How to DIY a Home Studio

[veinbuster]

The 2020 Terror Tour needs a stop at Doug's!

Yes!

 

[veinbuster]

Ok, I've been doing a bunch of homework, and I'm seeing that a hygrometer is only half of the equation. Knowing what the temperature and humidity only tells me if I'm good or not, how do I change "not good" to good?

Why can't I find a system that monitors AND takes action (for the case, or room, or both?)? Is that called something else, or is there no one system that does?

Keep in mind that the acceptable range of humidity is pretty wide. Wide enough that the cost of having a fully automated system probably isn’t worth it. Though maybe the cigar store approach for your glassed case would be worth looking into. I did not for mine. Here’s the short version of why.

Where I live humidity is fine throughout the house from about April through October. It might go high for a day or two, but that won’t hurt anything. In the winter, the humidifier on my forced air furnace is set for 40. When we get a really cold spell (below freezing for a week), the furnace humidifier can’t keep up so I add a room humidifier in the space where most of the guitars are. It keeps that area (10’x25’) in range. Low tech, and good enough for what I have, some of which is fairly nice. The hygrometers just give me a checkpoint. I might not look at them for a week in the winter, or at all in the summer.

Acoustics live in cases with two way humidipaks.

 

[DougUSMC]

The 2020 Terror Tour needs a stop at Doug's!

I'd say I'm afraid to ask what this is, but TBH I'm pretty much just going straight to excited.

Keep in mind that the acceptable range of humidity is pretty wide. Wide enough that the cost of having a fully automated system probably isn’t worth it. Though maybe the cigar store approach for your glassed case would be worth looking into. I did not for mine. Here’s the short version of why.

Where I live humidity is fine throughout the house from about April through October. It might go high for a day or two, but that won’t hurt anything. In the winter, the humidifier on my forced air furnace is set for 40. When we get a really cold spell (below freezing for a week), the furnace humidifier can’t keep up so I add a room humidifier in the space where most of the guitars are. It keeps that area (10’x25’) in range. Low tech, and good enough for what I have, some of which is fairly nice. The hygrometers just give me a checkpoint. I might not look at them for a week in the winter, or at all in the summer.

Acoustics live in cases with two way humidipaks.

Hit up your local cigar store. Talk with them about how they do their walk in humidors. Or, research with Google. There are large enough humidification systems that will accommodate your space.

I'm not an HVAC expert, but here's how I would think about your question.

What you're asking is, can I have a hygrometer that not only tracks RH, but turns on and off a system that adds or removes humidity from the air, much the way a thermostat triggers the A/C and the furnace. The answer to that is, of course you can. That's the sort of system Jesse at Ish Guitars has for his guitar vault.

Here are the issues. First, if you tie this into your home HVAC system then, well, you have to modify your home HVAC system, including putting a monitor in your guitar room, and the system will spend it's time trying to keep that room at a certain RH. This requires a fan-forced air system. If you have electric or hot-water baseboards, you're SOL.

https://www.lowes.com/pd/Honeywell-...Humidifier-For-Rooms-1001-Square-Feet/3459854

https://www.aprilaire.com/whole-house-products/dehumidifier/model-1830

If you don't want to try to adjust the RH for the entire home (which is what your HVAC system covers), then you need a separate HVAC system with a condenser/humidifier for just that room.

Here's a dual plug system. Plug a humidifier into one outlet and a dehumidifier into the other, and it automatically turns them on and off.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01FQKXRXA?tag=duckduckgo-ffnt-20&linkCode=osi&th=1&psc=1

Which get me back to my first suggestion (which is what I use in my practice room). In the summer I have a dehumidifier (with a built in hygrometer) that turns on whenever the RH gets too high. In the winter I run a humidifier that it I turn on and off manually as needed. Checking my meter, over the last 24 hours the high RH in this room was 54%, the low was 49%. It's presently at 52%, and the dehumidifier just kicked on.

Thanks for all of these ideas, I'm going to munge them all in my head for a bit, then see what I can do. I'm guessing I'm ok here most of the year, other than when the cold hits and we crank the heat. At least, that's when I see the Oasis I keep in the acoustics start running dry quickly. I'd like to find something slick that alerts me on my phone, while automatically adjusting, but I'm also not looking forward to spending the price of a Core guitar on it...

On a happier note, FedEx brought goodies today:

Unboxed and spread out on the desk:

 

[dmatthews]

I'd say I'm afraid to ask what this is, but TBH I'm pretty much just going straight to excited.





