Liam
V.I.P. Member
- Joined
- Nov 19, 2007
- Messages
- 6,293
- Reaction score
- 3,241
Just some random thoughts from an occasional lurker on this sub-forum that has done a little bit of home recording over the last few years. Some of it has worked well, some of it hasn't, but will try to stick with the positive.
Focusrite Scarlett 6i6: Actually seemed like a mistake initially, as so little software and hardware wanted to play with it. But in time found the things it liked and didn't, and in current Windows 10 plays ball perfectly well, despite occasional monitoring confusion on my part. Still using, so has been amazing value for years. No real need to change unless I want more inputs (and 6 is unrealistic, only 2 proper preamps).
Beyerdynamic DT-100 headphones: Bought because I spent a huge portion of my teens and 20s with a pair of these on my ears, but never owned any. Great for performance monitoring (unless you are a bass player), useless for much else due to mid-range focus. Still have, still use, but limited in use for home recording.
Presonus Studio One: Scarlett 6i6 came with Ableton live lite, which works fine, but seemed to have a huge skew towards Dance Music, and didn't make so much sense to songwriter/noodler/guitarist. Studio one was an instant success in my understanding how to work, relatively intuitive, did as it was told, and worked as easily with my Axe FX II (now III) as it did with the Scarlett 6i6. Paid for the Artist version, then paid for the Professional version with no regrets. But if you are new to this, don't expect the drum sounds to elevate your recordings, you are paying for the DAW, editing, and sound quality, not the sounds themselves.
Audio Technica ATH-M50x: These are really flat, which when compared with DT-100s above means you get a load of bass. Have become reference headphones for me, and I gave up on trying to use re-purposed 80's - early 90's Hi-Fi for monitoring pretty soon after. If you can find a regret for buying these I'd love to know. Ears get hot after a while is as bad as it gets for me.
Adam A5X: Holy moly, this is the point at which you have to pinch yourself because life has just changed substantially. Used in my relatively small home studio, if I hear a weird bass resonance I have to go back to the headphones above, as it is more often than not the room rather than anything else. Absolutely solid, accurate and trustworthy near-field reference monitors that are so easy to listen to that I have vinyl and CD plugged into the system for general listening pleasure too. I also use them for setting up Axe FX presets, as it's essentially an "uber" stereo FRFR setup that gives you a great idea of what the FOH sound man might be getting from the DI at my next gig (should Coronavirus lockdown ever end). Expensive compared to everything above, and worth every penny.
Akai MPK249: Wish I'd bought a bigger one, but only because it's so short that it has to sit high on my keyboard stand. Got so I had drum pads and a keyboard for MIDI purposes. Solidly built and excellent piece of kit, glad that Presonus have made it so easy to make every knob on it do anything I need it to. Still doesn't feel like a musical instrument to me (because it isn't), but I bet I take it to a gig because I need it before too long. If you are wondering whether you need a MIDI keyboard, wish I had done it years before, and this one has been great,
XLN Addictive Drums 2: I have loved many of the drummers I have worked with over the years, but AD2 is probably top 5. Never refuses to play a song because it doesn't like it, and I bet if I took it to a pub it would even take its turn at buying a round. While a bit mechanical in feel, but less so than most drum machines I have used before, the samples are as big and sonorous as you could hope for, and the interface with Studio One incredibly convenient and intuitive. Paid for it, but have only downloaded a single drum kit and one MIDI files set so far, but even that will be enough to keep me amused for weeks, if not months. Still have another 2 kits and 2 sets of midi files available from the initial purchase. AD2 is possibly overkill for home recording, but for me transformative in enjoying making music, so more than worth it. Much more to come from this.
You can do the whole thing a lot cheaper in loads of ways, and this is just a snippet of my journey over the last 5 or 6 years. Would love to hear what you might have done different, what you did do different, and what has and hasn't worked for you. Stalked a lot of forums and did a lot of Google searches, and so far pretty cheerful about everywhere I landed.
Liam
Focusrite Scarlett 6i6: Actually seemed like a mistake initially, as so little software and hardware wanted to play with it. But in time found the things it liked and didn't, and in current Windows 10 plays ball perfectly well, despite occasional monitoring confusion on my part. Still using, so has been amazing value for years. No real need to change unless I want more inputs (and 6 is unrealistic, only 2 proper preamps).
Beyerdynamic DT-100 headphones: Bought because I spent a huge portion of my teens and 20s with a pair of these on my ears, but never owned any. Great for performance monitoring (unless you are a bass player), useless for much else due to mid-range focus. Still have, still use, but limited in use for home recording.
Presonus Studio One: Scarlett 6i6 came with Ableton live lite, which works fine, but seemed to have a huge skew towards Dance Music, and didn't make so much sense to songwriter/noodler/guitarist. Studio one was an instant success in my understanding how to work, relatively intuitive, did as it was told, and worked as easily with my Axe FX II (now III) as it did with the Scarlett 6i6. Paid for the Artist version, then paid for the Professional version with no regrets. But if you are new to this, don't expect the drum sounds to elevate your recordings, you are paying for the DAW, editing, and sound quality, not the sounds themselves.
Audio Technica ATH-M50x: These are really flat, which when compared with DT-100s above means you get a load of bass. Have become reference headphones for me, and I gave up on trying to use re-purposed 80's - early 90's Hi-Fi for monitoring pretty soon after. If you can find a regret for buying these I'd love to know. Ears get hot after a while is as bad as it gets for me.
Adam A5X: Holy moly, this is the point at which you have to pinch yourself because life has just changed substantially. Used in my relatively small home studio, if I hear a weird bass resonance I have to go back to the headphones above, as it is more often than not the room rather than anything else. Absolutely solid, accurate and trustworthy near-field reference monitors that are so easy to listen to that I have vinyl and CD plugged into the system for general listening pleasure too. I also use them for setting up Axe FX presets, as it's essentially an "uber" stereo FRFR setup that gives you a great idea of what the FOH sound man might be getting from the DI at my next gig (should Coronavirus lockdown ever end). Expensive compared to everything above, and worth every penny.
Akai MPK249: Wish I'd bought a bigger one, but only because it's so short that it has to sit high on my keyboard stand. Got so I had drum pads and a keyboard for MIDI purposes. Solidly built and excellent piece of kit, glad that Presonus have made it so easy to make every knob on it do anything I need it to. Still doesn't feel like a musical instrument to me (because it isn't), but I bet I take it to a gig because I need it before too long. If you are wondering whether you need a MIDI keyboard, wish I had done it years before, and this one has been great,
XLN Addictive Drums 2: I have loved many of the drummers I have worked with over the years, but AD2 is probably top 5. Never refuses to play a song because it doesn't like it, and I bet if I took it to a pub it would even take its turn at buying a round. While a bit mechanical in feel, but less so than most drum machines I have used before, the samples are as big and sonorous as you could hope for, and the interface with Studio One incredibly convenient and intuitive. Paid for it, but have only downloaded a single drum kit and one MIDI files set so far, but even that will be enough to keep me amused for weeks, if not months. Still have another 2 kits and 2 sets of midi files available from the initial purchase. AD2 is possibly overkill for home recording, but for me transformative in enjoying making music, so more than worth it. Much more to come from this.
You can do the whole thing a lot cheaper in loads of ways, and this is just a snippet of my journey over the last 5 or 6 years. Would love to hear what you might have done different, what you did do different, and what has and hasn't worked for you. Stalked a lot of forums and did a lot of Google searches, and so far pretty cheerful about everywhere I landed.
Liam
