The All "Household Refuse" Studio
The All "Household Refuse" Studio
My studio (and I use the term sportingly) is literally fueled by "household refuse:"
Studio Monitors: wife's old dormroom stereo from college (complete with hole punched in side of one speaker)
Room Treatment: old comforters, torn Coleman camping mats, and (last night's addition) stained yellow checked cushions ripped from dining room table chairs
Flooring: miserably food / wine stained white carpet from said dining room
Brain: abandoned Dell computer from father-in-law (one of my biggest benefactors)
Mic Locker: found in alley behind my house - solid tupperware - thoroughly sanitized with high pressure garden hose stream before use
Headphones: companion piece to childhood 80's sony walkman
Fatso Sim: Akai Reel to Reel from father-in-law's attic
And I love every minute of the time I spend wallowing amongst this shit!
Anyone else?
Studio Monitors: wife's old dormroom stereo from college (complete with hole punched in side of one speaker)
Room Treatment: old comforters, torn Coleman camping mats, and (last night's addition) stained yellow checked cushions ripped from dining room table chairs
Flooring: miserably food / wine stained white carpet from said dining room
Brain: abandoned Dell computer from father-in-law (one of my biggest benefactors)
Mic Locker: found in alley behind my house - solid tupperware - thoroughly sanitized with high pressure garden hose stream before use
Headphones: companion piece to childhood 80's sony walkman
Fatso Sim: Akai Reel to Reel from father-in-law's attic
And I love every minute of the time I spend wallowing amongst this shit!
Anyone else?
-
- buyin' a studio
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Ha ha - yeah. My computer is a pushed-to-the-max Dell, my computer monitor is a big old jobby I literally grabbed from the side of the road. My monitoring speakers are some $70 radio shack numbers hooked up to a $5 tag sale stereo.
My favorite speakers for re-amping are some 3" high computer speakers I got free with a soundcard circa 1992.
And hell, it works. The best place for checking mixes is my wife's car.
My favorite speakers for re-amping are some 3" high computer speakers I got free with a soundcard circa 1992.
And hell, it works. The best place for checking mixes is my wife's car.
- JGriffin
- zen recordist
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Re: The All "Household Refuse" Studio
So you're ready for a really expensive mic pre, is that what you're saying?Ben Logan wrote:My studio (and I use the term sportingly) is literally fueled by "household refuse:"
Studio Monitors: wife's old dormroom stereo from college (complete with hole punched in side of one speaker)
Room Treatment: old comforters, torn Coleman camping mats, and (last night's addition) stained yellow checked cushions ripped from dining room table chairs
Flooring: miserably food / wine stained white carpet from said dining room
Brain: abandoned Dell computer from father-in-law (one of my biggest benefactors)
Mic Locker: found in alley behind my house - solid tupperware - thoroughly sanitized with high pressure garden hose stream before use
Headphones: companion piece to childhood 80's sony walkman
Fatso Sim: Akai Reel to Reel from father-in-law's attic
And I love every minute of the time I spend wallowing amongst this shit!
Anyone else?
"Jeweller, you've failed. Jeweller."
"Lots of people are nostalgic for analog. I suspect they're people who never had to work with it." ? Brian Eno
All the DWLB music is at http://dwlb.bandcamp.com/
"Lots of people are nostalgic for analog. I suspect they're people who never had to work with it." ? Brian Eno
All the DWLB music is at http://dwlb.bandcamp.com/
Re: The All "Household Refuse" Studio
I'm thinking you need to start spending money on some time-aligned gas-free speaker wire and kryptonite knobs.dwlb wrote:So you're ready for a really expensive mic pre, is that what you're saying?)
I hear you. I just replaced my monitor that i salvaged from the alley 5 years ago. I got tired of getting headaches from the wavy-vibrating picture.
My first setup was two cassette decks, a RadioShack 4-channel mixer, and a Realistic Modulette stereo with speakers taken from a car radio. Sweet. Oh yeah, my mic cabinet? a Realistic Highball, a Dukane mic with a button, and an old Astatic crystal mic.
What kind of Akai reel-to-reel is it? Those can be quite nice.
not to worry, just keep tracking....
- JGriffin
- zen recordist
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Re: The All "Household Refuse" Studio
My first setup didn't even have speakers. And let's see, two Realistic mics, one Highball, one not. No-name stereo cassette deck for mixdown, and the only moderately expensive piece was the cassette 4-track which was actually one of the nicer ones at the time. But I mixed every project on headphones for years.Randy wrote:I'm thinking you need to start spending money on some time-aligned gas-free speaker wire and kryptonite knobs.dwlb wrote:So you're ready for a really expensive mic pre, is that what you're saying?)