Thanks for all of these ideas, I'm going to munge them all in my head for a bit, then see what I can do. I'm guessing I'm ok here most of the year, other than when the cold hits and we crank the heat. At least, that's when I see the Oasis I keep in the acoustics start running dry quickly. I'd like to find something slick that alerts me on my phone, while automatically adjusting, but I'm also not looking forward to spending the price of a Core guitar on it...

On a happier note, FedEx brought goodies today:

Unboxed and spread out on the desk:

Toys... toys are good...

 

[jfb]

Focal and Universal Audio is a great combo. I love mine!

 

[DougUSMC]

Good weekend down in the music room.

First, the glass came in and went into the cabinet, all that's left is to figure out humidification for that and the room as a whole:

Secondly, the gear is getting up and running:

What we're looking at is a Mac Mini running thru a 27" monitor. Connected to it now is an Apollo Twin X, UAD-2 Satellite Quad, Focal A65s, and the UA OX Box, all powered thru a Furman rack conditioner. I'm really digging the desk and layout, but the feel isn't quite right. I"m thinking I'll make a couple of raised sections, to bring the Focal up a bit. If I do the math right, I can think I can get them to a good height, pointing at a downward angle, that allows me to tuck that Ox box in them. Stay tuned...

 

[Tucson Thump]

I'd like to find something slick that alerts me on my phone, while automatically adjusting, but I'm also not looking forward to spending the price of a Core guitar on it...

You could try this

https://www.sweetwater.com/store/de...h-hygrometer-with-humidity-temperature-sensor

 

[Alnus Rubra]

Good weekend down in the music room.

First, the glass came in and went into the cabinet, all that's left is to figure out humidification for that and the room as a whole:

Secondly, the gear is getting up and running:

What we're looking at is a Mac Mini running thru a 27" monitor. Connected to it now is an Apollo Twin X, UAD-2 Satellite Quad, Focal A65s, and the UA OX Box, all powered thru a Furman rack conditioner. I'm really digging the desk and layout, but the feel isn't quite right. I"m thinking I'll make a couple of raised sections, to bring the Focal up a bit. If I do the math right, I can think I can get them to a good height, pointing at a downward angle, that allows me to tuck that Ox box in them. Stay tuned...

Not wanting to throw a cat amongst the pigeons, so to speak. But how will you humidity check/control your lovely guitar cabinet?

Is there sufficient movement of air in and out to allow it to balance with the rest of the room?

You’ve most likely planned for this. Just a question in my mind.

 

[Nurk2]

Good weekend down in the music room.

What we're looking at is a Mac Mini running thru a 27" monitor. Connected to it now is an Apollo Twin X, UAD-2 Satellite Quad, Focal A65s, and the UA OX Box, all powered thru a Furman rack conditioner. I'm really digging the desk and layout, but the feel isn't quite right. I"m thinking I'll make a couple of raised sections, to bring the Focal up a bit. If I do the math right, I can think I can get them to a good height, pointing at a downward angle, that allows me to tuck that Ox box in them. Stay tuned...

Quite the set-up. Looking forward to hearing some music.

 

[DougUSMC]

You could try this
https://www.sweetwater.com/store/de...h-hygrometer-with-humidity-temperature-sensor

Not wanting to throw a cat amongst the pigeons, so to speak. But how will you humidity check/control your lovely guitar cabinet?
Is there sufficient movement of air in and out to allow it to balance with the rest of the room?
You’ve most likely planned for this. Just a question in my mind.

Yeah, I'm tracking 3 different alerting hygrometers, and I'm thinking they'll be the best bet. I shot an email over to Boveda, who has a lot of use in the instrument and cigar humidor arena. I'm hoping they can help me put something together, so I can try to progress a bit past "alert and add new packet".
As I see it, I have three challenges:
1) Is the cabinet proper humidity / temp
2) Is the room proper humidity / temp
3) Is there a good balance between both

Trying to solve all three at once, with very limited understanding of any of them.

Quite the set-up. Looking forward to hearing some music.

You and I both! There's a pretty steep learning curve, with both the interface and the DAW both being new to me, but I'm having a blast learning!

 

[Nurk2]

You and I both! There's a pretty steep learning curve, with both the interface and the DAW both being new to me, but I'm having a blast learning!

I've messed around with recording a little, but it's so time consuming. I get done, and I feel like I've spent all my limited practice time twiddling knobs!

