Thinking about revamping my entire recording setup. Looking for recommendations

mesa4x12er said:
After doing this for decades you come to find the limitations most of the time are going to be you.
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mesa4x12er said:
Well I guess there is the possibility that the audio is just crushed and fucked up (lol) BUT chances are you're the one crushing it and fucking it up.
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ZEN Amps said:
OP, you're not going to get better advice than this.

The gear you listed is adequate, so time for a new approach. Maybe pay a local engineer for a few hours, check your setup, troubleshoot, offer some advice / informal training etc.
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All excellent advice here! And trust me, I'm NOT above admitting that I'm the one fucking up things. In fact, I'm almost certain I am. That's what I'm here to figure out! So thanks for all of your great input so far!
Eazy-ESP said:
- Are we sure there isn't a fundamental issue, like instrument cable quality? Or even some settings in your DAW? Like the gain settings. You're not clipping are you?

More info on your setup please. Screenshots will help. So will an audio sample. Even if it is just you playing a few chords or whatever.
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This is a very good idea, and I think probably the best place to start. I will go into my DAWs (I use Studio One and Reaper), and maybe we can get into the weeds with settings and input gain staging and all that so we can rule that out.
 
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This stuff is just such aggravating bullshit to me. Its like no matter what, nothing works. Nothing sounds right or sounds good. You'd think at some point after 4 years of toiling with it I would ACCIDENTALLY stumble upon the right way to do things, but its like I'm just cursed with bad sound. Something just isn't right. Its much more fundamental than gain settings or mix. Things just don't sound as they should to start with. I'd be fine with giving up if it weren't for the fact that I don't know how I'm going write music without using some kind of daw or recording myself and demoing songs. Problem is nobody seems to have my same issues, and have no clue what I'm talking about when I try to ask for help. Their answers are all the same stock answers, which are ultimately off track and not the right answers for my issues. And I'm so ignorant I don't even know what to ask or even what I'm looking for.
 
I moved from my ancient desktop PC to a MacBook & logic setup just over a year ago, and my only regret is not having done it sooner.

The transition was a little daunting, but there are so many more resources now than we had a lifetime ago, when I learned Cool Edit Pro (Adobe Audition) I don't know that my recordings are necessarily better sound wise, as I was pretty content there. But from a productivity & work flow stand point, I'm worlds ahead of where I had been for years. I can get from having a rough idea to a very listenable demo pretty quickly, nailing that last 10% to make it a finished product is still as hard as it ever was.

Getting it down to where you're happy with it requires time & patience no matter what. You get better at it over time, even during those frustrating periods where you feel like you're not.
 
WhiteShadow said:
Just seems theres no help out there for what I’m experiencing
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Have you tried trying a book or course and spend some time starting from scratch?

I’m no pro by any means, but when I started I bought books and went through them. I use Pro Tools so I got a course and did the step by step, even the little basic things I thought I knew, I learned something.

There are so many variables, it’s hard to say try this or do that. I know it’s hard to describe what you’re experiencing. All these suggestions may be good but probably won’t solve the problem. Maybe spending some time going through the basics, even things you already know, is what I’d try.
 
WhiteShadow said:
This stuff is just such aggravating bullshit to me. Its like no matter what, nothing works. Nothing sounds right or sounds good. You'd think at some point after 4 years of toiling with it I would ACCIDENTALLY stumble upon the right way to do things, but its like I'm just cursed with bad sound. Something just isn't right. Its much more fundamental than gain settings or mix. Things just don't sound as they should to start with. I'd be fine with giving up if it weren't for the fact that I don't know how I'm going write music without using some kind of daw or recording myself and demoing songs. Problem is nobody seems to have my same issues, and have no clue what I'm talking about when I try to ask for help. Their answers are all the same stock answers, which are ultimately off track and not the right answers for my issues. And I'm so ignorant I don't even know what to ask or even what I'm looking for.
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Seriously man, pay a pro to come to your place for an afternoon. If it goes well, all your problems will be sorted for a modest outlay.

I've done this for a number of self-recording musos over the years (I'm a producer/engineer by trade) - I can't remember an instance that any issues remained after the call out.
 
Get a MacBook Air (M1 chip or better), Apogee Boom interface or bigger Apogee depending on your needs, Logic Pro X, and Slate VSX headphones.

If you can’t get solid mixes with that rig, take some classes. You should eventually be able to get at least near professional, if not fully pro sounding, results with that setup just using the stock Logic plugins (which are great!).
 
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WhiteShadow said:
Just seems theres no help out there for what I’m experiencing
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You should change monitors, make acoustic treatments, buy the best audio interface out there, some mic preamps... Then come to ask again.

Or, save your money for now. Identify and isolate the problem point. Just play some familiar track in a high quality (CD rip, download, whatever) through your existing audio interface and monitors/headphones. Use some media player, not DAW.

Does it sound like shit? OK, problem somewhere in your audio interface or monitors or environment or audio settings in OS.
Does it sound good? OK, import this track to your DAW and play it.
Does it sound like shit? OK, problem in your DAW/DAW settings/levels.
Does it sound good? OK, so you make something wrong during recording/mixing.
 
Ok guys, you wanted to hear samples. This was done with a producer at his studio, but its still suffering from a lot of the same problems I have on my own. It's a cover we did of the song "Love if you Want It" by Nuno Bettencourt's first band Sinful off that old bootleg demo on YouTube.

See what you think https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1NlXXIiM5w2quaQ9oraCgDU9fZS5iOeca?usp=sharing

Edit: forgot to say, I actually hate it. It does not have the sound I want. It's just flubby. The tightness/articulation are not there. The instruments just don't mesh well together in the mix. The drums sound weird. Plus, it just sounds too bassy, too woofy. It does not sound consistent with everything else out there. I'm sitting here trying to listen and hear what I'm wanting to hear, but I don't heat anything I'm looking for in this. I hate every aspect about it. There is not one single thing I like about it.
 
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