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If you're careful you should be able to use your vacuum cleaner with the soft brush attachment without hurting anything.

When it comes to a car crash you'll have to decide if you want a realistic sound or what people think a car crash should sound like. A real car crash sounds pretty boring - it's just a "thwop" sound. You could record a buddy squeeling to a stop and then use something like dwlb's suggestion to get th...

Anybody else feel like the big boys just keep getting bigger while the little guys keep getting smaller? Yup. You hit it on the head. There's even a business term for this - it's called the "barbell effect." Sometimes a mature industry will segregate into two clumps. The big boys on one end and the...

I think it also comes down to the fact that when I'm working with good musicians I'm constantly reminded how the gear is so insignificant compared to them and that all I really need are the essential pieces. Thank you for saying that. I have found exactly the same thing. And even from the musicians...

I went the same way as Wild Bill but I left the equalizer in my system. I have an inexpensive BSR 10 channel EQ with pink noise generator and an RTA as WB described. I ran the pink noise and adjusted the EQ bands to be as flat as possible. Then I went a step further. I took a few CDs that I use for ...

I have a Delta 10/10 and I really like it. I haven't compared it to the others on your list, however. I definitely haven't reached the piont where I felt that my D/A converter was a limiting factor. What comes out seems to be a very close match to what went in. If your primary MO is recording voice ...

I agree with junkstar and beard_of_bees but here are some additiional thoughts, even though I don't know a whole lot about your situation. I think you are headed the wrong direction if you want to start out with tape. It's much easier to get reasonable quality with a DAW on a low budget than it is w...

I hate to say it but I think you're making the right decision. Making a living from recording is only going to get tougher as cheap tools become more widely available. I started recording about 3 years ago as a hobby. I'm a middle aged guy and it's something I always wanted to do. I began by recordi...

I don't know if this will fit Mr. Hamilton's definition but the way I have used reamping is to record a clean guitar track and then run the signal back through a POD later to experiment with different sounds. This gives a great deal of flexibility on choosing a guitar sound for a 3rd or 4th guitar p...

You've made several references to not wanting to screw over the millionaire investor but I think you should remember something. If this fellow wants to fund a project to better your community he is likely more concerned with your character than with your technical skill. Your concerns are evidence t...

A cheap useful mic is the Audio-Technica MB 2k. This is an update of the MB 2000. It is designed as an instrument mic and it has a very hot top end. The reason I like this mic is because it sounds so different from everything else I have. Useful for micing the bottom of a snare and for anything wher...

I have more AT mics than all other brands combined because of a similar experience early on. And I've never been disappointed with an AT mic. They make great stuff for a reasonable price and you get good customer service to boot.

I've tried a bunch of mic combinations on the snare and so far I've gotten the best results using a couple of cheap Audio-Technica mics. I use an AT drum mic (came in a set) for the top, placed above the rim pointed toward the middle of the snare. For the bottom I use an AT MB2000 about 4" away from...

I was having trouble with my mixes (too bassy & muddy) so I put an inexpensive 12 band equalizer in my monitoring setup that I had laying around. I adjusted the eq to approximate an average of several systems that I listen to and are representative of what the average listener might use. I ended up ...