I hear you. I just replaced my monitor that i salvaged from the alley 5 years ago. I got tired of getting headaches from the wavy-vibrating picture.
My first setup was two cassette decks, a RadioShack 4-channel mixer, and a Realistic Modulette stereo with speakers taken from a car radio. Sweet. Oh yeah, my mic cabinet? a Realistic Highball, a Dukane mic with a button, and an old Astatic crystal mic.
What kind of Akai reel-to-reel is it? Those can be quite nice.
"Jeweller, you've failed. Jeweller."
"Lots of people are nostalgic for analog. I suspect they're people who never had to work with it." ? Brian Eno
All the DWLB music is at http://dwlb.bandcamp.com/
"Lots of people are nostalgic for analog. I suspect they're people who never had to work with it." ? Brian Eno
All the DWLB music is at http://dwlb.bandcamp.com/
- apropos of nothing
- dead but not forgotten
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- Contact:
My amp (Crown D-150) is literally a dumpster score. Still using milk-crates for gear-stands and dumpster-dived kitchen bar-stools as monitor-stands (with mouse-pads underneath for damping). Latest addition is a [brand deleted] fx unit that my old boss floated me in exchange for some consulting -- it'd hung around the store forever, and was doing him no good. Snake and many cables were cast-offs from Duck-Kee Studios. Finally got a new guitar, but the old one was pieced together from strat copies originating all over asia. People will nearly literally pay you to take away 15" SVGA monitors -- I had to throw a bunch away at the wife's insistence recently.
Re: The All "Household Refuse" Studio
When I say home, it was just a hole in the ground covered by a sheet of tarpaulin, but it was a house to us.dwlb wrote: My first setup didn't even have speakers.
- ;ivlunsdystf
- ghost haunting audio students
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Boy there are a lot of old Dell laptops out there still in service. It's odd: They wear and tear into embarrasing condition and then they REFUSE TO DIE.
I suppose they eventually all end up on coffee tables as the go-to search engine engine.
They make a nice heat source for those long winter nights.
I suppose they eventually all end up on coffee tables as the go-to search engine engine.
They make a nice heat source for those long winter nights.
Amazing that we live in an age (and a country) where a computer monitor lays side by side with roadkill. Both free for the taking...King Kong Kitchie Kitchie wrote:Ha ha - yeah. My computer is a pushed-to-the-max Dell, my computer monitor is a big old jobby I literally grabbed from the side of the road. My monitoring speakers are some $70 radio shack numbers hooked up to a $5 tag sale stereo.
My favorite speakers for re-amping are some 3" high computer speakers I got free with a soundcard circa 1992.
And hell, it works. The best place for checking mixes is my wife's car.
Re: The All "Household Refuse" Studio
Actually I own a really expensive mic pre: Electro Harmonix 12AY7. Pushing 190 bones. One of the rarer pieces in my collection. Think of my garage as a Millineum Falcon of rock gear. Forgive the self-flattering image.dwlb wrote:So you're ready for a really expensive mic pre, is that what you're saying?Ben Logan wrote:My studio (and I use the term sportingly) is literally fueled by "household refuse:"
Studio Monitors: wife's old dormroom stereo from college (complete with hole punched in side of one speaker)
Room Treatment: old comforters, torn Coleman camping mats, and (last night's addition) stained yellow checked cushions ripped from dining room table chairs
Flooring: miserably food / wine stained white carpet from said dining room
Brain: abandoned Dell computer from father-in-law (one of my biggest benefactors)
Mic Locker: found in alley behind my house - solid tupperware - thoroughly sanitized with high pressure garden hose stream before use
Headphones: companion piece to childhood 80's sony walkman
Fatso Sim: Akai Reel to Reel from father-in-law's attic
And I love every minute of the time I spend wallowing amongst this shit!
Anyone else?
Re: The All "Household Refuse" Studio
The Akai is a GX 4000 D. Looks sweet. High noise floor, but can give some great "slammed to tape" vocals. My vox can use all the help they can get. I've got heart, but, you know, a bit of a bad Wayne Coyne (spelling?) thing going. Worse than him.Randy wrote:
What kind of Akai reel-to-reel is it? Those can be quite nice.
You may have me beat.apropos of nothing wrote:My amp (Crown D-150) is literally a dumpster score. Still using milk-crates for gear-stands and dumpster-dived kitchen bar-stools as monitor-stands (with mouse-pads underneath for damping). Latest addition is a [brand deleted] fx unit that my old boss floated me in exchange for some consulting -- it'd hung around the store forever, and was doing him no good. Snake and many cables were cast-offs from Duck-Kee Studios. Finally got a new guitar, but the old one was pieced together from strat copies originating all over asia. People will nearly literally pay you to take away 15" SVGA monitors -- I had to throw a bunch away at the wife's insistence recently.
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