 

[DougUSMC]

I've messed around with recording a little, but it's so time consuming. I get done, and I feel like I've spent all my limited practice time twiddling knobs!

I hear you, and it's definitely a steep learning curve. I had ZERO background in, but a strong desire to learn, so I'm still having fun with it.

Then again, I think we can agree that you and I have a very different approach to our guitar playing. You're all about the practice, to get better. I'm all about the practice to have fun and enjoy.
I'm not saying one is better than the other, but it *may* contribute to the reason that I suspect you're a better guitarist than I.

 

[Nurk2]

I hear you, and it's definitely a steep learning curve. I had ZERO background in, but a strong desire to learn, so I'm still having fun with it.

Then again, I think we can agree that you and I have a very different approach to our guitar playing. You're all about the practice, to get better. I'm all about the practice to have fun and enjoy.
I'm not saying one is better than the other, but it *may* contribute to the reason that I suspect you're a better guitarist than I.

Yeah, I think we've likely played that discussion all the way out, and, I think I'm an outlier when it comes to gear-oriented boards! Enjoy friend, you've earned it!

I do wonder, however, given your admission that you have limited experience with this gear, how did you know which pieces to purchase, and how they work/fit together?

 

[DougUSMC]

Yeah, I think we've likely played that discussion all the way out, and, I think I'm an outlier when it comes to gear-oriented boards! Enjoy friend, you've earned it!

I do wonder, however, given your admission that you have limited experience with this gear, how did you know which pieces to purchase, and how they work/fit together?

Apologies if my post came across as snarky, I was sincerely trying to acknowledge that my "varied interests" distract me from being as proficient as I could be otherwise, and as I'm sure you are.

I did a TON of research, both here, other boards, with musicians and Youtubers I like, etc. Then I bought some wrong gear, returned it, and bought others.
Now I have everything I need for my short term goals, and I'm well set up for future expansion.

There really IS two separate lines of research here:
- What are your recording goals, what's the software that enables, and becoming proficient in the recording & mastering process
- Given the answers to the first questions, what is the gear that makes that possible

My plan is to actually get a recording or two that I'm not afraid to share out, then dig into my thought process on those two a bit.

 

[Nurk2]

Apologies if my post came across as snarky, I was sincerely trying to acknowledge that my "varied interests" distract me from being as proficient as I could be otherwise, and as I'm sure you are.

I did a TON of research, both here, other boards, with musicians and Youtubers I like, etc. Then I bought some wrong gear, returned it, and bought others.
Now I have everything I need for my short term goals, and I'm well set up for future expansion.

There really IS two separate lines of research here:
- What are your recording goals, what's the software that enables, and becoming proficient in the recording & mastering process
- Given the answers to the first questions, what is the gear that makes that possible

My plan is to actually get a recording or two that I'm not afraid to share out, then dig into my thought process on those two a bit.

Thanks, I didn't think you were being snarky at all...and I hope that I didn't come across that way either.

And thank you for the information. The reason I ask is, I would actually like to do more home recording, but the learning curve appears too daunting. When I saw that you had this interface going into the next interface and into the next interface, my thought was, cool setup, but where to begin. I appreciate your sharing with me, and wish you luck recording!

 

[alantig]

And thank you for the information. The reason I ask is, I would actually like to do more home recording, but the learning curve appears too daunting. When I saw that you had this interface going into the next interface and into the next interface, my thought was, cool setup, but where to begin. I appreciate your sharing with me, and wish you luck recording!

Don't be intimidated - I think it's probably actually easier than ever to record from home. In my mind, the big question you have to ask yourself (other than the computer to run things on) is how many things are you going to record live at once to determine what interface you need. I went with a bigger interface partly because I anticipated recording like I had in the past with external keyboards and drum modules. The reality has been that I've used those (and outboard FX) a lot less than I would have thought, so I probably don't need as big an interface. Almost all of my keyboard and drum sounds are in the box now, which makes the recording process much easier and efficient, especially if I'm using MIDI grooves for the drums (EZ Drummer makes this really, well, easy). Now that I have the Tech 21 Geddy Lee thing, my bass recording has gotten much faster. Admittedly, I'm barely scratching the surface of what all the software (DAW, instruments, and plug-ins), but I can get things done much more efficiently than w/the recording tools I've used in the past.

 

[Nurk2]

Drums!?! Gah!

