@PeteS - hope we can help you...like
@Jambrains I also do the majority of my mixing under cans, i can really recommend the AKG Q701 (open back) they are as flat as a pancake, they do not give you any misleading frequencies, many say that they are rather bass light but they aren’t it’s just that so many others ( including my audio technica atx50 tracking cans) are bass heavy.
I hardly use my mid field monitors- JBL L46 which are again flat as a pancake, but as you already know a room needs to be ‘tuned’ if you want to rely on those for your primary monitoring. I can’t recommend anything else as I just love my JBLs.
I have been in all sorts of studios and the best i heard were tannoy reds and golds but they are rather pricey.
I did a sound test at Thomann in treppendorf, Germany some years ago, they have a listening room where you can compare about 30 different pairs of monitors from cheapish to very very expensive, i spent an hour in there and only 1 pair did it for me Under £500, cant even remember what they were called but to my ears they weren’t as balanced at lo and high SPLs as my JBLs.
As for audio interfaces Ive used only focusrite and behringer and my preference is behringer (UMC1820) extremely good value for money and has many features over the focusrite.
Mic , well horses for courses, i use a beyer dymanic for cab mic , and rode NT2a for vox, NT3 for acoustic guitar and a AKG c1000s for also amp mic’ing. All good at what they do, although i would not fo for the latter again...its a bit noisey and a an odd response curve.
I also use a presonus valve mic preamp, again worth every penny, made a HUGE difference to my LVox recording, got mine 2nd hand off the Bay.
I’ve no experience of ribbon mics.
Maybe invest in a small vocal enclosure this will make your vocals much less bedroomy.
Good quality cables are also a wise investment, i can recommend van damme or sommer with Neutrik connectors,
I think in a previous post we discussed other things that also, here’s a few from experience....
A couple of good music stands, pegs for holding lyrics in place,
A good seat that’s quiet and comfy, i use a drum stool, as i can play guitars and swivel about freely, but it is a Bit squeaky nowadays.
A good quality pop filter.
Best of luck Peter, it can be an expensive hobby but get the best quality input devices, eg mic and pre amps and it’ll make the rest much easier, and as long as you can hear pretty much the same as you recorded it that’s a great start, if it sounds different then you’re already on shaky ground.
Hope this helps
