Vocal Studies Studio, equipment suggestions?

Gibble · Post by **Gibble** » Wed Jan 25, 2006 4:43 am

Hello all

I am setting up a small music studio for vocal instruction. I have found over the past few years that a good quality recording of a lesson makes an invaluable tool for practicing with. To that end I have been using a small portable rig to record lessons (see my sig below for details). Now that I will be setting up my own studio I have decided that an in house recording system would be ideal.

Any recommendations would be greatly appreciated.

The recording environment is a room about 15 feet x 22 feet. One upright Yamaha piano, and a Yamaha Clavinova Keyboard. The room needs to be mic'ed for area recording so that all that occurs in the room is picked up. The students will not be standing in front of a microphone.

Generally a flat EQ response is most desired as a lot of instruction involves classical music. (microphones, pre-amps ??)

I would like to be able to send the audio signal to several different types of recording gear, (ie. simple cassette deck, a wave recorder, mini-disc, DAW etc.) so flexibility in routing is needed. (mixer ??)

Although money is a consideration I would prefer decent quality equipment so that I don't have to worry about to much noise floor.

Any other comments or suggestions, just in case I am missing something in the signal chain.

Thanks in advance

Tera

epidot68 · Post by **epidot68** » Wed Jan 25, 2006 6:25 pm

If the flatest omni mic is your objective buy the Earthworks that fits your budget. As for a preamp, you are talking some serious money for the likes of a True, Millenium, or Manley. I am sure there are others, but these color the sound very little. All in all, I would think $2K-$3K to get what you are saying you want.

jon · Post by **jon** » Thu Jan 26, 2006 8:13 am

epidot68 wrote:If the flatest omni mic is your objective buy the Earthworks that fits your budget. As for a preamp, you are talking some serious money for the likes of a True, Millenium, or Manley. I am sure there are others, but these color the sound very little. All in all, I would think $2K-$3K to get what you are saying you want.

I second the Earthworks omni's. For about a grand you can get two Grace Design 101's. Yummy!

BradLyons · Post by **BradLyons** » Thu Jan 26, 2006 1:10 pm

There are many options available to do this but as pointed out, the quality you want will determine the price-point. While Earthworks mics are wonderful, you're recording lessons...NOT a professional CD so IMHO, you don't need to go crazy here price-wise. While the R1 is a cool device, I think in your case you need a multi-channel setup. Being that you want to record a CD, Cassette, etc all at once... I would suggest a mixer, perhaps the Mackie Onyx Series with the Firewire option. This would allow multi-channel recording direct to the computer, but also to buss audio out to a stand alone CD recorder and Tape Recorder as well as playback on a moments notice. The pres are good, certainly not on the level of the others mentioned but again for the application....PERFECTLY fine!

As far as microphones, I'd suggest something like a Rode NT4 on the piano (stereo microphone) and for the room...possibly the same. Now if you're wanting "studio quality" sound and aren't afraid to shell it out, then yes going with some QTC30's or the likes would make sense. I've designed numerous studio packages and rehearsal setups, I don't think you should buy the high-end gear for this...but don't buy junk, either.