 

[DougUSMC]

Thanks, I didn't think you were being snarky at all...and I hope that I didn't come across that way either.

And thank you for the information. The reason I ask is, I would actually like to do more home recording, but the learning curve appears too daunting. When I saw that you had this interface going into the next interface and into the next interface, my thought was, cool setup, but where to begin. I appreciate your sharing with me, and wish you luck recording!

Cool, thanks. I have a hard time reading tone in posts, so I wanted to make sure I hadn't inadvertently offended.

I absolutely agree that the learning curve is very daunting. I thought I wanted to do a couple of simple things, but once I started doing homework I decided it was crazy complicated. Like many things, more research brought more information AND more gaps in knowledge with it, so it was a bit of a rabbit hole. In the end I decided to make a list of what I want to do, then go to trusted (and not so trusted) sources to start getting smarter (or at least less dumb).

Let's start with use cases:
1) Learn about home recording - Start getting into what I believe will be another aspect of music making and enjoyment
2) Record my practices - Instead of just "thinking" I'm doing great and making progress, start hearing my work played back to me, and be able to be more objective about it
3) Record parts to make music with friends - I'm originally Boston born and raised, everyone I grew up jamming in garage bands with is still up there. We've started Zoom sessions on Sat nights w/beer and families, during COVID. I threw out the idea of trying to share tracks back and forth, to see if we could make some tunes. We're all thinking that could be fun
4) Online lessons - I'm a big TrueFire fan, and recently signed up w/lessons w/Corey Congilio. I want to be able to use this setup to send my progress reports back and forth w/him. This requires audio and video, one of the more challenging components.
5) Partridge Family - The little ones are starting to really get into music, so I dig the idea of being able to record them as they come up.

Then I started doing research. Here's my various sources and how they contributed to the solution:
Family and Friends - Those musicians that I talked to who knew about recording were pretty much newbies as well. They'd all done some various stuff, mostly "home starter studio gear"
Sweetwater sales rep - I've been with the same dude for a number of years, so there's definitely more trust there than "he's just a salesman". He was super helpful in understanding how the components go together, "starter level" gear, as well as upgrade
YouTubers - I follow a few different folks (Tyler @ Music is Win, Rhett Schull, Rick Beato, Paul Davids, Mary Spender), and pretty much all of them have studio walk-through videos
The Interwebs - There's a LOT of info here, from obvious advertising reviews to educational site walkthroughs of studio labs

Research helped me to understand that there are various things that are needed to get up and running:
Interface - Most instruments (guitar, drums, vocals, etc) are analog, and must be converted to digital to get into the computer. This is called A2D, and the Interface does that. It's also the first major choice when building the studio, as most other decisions fork off from this
DAW - The Digital Audio Workstation is the main software you run on the computer. The signal is converted A2D, and put into the computer, this is what you use to edit, record, track, master the music
Video editing software - The DAW only handles the audio, you also need video software. I haven't even BEGUN to look at this yet. So far I'm in the "If I need video, then I'm recording from the iPhone" category.

The things I want to be able to do in the short term are:
1) A microphone for recording vocals
2) A microphone for recording acoustic guitar. This can also be used to put a mic in front of a cab when playing electric guitar
3) Plugging an electric directly into the interface. This allows digital amp emulation in the DAW software.
4) The Ox Box - Plug the guitar into a head (PRS Dallas), head to the Ox Box, Ox Box out to BOTH the cab and into the interface. This allows me to use the heads I love, attenuate the power AND have that tone captured A2D through the Ox Box's digital connection
All of those signals are captured and converted A2D, and put into the DAW software

Taking those things into consideration, here's what I ended up with:

That shows the various components, how they tie together, and what I ended up with for starter gear.
This post is becoming a monster, so I'm going to start here. If there's any interest, I can run through the set up, components, and how I ended up with each.

Drums!?! Gah!

You have no idea. The youngest already channels Animal on the regular, so I'm about 50% sure he's going to be a drummer. Being able to record a drum kit adds a HUGE level of difficulty, since a lot of the component selections are based on "how many inputs". A guitar is one, a mic is one, a guitar + mic is 2. A drum kit probably starts at 5 and goes up from there. There are a bunch of options for 1-2 inputs, but 5+ is definitely pro or at least pro-sumer. The gear I got is higher end of pro-sumer, as I expect to have to hit that 5+ channel count in short order...

 

[dogrocketp]

Tell us as much as you care to, many of us are enjoying this thread immensely.

