Recently someone emailed me asking what the “best” mixer was for his home studio.
I replied back and asked him, “Are you sure you even NEED a mixer?”
People get hung up on the fact that a recording studio needs a mixer, or a console. Back in the analog days, of course this was true. You needed some way to play back all those tracks from the tape machine.
Nowadays, though, a lot of the big studios may still have a big console sitting in the control room, but there’s a good chance they’re mixing everything in the box and only using two channels on the entire console.
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Do you own a BUNCH of microphones? More than you can count? Me neither. Let me share with you an easy way to double…or even triple, how many “mics” you own.
I was recently listening to The Home Recording Show – Episode 119, and Matt McGlynn did a fantastic job bringing attention to the fact that microphones have very different frequency responses when the signal is off-axis.
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Yesterday we discussed the pros and cons of mixing on headphones. If you haven’t chimed in on the discussion, head over there. Lots of interesting comments.
I’m not here to say that mixing on headphones is better than mixing on monitors. However, it has been my experience that you can get a good mix on headphones, even though there are a lot of people who claim you can’t.
The moral of the story isn’t that you can always get a good mix on headphones. No matter what your mixing/monitoring environment is, it’s your job to learn how to get good mixes out of the equipment you have.
That said, any pro engineer will tell you that while they CAN get a good sound with cheap equipment, using high-end gear oftentimes makes it much easier.
With that in mind, I’d like to tell you about my favorite set of headphones, the Sennheiser HD650′s
.* (As you can see in the picture, they’re Owen’s favorite headphones, too.) 
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As you can probably imagine, I get a lot of emails. A lot.
Between emails, blog comments, facebook and twitter questions, etc., I see a lot of recurring themes. One of the biggest is the “What’s the best…” questions.
What’s the best mic for vocals? What’s the best mic for acoustic guitar? What’s the best preamp for under $49? 
Which recording software is the best?
You’ll find this a lot in popular forums, and you can’t really blame the person asking the question. It’s not a dumb question, by any means…but it’s also not an answerable question.
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Earlier this week I wrote about the importance of analog equipment. While analog gear can quickly become very expensive, there’s one way to upgrade your analog signal chain without breaking the bank – better cables.
But after you buy those cables, are you taking care of them?
Specifically, are you wrapping them like you would a 100-foot extension cord you use in the garage? (You know what I’m talking about, wrapping it over your hand, under your elbow, repeat.)
If you are, you could be seriously shooting yourself in the foot. When you don’t properly roll your cable, you’re twisting and potentially damaging that cable. You’re also ensuring that the cable will tangle next time you uncoil it.
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As you may already know, I’m in the process of doing a few upgrades in my studio. I’ll be posting more specifics here on HSC, but I’ve been talking about them a bit on my Facebook page.
[Sidenote: I'm focusing more on Facebook than Twitter lately. It seems to be more conversational. If you haven't joined me yet, go here: www.facebook.com/homestudiocorner.]
Whenever I’m looking to buy a new piece of equipment or upgrade an existing piece of equipment, I try to ask one simple question: What will help me make better recordings?
My goal isn’t to marginally improve the recordings. I’m looking for holes in my system. I’m looking for weak links. For example, I don’t currently own an actual guitar amp (I’ve been using a pretty killer amp simulator pedal, but still don’t have an actual amp). A good amp would definitely improve my guitar recordings.
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It’s no secret that Pro Tools just came out with a huge update – Pro Tools 9. I haven’t talked about it here on HSC because, to be honest, I’m just not that interested.
That’s not to say it isn’t a HUGE update for Pro Tools, the two big additions being ADC (Automatic Delay Compensation) and compatibility with any audio interface (rather than requiring users to use their proprietary in-house hardware).
I’m currently running Pro Tools 8 on a 003. SO many people have asked me if I’m going to upgrade. Several of the crazy commenters on YouTube are telling me that the 003 is now crap. This logic drives me crazy. Why is it that when a software company releases something, everyone assumes everything that ever existed in the history of the world is now obsolete?
The 003 sounded fine the day before they released PT9, and it sounded fine the day after they released PT9.
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Graham over at TheRecordingRevolution.com posted a video about how to use your ADAT input on your audio interface. If you haven’t seen it yet. Go over there, watch it, then come back here.
Graham does a fantastic job of explaining this oftentimes confused topic. ADAT is a fantastic way to add an additional 8 microphone inputs to your system. (Also, if you aren’t subscribed to Graham’s site, you need to…seriously.)
ADAT Warning
While using ADAT is a killer way to expand your current rig (whether you own a 002, 003, Presonus Firestudio, etc.). However, whenever you start adding digital devices to your rig, you’re adding another level of complexity.
No, I’m not suggesting you shouldn’t add and ADAT preamp to your rig. (It can be a fantastic way to record drums.) BUT there’s one thing that could happen if you’re not careful. And it causes major headaches.
It happened to me a few years ago, and it happened to a friend of mine recently. More on that in a second.
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Recently someone emailed me asking what the “best” mixer was for his home studio.
