recommend a good book for somone to imrpove their understanding: like EQ, effects, mixing etc. Most of the Cubase books I've seen seem to be aimed at the complete beginner.

Thanks.

No, but I can recomend a good website! Click here.

[Sunfighter]

I agree. There's a wealth of information on this site. Sometimes I'm not sure if people even know that it is here, but John and the staff here have done a great job of making this site be a full-fledged resource for musicians at all levels.

Thanks. Certainly no offence meant to anyone, it was just that I'm trying to find a good book.

[tgrover]

you can mix a song well using just three things.

Volume. Panning. EQ.

First two are obvious.

EQ is the one that if you can learn about it will help you no end. Learning what instrument sits where. Which frequencies to boost which to cut.

Not sure what cubase offers as i use sonar. But i do know that reaper has great tools that come free with it. When mixing dont reach for delay/compression/reverb etc. Reach for EQ. Its where you start mixing. IMO

But on the other hand remember. You cant polish a turd, so if what you are working with sounds naff it will still be naff (maybe less naff) once mixed.

My train of learning was. firstly to learn how to record an instrument well. This in turn makes the mixing stage that bit easier. As you will be mixing not fixing.

But be aware. the internet is a source of good information. But also a good source of incorrect information.