Decibels

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Studio Quality Microphones

Even though every component in your equipment is important and linked and each adding its own dimension of overall detail to recordings, your microphone also plays a huge role. When you invest in a high-end microphone, it does wonders in signal flow and you will hear dramatic improvements as soon as you have excellent mics. A great microphone offers instant gratification when you combine it with the rest of your high-end recording equipment. It will largely depend on the type of recordings you do on which mic you would use. For example when you record a lot of stringed instruments and drum cymbals, you should choose a small diaphragm mic.

Some of the best small diaphragms microphones include the Schopes Collete MK41 or Neumann KM184’s. Other good high-end mics and I suggest you look on soundeluxmics.com for their range of excellent high-end mics especially when you do a lot of instruments and vocals recordings. In this case should you opt for large diaphragm condenser mics. Some of the guaranteed winners you cannot go wrong with include the Neumann U87, Telefunken ELA M 251E or JZ Black Hole BH-1S.

Excellent ribbon mics that you should seriously consider is the sE Electronics RNR1, which is the Rupert Neve designed mics or the Royer R-121. Ribbon microphones as you know adds a wonderful sonic variety with smooth textures to your recordings.

For those of you that feel these mics might be outside your budget range I suggest you use one of my cheaper suggestions that is also good, yet less expensive until you are ready to invest more. In the small diaphragm range, you could opt for the affordable Audio Technica AT4049b. In the large range, you could use either as Rode K2 or Neumann TLM 102 or even the Studio Projects C1 would work very well.

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Studio Quality Preamps

You need this upgrade and quality just as you need the rest of the equipment I listed here and you will understand the importance of your preamplifiers now. You must remember that irrespective of how great your mic is, it is a weak signal and in order to be decent recording its needs boosting at its input. The important component that you need to boost a mic is the preamplifier. You might argue that your audio interface has a built-in preamp and that is most often the case.

However, it is a transparent system and does not count for much, believe me. You need to invest in a mic preamp to add additional nuance and character to the mic’s sound. In most cases when you choose a great high-end preamp you will have a significantly improved surgically clean, clear sound with heaps of headroom while gaining outstanding signal to noise ratio. You get great preamps that go far beyond basics such as low cut filters, phase, and phantom power, etc. as they act as whole channel strip.

For exquisite sound, I suggest your use the top-end Millennia TD-1 that has excellent features including special input that accepts loading of additional guitar amplifier and two bands of parametric EQ. A preamp such as the Tube-Tech MMC 1A for example is just as great as it features limiters, compressors, and various other built-in tools that allows you to still tweak the sound to your personal taste. This one feature an optical band multi compressor.

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Studio Quality Monitors

You will find that a thing many neglect is the monitors and while I will talk about microphones, next I need to remind you that your monitors are just as important when you want a professional audio studio. Mics obviously directly affect captured sound, however you need to accurately hear the captured sound or even the best mic would make no difference to what you hears. All of these components are intricately involved and entwined with each other.

You might currently use sub-par monitors and let me assure you that the second that you upgrade to high-end speakers you will notice a world of difference. I did make the same mistake and opted for mid-level speakers and only after I upgraded to high-end monitors did I achieve the high level of professionalism I needed and wanted.

Excellent options I will name for you include Focal Professional SM11 series for great surround sound. Some of the large studios around the world use Genelec 8000 series and this is excellent choices when you have a large room. For smaller rooms I suggest you use the Genelec 8030 and larger room opt for 8040.

Another suggestion I have for you is to always add a subwoofer to your near field speakers and a great sub for the smaller 8000 series is subwoofer 7050B sub. None of these are exceptionally expensive thus would I not mention more expensive and more affordable options as these here are simply the best and worth an investment for great sound.

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Studio Quality Audio Interfaces

Many would argue that audio cabling does little for improved sound and I do tend to agree there but one aspect that everyone agrees on is that the computer audio interface makes a huge difference. It has indeed a huge impact on overall sound quality and it does more than improving recording quality, but also significantly improve your playback sound. What it means is that each and every sound going in and out are affected by the computer audio interface’s quality thus is it sensible that you should always have the best audio interface.

Several factors determine why some interfaces are better than others are and why some are more expensive than others are and several factors including software, drivers, clock, and circuitry and component quality play a role. Manufacturers are cutting corners in order to remain competitive and this compromise sound quality and when you look for uncompromised sound, I suggest you use a B&H SSL X-Desk and Apogee Ensemble.

The main advantage you have here is that it acts as 16-channel mixing bus and used in some of the world’s largest professional recording studios. I you are one of those that are on the other side of the fence and believe that cables make a difference I have good news for you too. If you look for cables to connect mics, use the Canare XLR Cables or the Mogami cables. Use Mogami XLR male to TRS male cables when you are looking for good cables to connect your excellent speakers with.

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Guide to Setting up A Professional Audio Studio

Good day friends, music lovers, recording artists, and everyone else who would love to have their own professional audio studio. I am twenty-nine years old and a musician without a producer and have started my own band over fourteen years ago. Renting a recording studio is not something that comes cheap and a few years back we were toggling with the idea to set up our own studio.

I met up with a friend of mine who is a producer at a large production company and several other friends in the industry and with their help have I set up a recording studio. We do our own demos and do recordings for other local artists too and everyone compliments us one our excellent sound and recording quality. What I would love to accomplish here is be your guide in setting up your own studio regardless of what you want to use it for. Al of us have that hidden talent and bringing it out in the open is the best thing you can do for yourself.

You will be surprised though when I tell you that it is not nearly as expensive as you might think. You can achieve amazing sound quality with minimal investment. This guide would also work well when you have entry-level equipment, which you might have and simply want to upgrade it to professional level. One thing I need to point out to you though before I continue is that regardless of the expensive equipment or the high grade, you need to educate yourself on frequency interplay, signal routing, mic positioning and more to achieve great sound with great equipment.