Support Equipment Survey

[badrail]

Good Evening to all,
I am continuing to get the debt down enough to purchase the BR600, hopefully in a few weeks (months, but still trudging along in the right direction...) I was wondering what other equipment that you are running with your "BR". I was wondering about headphones, microphones, external speakers or a system for playback that I might need to buy to use with my BR600. Also, anybody using an audio mixing and mastering software to make a final cut?

I was looking around on Amazon and found a couple of softwares that are in the right price range, and their description seems like enough for some serious messing around: Sony SoundForce Audio Studio 9, and Sony ACID Music Studio 7.

Also, in your personal studio are there any acoustical preps to make for a good sounding mic track without echo or whatever? As you can tell I am pretty new to this endevour, but keeping the brain in a technical and troubleshooting frame of mind, I should be able to accomplish my goals. Any and all comments and suggestions will be appreciated. Thanks and keep up the great work! BTW, anybody near Houston Tx using a BR 600? (I might need some tutoring later.)

Respectively,
Wes 
i.e. "BadRail"

[The Reverend 48]

Hi I use either my BR 600 or MBR connected to my Ms40 Berhinger monitors
( I rarely use a guitar amp these days)
I tend to download individual tracks and mix and master using Adobe Audition and ozone plug in for final master.......
Altho I love just letting the MBR do all the work and just export the mastered track.....
I use cheap but quality Sennheiser HD 202 headphones for mastering..........
Extra effects from a JM4 Looper

[Vanncad]

Hi BadRail,

I use a pair of Yamaha headphones.
I also use a Shure SM58 mic (for vox and amps)
I sometimes use my guitar straight into the BR600, but lately I have aslo been micing my amp.
I do all mastering using one of the mastering patches on the BR600.
I export the master ".wav" file, open it in Audacity, trim the begininning and end of the song, and then export it to .mp3

I will be asking Santa for some monitors this Christmas  .

  One word of caution for the BR600. There have been numerous complaints about an odd humming noise that occurs intermittently with these units. I thought maybe mine was an isolated case, but others have posted the same problem on this thread.

Other than this annoying problem (and Roland's apparent reluctance to acknowledge it), the BR600 is a great piece of kit.

P.S. - On each of my song posts, I usually provide a break-down of the equipment, effect patches, etc. that I used. This might give you and idea of what the BR600 preset effects and other functions sound like. This also gives me a way to shamelessly promote my material  .

Good luck with your purchase!

 - Vann

[Davo]

Spring for decent phones-I use audio techinca but there are other good ones out there.  

I dont know if the BR600 as a preamp built in-but you will need one if it doesnt.  I use a SM57, and a cheapie condesor mic.  BTW-I recently discovered that the SM57 is identical to the 58 except for the pop screen.  Remove it and you have a 57 for close micing.

A few decent mic stands, and a pop filter are needed.  Also high quality cables-they are quieter and last longer.  Blankets and clothing closets make good iso rooms.  What are you using for bass?  I use an old Casio SK-1 for keys.  A selection of pics and buying strings in bulk helps.

I dont know much about the software side.  I do have Sony acid pro 6.0 which is pretty simple and cool.

Also, if cash is an issue-buy used.  Craigslist is a GREAT resource.

[Bluesberry]

And remember, with a 600 you have most of what you need already for great studio quality recordings.  I started with the microBR.  I ran it to my small stereo from line outs to aux in, I also had $20 headphones (I have since upgraded).  I plugged my guitar/bass in used internal effects.  Sang and played acoustic and harmonica into the internal mic (the 600 has great internal mics).  Mastering is done on the 600, you just need something to convert to mp3, the micro does that part.  My advice is to not get all caught up in getting gear, the 600, a nice set of headphones, plug into a stereo (or any small boom-box, etc) for when you want to hear it in a room for mixing.  Guitars, cables, thats all you need to get going.  Learn about recording with the limited gear you have before chasing after more gear.  I did end up getting much more gear over time but I suggest keeping it simple for a while, the extra gear will come when you have figured out what you want to do and you will know what to get.  Keep it simple, get some music recorded.

[dwardzala]

The BR has everything you need to record except headphones.  The onboard mikes are pretty decent.  It has a built in pre-amp but does not have phantom power.

I added an SM57 to mike amp cabs, my acoustic guitar and do vocals (although the onboard mic's were good for the acoustic guitar and the vox as well).

Also, I use cakewalk's guitar tracks pro to mix and convert to MP3 (used audacity too).

[T.C. Elliott]

I've heard good things about Reaper and it's only about 60 bucks U.S. for the download. I'm tempted to try it. There is a free trial period if you wanna take a look.

I used a SM58 for vocals and an SM57 for micing amp sources, but I've gotten lazy of late and usually go DI. I also have an AT2020 and it's very good for the price. The BR-900 has phantom power that is needed for the condenser mics. The only bad thing about the condenser mic is that sometimes it'll pick up sound from the headphones when I'm laying the vox down. A little distance from the mic and not having the headphone level up too high helps.

So what I normally use to record:
For Acoustic Guitar, Direct In one channel, AT2020 on another channel. Mix the two to get a less sterile more clean sound.
For vox, almost always the at2020, although the sm58 works for me on more aggresive songs.
Micing amps: always the sm57. BUT, I use the presets more and more often because of ease of use. If I want MY guitar tone then it's the sm57 in front of a fender super reverb 4x10 which rocks. Or sometimes a peavey delta blues which is a cool little 45watt amp.
Keys: Cheapo Casio keyboards direct in. There is usually some noise associated with the DI of these things. If I use a small little clean amp and then DI from it I get less noise, but since I use it so rarely I generally just get as clean as I can and mix lower.
Bass. DI almost all the time. There are some bass effects but I've not had much luck using them. I don't always use bass even on the rock songs. Sometimes it's missed, but often it allows more room for the mix if you can get the drums to fill up that bass sound.
Drums: always the built in drum machine using the BR Rhythm editor on the computer to arrange.

Other noises etc is usually the Trusty AT2020 because it picks up lower volume pretty well if you play with the levels.

Good luck.

[Geir]

I agree with Bluesberry, start out simple. A good pair of headphones is all you need to buy start with. For editing on computer start with the free Audacity (a lot of us use it), and see if that fills your needs!