 

[DougUSMC]

Hmmm, my attempt to edit the image seems to have broken it. I seem to have this problem whenever I try to edit posts on the forum, does everyone else have the same thing happen to them?

Here's the image:

Now, what're we looking at? With this post I'll try to walk through the hardware solution I ended up with, why I selected them, and the capabilities they support.

Computer: I've been a lifelong PC user, and constantly argued the fact that Mac is overpriced and unnecessary. However, I had to admit that most hardware and software for studio recordings is "Mac Preferred". In order to optimize use of what I have, and reduce the amount of $$ sunk into proprietary Apple stuff, I went with a Mac mini. This got me the Apple OS and Thunderbolt connectivity I needed, without having to pay exorbitant prices for a processor and monitor combination. The Mac is all about processing, and connects to the existing NAS I have in the house for storage.

Interface: I actually went through two iterations here.
I started with a Focusrite Clarette 4 USB. This has 4 combo jacks for mic and 1/4, and would have handled just about anything I wanted to throw at it to get up and running. The main reason I started with this one was because I was fighting the pressure to change from a PC to a Mac. The more I researched this, the more I realized that I was painting myself into a corner. I ended up returning it for something that WOULD have been my first choice if I went w/a Mac. That being said: If you're looking to plug a pair of guitars and mics into an interface and be off and running, this is likely all you'll ever need! If you really just want one mic and one guitar, then the Clarette 2 is an even cheaper solution.

The second piece was actually my first choice, which I bought after accepting the need for a Mac - the UA Apollo Twin X Duo is the center of my system now. I really liked the Ox Box I bought, which has me leaning heavily towards the UA ecosystem of gear. I think they have everything I could ever need as a pro-sumer, and the ability to expand to as many channels as I could throw at it. It'll run anything I need, can be expanded pretty easily by daisy-chaining Thunderbolt connections, and meets all industry standard specs. This allows 2 inputs, but can easily scale with additional components up to 8,16, 32, etc. As a pro level piece of gear, t's more than I need now, but I don't have to worry that I'll ever outgrow it. The Twin X is connected to the Mac Mini with a Thunderbolt cable (yellow).

Additional processing - UA Satellite Quad: One of the things I dig about the UA ecosystem is all the digital plugins it brings - with them I can emulate a TON of the old skool analog gear from amazing studios and albums in my signal chain that I could never afford. Want to mimic a 40 year old pre-amp? A high speed EQ? The reverb from high end professional recording rooms? I can buy a plug in that represents it. The only thing I need beyond the Apollo Twin X that I bought (entry level UA Interface) is additional processing power. The Twin X Duo has 2 processors, the Satellite Quad adds 4 more, taking me to 6. I don't know that I needed this out of the gates, but I decided to include it in my original learning curve. The Satellite is connected to the Mac Mini with a Thunderbolt cable (yellow), and the UA Console software sees it and the Twin X as a single logical unit.

Ox Box: The UA Ox Box is the first piece of UA gear I bought. It does a few different things: amp attenuator, virtual amp / cab processing, etc. Now, in the studio world it allows me to easily connect my favorite head to the Ox Box, which is connected to the Twin X Interface, and get the exact tone from the head into my computer. I can then hear myself playing through the monitors, or route the signal back to the cab that the head is sitting on, or both. The Ox Box is connected to the Twin X through a digital audio cable (purple). There are also two pairs of speaker cables (green), in two locations of the room (4 total). There is a pair of 25' cables running to the shelf built-in - from the Marshall head to the Ox Box, and another returning from the Ox Box to the Orange cab. There is a pair of 50' cables running to the far corner of the room - from the PRS Dallas head to the Ox Box, and from the Ox Box to the Marshall 4x12. I swap out the cables running into the Ox Box, depending on which head/cab combo I want to use.

Microphones: To start with, I just did some homework and picked a couple of mid-range, decent mics. I have a Aston Origin for vocals, and a pair of SE-8s for acoustic/cab mic-ing

Guitars: The Custom 24 represents guitar connectivity. You can see the instrument cables (green, not to be confused with the long green speaker cable runs) can be plugged into any of the amp heads, or directly into the front of the Twin X. I'd use the heads that I have for obvious reasons, and directly into the Apollo Twin X if I wanted to use any of the plug-ins that I have in the UA ecosystem.

I think that's about it for equipment, please let me know if the level of detail is sufficient or there are more questions!